My 21st Birthday Trip to Disneyland and Las Vegas!

[PoohBear1988]

Welcome to my trip report of celebrating my 21st birthday at the happiest place on earth, Disneyland!


Some background info:

I’ve been planning this trip for around a year now, this time last year, just before my 20th birthday I decided for my 21st I wanted to spend it at Disneyland. I was a bit worried it wouldn’t become a reality but here I am only days away from making the journey from Australia to Disneyland and I'm so excited!!!

I’m Danielle; I’m from Australia and live about 2 hours north of Sydney. I commute to Sydney for university, I’m about to start my fourth and final year of my Bachelor of Education to become a primary school teacher. I've been to Disneyland 3 times – when I was in yr 5 (1998), yr 7 (2000) and year 9 (2002). My parents actually went without me or my brother when I was in year 12. I have been doing lots of planning, and was so grateful to find the DIS!

My boyfriend, who will be coming with me is Chris, 21. We have been together just over three years. He hasn’t been to the USA before so I'm really excited to be able to share his first experience of Disneyland with him!

Trip Details
- We will be leaving Australia around 1pm Wed 14th jan and arriving LAX 1pm Wed 14th. We have a stop over in Fiji for a couple of hours as it worked out to be around $2000 cheaper
- We have 14 day park hoppers so we are staying 15 nights at the carousel inn to make good use of them!! Our last day in the parks will be wed 28th Jan. We have one magic morning to use
- While staying at Anaheim will be going to universal for a day, doing a tour of la and attending a taping of the Ellen show
- We are spending a couple of nights in Las Vegas before flying home
- We plan to do LOTS of shopping!! I was very lucky to buy US dollars when it was around 95 cents (it’s now around 70cents) so we want to visit a few places around Anaheim like The Block at Orange, character warehouse as well as factory outlets in Las Vegas etc
- As we have so much time to spend in the parks we will be able to have afternoon rests, so we will be taking advantage of that!
- Possibly going to upgrade to AP while there, we will have to decide whether we will be able to go back in dec of this year, not sure if we can afford it – I really want to so it’s up to Chris, I’m sure once he is there he will want to come back!

 

[PoohBear1988]

Itinerary

14th – Arrive LAX, go to DTD and Target down the road , get settled in and have a good nights sleep!!

15th – Attending taping of Ellen. Catch train to LA in morning, spend some time looking around then catch train to Universal City Station and bus to Warner Bros Studios. We will hopefully get back to Anaheim around 10-11pm

16th – first day in Disneyland!! Get to gate early. We don’t really have any touring plans as we have 11 days to explore the parks we definitely won’t be rushed for time, so just make our way through the parks. Go back to hotel for a rest in the afternoon and then return for the night

17th – My 21st! Get my funcard, we have a ps for Blue Bayou for a late lunch (I have never eaten there) and pretty much do whatever I want! Lol

18th – Day in DL/CA, possibly catch a bus to some shops

19th - DL/CA

20th – DL/CA

21st – Walk in Walts Footsteps tour in morning, DL/CA rest of the day, possibly go to shops

22nd – LA Tour – will be a full day tour so no DL

23rd – DL/CA, possibly go to shops

24th – DL/CA

25th – DL/CA

26th – DL/CA

27th – Universal Studios

28th – Last day at Disneyland

29th – Catch bus from Anaheim to Las Vegas

30th – LV

31st –LV

1st – Fly from LV to LAX then LAX to Australia via Fiji

3rd Feb – arrive home

 

[goofycathy]

This trip sounds so fun! Cant wait to see your TR! Have a great time and remember to take and post lots of pics!

 

[PoohBear1988]

Yay! a comment, lol. thank you - I will!

 

[maryr1oz]

Yayyyyy a fellow Aussie!

I can't wait to hear all about your trip, i hope you have a great time! I took my fiancee for his first trip to the US in 2007 and we are planning our honeymoon back there in August this year... i'm sure you will be able to convince your boyfriend to get back there!

Well done on changing the money at the right time too... i wish i had thought of that.

 

[PoohBear1988]

thats so cool you're going on your honeymoon there!

i love reading trip reports from other Aussie as well....its a completely different perspective! i hope you do one in August!

yes, i was very lucky with the exchange rate! my boyfriend wasn't tho, lol. he didnt have the spare money to do it at that time, so he waited...oh well!

 

[dalepool]

Might it be cheaper to get each of you an annual pass rather then having 14 day passes? You never know you might decide to go back the next year. Have a fun trip --and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!

 

[PoohBear1988]

Thanks for stopping by! thanks for the birthday wishes!
we already have our 14 day day passes, and we are definately thinking about upgrading to AP's, I'm just waiting until Chris gets there for him to decide! at the moment he is a bit hesitant about paying another few thousand dollars each to go again, but im sure once he is there he will want to go back (and here's hoping to cheap airfares from Australia to LA later in the year!)

