My very very VERY delayed trip report.....

[Zoemakes5]

Beginning with the end...I am so very sorry that it has taken so very long to post. You all helped me so much in planning or brief, but exciting trip to DL/Palm Springs/Las Vegas last year that I feel guilty not posting before now. And then, the guilt kept me from posting, but then I finally decided it was time and I was just going to do it. Since getting back, I've had pneumonia twice, was hospitalized with ectopic rupture, had x-mas, a funeral, and all sorts of other things going on. So, although this is late, I hope I'm forgiven!

 

[Zoemakes5]

This was a real treat! Because we fly with 5 of us, I like to get there early. I got off work a little early, got the van packed up. Tried not to scream like a banshee at my kids who I had been warning all week to get their stuff ready as they were going so they had everything. I do get somewhat short tempered at those times , and it's not uncommon to hear me say, "I don't really care if you have xxx, I've told you the last week to make sure you have what you want, and if you want xxx you should have it taken care of." We finally got everything loaded up. The van was full to overflowing, as both my Mom and step-dad took us to the airport, so it was 7 people, and luggage for a 10 day trip! We got there nice and early, got checked in, and then sat and waited, and waited and WAITED. Well, you get the idea. Actually, our plane was more than 2 hours delayed coming in, and we were about 2.5 hours late taking off. I now thank god that he gave me the foresight to purchase three way splitters for the headphones for the portable DVD player, because this is the only thing that got the kids through. (I have a really cute pic of the three of them, laying out on a blanket at the airport watching a movie!) But the delay stressed me to no end, as the car company that we rented from closed at 12am. We ended up getting to Las Vegas airport at 11:39 and DH and all the kids RAN from one end of the airport to car company. We got our luggage afterwards.
There honestly is nothing quite as fun as lugging (yes, now I know why they call it luggage) all the suitcases, bags, backpacks, purses, etc. along with three tired, crabby and hungry kids through an airport and the shuttle over to the rental facility. But we did it.
The minivan was GREAT. It was so cool. I think it was a newer model caravan. The "trunk" had a cut out, so all the luggage fit in the way back without obstructing the view at all. The middle seat had captain's chairs, and the kids really liked that, too. It drove very smoothly and had a really nice sound system.
Anyway, I digress. We drove up the strip a ways and the kids ooh'd and ahh'd over all the Las Vegas lights. We drove into a late night mcdonalds drive through to get the kids something to eat and then we drove off to the border to our hotel.
We got to Whiskey Pete's hotel at the border of CA and NV at about 2am. Having not been there in years, I was quite impressed. The rooms were very large, the beds very comfortable. The only thing I didn't care for was the lack of water pressure in the am.

 

[Zoemakes5]

The baby princess decided that even though it was after 2am when we went to sleep that we still needed to be up at 8:30. We got up, slowly got ready, had breakfast at the mcd's in the lobby and then headed out.
The drive went really well, I was very surprised. We got to Corona around 12:45 (I was really surprised at how fast we got there.) Even though I was armed with the corona locations for ChickFilA, we missed the turn off and couldn't seem to get back very easily. I was so bummed! We went to (you guessed it) Mcd again. Traffic was very very light until we got to the intersection of 91 and the Garden Grove Fwy. When we got there, I decided to take the garden grove because I remembered that Katella went all the way through. Ended up being a good choice, as there was an accident on 91 blocking traffic. I also liked that it meant a right turn onto Harbor and we'd be on the right side of the road for the hotel. We drove by the Angels stadium and the Duck pond, and the boys were excited at seeing both of them.
We got to our hotel, the Anaheim Plaza Hotel at about 3:00 pm. We checked in and started unloading some stuff. You know, even though this was an older place with outside entrances, I loved it. We got a family suite (which was really just two connecting rooms. It had four beds and two bathrooms and a fridge. The beds were comfy. My gang didn't want to go right to DL, which disappointed me greatly. The boys wanted to go to the pool, and the baby princess, who woke us all up early wanted to take a nap. So, I unpacked more stuff and dozed while she slept and the boys played. We finally set out for DL at around 5:30.

 

[Amy&Dan]

I am enjoying so far!

