Meet The Garcia's....DL first timers!! **Update 7/22- 3 days updated and an ending!**

[KatGarcia]

Hello! Welcome...sit back and enjoy...

OK so I decided I had so much fun writing our WDW Xmas TR that I'd do one for our upcoming DL trip! That and the fact that I am going insane with excitement and have 2 months to wait and this will hopefully help me stay occupied and maybe even organized. Let me start with the intros...

Me- Kat. Hooked on Disney for years but OBSESSED since our Disneymoon in Feb 2005. The second I stepped back on property (i had been when I was young and once as a teen) I was done in for LIFE! I love all things Disney. I esp. love Tinkerbell, Mickey & Minnie, Lilo & Stitch and Tigger. Every time I go back I seem to fall in love again with a new character. I'm a stay at home wife (at the moment) due to back/nerve problems. I'm super organized and an OCD planner and come to think of it OCD in general.

DH- aka KC. He is coming along as a Disney enthusiast. He def likes to go and has a great time, but he's far from buying into DVC....for now. I'm working on him. I plan he shows up and thats how he likes it. He loves his computers and video games and has had a soft spot for Stitch and Tigger for a long time. He has spent the last year and a half or so going to school at night after working all day and he hardly sleeps so a nice vacation is def what he needs. It doesn't hurt that he graduates 2 weeks after we get back too!

It's also my birthday at the end of the week of this vacation as well... but more on that later!

How did this trip come about you ask? OK maybe you didn't ask but you are reading this so I'm gonna tell ya! One of my closest friends in the world moved to Ca about 4 years ago for school. We have been friends since we were 16 and we have kept in touch since she has been gone. She flies back about once a year for the holidays and always comes to visit us. She even flew out to be the maid of honor in my wedding! Soooo.. recently she met a guy and they decided to move in together. That of course meant she wasn't coming back here to live! Then she up and got married to him! They had a small ceremony over a weekend in Jan and went back to work that Monday so I didn't fly out for it. Now I have always wanted to see CA and so this was a great opportunity to visit her and her new hubby in their new home and of course I have to work something Disney into it!!! So i convince DH that we can spend a weekend with our friends (Dori & Fred for future reference) and then head to DL for a few days....he agreed because my birthday falls on the last Saturday of our trip! Yee ha!

I love to use birthdays and holidays as excuses for Disney type trips! So as sooon as we got the OK that Dori & Fred would be around for the weekend of June 15th I was off and running with the planning! We are only staying with them from June 15th (getting there late evening) until the morning of June 18th. Unfortunately Dori just started a new job so she has no payed vacation time until July...so a weekend will do! I'm planning on trying to get them to come to Anaheim the next weekend so we can all spend my birthday together before we fly home.

Up Next....Planning with The Garcia's.

 

[disneyfanatic4]

Congratulations on your upcoming trip. We are going in June too.

 

[KatGarcia]

Congratulations on your upcoming trip. We are going in June too.

Thanks! So you will be there for my bday (the 23rd)! Where are you staying?

 

[KatGarcia]

SO I consider myself somewhat of an expert on WDW, but DL NOT SO MUCH! So i did me some research! Of course I combed the lovely DIS and even some other forums. This is what I learned.... I should calm down a bit! DH is always saying how I over plan for trips and how Disney is so planned that its not like a real relax and sit on your butt vacation....SO to me this is the best of both worlds! We are gonna wing it...well mostly. You don't really expect a die hard DISer to not plan anything do you?!

Our first 3 days are taken care of, we spend them in Visalia with Dori & Fred and relax. Translation: "There ya go honey we are gonna relax...now shut up while i figure out where to eat in DL!" LMAO! Monday morning (the 18th) we are going to go to the rental car place (I have yet to find out where this is because I need to hear back from Dori first) and get our car and drive up to Anaheim. I am told this will take about 2 1/2 hours. I can handle that! Its been some time since I had my own car so the idea of having one all week is pretty darn exciting. The only downfall is DH has no liscence so I am the only driver, oh well! We will be heading towards Mickey so nothing can slow me down there. Except maybe the famed LA traffic...well I'm thinking ahead (you knew I would) and I'm planning on leaving around 10am so we can miss the morning traffic and be at the hotel early afternoon and in DL by evening. The parks are open until midnight that night so I'm not too worried about that!

