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

[Goofster57]

Apparently Visalia is known for its Dairies. I had no idea.

Don’t you just love the smell in the air when they are bring the cows in for the afternoon milking?

Next up… Disneyland or Bust…and we almost Busted!

Oh, can’t wait to read about this.

 

[Goofster57]

We ended up getting to the hotel around 730,

Wow, what an experience

I have a very strong dislike for bus trips

We strolled DTD. It has a very different feel to it than the one in Orlando.

It really does, I don’t remember seeing perfumers in WDW DTD,
they are in the process of adding more shops and restaurants to the one here to try and make it more like WDW

I realized there was a HUGE smushy spot on the mattress

When I first read this I got a shiver down my back, then I reread it and realized I had read it wrong, my first though was wet, damp gross spot. Glad it was just a bad mattress.

The room looked to be very nice.

Great update, keep um coming

 

[KatGarcia]

Don’t you just love the smell in the air when they are bring the cows in for the afternoon milking?

I was told it was a lovely smell lol, we were luckily inside the air conditioned car at the right times tho!

Wow, what an experience

I have a very strong dislike for bus trips.

I am avoiding busses for a looong time!

It really does, I don’t remember seeing perfumers in WDW DTD,
they are in the process of adding more shops and restaurants to the one here to try and make it more like WDW

I like the feel of all the different music they had, it was very cool to stop and relax and listen. DH video taped a few of them he was really into and even almost bought some CDs.

When I first read this I got a shiver down my back, then I reread it and realized I had read it wrong, my first though was wet, damp gross spot. Glad it was just a bad mattress.

The room looked to be very nice.

Great update, keep um coming

I would have freaked out and demanded a new room if there was something that yucky in there. I try even now to pretend i didn't sleep on that old mattress even the one night...I'm trying to block it out because EWWW.

I'll get to workin' on the next installment later today, I'm in the process of organizing the trip pics and uploading them to my webshots page so I can order prints and get to workin on my photo album! See y'all lata!

 

[daisy_77]

I have not had the pleasure of riding a bus and after reading your experience I am sure that I never want to. I am so happy that you all made it to Disney ok and that you enjoyed DTD.
I am looking forward to hearing all about your first day at DL!

 

[KC #1DH]

Hey Guys KC Ichiban DH Here and I just wanted to post my pov on some of the events of our trip to DL. (.....Kat you so owe me.....)


Dia Uno!

So its the crack o dawn, about the time I usually go to sleep and I'm up and surprising enough Kat is out and about, I think I should tell her we are going to Disney more often to get out on time.

De plane De
plane!

Now I have flown only a few times but nothing longer than from NY to Florida (about 3-4 hrs) So I was quite curious how this would be. Over the rockies, across the states, Ipod in one hand and my Nintendo DS (cheap plug) in the other with my lovely wife (cheap plug) in arms I was set ready willing and able to fly to Colorado first and then a stone jump across Cali.

It sucked. God did it suck. First to United Airlines I say: I'M FAT DARN IT! or at least chunky! Those seats don't work I'm Puerto Rican and I got a badonk-a-donk.
To Apple I say: I want my ipod to play my audio books properly!
To Nintendo I say: No more cheap labor
To my wife I say: I'm walking to Cali next time!

It wasn't that bad, at least in the rockies I received a cool beverage from starbuuuuu....Seattle's Best know as the Cherry Blast (I think). Quiznos was good, and the airport was scary because It felt like it had a population of 36 (37 including the escalator), then again I don't venture out of NY much.

Needless to say I was happy to end up in Bakersfield (a amazingly smaller airport compared to Denver, Population: Tarmac) and in something traveling at something remotely closer to the ground with more leg (n badonk-a-donk) room.

This was my part of the vacation. I get to relax do as little as possible, enjoy the company of some great people.

O and I saw cows on my way to Dori and Fred's. WoW!



Day 2: Operation Mixed Trails

Here we are in the outback of Visalia and croiky I just saw a llama!

We ain't in Brooklyn Dorthy! So we woke up early, Easily achieved due to our uncanny ability to remain in EST (for the first few days) take that Wolverine!
And foraged for food in this location now known as WinCo. It is not know who put it there and why it is there now, but the natives seemed to find it extremely useful. And the Cheezy Chex mix rocks to the chest!
Then off to Sequoia! We saw trees I fell in water, Kat laughed I cried.
I guess that was day 2 in a nut shell!