 

[Zoemakes5]

**thanks amy&dan for your response, been busy at work (my primary computer) and haven't had an opportunity to work on it much.***

So, the Disney-holic that I am, I'm frustrated getting to DL so late. Grr. But, we're finally there!! My cousin (who's 22) and her friend met us over there. When we arrive, there are just too many people around the Mickey to get pictures, so we go right to Main Street. And, the holiday parade is coming! So, we quickly climbed to the top of the RR stairs and watched the parade. Zoe was so excited by the whole thing. She kept jumping up and down and waving and calling out. And it was "oh, look there's Minnie, oh, it's Cinderella" for each and every character she recognized. Even DS2 was smiling, and one of the characters who was higher up waved at him and he enthusiastically waved back!
From there we jumped on the train and went to Frontierland/Adventureland. We walked right on to the Winnie the Pooh ride, which I liked okay, Zoe loved and the boys were bored with (even though DS1 is a pooh fanatic.) I honestly thought it wasn't quite up to Disney standards, but was still a hit for it's intended audience. We spent about 30 minutes in the Pooh shop afterwards, though. I could have spent ALOT of money there!
We got pressed pennies from a couple of locations in the area. When we walked out of the shop both Pooh and Tigger were standing there. We got there before they were thronged and got a few great pic's. Zoe and DS1 had their autograph books out, but unfortunately, the big pen that I had just purchased in the Pooh store didn't work, so we didn't get the sig's from them.
Then the family just HAD to eat, so we went to Hungry Bear. Took forever to get the food, AND it cost a minor fortune, but, I have to say the food was great and served in huge portions.
From there we went over to the Pirates. Everyone loved the Pirates. Yay! Then, the boys, my cousin and her friend went on Indiana Jones while DH took Zoe onto the Jungle Book. I was a bit bummed, 'cause I really like the jungle cruise, but I thought the lines would take fairly equivalent times. Everyone loved I.J.! Way crazy ride. I'd been before, but forgot how fun it was. When we got off the ride, DS realized he left his fanny pack, so I went and got it while everyone else went to the treehouse. (Side note, isn't it amazing, that with all the bells and whistles of most of the rest of DL that one of the perennial fav's is still the treehouse!?) We then kinda ran over to Tomorrowland (it still feels wrong to have the rockets there to me!) and we were able to walk right on to Buzz. (Yes, I'm very aware that we were extremely lucky walking onto all these typically long-line kind of rides )
After Buzz, we got a good place to watch the fireworks, sat there and waited only to have the announcement come out that due to high altitude winds there would be no fireworks.
My non-Disney-holic family then complained about how tired they were and wanted to go back to the hotel. I couldn't get even one of my kids or my cousin to stay at the park with me.
Even though the hotel is very close, it was a LONG walk back to the hotel, with DD wanting to be carried alot. Everyone fell like logs though and slept very well.

 

[Zoemakes5]

Day three begins. It's bright and sunny. The kids and I are up at 8:30. I had done a bunch of packing the night before so that we wouldn't have so much to do that morning and could get ourselves over to see the mouse nice and early! (Can you tell I'm anxious to spend more Disney time?! )
Well, (a) couldn't get DH to move very early and the kids once again wanted to swim. Even though I quite calmly explained to them that we were going to see nana and papa late that night and we'd have all week to swim at the condo, they just weren't buying it! They'd been cooped up with MN winter too long by then, I guess. While they swam, I got everything loaded up into the van, and the moment they got back, I got them dressed, but their bathing suits in a plastic bag and dragged them over. It's now 12:00 and at this point, I'm seriously considering a trip all by myself next time!
But, we get over there. After picking up a stroller and putting Zoe's princess outfit and the sweatshirts and stuff into a locker, we went directly back to Fantasyland. We went on the carousel, then went back to small world . Oddly enough, it's the longest wait that I've ever had at Small World, and I've been there for x-mas week, Easter, and Thanksgiving before but I got some great pictures (one we used for our x-mas pic's) of the kids in front of Small World. Unfortunately, we didn't have english speaking people around us, otherwise I would have had someone take a pic of our entire family. Everyone loved small world, and Zoe wanted to do it again and again.
We then went to Toontown and did some of the interactive stuff and then the kids went to stand in the long long long ride for Roger Rabit. Zoe had to go to the bathroom, so she and DH left the line and the cm wouldn't let them back in, so they didn't go on it. I purchased pizza while we waited (also very expensive, but just so so on taste and temp., not bad, but not good either.) Oh, and I used the "trick" learned here on the DIS that even though they list it as a combo, you can order just the entre. (My kids just don't each need a salad, and my DH doesn't need two salads just because he wants two pizzas.)
We then wandered over to tomorrowland. We got fast passes for Buzz, but the fastpasses for Star Tours was closed, so we weren't able to get them, but we figured no one else was either, so we went ahead and got in line. We only spent about 30 minutes in line at ST. Zoe was brave and came on with us and other than a brief moment of concern when we were first being "shot at", she loved it too. When we got done, we went on Buzz. I didn't realize that you could actually get pic's emailed to yourself from that ride, but we waited in the extremely long line to do so. After Buzz, we had the best cm experience of our trip. I had purchased lanyards and pins at mousepinsonline and ebay for all three of the kids, and they had been trading the entire time. But DD really really wanted a Belle. Her fav. color is yellow, and she is very enamoured of Belle. Although we could buy one (which I almost did) we all looked hard to find one to trade. There was a CM (male and older nonetheless) at the store that we empty into after Buzz who went out of his way to find one for us. She got a beautiful one and she was so appreciative. Her little face just shined! We just had time for a quick ride on Autotopia before we had to move on to DCA. The kids thought that one was "crazy" and Zoe couldn't stop talking about all the crazy drivers. The boys wanted to go back again.
We went back to the lockers and headed over to DCA after that!