After finding this AWESOME link: Map & Hotel Links we decided to book The Desert Inn and Suites. It's a spits distance from the entrance and to me, thats key. It's a few more dollars more than we wanted to spend BUT I'll spend it if it means easier access to our hotel. To us a hotel is a hotel, as long as its not dirty and smelly and has a 2nd floor to it we are happy. I read up on it on TripAdvisor.com and it was one of the few hotels with room still for the time we are going. SO as of this morning I have reservations until June 23rd (woo my birthday) at the Desert Inn. There is a free continental breakfast and the rooms have fridges and even a microwave. There is also a pool, which for me will be my therapy from walking all day in the parks. I have a herniated disk and sciatica so the pool will do wonders after lots of walking!

My only concern for this trip...DH's job not approving the vacation! We had problems before with them. Its a retail job but they get paid vacation time and for some reason its like getting a root canal for them to part with this precious vacation time. This is DH's ONLY week off from school. His last weeks off of school was in January and thats only because we took it off to go to WDW. He can't miss any school, esp not that close to graduation. So here's hopin'. But i figure the hardest thing to find would have been a hotel so thats booked and can be canceled if need be. As far as flights go I am booking through overstock.com. They have some seriously good deals! They have a flight to one of the smaller airports closer to our friends for about 1/2 the price I saw it everywhere else. Our flight home from LAX will be a late night flight so we can sleep thru most of it.

I am also not really making and "priority seating" either. Well maybe for one character meal. I def wanna do the Lilo & Stitch breakfast. To us you can't beat having character meals, its a great way to start your day with a smile. I'm also considering Ariel's Grotto for dinner one night. The idea is to not make too many ressies and just eat when the mood strikes. Having an IHOP and a Denny's near by may be a life saver...er...well a money saver for us. It also doesn't hurt that we are late night people and most times Denny's is open real late if not all night! At WDW we are all about where to eat but since the counter service out numbers the table services I'm not stressing it at all. I want to just enjoy this vacation and soak in as much as we can.

So now I'd like to appeal to those of you who have been to DL before.... Give me ideas! Give me tips! Give me reviews! Arm me with more knowledge than I can handle! I have several months so the more stuff the better....

More when more booking and planning happens!

 

[tinkermell]

We're going in June too, and will have about just as long as drive as you!! That's because we live only about 10 miles from Visalia! Too funny! I hope your friends take you downtown to eat. SOOOOOOOOOOOOO many good restaurants, that it is hard to pick. Also know that you might like to relax, but you might want to take a trip to the Sequoias or Yosemite. A beautiful day trip. Anyways, have alot of fun! Oh, and I'm enjoying your pre-trip report!!!

 

[CrAzY4DL]

Yay, a new pre TR!! WOOHOO!! LOL We have stayed several times at Desert Inn and Suites. They are really good for the money. The breakfast consists of danishes, apples and bananas, bread with butter and jellys (and a toaster nearby, LOL) and orange juice and milk. Not great, but definitely enough to get you up and running. The ONLY bad thing about this hotel is the pool and spa. The 3 times we have stayed there, the pool is freezing cold and the jacuzzi is lukewarm (colder than you would expect a heated pool to be) and dirty as all get out. They are in a big room in the parking lot and the spa is next to the security screen so whatever gunk is blowing around in the lot, goes right under the screen and into the spa. There IS a solution if you are REALLY wanting a jacuzzi tho!! We stayed once in a jacuzzi room (had a king size bed and then a queen sofa pullout) and the jacuzzi is an actuall jacuzzi. Not a spa tub, a jacuzzi. Could easily seat 4 adults in there, LOL. Was REALLY nice!!! Takes a really long time to fill, but once it is filled and you get the jets going, whooooo baby!! LOL And if you are a wee bit froo froo like me, stop at DTD at the Basin shop and get some bath bombs.