I should prob focus more on the Disney aspect of the trip rather than Chex mix and the Gods who founded WinCo.

So Ill shimmy my way into the Hotel Room at the Desert Inn.

The Actual Disney Part

First I want to say good job to my Disney Queen on finding a Hotel so close to the park I can roll pass security (Kudos on the Denny's too!). The room was about the size of the rooms in WDW and I was in awe of the bed, which we would later smite due to the feeble excuse known as the mattress. The room was large enough to fit a king size bed and a love seat without kissing the walls. Needless to say I like getting up without the threat of a rogue night stand wishing to trip me and steal my nuggets in the moon light.
We were able to even see some of the fireworks from the stairs of the hotel.
At least Kat was keeping me in mind by finding a pool. Nothing like a late swim after a lovely stroll through DTD.

Speaking of which, It was weird to be there. I guess I expected it to feel more like Disney World but It was very different. I did love the street performers with their classic Spanish guitar and blues though. However it being DTD I guess it isn't suppose to be all that themed anyway.

I guess Ill let the DW catch up before I reveal too much!

TTFN

 

[Goofster57]

KC,
Great to read your input,

I like to read about how two people can go on the same trip and see things differently, of course we know which side of the couples tell the true story...just sayin

Keep up the good work

 

[KatGarcia]

Let me start out by saying I am by no means a morning person! We decided that because of the crap day of travel we had the night before that we would use our early entry on this day, our first day in the parks. We got up at 530 am, showered and were out the door by 630 and at the gates before 645. The convenience of the hotel was great; it was one hotel away from the stop light directly across from the entrance plaza. I was in heaven the second I saw this:

I took these while waiting in the line:

This is the center of the plaza between the parks, I thought it looked nifty.

The lines weren’t too bad, I’m guessing because it was a Tuesday morning. We got in at 7am. On the way up main street (which was a really neat place with the same vibe as The World but different all the same) we grabbed our first photo pass pics: (Please note is was early and I hadn’t had any coffee yet! )

We headed to the ity bity castle. It weirded me out the whole time we were there that I couldn’t use the castle as the landmark from a distance. How did Snow White and the seven dwarfs fit in there?? Maybe they should think of moving in with Cinderella in Orlando, she has room to spare! It was a pretty castle tho, I love me some castles, and it was just odd for it to be so small. We walked thru said ity bity castle, straight into Fantasyland and right onto Peter Pan. Peter Pan was our first ride last trip to WDW and it was cool that it as our first here as well. I love this ride! It seemed the same to me as its counterpart. We then walked onto Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. I was so excited to ride this and it didn’t disappoint. It was very cool. There were like 2 people in the line with us, literally 2 people. Early entry was looking to be a great idea! Then we rode The Alice in Wonderland ride. It was a trippy as the movie! The line for The Matterhorn is right as you come out of Alice so we hopped on there. We rode the fantasy land side. This was a fun coaster! It jerks you around quite a bit and goes pretty fast. I know there was a yeti in there somewhere but I was too busy having a great time scooting around to really remember it. And folks, it was still 730am. We saw the line for Nemo…did we go for it? Heck NO! I won’t wait that long for a ride! Physically I can’t stand still for too long because of my back so it was a bad idea all around with waits of at least 2 hours. So we decided to head to the rope drop for the rest of the parks and make our way to Frontierland. We had a 5 minute wait and we headed in with a bunch of other people. We went straight to my favorite ride in all of WDW, BTMRR! We walked on. My thoughts? This one rocked the socks off of the one on Orlando! It was faster and had 3 drops! Soooo awesome! Still my fav! We headed to the very cool looking Haunted Mansion.