 

[Zoemakes5]

Well right after we get into DCA, my darling daughter finally decides to take a nap. I'd been working on it all day long, and she just wouldn't go down. We get into DCA and the sun is setting and it's a little cooler and zonk! This wouldn't have been an issue, except the entire reason we're at DCA at that particular time is that in 15 minutes Zoe and Mommy have dinner scheduled with the princesses, and Zoe does not yet have her Sleeping Beauty costume on! So, we walked over to Soarin' and got fast passes. I was frankly a bit surprised that there's no openings until 9:20, since we got there at 5 and the park was VERY quiet, but that's okay. We start walking over to Ariel's Grotto, and I have to wake up "sleeping beauty" to get her dressed for the dinner. Boy was she crabby! But, once she actually saw what we were doing, and that it was just mom and Zoe, she was excited. The boys went wandering, and as best I can tell, they really didn't "do" anything while we were gone.
We timed dinner pretty well. Right after we got our appetizers, the first princess came out and our table was the first table that they went to! And, the way Zoe was sitting her back was to the princesses as they came out, so they would all of a sudden just "show up" on her right side. We had a special princess autograph book with slots for pictures on one side and spaces for autographs on the other and she got each princess to pose for a picture and sign her book. (BTW, once we got home, we put the pictures in the slots and she took it for show and tell at preschool and then slept with it under her pillow for about a month! ) My food and drink were actually very good. I had the pot pie. The service was not the absolute best, as they kept returning more quickly than we were done with each course, but took forever to do things like refill our glasses. But, they were quite pleasant, very nice, and the princesses were great! I liked the ambience and I wouldn't have wanted to be out on the deck, though it seemed like it had been a popular choice. It took too long for the princesses to get out there, and they had less time with each table by the time they did. I did see a few very unhappy little girls who got their tables right after the princesses had left our area. They do cycle back around, so I'm assuming they would have gotten to see them, but it's a bit of a bummer to see but not "get", especially when you have little ones and would prefer the whole dining thing to be shorter! It was also a bit cold in the restaurant. But, both Zoe and I had a great time and she was smiles and neverending talk about it for the rest of the trip (and then some!)
Gotta go now, will provide more later!

 

[Amy&Dan]

Still enjoying! I am impressed with how well you remember all of these details...

 

[Zoemakes5]

After getting done with dinner, we met back up with the rest of the family. We wandered around DCA a bit. We went on the rollercoaster, and I have to say it's one of the best around. The blast off at the beginning, WOW! Disney definitely did some great stuff there. DD went on the merry go round. We walked by most of the paradise pier stuff. Frankly, was pretty disappointed in Disney in that area. Seems like a useless use of space. Not up to Disney standards at all, or at least not in a theme park. We went on the swings, that was actually a bit scary to me. I'm so glad DD was too short to go on it! It would have freaked her out, even though she's been on swings before at other parks. The boys hadn't eaten (don't know why DH didn't feed them!) so we stopped at McD's in the park. Zoe loved playing on the little park near the McD. While they ate, I ran over to the store and got Mr. Potatohead pieces. I was kind of disappointed in the selection they had. They had lots and lots of pieces, but none that would complete a single character except for tinkerbell. They'd have Donald duck beak, but not the hat or outfit. Or other wierd combos. I still got a box full of stuff, as I had purchased Darth Taters for the boys and a traditional Mr. Potatohead for Zoe, and really talked up the whole disney pieces thing, so I had to do it. I was frustrated at how dark it was throughout the park and how few kiosks for drinks/snacks there were.
We met back up at 9:10 at Soarin' and were able to get in. Now that ride is a MUST DO! Wow! Zoe was a bit concerned at first, but she got into it right away. I loved the smells and sights. I'd love for them to do another one that's the US or the world.
I had really wanted to do Hollywood hotel and Muppet 3-D, but with my slowpokes, this trip it just wasn't happening. All in all, wasn't terribly impressed with DCA. I'd probably end up spending about half day there if I went back, or maybe part of two days. They didn't have the electrical parade while I was there.
We rushed back over to DL to try and see the fireworks, and we made it back near small world to get to stand in the snow and honestly, being from Minnesota, that didn't impress us much! But it was fun watching everyone being so excited. Once again the fireworks were cancelled. We went on Dumbo, the carousel again, Small World again, Snow White, Peter Pan, Matterhorn (all of us, even Zoe went on this one) in Fantasyland with almost no wait in any of them. Then my cousin took DS to Haunted Mansion while we took other son and DD to BuzzLightyear again. Then we went on Star Tours again--the last people let through the line, while DH and DS1 went back to the hotel to bring the car up to the turn around lot for drop offs. After going on the star tours, we wandered slowly out of DL. I was so depressed. I love DL and hated how rushed we were and how little I felt that we saw. It felt like a marathon session rather than "enjoying the magic." But, I DID get to go to the happiest place on earth! And, have converted my DD, so if nothing else she and mommy will be visiting the mouse!
We met up with DH and drove out to Palm Springs that night. We got in around 1:00, which was a lot faster than I remember it. The condo was gorgeous! I'll sum up the "next phase" of our trip in my next post.