Anyways, yay!! Glad I found your TR!!! My trip begins April 17th and I canNOT wait!!!!!

 

[KatGarcia]

We're going in June too, and will have about just as long as drive as you!! That's because we live only about 10 miles from Visalia! Too funny! I hope your friends take you downtown to eat. SOOOOOOOOOOOOO many good restaurants, that it is hard to pick. Also know that you might like to relax, but you might want to take a trip to the Sequoias or Yosemite. A beautiful day trip. Anyways, have alot of fun! Oh, and I'm enjoying your pre-trip report!!!

Thanks for reading! How funny that you live so close to Visalia! SO how bad is the drive up to DL? I'm leaving the planning up to them so we'll see what they wanna do...but i'll mention the downtown idea- sounds great to me!

Yay, a new pre TR!! WOOHOO!! LOL We have stayed several times at Desert Inn and Suites. They are really good for the money. The breakfast consists of danishes, apples and bananas, bread with butter and jellys (and a toaster nearby, LOL) and orange juice and milk. Not great, but definitely enough to get you up and running. The ONLY bad thing about this hotel is the pool and spa. The 3 times we have stayed there, the pool is freezing cold and the jacuzzi is lukewarm (colder than you would expect a heated pool to be) and dirty as all get out. They are in a big room in the parking lot and the spa is next to the security screen so whatever gunk is blowing around in the lot, goes right under the screen and into the spa. There IS a solution if you are REALLY wanting a jacuzzi tho!! We stayed once in a jacuzzi room (had a king size bed and then a queen sofa pullout) and the jacuzzi is an actuall jacuzzi. Not a spa tub, a jacuzzi. Could easily seat 4 adults in there, LOL. Was REALLY nice!!! Takes a really long time to fill, but once it is filled and you get the jets going, whooooo baby!! LOL And if you are a wee bit froo froo like me, stop at DTD at the Basin shop and get some bath bombs.

Anyways, yay!! Glad I found your TR!!! My trip begins April 17th and I canNOT wait!!!!!

Hi! I'm glad to have found someone who has stayed at Desert Inn. It was mostly for convinence we picked it because the less walking the better for me! Here's hopin' the pool isn't that bad! Does the breakfast have coffee or am i fending for myself in the respect? I need me some coffee in the morning to function! I'm excited to hear about your trip!! I hope you do a TR! Where are you staying this time? Thanks for reading and for the great info!

 

[KatGarcia]

So what's our Detour Trip? I surprised my DH , for his b-day, with a weekend trip to Las Vegas!!!! I have had it booked since Feb and am proud I lasted this long not telling him, and telling as few people as possible! I even plotted with people from his work to make sure he got the long weekend off. I finally broke down and told him last night and now I have packing to do. Whats does this ha ve to do with this TR you ask? WELL... my pre trip shopping for Disney was partially my pre trip shopping for Vegas- I just couldn't tell anyone!

So how many other people out there rationalize new purchases for the sake of a Disney trip? You know you do it and I'm no exception! This time most of them have duel uses...2 trips in one for these purchases!

First I went to ebay to look for a smaller purse for the very few things I carry when I'm out on vacation. All I need is a lip gloss, compact with mirror, ID and my trusty Debit card. SO a small over the shoulder type bag was what I wanted. I don't like to feel like I'm carrying anything when we are out and about. And as far as Disney goes I don't want to have anything to loose while on rides! Here's what I found...

It's about the 5th Tink purse I own but hey who's counting (my DH is but thats besides the point...I like purses what can I say!?) The bag's strap is a bit small for over the shoulder because it's supposed to be a camera bag but it'll do for sure. It will fit my ipod perfectly and thats about all I need for the plane so it works for me. Plus is super cute!