DH was super excited to ride Pirates so we went there next. Another walk on! I swear this day spoiled us for the rest of the trip! We LOVE, LOVE, LOVED this ride! DH is still talking about it! We even got a giant shot glass with the logo on it and on the back it has lines going up that say:
2oz Swabbie
4oz Deckhand
6oz Swashbuckler
8oz Pirate

Too funny! Being able to go thru the Blue Bayou restaurant was really cool too and it made us very happy that we had PS for lunch later that afternoon. When I heard there was a place to eat in the ride I knew I had to go there. The restaurant wasn’t open yet because it was so early but we did ride it again later and with people eating there it really felt like you were in the movie or something floating thru there. I can’t say enough about how much we loved it. By the end I turned to DH and said “That beat the pants off of the one in Orlando!!!” It has dips, and we got wet and it was just somehow better!
We went to the Jungle Cruise next. I love this corny ride! Some of the jokes were new, but ever corny, just the way it should be! It was basically the same except for these:

Next we headed for Indiana Jones, which was a 15 minute wait. I think it took longer to walk the queue than to ride the ride! We had some seriously obnoxious girls in front of us so as soon as the line split I bit the bullet and waited on the longer side just to not have to ride with them! This ride jerks u around so much I found myself yelling “ouch my butt!” the whole time! The end is really cool and worth the butt beating I took. LOL! This ride, much like Dinosaur, would not be ridden by me again. I like them both but the ride vehicle was too jerky for me!

It was about 10am by this time and we were a bit hungry so we went to The Riverbelle Terrace because it was right across from Indy. We decided to share a breakfast since we had lunch PS at 130 that afternoon.
We had a “Mark Twain” and a Cinnamon Roll and some OJ.

After a much needed food break we decided we had enough time to check out California Adventure for a while before we head back for our PS.

I was most excited to go on the Monsters,Inc. ride. I have just recently seen that movie and I fell in love with it! The ride was really fun! We video taped it, at some point I may put up a video-but don’t hold me to it!
Here’s the awesome outside of the ride and the purdy fountain!

To be cont...

 

[KatGarcia]

We went right over to Muppets 3-D, which we have never gotten to at MGM. It was really cute. We just love those 3-d shows! By the way we walked on both of these rides as well! Next we went to the wharf and did the tortilla factory tour. Not much of a tour but you get a yummy hot tortilla at the end so I can’t complain about that! We figured do the bread factory tour as well and we got some free sour dough bread on the way in. This tour was pretty cool. I am a baker and I enjoyed watching how they made the bread. It also didn’t hurt that one of our favorite comedians Colin Mocherie was the host of the video playing! Then we went to It's Tough to be a Bug. I love this show, esp. what happenes at the end...you know what i'm talking about if you've been on it. I allowed my inner broadway dork to come out and had Dh take this pic of me...

We strolled around a bit and then headed back towards DL again. We decided to take the train to New Orleans Square and then figured we had enough time so we sat down and rode it all the way around enjoying the scenery and the train itself. It was a nice way to relax before our lunch. Can you believe all this has happened to us before 1pm??? I could barely believe it. But we got to our PS and had to wait a few minutes before we could check in. We got it at 130 exactly and were seated somewhat close to the kitchen but right along the view of Pirates. We had a great server, Dave, who really knew his stuff. We each had some mint juliep to drink. It was yummy and very refreshing on the hot day! After finding out from Dave that the jambalaya was very spicy we went with sharing the prime rib and having the semi spicy gumbo as the starter.

The food was yum-o! The meat was well cooked and the sauces were awesome. The gumbo was a bit spicy but really tasty. It was an expensive meal even tho we shared it (the total bill was around 40 bucks) it was worth it to eat inside the ride at least once.
After lunch we were stuffed and tired so we headed back to the hotel for a much needed rest and to figure out what to do about the mattress from H E Double Hockey Sticks. So we called the front desk and they, for some unknown reason, sent the maintenance guy up. He looks at it and tries to tell us they never get complaints about the mattresses and that they are all booked up. I told him plainly “I’m not a complaining type person but I can not sleep for 5 nights on a mattress that bad because I won’t be able to walk because of my back problems.” I was ready to whip out my MRI and Dr paperwork I brought with me (in case it got bad and I needed a wheelchair) but he told us he was going to speak to the managers and see what he could do. All the while we are really tired and trying to take a mini nap- me on the couch and DH on the end of the bed that was smushy. Then the phone rings and they tell us they are going to bring us up a new mattress- Great! So we figure it’ll be a little while and settle down to sleep and what happens? KNOCK-KNOCK! So much for the nap! It was our new mattress so I can’t complain that much. It took a lot of figuring because apparently the old mattress (which looked more like a non fluffy pillow compared to the new one) was a weird size. They ended up turning the whole frame around and finally it fit. I thought we’d have to sleep sideways but I told the guy I didn’t care as long as it was comphy and it was. So another call to the manager and we were left with our new mattress! YAY! We gave up on the nap and took a walk around to see if I could find me some real iced coffee. Now here in NY McDonalds has some really good iced coffee so I was hyped to get some at the one up the block. Apparently it hasn’t made it to the west coast cause I was out of luck! So we walked down the other way to see what was around and we found a spot called “The Coffee House” that had Seattle’s Best Coffee and they had my beloved Chai Latte so I was in a better mood after that! With yummy caffeinated beverages in hand (DH had a frozen white chocolate drink, he’s not a coffee drinker) we went back to the parks. We went into DL and decided to check out the 50 First Magical Years. This was so neat; I really enjoyed the exhibits and the movie they showed. It was cool to know Steve Martin worked for Disneyland in the magic shop. Here are some pics from the exhibit:

