Mouses, and Pirates, and Pooh Bears... Oh my!

[livandemsmom]

Back in October, I convinced my dh that the time was right for our first DL trip. We went to WDW in 2007 and I definitely needed a mouse fix. If I had a dollar for every time I had priced a dis vacation between 2007 and now, this trip would be paid for! But he finally conceded.... And we put a deposit down.

The first 5 months went by in slow-mo but the days are going by really quickly now so I thought it was time for a pre-trip report.

One of my good friends was planning to go to WDW this spring so I was excited to tell her about our DL plans. She was excited for us too. Then a couple of days later she asked if I would mind if she took her family to DL too ( she grew up in AZ and went often.). I of course said no - that would be fun to share planning ideas. Then she asked if I cared if they went at the same time as us. I got really excited about that!! It's going to be so fun for us Kansans (my family with 2 girls and hers with 2 boys) all to be together in the Land of Mouse.

So here's our cast of characters:
Me, 39, School counselor and mom of 2 lovely girls
DH, 42, loves to travel but prefers a relaxed pace on vacation - maybe next year , favorite part of our WDW trip was the food and restaurants
DDO, 11, adventurous free spirit who is up for anything
DDE, 6, was 11 months old last time we visited the mouse so she is ready to meet some Princesses
DF, 39, my friend, we were brought together by our kids in kindergarten and boy am I glad
DFH, ?, I'm not sure how old her hubby us but he's a kid at heart and a bit of an adrenaline junkie
K, 12, a cool kid who likes typical boy stuff like sports and Star Wars
R, 10, one of my daughter's best friends and a fun guy to be around

We decided to book through small world vacations. I know there's other ways to book but I liked the fact that our vacation was packaged and I could make monthly payments on it (note the school counseling job). The only thing we paid for outright was plane tix. Also didn't want to use a credit card so I simply divided our balance up by 8 months and made a payment each month on payday. Worked for us!

Next up.... The big reveal - how we told our kids we were going to DL together!

June 1-7, 2013

 

[livandemsmom]

I am a big fan of The Amazing Race and we wanted to come up with a fun way to tell the kids we were going to Disneyland. We also wanted to wait until Christmas so that the extended family could buy gift cards for the kids for gifts. So we came up with the Amazing Race idea. We all (my friend's family and mine) went out for pizza after church the Sunday before Christmas. At the end of the meal, we had the waitress bring out their first AR clue. It led them on a race around town searching for their next clue. The kids were clueless - clueless about what was going on and why we were racing together. My youngest thought we were racing around town trying to find Santa Claus. At the end of the race, they each found a gift wrapped for them. When they opened it, they got "We're going to Disneyland" Mickey ears and a Disney calendar with a countdown on it. It was a fun way to let them know we were all traveling together. At that time, it seemed like it would take forever for the trip to arrive.

 

[CrAzY4DL]

Super cute!! We're going the first week of May, I'm with you, feels like it went s-o-o-o-o-o-o-o slow but not time has sped up, woot!

Subbing in!

 

[Goofy_Mom]

what a fun reviel. I'm doing the waiting game now. can't wait to hear how it goes

 

[livandemsmom]

Just returned from our trip yesterday. Overall it was every bit as magical as we hoped. Planning to start on a tr today!

 

[livandemsmom]

On June 1, we got up bright and early at 4 a.m. and took the shuttle to the airport for our 6 a.m. flight. We had a small commuter plane to Houston and then a much bigger plane from Houston to John Wayne airport. Because of the time change, we would arrive in Orange Co. around 10:30 a.m. and still have lots of time in the parks!

Here are my two dd's up at 4 a.m.

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[livandemsmom]

Our flight from KC to Houston was horrible. For me anyway. In those small planes, you feel every drop bump and jump and boy, did we have lots of those. Our pilot let us know that due to storms, our turbulence would be an 8 out of 10. I'm pretty sure the 10 stood for plummeting to our death. My DH as always remained totally unfazed but for at least an hour and 15 minutes of our 2 hour flight we experienced big-time turbulence. After a particularly bad patch of dropping and diving, the girls started to get scared. There were only 2 seats together in our plane and the girls had asked to sit together so DH and I were behind them. We assured them over and over that it was just like driving in the rain - thank goodness they couldn't see me - sheer panic on my face I'm sure. I think DH was just praying I wouldn't totally lose it. We finally landed but much later than planned, so we did the airport terminal change spring with our two kids and lots of carry-ons. Didn't have any time to worry about the next flight though - which went much better!

Finally, we arrived safe and sound in beautiful California.

It only took about 10 minutes in John Wayne airport to get our checked bag and get to the Super Shuttle pickup (all prepaid through Walt Disney). After a brief shuttle ride, we were dropped off at Carousel Inn. Check-in was quick (prepaid again) and they locked up our luggage. We walked next door to McD's for lunch and then headed to DL!!

Crowds were surprisingly light so we did all of the classic DL stuff - Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Tiki Rooms with Dole Whips, Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, and Small World. Around 3:30, we headed back to our room to settle in and had dinner at Mimi's Cafe (one of our best meals btw - great servicee). After dinner, we played to call it a night but... who can stay in the room when DL is across the street? So we went to CA. Walked right on to Soarin, walked through Muppet Vision, and Monster Inc. Watched the Mad T Party concert and let the girls have some fun in Bug's Land. On our way out of the park back to the hotel, we met the one and only Mickey Mouse! What a perfect way to end our first day!

The girls were begging me to get FP for one of the thrill rides that day but I explained to them that I felt like I had already been stuck on Tower of Terror for an hour on our flight and that was enough thrills for me that day!