I also ordered some cargo capri's in a khaki color and some "crops" in olive green. The crops fit me like pants because I'm a mere 5 ft tall but they are really cute and comfy and great for both trips! I also ordered a pair of capri jeans but they won't arrive till after Vegas so they are Disney bound. I got them from fashionbug.com and while searching for capri's I came across some other purchases I just 'had to" have...

I couldn't resist! With the coupon I had they were $7 bucks each!!! I think I now have enough Disney clothes to wear a different shirt all 10 days we will be gone, and then some. LOL. I can't resist a Tink top for anything and that Mickey one has rhinestones, how can you go wrong?

We also got our first set of luggage! I kept making jokes that we made such an adult purchase! It's pretty and bright blue so it's easy to find. I got it off of ebags.com with the link from mousesavers.com and we got a nice 4 piece set for about $120 bucks!

The only other thing I got for the trips (well at least until now) is my first pair of Crocs! Not the typical ones because no matter how comfortable they are i think they are just horrible looking...i got the Capri Crocs in khaki/chocolate. They are actually ridiculously comfortable and cute! I'm not sure about taking them to Vegas because I'm not sure of the weather, I may just wear sneaks but for DL they are coming with me!

As for the planning...I am going to jump gung ho into it as soon as we get back from Vegas on Monday. I am going to make a couple of PS ressies and possibly book a tour for the middle of the week. Hopefully when we can get DHs job to approve the vacation asap so I can buy the tickets I'm stalking online. I am watching the plane tickets and have decide on a rental car co and where we will pick it up and drop it off...now I just need the ok to book it all. I also have to make sure our friends will cat sit for us too!

Anyways thanks for taking this little shopping road trip with me... when we come back from Vegas I'll try and post some pics! Have a great weekend everyone!

 

[Eventer98]

Subscribing...read your other TR's and loved them!!! My b-day is June 26th and we will be in WDW that week!

 

[KatGarcia]

Subscribing...read your other TR's and loved them!!! My b-day is June 26th and we will be in WDW that week!

Hey! Thanks sooo much for joining me!!! We just got back from our 'detour" of Las Vegas so now I have to plan plan plan our DL trip...so updates will be coming soon... I need to get my butt moving in the process!

 

[serendipity]

Jumping on board. Looking forward to reading more! Love the shirts by the way!

 

[KatGarcia]

We had so much fun I have to post my TR within a TR about our trip..... HEre goes....

Day1-
It was a crazy weekend. The night before we left (we left on the 20th on an 8:30am flight) we didn’t sleep. We got to the airport around 630am. Why do people still not understand the security checks? We had everything assessable and were thru in like under a minute…the people in front of us weren’t so swift. Pains in the butts. We had some overpriced Starbucks pastries and a frapachino for breakfast. The flight left on time and while DH was able to pass out instantly I slept a whooping hour (tops) during the whole 5 hour flight. Delta’s seats are REALLY small too, btw. We have vowed not to fly with them again. That’s easier said than done because they are the cheapest airline but I’ll pay a bit more so we can both be more comfortable. We got to Vegas at around 1130am(west coast time) and went straight to the hotel. We got pre checked in and checked our luggage so we could go out and about and check back in after 4pm. We went to Harrah’s a few doors down, for lunch. My fav buffet in Vegas has been the Rio but I didn’t want to travel off the strip much, and Harrah’s was closer. I heard good things about their food too, so we tried it. YUMMY is all I can say! There were like a hundred different food types to choose from. We had sushi and tacos and seafood. We went to The Forum Shops @ Caesar’s Palace and wandered in there. It is huge now, and was only a fraction of what was there before! We caught the fountain show and video taped it even. We walked around there and headed to the hotel to see about check in. We got into our room around 330. It was great. I got what’s called a “go” room at The Flamingo. I got it because it’s a modern type room and there is a 42inch plasma TV in every room and I knew DH would love it. He did. We napped for a while (remember I didn’t sleep) and got up around 7 and got ready to go out. We took “The Deuce” bus down to Freemont Street. I knew DH would go nuts for all the lights! Boy has Vegas changed! Freemont was dirty and rundown yucky last I was there (ok it was a long time ago but still) and now it looks kinda like a long mall covered with lights. We found $1 margaritas which were actually tasty! We caught one of the light shows and video taped it. We souvenir shopped and had a grand old time. We bought a GIGANTIC pina colada in a football size/shaped cup. That drink cost us 14 bucks but it lasted 2 nights! We got it at some joint called “mermaids” that has $1 daiquiri’s in the day time. We got a deep fried Twinkie (weird but yummy) and a hot dog for 99cents each! I love me a bargain! On the way out we saw a discount souvenir t-shirt joint and ended up buying 2 Las Vegas jerseys for 20 bucks! We took the bus back up to the strip and went up to our room. We were going to order some room service but the late night choices were limited so we went downstairs to the diner type restaurant and ordered some food. It was apparently a weird thing to order for takeout so the waiter hooked us up and brought us the food and 5 min later brought us some boxes to take it upstairs in. We had some appetizer foods, drank some more pina colada and passed out watching the big spiffy TV!