This was such a neat pic.

Here’s a close up- it’s made up of all little Disney related pics! DH took like 5 pics closer and closer…it really was a cool thing to look at!

A model of the castle

A model of the property layout.

Then we headed to Tomorrowland and hopped on a line for one of our favs, Buzz Lightyear! I did way better than usual, but DH is a hardcore gamer and serious about his shooting! When we finished they had a neat feature- where you get your picture you can email a copy of it to yourself! We sent it to DH’s email. How cool is that?? Wanna see it? Of course you do! Please refrain from making any laughing noises when you see how badly DH beat me by…

We checked out Innoventions next. It’s real weird how it looks like The Carousel of Progress but it isn’t it. It is more up DH’s alley so he wandered around and checked things out while I relaxed on a bench. He drooled over the Xbox 360’s and their huge screens to play on. After we mopped up the droll and DH had tinkered enough I got him, VERY reluctantly, to go to Small World.

Now let me just say, since I was a kid and went with my family to WDW I loved this ride and for some reason it holds a special place in my heart and I HAVE to ride it every time. DH is not so into it but being the spiffy hubby that he is, he comes with. This Small World was far from small however, it was huge!

My thoughts on this ride? It looked shabby. It just wasn’t as magical as it should have been. I could see wires and chords and a rib in the fabric showing an exposed light at one point. I was disappointed. I just think it needs a rehab and it can be great.

After that we were pretty much beat since we never got a nap, and we were hungry. Rather than spend a pretty penny in the parks we headed back to good ‘ole Denny’s for dinner. We need more country fried steak and white gravy on this coast! When we got back to the room and got into bed I was so relived to be on a comphy mattress! Not to mention I knew it was clean now so that helped a lot too! What a first day huh?

Next up- Breakfast with Lilo & Stitch and Drawing Classes.

 

[LITTLEKID58]

 

[KatGarcia]

So where were we?? Parks-Day 2! Wednesday. We were up, again, at the crack of dawn (i.e. 630am). After seeing how much we got done getting up early you couldn’t have paid me to sleep late today! We decided to check out the continental breakfast offered at the hotel on our way to the parks. It was a limited as I had heard. It was only Danishes (which were good) and toast and coffee and OJ, and oranges and bananas too. It was fine with me because we had breakfast PS so it was fine to grab a Danish and coffee (a Danish and OJ for DH) and be on our way. We were at the gates at opening at 8am. You would think the lines would move faster because they don’t have the whole stick your finger on the thingie system, they just scan the ticket, but it seemed slower somehow. I was disappointed to not see any morning characters running around Main Street. We rode the fire truck from the front of Main Street to the castle. Each day we took a different transport this way. I found it relaxing and nice. You beat the crowd because they have to get out of your way and it’s a nice way to get to where you are going in the morning. We also learned from the driver that Walt himself used to use the fire truck to drive around the park! Neat trivia I thought! It was really cool meeting the drivers of all the vehicles, they were really knowledgeable. So after getting to the castle we headed to Tomorrowland since we didn’t really do anything there. We scurried over to Space Mountain. Boy does that queue take forever to walk. We walked right on and the trek to get there was brutal! So many of the queues are outside, which is strange to me because I’m used to WDW and the inside or at least covered lines. I loved this ride! It was faster and cooler with the music that its counterpart in Orlando. It was also really neat to be able to sit next to each other. It was very dark and hard to adjust your eyes; I spent the whole time searching for sights in the dark. DH on the other hand, felt nauseous the whole time. He got funky from the first burst of backwards angles lights and said he needed to keep his eyes closed the whole time. After the ride we took a pic of the pic from the ride (thanks u disboards for that awesome tip!). Here we are…

Here are some PP pics from that morning.