 

[PoohBear1988]

Well its currently Tuesday morning in Australia which means this time tomorrow we will be on our way to the airport!
I have so many things to do today! including 2 assignments (its summer holidays over here but i decided to enrol in a one week intensive summer uni course rather than having to do it over 13 weeks during semester...seemed like a good idea at the time!! i forgot about having to do assessments, and the exam is a couple of days after we get back!)
So once i finish these assessments i need to finish packing, sort out all my notes i've been making all year, and decide what to wear on the plane!! i'm really not excited about the plane trip!! although the plane trip home will be worse!
I'm so excited to be going back to Disneyland and to share it with my wonderful boyfriend

 

[maryr1oz]

Have a great flight, will you be updating while you're away?

If not, have a fantastic trip! Enjoy the cooler weather and good luck converting your boyfriend!!

 

[PoohBear1988]

yes, we got a little netbook to take away with us (to keep in contact with parents and load photos onto, and its a good size to take to uni ) so i will be updating while we are away!

im very much looking forward to the cooler weather!! these hots days are awful!

thanks!

 

[LucyDingo]

Hi! I'm joining your report! I'm very excited for you. you'll have a fantastic time!! (We'll be in the park on a few of the same days as you.)

Can't wait to read your report and see photos!

 

[PoohBear1988]

Hi! I'm joining your report! I'm very excited for you. you'll have a fantastic time!! (We'll be in the park on a few of the same days as you.)

Can't wait to read your report and see photos!

Thanks! Will you be wearing a LGMH? If so, i'll look out for you! I have one i made at home (printed one off the computer that someone posted once, not the right shade of green, but seen as we can't get them in Aus it will have to do!)

Can't wait to read your trip report as well! Hope you have a great time

 

[LucyDingo]

Thanks! Will you be wearing a LGMH? If so, i'll look out for you! I have one i made at home (printed one off the computer that someone posted once, not the right shade of green, but seen as we can't get them in Aus it will have to do!)

Can't wait to read your trip report as well! Hope you have a great time

I don't have a LGMH. But you can see photos of my in my pre-trip report. My name is jill. Feel free to say hi if you see me. We'll be in the parts the evening of the 21st, all day the 22nd, and all day thr 25th.

 

[PoohBear1988]

I don't have a LGMH. But you can see photos of my in my pre-trip report. My name is jill. Feel free to say hi if you see me. We'll be in the parts the evening of the 21st, all day the 22nd, and all day thr 25th.

I'll be on the look out! i added pictures of chris and i to the first post!

 

[Sarah84]

Sounds like a fantastic trip, well i have well and truely missed you now and you are no doubt have a fab time in California.
Happy birthday for today, hope your trip is everything you hoped & more and enjoy the rest of your holiday. Look forward to hearing all about it

 

[PoohBear1988]

We are at Disneyland now....wont have much access to internet, so will post report when i get home.
Having a great time! Parks have been busy the last few nights, so we have just waited for the fireworks (they were cancelled tonight but we were right in front of the castle at the very front on sat! so awesome!)
Chris is really enjoying it so im really happy! We are having the best time!
Will update when i can!

 

[stich626]

Hope you are having fun! Happy Birthday!

 

[PoohBear1988]

Well we just arrived back in Australia! tired, i did manage to sleep on the plane on the way home which was good, but i ended up getting sick for the las vegas section of our holiday (and all the smoke didnt help!!) so im a bit run down...and i hated all the food in america!! haha its just not what i am used to in Australia so im craving 'real' food!

The holiday was awesome though! i had the best time at disneyland, i cried when i had to leave!
some highlights:
- my birthday was great - loved the attention, lunch at blue bayou was very nice (one of the few meals that i really enjoyed) and the fireworks were amazing
- on the 23rd jan Chris proposed to me in front of the "and they lived happily ever after" at animation studio....of course i said 'yes' so that was very exciting!
- we loved the animation studio, we learnt to draw so many characters! it was great when we wanted to do something but have a bit of a rest too
- rollercoasters...i loved them all!! but chris didnt...haha they made him feel lightheaded
- the fireworks we saw twice while there and they were so beautiful! well worth the wait for a good spot.
- carousel inn - great room, had no complaints, close to the park and would stay there again
- did sooo much shopping!! we had 4 suitcases between us and they were heavy!! didnt even do shopping in vegas as we couldnt fit anything else into our bags.
- minnie and friends bfast was lots of fun! as one of the first in we got attention from the characters first which was great, even chris had a really good time!
- universal studios was good, very quiet,,,walked on to all rides.
- had fun at the ellen show even though it was an effort and a half to get there, we got to see george clooney so it made it worth it!!
- caught lux bus to las vegas....would highly recommend! so comfortable! served drinks and nibbles, only problem was having to get from flamingo to excalibur with our luggage, had to get a cab as they couldnt drop us off at the hotel

Thats it for now, we took so many photos and i need to get started editing our photopass photo's and settling back into home!

 

[wazowskiLOVER:)]

Sounded like a FANTASTIC time !!!

I'm so glad you had lots of fun

Get some rest and we'll all definitely hear from you soon !