Day2- we got up at around 730am got ready to go try out a breakfast buffet. The shower in the room was great too- you could fit like 3 people in there and the water pressure was actually good! The bathroom even had a TV in the mirror- too funny if you ask me. They kept the remote by the mirror which made no sense to me because if you are going to watch TV while going to the bathroom don’t you want the remote near the toilet? LOL. The door to the bathroom was a weird slidy door and it didn’t close all the way which was also strange to me. It had the best lounge couch thing too…you could lie out and look at the Flamingo Habitat. Very cool. We didn’t know where to go for breakfast so we headed towards the Tix4Tonight booth that was near the MGM Grand. We tried to stop at The Paris at their buffet but it was only a brunch and it was 25 bucks each so we moved on. That casino is soo neat tho. The Eiffel Tower is build thru the ceiling in the casino…so neat. I got a cup of coffee and a croissant at a bakery and we went in search of food elsewhere. Since it was a Saturday and most places had brunch we went to the tickets booth straightaway. We were like 10th in line when they opened. We got tickets to Zumanity, a Cirque Du Soleil show. You pay for the tickets there and then go to the theater they are for and get your seating arrangement. I don’t think it was too much of a discount but it was easy so whatever. DH has wanted to see a Cirque show forever so I was excited to do that for him. We went straight to the NY,NY to get our seating assignments. It took like 5 minutes. We took the crosswalk to the Excalibur and from there a crosswalk to The Luxor. The food there had been recommended to me by several people so we had our brunch there. It was really good! They even had Eggs Benedict and all the food was fresh and yummy. We love our breakfast foods but the lunch items were real good too. I def recommend this place! We went back thru the Excalibur and explored around there and walked across to the MGM Grand side of the street. We bought our 24 hour Deuce pass for the bus and headed back to The Flamingo. We decided to try out the pools! Swimming in April-can’t beat it! We ended up in the heated pool and swam around for a while. Then I just laid in the sun. I forgot how much I like the dry heat as opposed to the sticky gross heat here. It was nice. We went up to the room and napped a little bit again (apparently u don’t sleep in Vegas LOL). We had gotten a buy one get one comp for the buffet at The Monte Carlo so we headed up that way, stopping at The Bellagio to see the fountains. Of course we missed them and didn’t get to see them this trip due to the next days rain but its all good. We walked to the Monte Carlo and ate some dinner. It was good, a nice buffet. Nothing spectacular, but good. It hit the spot tho. We went to explore the NY,NY before Zumanity. It was surprisingly like downtown NY. It was amusing. We sat and relaxed and chatted on some benches. We made jokes about how there should be fake litter somewhere because that was the only flaw-it was too clean. LOL. Around 10 they let us in for the show. OK this was THE coolest thing I have ever seen! The whole thing was rude and vulgar (it was an over 18 show) and awesome and thrilling at the same time! There was even a weird wrestling like match thing with 2 guys and it was pretty. It was the neatest thing to see. I def wanna see more of those shows! We got out after midnight and walked to The MGM Grand and walked around a bit there then walked in the direction of our hotel. We got back to the hotel around 2am. We watched TV for a while and I packed up our stuff since we were checking out the next morning. That bed was soooooo comphy! Better than the bed at home…so soft!!! DH told me to buy whatever I needed to, to recreate that bed feeling! LOL.

