(More than)A FIVE years of Trips! -- TR Started! Day One - updated 6/10

[kaoden39]

Wow sounds great.

 

[hurleysweety]

Wow sounds great.

Thanks!

 

[hurleysweety]

Due to a work commitment, I had no time to do any planning today. I did however pack. So I won't be naked in DLR - whoops, yes, that would be bad. Well, I kinda packed...I packed enough to keep me sastisfied enough that I had been productive today. Now its 11:45 PM and in 24 hours I will be in Anaheim. I have to work tomorrow, so not much more time to get things together. I'm actually kinda relaxed about it.

I think we'll hit DLR tomorrow night if we get in early enough. And by early, I mean 11 PM... Maybe we'll just walk around DTD. Or maybe DH will be Mr.Grumpy Pants and we'll just zombie ourselves up to the hotel room and find our way to bed.

I think I need to make these reports more interesting. I think perhaps I will theme my WDW report. Yes, its 3 weeks away, but thats 3 weeks worth of fun creative writing. Here is the link to my current WDW PTR - which has been ignored for quite some time. Mostly due to my lack of motivation to right it!

WDW Pre-Trip Report

 

[hurleysweety]

We're HERE!

With a "small" weekend "bag" packed...

And some light reading...

We were all set to go!

We left home around 4:45 and I predicted we'd arrive around 10 - 10:15 PM. And to my complete satisfaction of my competitive nature, we arrived at 10:07, and I naturally exclaimed, "I was right, I win!" LOL. We were so glad to be off the CA freeways and get some much needed rest and sleep (more so for DH - he was driving).

When we arrived at the Holiday Inn, our mood quickly changed. I'm currently writing this from a smoking room - gag. (Sorry to those out there that do, IMO I just don't like the smell). And its not one of their better rooms. Guess we were spoiled last time? Tomorrow DH will be up at the crack of dawn to switch our rooms to another King, but non-smoking, and hopefully facing the pool, not the freeway. We'll see...

Anyway, lets get a clear picture of this run-down room

Nice appearance. The bed pretty much takes up the entire room!

But then you notice the details

and weird tiny showers

with dirty floors?

Showerhead

Also, didn't snap a picture, but the picture on the wall in the bathroom was crooked so naturally I tried to fix it. Come to find out it was crooked because the hook was actually broken. I couldn't even get it to stay back on the wall. LOL

Looking forward to changing to a better room tomorrow. Trying to keep my eyes set on the fact that we'll be in the parks most of the time anyway. Ready to get rid of this smell (again, don't mean to offend, just personally not used to it or a fan of it ).

Goodnight!

 

[kaoden39]

I'm glad you made it okay. I hope you get a nice room today.

 

[tksbaskets]

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip. You won't spend much time in your room anyway

 

[hurleysweety]

I'm glad you made it okay. I hope you get a nice room today.

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip. You won't spend much time in your room anyway

Thanks guys! We just got back to our hotel after a morning at the parks and the front desk was so nice. We love the staff here! They said they even tried to call us when another king non-smoking was available - even though we said we'd do a double room if need be. They had everything all set when we came back and now we're just a couple floors higher and in a much cleaner room!

I'll update with pics/report later!

 

[kaoden39]

Thanks guys! We just got back to our hotel after a morning at the parks and the front desk was so nice. We love the staff here! They said they even tried to call us when another king non-smoking was available - even though we said we'd do a double room if need be. They had everything all set when we came back and now we're just a couple floors higher and in a much cleaner room!

I'll update with pics/report later!

Glad to hear that. Customer service like that is so wonderful.

 

[tksbaskets]

Can't wait to hear all about the fun you are having

 

[hurleysweety]

Can't wait to hear all about the fun you are having

Too tired to do a pic/detailed report. So here's a quick summary

We had a great day at the parks. It was MM but we arrived at 8 AM. We took a break at 2, went back at 4:30 with the intention of staying til close..but miserbaly failed and left right as the fireworks were going off. I was a little sad to be leaving for some reason, but so happy when I realized how much of a rush of people we were going to beat since we didn't stay and watch.

- Crowds have been very high!! I didn't think they would be this bad. The worse was from around 12 - 6.

- F&W is awesome and better than last year. We loved it!

- DH has said some great quotes today that I have to share
1. "Heaven forbid we eat a meal without taking a picture of it first."
2. "I can't wait til we have kids and a stroller so we can plow people too..."
3. "I'm buying shin guards tomorrow, no more getting hit by strollers!"

- Village Haus is serving the identical Tomorrowland Terrace menu for breakfast

- Pixar Play parade can easily be watched from the Pacfic Wharf Cafe eating area

- San Andres Shakes was finally open, but DH didn't want a dirt cup! Seriously...this place has never been open for us before and now that it was, he didn't want it

Ok - time for bed. Goodnight!

 

[tksbaskets]

Too tired to do a pic/detailed report. So here's a quick summary

- DH has said some great quotes today that I have to share
1. "Heaven forbid we eat a meal without taking a picture of it first."
2. "I can't wait til we have kids and a stroller so we can plow people too..."
3. "I'm buying shin guards tomorrow, no more getting hit by strollers!"