Next we headed over to Autopia. This was soooooo fun! I always let DH drive because in real life I’m the only one with the license! And we had to capture our traditional pic…

I took some pics as the passenger…

We call this one “LA TRAFFIC”

We decided to take the monorail over to DTD to walk to the Paradise Pier Hotel for our breakfast with Lilo & Stitch. From the monorail platform we saw this:

Good luck to you all who waited, we settled for a pic!
FYI it’s a hike to PP hotel from there! It’s a good thing I’m an over planner and we left early. We got there at about 945 for our 1030 PS but it was very empty so we got our buzzer and were seated like literally 2 minutes later! We were seated in the boonies! I don’t know why because there were a million empty tables closer to the buffet. The nice thing is they give u a button that says “Aloha Breakfast with Lilo & Stitch” or something like that; I thought it was a cool touch. It was a nice place and the food was yummy. DH loves anywhere that has an omelet station, so he was quite happy. He told the guy to put everything in it and the only downside to that was the jalapeños but he lived! I had a shrimp and cheese omelet- YUM! Of course there were characters to be seen and pics to be taken…

(We also had pics with Lilo but they were kinda dark)
This is my fav:

We had a funny encounter with Stitch; he decided to have his own breakfast…

That guy was so not happy! He was on what sounded like a business call and I thought it was great what Stitch did because if you don’t wanna see characters then don’t eat there! While we were there a guy proposed to his girlfriend with the help of Stitch and Lilo as well! Of course, she said yes!

To Be Cont...too many pics....

 

[Goofster57]

Great Up-Date Kat,

Enjoying all the pictures.

Be glad you aren't here this week, temps in the triple digits.

looking forward to more..

 

[Eventer98]

Great start Kat! Can't wait to hear more!!!

 

[DisneyJo]

Hi Kat was that you on the all ears newsletter? I saw the name and thought I know her Good tip BTW

 

[KatGarcia]

Hi Kat was that you on the all ears newsletter? I saw the name and thought I know her Good tip BTW

YEP it was me!!! I was so excited! LOL (I'm such a dork i know!). It was the best tip I learned so i figured send it in, and it was there in the very next newsletter!!!


I'll be back to updating prob this weekend...tonight we are heading to a party and tomorrow I'm going for a very late birthday lunch with a good friend and Friday is DH's payday which means a group trip t the bar with his coworkers...so I won't be here until the end of the weekend i think! Have a great July 4th everyone and a great weekend too!!!

 

[blue_river]

Hi Kat!!!

Just letting you know I'm jumping on board your second trippie.

I will catch up over the weekend and be back with comments.

 

[KatGarcia]

Hey All! I should be back sometime this weekend with some more... we had a little mishap yesterday and spent all day in the ER! DH had a pallet full of wii's (he works for Nintendo) dropped on his right foot!! It was about 800lbs and it was a long day at the ER but nothing is broken they say. Once the swelling goes down they will prob take another xray and see. So far he's ben sleeping for 11 hours on one lovely pain killer! LOL! So he will prob be able to add more of his particular brand of colorful humor to this TR since he cant move around much!

Thanks for stickin with us!

 

[DisneyJo]

Hope he gets better

 

[Goofster57]

Kat,
Sorry to hear about KC #1DH's foot, hope he has a quick recovery, well not to quick it would probably be nice to lay around the house for an extra day or two with his lovely, caring, adoring wife waiting on him hand and foot.

 

[KatGarcia]

Well quick update.... the foot is getting better! We went to see Harry Potter and he was on crutches so that was interesting. To make a long story short he is no longer employed..so I haven't been on because we have been figuring out WTH we are gonna do...it's been interesting but things are getting better now and sort of back to normal. He has an almost entry done for this TR so hopefully it'll get posted soon and I will get crackin on the rest of ours too! Thanks for hangin around y'all!!!

 

[daisy_77]

I am glad to hear that your DH's foot is better! But I am sorry to hear about him losing his job. I hope that you all are doing ok and you are in my thoughts.