Day3-Our Last Day- We weren’t too hungry this morning. Too much buffet ya think?? To me, its cheaper than sitting down at a restaurant and only getting one plate of one kind of food. Whatever…we hopped on the bus and headed to the Stratosphere. That’s where I spent most of my time when I lived in Vegas so I had to go at least for a bit. We got hungry by the time we got there so we decided to give their brunch a try. I was kinda scared but it turned out to be perfectly fine and only 15 bucks each. Good enough in the choice department and they had crab legs that were yummy and chicken fried steak and gravy I could have eaten a ton of! We decided not to do the tower because it cost a lot and it was daytime which makes for a less interesting view of the strip. We walked a little up Las Vegas Blvd and stopped in a few gift shops and then caught the bus up the main strip! The Deuce bus was good- 2 bucks for one way or 5 bucks for 24 hours. It was worth it if you planned on taking at least 3 trips and we made sure we did. We got off the bus at Treasure Island and wandered around in there. I like that place a lot- a def possibility for next time for a place to stay. We took pics of the ships outside since we wouldn’t see that free show either. Oh well. I had a 2 for 1 coupon for Madame Tussads at the Venetian so we went there next. We were tired so we relaxed outside the hotel and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. You really feel like you are somewhere else when you are there. After a little wandering and figuring we found the wax museum. We have one in NY, in Times Square even, but its like 30 bucks each to get in and I don’t want to see it that bad- so having the 2 for 1 coupon was awesome! We had so much fun there! I didn’t think I’d like it so much! We took tons of funny pics and had a great time. The only thing I didn’t do was go into the hall of horror movie thing. There were live actors dressed as Freddie and Jason and Leatherface- wax I can handle but not live people. The show was like 5 minutes long so I sat next to a statue of Ben Affleck playing poker and waited for DH. LOL. On our walk back towards the hotel it started to rain. So we ducked into some obscure casino and relaxed for a few. When it quieted down we went to the Mirage. I wanted to see the tigers. We watched a beautiful tiger at the entrance for like 20 minutes. Then we got some caffeine at a place called The Roasted Bean. We made about a hundred jokes about them roasting our cat (His name is Bale but I often call him Bean) and just relaxed. We were both getting kinda cranky due to tons of walking and not nearly enough sleep but we trudged on! We saw that the Tiger and Dolphin exhibit was 15 bucks each and opted not to do it! We went back to The Flamingo and relaxed outside. It was pretty cold so we walked the gift shops and tried to decide what else to do. We had about 2 hours till we had to pick up the luggage and leave. We decided to walk to Bally’s since it was next door. We video taped some and wandered Bally’s. DH saw some guy with a video game bag and we discovered some gaming conference. It turned out to be invite only and was only for non video type stuff so it was no big loss. We made our way back to The Flamingo. Believe it or not we hadn’t gambled so we decided to waste a little money on the slots. DH lost 10 bucks in like 5 minutes. I dropped down at a penny slot and ended up wining like 15 bucks which DH then proceeded to loose. He is hooked on the slots tho now! One day I’ll learn how to properly play casino blackjack and play some at the tables. We then picked up the luggage and got a cab to the airport. Security took a year and a day but we got thru and found a Chili’s Too that actually had real food so we got some burgers for dinner and plopped down at our gate. Of course the plane was late. We left an hour late, getting us out of Vegas at about 12:30am! The flight was fine, the seats too small again. Sleep didn’t really work for me either but DH was snoring away as soon as he sat down. Can you tell I have insomnia?? We got into JFK around 8am our time and were home by about 10am. Not too bad! We slept most of the day and I slept most of the next day as well, while DH was at work.
Final Thoughts: if you are a couple watch out for the time share people! They tried to suck us in every time we passed and they are nothing if not persistent! If you have time while your there- do one because they give you discount show tickets-it’s worth your 2 hours just for that! We only had 3 days so I wasn’t killing my plans for these people! Use saversguide.com for good discount tickets. Get ticket books from different casinos because they have decent coupons in them! And wear comphy shoes!