Thank you for the update and morning laugh I love your DH's quotes. I get #1 in a different form every trip. I look at other people taking pictures of their food and think, "oh, they must be a DISer too"

 

[Dizneydaz]

1. "Heaven forbid we eat a meal without taking a picture of it first."

I get this all the time too! And now I've started taking pictures of non-Disney meals as well. Just got back from San Fran and had to take pix of our food there-only sit down meals though, I drew the line at Jack in the Box.

Sorry about your room but glad they made it right. Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip! Can't wait to see your pix!

Have Fun!

 

[hurleysweety]

Thank you for the update and morning laugh I love your DH's quotes. I get #1 in a different form every trip. I look at other people taking pictures of their food and think, "oh, they must be a DISer too"

Haha! You're welcome. I'm always looking for others taking pictures. Usually I don't see anyone and DH makes fun of my security-blanket-like attachment to my camera on my wrist all day, ever day throughout the trip.

I get this all the time too! And now I've started taking pictures of non-Disney meals as well. Just got back from San Fran and had to take pix of our food there-only sit down meals though, I drew the line at Jack in the Box.

Sorry about your room but glad they made it right. Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip! Can't wait to see your pix!

Have Fun!

Thanks! Too funny about Jack in the Box - sometimes I've taken pictures of our egg mcmuffins for breakfast before the park, but I never post them. I think, "Most of these people reading this can go get one 5 minutes from their house - how lame I took a picture of it" but at the time, I think "this is so important to remember so I should take a picture!"

I've started taking pictures at other meals too! Even when I make something myself and its just amazing (I love gourmet cooking and am becoming more of a foodie every day). DH just rolls his eyes and then I exclaim I'm going to start a food blog so I need some good stock archive photos before I can begin... Ya right, I don't have time for that - but a girl can dream!

 

[hurleysweety]

Well - with all my intention of updating pictures, my computer has decided not to. Well...the internet here and photobucket don't mix, my computer has them loaded just fine. But either way - no more pictures until I get home. Sorry!

Some quick things from today:

- Even when you're cold and wearing a sweatshirt you can get a nice little bright red chest of a sunburn, even if you tan easier than anyone else you know.

- Small World is by FAR the best place to watch fireworks, thanks to a tip from a very nice local I met in line while waiting for a F&W seminar! I didn't catch his name but he seemed pretty on top of everything so if you're out there, THANKS!

- "BAT Day" is just fun to watch! While some make me a little bit uncomfortable, most were very friendly. And I commend anyone who can walk in those type of shoes all day!! And for reference, at noon they take a big group pic in front of the castle and all kinds of people try to take pics. Its so crazy that the horse-drawn carriages and other transportation actually takes a break while this goes on.

- To take a great nap/break from your day, hop on the Disneyland RR, ride it to Main Street (or all the way around). Then proceed to Great Moments with Lincoln and take the actual nap. Never felt so refreshed after an attraction. Thank you for bringing it back DLR, could you update the seats next time?

- If you like ESPN, our hotel is not for you. Go figure, lots of channels, no ESPN at Holiday Inn Anaheim Resort.

- 13 hour days with no plan, and no priorities can be amazing. We went on maybe 5 rides today, 2 seminars, and made our day all about eating and doing "whatever we felt like." A year ago, I would have never set foot in the park with out a touring plan, dining guide, times guide, and map.

- It was crowded, way crowded. Beyond what normal springtime crowds usually are - 80 minute wait for TSMM for most of the day! Later, there was a 30 minute wait for Splash at 8 PM - not so weird except it was cold and windy. Also, Matterhorn was again long all day. Soarin' was running incredibly slow today. All FP were gone by 2 or 3, with a 70 minute standby. We had FP and still waited a good 10-15 minutes.

- We've eaten at Rancho del Zocalo on every trip and it remains our favorite. Atmosphere, value for food quantity and quality (we split the Carne Esada and Enchilada Plate), refillable water, and heaters outside during colder weather.

- Wahoo's fish Tacos was the best seminar we've been to for F&W. We got an full size taco for our "sample" and the demonstration was from one of the brothers that created Wahoo's. It was wonderful!


Can't wait to show you all pictures. We have one more "day" tomorrow. Mostly will be TSM first thing (tried today but it broke just as people were approaching the ride, how convenient), then me single rider screamin . We'll probably pick up our free 5x7 prints and then take off...so sad. Last trip to DLR for a long time. I think, sooo sad to say, that we are burnout. But the memories were great, the fun was always new and surprising each trip, and the value was priceless.

Goodnight!

 

[tksbaskets]

- "BAT Day" is just fun to watch! While some make me a little bit uncomfortable, most were very friendly. And I commend anyone who can walk in those type of shoes all day!! And for reference, at noon they take a big group pic in front of the castle and all kinds of people try to take pics. Its so crazy that the horse-drawn carriages and other transportation actually takes a break while this goes on.

Hi,
Don't stress about the pictures you're on vacation~ We'll love seeing them when you get home.