 

[Zoemakes5]

We stayed in a 2BR lockout at Marriott Desert Springs with us and nana and papa. It was a beautiful condo. The lockout br had a nice whirlpool tub and lots of storage space. Just beautiful all the way around.
We went to the pool next to the clubhouse the first day and played there for quite awhile. We went there the next day, too, but found out about the big pool around the corner. Wow, that one was fun. It's multiple pools with a kiddy area with bubblers/fountains. It had a poolside bar (great raspberry margaritas! ) and a "cantina" with refillable soda mugs (which we did and saved a bunch of money!) and the BEST hamburgers and sandwiches and a great selection of ice cream.
The weather was beautiful. Sunny and warm, it was in the high 80's. We spent lots of time basically playing around the pool during the days.
Tuesday afternoon my brother and SIL joined us. They actually stayed at the Marriott hotel on Tuesday, though. We went over to the hotel for carolind and the lighting of the tree and other things. I honestly wouldn't spend time doing that again. LOTS of people, lots of sitting and waiting. The fireworks were pretty cool though.
Wednesday was a mad scramble for getting all the stuff ready for thanksgiving. My step-mom had decided that instead of going out for dinner or lunch that we would be better served making it in the condo. My SIL and her mom went to a nearby casino, my brother had to work, and my DH and dad went golfing. So, it was my step-mom, me, and the three kids at the grocery store and COSTCO the day before thanksgiving. Then we dumped the kids on to the men and went to the Honeybaked Ham store. Which wasn't that far away, but the main highway was bumper to bumper. It took us almost an hour to get there, about 35 minutes standing in a line once we were there, and then only about 10 minutes to get back (I went a different way!) Crazy! That night I think I drank a whole bottle of wine all on my own! DH and the boys went over to the clubhouse in the later afternoon and played in a texas holdem tournament. They all had a great time, and DH ended up winning! YIKES!
We had SIL's relatives over for dinner that night. We had pasta. I learned a game called Mexican train (a dominos game.) Way fun, and you can play with various age ranges and different numbers of players.
Thanksgiving we finally got DD to sleep in a bit and we were lazy. We had decided that we were going to eat later in the day, more like dinner time, so we went down to the pool (the neat one!) for most of the day. We ate the awesome burgers and hot dogs for lunch, and the adult beverages were on dad that day, so I went ahead and partook. (The drinking thing is a rare occurance for me, that's why I'm making note of it! On a busy week, I may have a glass of wine, but this vacation I had a bit of fun. Helps that my brother is a sales manager for Chateau Stte. Michele!) I helped step-mom get Thanksgiving dinner done and it was a great hit, we ate lots and lots of food.
Friday was back to the pool and some more golf. I also started getting a bit of the packing done. We made sandwiches with the leftovers. We also took a walk. Friday night the boys went to see Harry Potter and Zoe and I went to see Chicken Little. Big hits for all. SIL and step-mom stayed at the condo.
Saturday we rented bikes and all of us went riding. That was pretty fun. We stayed in the compound, though. I'd have liked to go further, but the others weren't interested. That night we went to the Living Deserts Walk the Wild lights. That was GREAT! I'd highly recommend it to anyone even remotely in the area to go see. Beautiful! We used to have something similar at the Minnesota zoo, but it didn't compare. It was well liked by everyone. Then we went out for some great mexican food.

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reports ~ Thanx for sharing.