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

Ohhhh!!! I love reading newbies TR's to Disneyland!!! I'm in!!


I'd be happy to throw in some tips and tricks.....hmmmm.... let's see..:

1. The best character breakfast is Goofy's Kitchen.
2. Ariels doesn't take walk-ups, so make your PS asap. It's great for dinner!
3. Across the street from Dland, is Mimi's Cafe. Try it for lunch, great sammies and salads! Also, ESPN is great for lunch! It's in DTD.
4. The best CS in DCA is Taste Pilots, IMHO.
5. The best CS in Dland is Redd Rockets, IMHO.
6. The best CS in DTD is Napolini, IMHO.
7. If you love to people watch, head to DTD and go to the UVA bar, sit and have a cocktail and appys and just people watch. I love that place!

Oh and the Nemo ride opens June 11th, so you'll be there for that!!

I'm usually at the parks on Monday or Friday... maybe I'll bump into you!

 

[bethbuchall]

I can't wait to read the trip report! We are looking at going to Disneyland next summer, and we'll be newbies from NYS, too.

 

[KatGarcia]

Ohhhh!!! I love reading newbies TR's to Disneyland!!! I'm in!!


I'd be happy to throw in some tips and tricks.....hmmmm.... let's see..:

1. The best character breakfast is Goofy's Kitchen.
2. Ariels doesn't take walk-ups, so make your PS asap. It's great for dinner!
3. Across the street from Dland, is Mimi's Cafe. Try it for lunch, great sammies and salads! Also, ESPN is great for lunch! It's in DTD.
4. The best CS in DCA is Taste Pilots, IMHO.
5. The best CS in Dland is Redd Rockets, IMHO.
6. The best CS in DTD is Napolini, IMHO.
7. If you love to people watch, head to DTD and go to the UVA bar, sit and have a cocktail and appys and just people watch. I love that place!

Oh and the Nemo ride opens June 11th, so you'll be there for that!!

I'm usually at the parks on Monday or Friday... maybe I'll bump into you!

hey! Thanks for stopping by!!! I am so excited to see NEW Disney stuff!!! Now that we are back from Vegas I am full swing in the planning...I was just talking to DH about making some ressies. I think we are mostly gonna wing it but make a couple of character meal stops for sure (i want to and he has no choice lol) Am I nuts for not making too many food plans? If all else fails we are staying next door to Denny's LOL. Thanks sooooo much for the awesome tips! I will be fully equipped with my Team Focker Watcher Lanyard when we're there along with some LGMHPC's so look for them! It would be great to run into a fellow DISer!

I can't wait to read the trip report! We are looking at going to Disneyland next summer, and we'll be newbies from NYS, too.

Thansk so much for checking out my humble report! I can't wait to get there...now all that stands between me and my buddy Mickey is pesky time!

 

[Eventer98]

Waiting for a DL planning update!!! I have never been so I have to live vicariously through you!!

 

[KatGarcia]

Waiting for a DL planning update!!! I have never been so I have to live vicariously through you!!

It's on it's way....