What the heck is BAT day?

Enjoying the updates! When my DH retires perhaps we can go to the F&W festival there too!

Standing by for day 3

 

[hurleysweety]

Hi,
Don't stress about the pictures you're on vacation~ We'll love seeing them when you get home.

What the heck is BAT day?

Enjoying the updates! When my DH retires perhaps we can go to the F&W festival there too!

Standing by for day 3

Bat day = Goth day. Basically its a weekend of people who wear all that dark, goth like clothing with a mix of bat symbols, Renaissance-like-tim-burton-style clothing and rather creepy makeup. Depending on the person, they're just interesting to watch, but like I said, some take a little to far IMO for a family theme park. I don't mind because I don't have kids, but I'm sure there are some people there that were a little shocked and unprepared!

We're leaving today - how sad. We're going to the park to snack our way silly, at least that's the plan. We'll leave early afternoon, giving us only about 3 hours in the park. But I think we're ready to go home - and I think I'm ready to be in full fledged obsessiveness for planning our WDW trip.

TTYL ya'll later - back in AZ!

 

[tksbaskets]

Have a safe trip! WDW is our next vacation too

 

[Dizneydaz]

We're leaving today - how sad. We're going to the park to snack our way silly, at least that's the plan. We'll leave early afternoon, giving us only about 3 hours in the park. But I think we're ready to go home - and I think I'm ready to be in full fledged obsessiveness for planning our WDW trip.

TTYL ya'll later - back in AZ!

Oh yeah, let the planning begin! Winging it at DLR is fine but I wouldn't want to do it at WDW

Hope you had fun today. The weather was great and the crowds should have been so much less.

Drive safe!

 

[hurleysweety]

Have a safe trip! WDW is our next vacation too

Yay! We're back, kinda sad and bittersweet. We were ready to say goodbye as we couldn't think of anything we hadn't done in the past year (with some exceptions...like a stay at a concierge level - a girl can dream!). But even DH was sad as we left today, but happy that we did it. Our second year of marriage will always be remembered by our DLR APs Aww...mushy mushy..moving on...lol

Oh yeah, let the planning begin! Winging it at DLR is fine but I wouldn't want to do it at WDW

Hope you had fun today. The weather was great and the crowds should have been so much less.

Drive safe!

Thanks! We were safe, although there was a bad accident at the CA-91E/Spruce St and all lanes were closed, so we had a slight detour. For those that don't know (like us, until today), Spruce St is right before the interchange to the I-215 South, where we needed to go! Luckily, I have google maps on my phone and we found a route to the 215 S and it wasn't too much out of the way. But for awhile, it was a bit scary with all the backed up traffic . Also, there were all these signs saying the CA-60 was congested too, but they were wrong, it was a normal drive through there to the I-10. And we made good time!

 

[hurleysweety]

Monday was much less crowded. Here are some thoughts from today:

- As suspected for any business, less guests, less staff. Well, today DLR could have used a few more CMs. The tram line was way backed up - as was the parking garage area. After you get your pass, they had every lane (about 8 in all) merging into one before you even turn toward the Pinocchio parking area (the one outside), WITHOUT anyone directing the traffic. And frankly, people were just being ignorant and playing dumb. Kinda a sad way to start your day.

- One of the trams was "broken" or something and off to the side. When we arrived at the garage it was 9:03. By the time we were ready to line up at the gates to DCA, it was 9:29. We were on the first tram that was available. Yes, they were that slow. Really not on top of their game today, took forever to leave the tram area and at that point, we watched tons of people enter the tram lines. They still were only running one tram, and one loading side when we got there. As we disembarked, they were getting another tram ready - this really backed some people up.

- Once inside the gates we go our spot right behind rope drop. After waiting our 1/2 hr we power walked over to Toy Story Midway Mania to find out the 2nd day in the row, it was closed until "later". When we left the park at 11:15, it was still closed. This was making for some angry guests after waiting for 1/2 at the gates, 1/2 hr at the rope... Glad we did it Sat!

- We ate at Rancho del Zocalo again. We couldn't bring ourselves to try anything else when we knew something we wouldn't be back for awhile.

- If you're going for food and wine, make sure you're there Fri, Sat, Sun as those are the most event-heavy days and also include Jr. Chef. Today the seminars didn't start until 1PM, and there were only 2 wine/beer seminars as opposed to 4 on the weekends.

- All three days they were serving corn tortillas at Mission Tortilla Factory. Being hopeful today, DH got his birthday button (his bday is Fri, we're not cheating here), to get a pack of flour tortillas. Thought process *2 days of corn, possibly cheaper to make for higher crowds, they should have flour today with less hours, lighter crowds* We were wrong!

- California freeways are a little scary, luckily I'm not the one driving. Applause to all of you who do every day!

- We left for home right as DH wanted to, in the car by 1 PM. Got home around 6:45 - even with our slight traffic upset - made dinner and desert (susie homemaker here ). No unpacking yet as I have tomorrow off, and why put that off?

The TR and pics might start tomorrow - we'll see how the day goes. No promises yet!


Thanks for reading!