 

[KatGarcia]

Okies…Here we go! It’s been a busy planning week for me. DH and I went out with his friend s from work last week to our fav NYC bar. We ended up getting into a conversation about how everyone else can get their vacations approved so fast and its so hard for DH to get approved. This past year we waited about 4 months to get approved for our Xmas WDW trip!!! After being told that he should just “tell” them not “ask” them he just turns to me and says “Book it!” You don’t have to tell me twice…ok well I did ask him a few more times to make sure, but he’s not spontaneous like that and it unnerved me! So the next day he was off to work and I was off to the pc to research the best deals for this trip. Does anyone else find themselves going over and over the same options on different sites before actually booking? I do this like a crazy person! I checked and rechecked flights all over the place and they are basically the same darn price! We already had our hotel booked, just to be safe, but of course I had to double check that I couldn’t find anything cheaper. Oh the OCD! But we are staying with The Anaheim Desert Inn for $109 a night. The close proximity to the park is my fav part. A hotel is a hotel to me, esp. if it’s not an in Disney hotel; I’m pretty much over it. The flight we ended up getting I got off of Orbitz. We are leaving June 15th and trying to get there in the evening so our friends don’t have to miss work to get us. The airport we need to fly into (Bakersfield Airport) is a smaller airport too so flights are more expensive too. I thought DH would flip when I let him in on the details of the flights to get there, yes flights. We leave from LaGuardia Airport at 9:30am and fly to Denver, Co and from there we fly to LAX and from there we fly to Bakersfield. Sheesh! I hate to fly; I hate it because of the landing and take off because I have sensitive ears from having had a surgery when I was young. But I can’t pass up a deal! We arrive at Bakersfield at about 6:30pm. The time or arrival is why I took this crazy flight plan. Travel time: Approx 10. OH well we’ll be in Cali! I also booked our rental car for the drive to Anaheim. I think it’s a lot of $$ but it’s a one way rental so $70 overnight isn’t too bad. I even printed out the directions already. Think I’m excited? LOL! I ordered us our 5 Day Park Hopper Tickets from Ares Travel they arrive tomorrow night actually. I found out on my birthday (June 23rd) we are going to see an old friend of mine who is going to drive about 4 hours to get to see us! He’s the reason I’m staying till Sat. We are planning on doing something that day, but what is up in the air still. I’m also waiting to find out if the friends we are visiting the weekend before can come up to LA as well! It’ll be a big ‘ole party for moi! We wanna go to the ocean, that’s one of my requests. We leave on a nice straight thru flight from Long Beach Airport to JFK at 9:40pm. We will be back in NY by 6am and home hopefully by around 8am. Thank god for the straight thru flight!
The only other things I’ve been doing are starting to go thru the menus to get some ideas of where to eat at. We plan to pretty much stick to CS and walk ups if they are available. I plan to make a select few PS’s but I’m not stressing food too much. I bought my laminating paper and plan to work on my LGMHPC’s this week as well. I started Physical Therapy this week so hopefully it’ll do two things for me 1) kill some time between now and the trip and 2) make me able to walk better during this trip!

Weeeeeeeee…..I’m really going to Disneyland!!!!

 

[KatGarcia]

Our tickets came yesterday!!!!!! I was somewhat disappointed because I'm so used to them being the credit card type thing but they were like a big movie ticket. Oh well...they are still Disney tickets after all....I also made 2 PS's...

June 19th 1:30pm Lunch Blue Bayou
June 20th 10:30 Breakfast PCH Grill

I'm trying very hard not to OD on the ressies because we are trying to wing it mostly. I'm an OCD planner at heart so this has been pretty rough trying to plan the non planning!

I also got my new Tink bag in the mail and its sooooo cute! My new bathing suit was the wrong size and has to be returned but I have a month so it's all good!

Weeeeeeeeeee a little over a month to go!

 

[Eventer98]

I would go nuts too if I couldn't plan. Maybe you could secretly make some more ADRs and then you have them if you want them? What's that restaurant near Pirates??? I remember someone else talking about it. Bayou something?? What about Goofy's Kitchen? It would kill me to not plan. After my quick Sept Peep Meet I will have 16 months to wait until the next. Ugh!!!