Nothing to See Here...

[mvf-m11c]

I was born before they took away the monorail cafe. I was born in '95. When did they take it out?

I believed it was around 1998 to 1999 when the Monorail Cafe closed. It was during the DCA expansion in 1998. I really missed the Monorail Cafe and I always love to have breakfast there before my family and I go to DL.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

I believed it was around 1998 to 1999 when the Monorail Cafe closed. It was during the DCA expansion in 1998. I really missed the Monorail Cafe and I always love to have breakfast there before my family and I go to DL.

It was after I was born because my sister remembers it. Anyway, I loved the old pictures!!

 

[skiingfast]

I believed it was around 1998 to 1999 when the Monorail Cafe closed. It was during the DCA expansion in 1998. I really missed the Monorail Cafe and I always love to have breakfast there before my family and I go to DL.

It was after I was born because my sister remembers it. Anyway, I loved the old pictures!!

I'm not sure when the doors officially shut but did see that the building was torn down in 1999 to make DTD. The Rain Forest Cafe took its place.

Took some digging but there is a little article about that part of the DLH being removed in this yesterland link.

http://www.yesterland.com/dlhotel-the-end.html

I think a few more historic pictures in there will complement Sherry's thread very nicely.

 

[Sherry E]

Thank you, Bret and skiingfast, for answering Kaitlin's question about Monorail Cafe. And thanks, skiingfast, for the link! That makes me very nostalgic for the old Disneyland Hotel.

I couldn't remember exactly when Monorail Cafe closed - I knew it was still open in 1995 and 1996. Then a few years passed with no DLR trips for me - - but by the time I returned in 2000, the Monorail Cafe was history and DTD was just about to officially open. DCA was not quite open yet (I don't think). So I knew that Monorail Cafe had to close sometime during that massive overhaul between 1996-2000, and that's also when they relocated Goofy's Kitchen to another spot in the DLH, I think, and cut off all the extra shops and restaurants that the DLH used to have. Also, inside Disneyland they had cut off the whole indoor seating chunk of Carnation Cafe, which is now going to be reinstated.

I guess the late '90s saw lots of big change at DLR, just like the phase we are in now at DLR - lots of big changes. I am sad to see certain things go, yet at the same time it's exciting to see new things appear at the parks and hotels. I just wish Disney could find a way to bring back the Monorail Cafe to the DLH (especially since the new Monorail-themed pool area is there)! Or the PPH! Or somewhere! (It wouldn't make any sense in the GCH, though.) That was a great place to eat for middle-of-the-road food - table service, nothing fancy, but a step above counter service food and lots of good choices on the menu.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Your welcome.

The last time I ate at the Monorail Cafe was back in 1996. I knew that it was still open during that time, but I still don't know what year or month that it closed officially during the construction. I would like to see the DLR bring back the Monorail Cafe around the DLH or PPH just like you said Sherry. I missed eating there every morning when I was staying at the DLH or the former Pan Pacific Hotel which is called the PPH.

 

[Belle Ella]

The things you learn, lol. I am not so well versed on what used to be where. I blame my parents for not taking me to Disneyland enough as a child

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

I loved the old pictures. I've never seen most of it since I was not around in the 70's and the 80's.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

I loved all of your TRs and old pictures. It's too bad I wasn't around.

 

[Sherry E]

Welllllllllllllll...................are any of my TR peeps (past or present) still out there? Roll call! Michele? deej? TK? Marie? Jessica? Jillian? Kaitlin? Molly? Tania? Bret? amamax2? Laurie? PHX? Liza? I could go on and list everyone - and I know I am forgetting people - but you know who you are! And I know where to find you! Muahahahahahahaha! I will chase after you, wildly waving my lethal winter scarf and my peppermint cone of death and you will not stand a chance! Be afraid...be very afraid.

If I can help it, I don't like to post too much in this TR unless I actually have something to say that can pass for an update on DLR plans...or any kind of plans, really. Plans to see friends. Plans to visit Catalina. Plans to go to the supermarket. Plans to do my laundry. Plans to watch TV. Plans to go to the ATM. Plans to clean the kitchen. Whatever plans you want to know about, I'll tell you!

But I sort of feel like I want there to be a clear and definite 'end' (a.k.a. gap of time a.ka. break) in between each trip so folks don't get sick of me! (Okay, you can all keep your comments to yourselves now!) Because of this I end up forgetting to reply to people who have so kindly posted in my thread!

So...time for an update! Or a non-update. I'm not sure.

​

I am hoping to have more solid information to share by the end of this week, but here's what's what for now:

1. Disney Visa Debit Card - Sadly, my Disney Visa debit card stopped earning reward dollars 6 days ago. That didn't last long. I got the Visa last year to begin earning points, and in a year Chase decided to stop all Rewards programs for debit cards. I didn't even have a chance to really accumulate too many dollars - I feel like it was over before it even started! So, once my final, pitiful tally of Reward bucks is posted (probably in the next 3 days or so), I will have them transferred over to the redemption card and then buy a gift card or something. I prefer to transfer as much Disney-dedicated money over to gift cards as possible, because the gift cards will not expire, which comes in handy if any DLR trips happen to fall through (it's not like that would EVER happen in my life, though, now would it?).

​

2. Annual Pass - I had a sense of pride the other day as my monthly Premium Annual Pass payment was taken out of my account. I realized that I only have 3 payments left on this AP, and then it expires on November 13th, I think. That's right - only 3 more payments! I can see the Promised Land!! Then it dawned on me - what am I getting so excited about? If I plan to renew the AP - which I would have to do before the end of November, if not before - I'm just going to start a new payment plan! So, really, there's no break in the payments for the most part. And yet I felt relief in knowing there are only 3 installments to go. Does that make any sense?

​

3. Catalina birthday day trip - Well, as you may or may not recall, I was planning to visit my beloved Island Valley of Avalon on my birthday - which is in 3 days - with the free Catalina Express round-trip birthday pass that is being offered as a promo for Catalina Express' anniversary this year. Catalina is my second favorite place in SoCal (betcha can't guess what the first favorite place is, huh?), and, woefully, I haven't been there in years.

So guess what? My intended Catalina day is only 3 days away and I'm not sure if I'm going!! I bet you're not suprised, based on how my DLR plans usually go!


AND, you also may remember that this was going to be a year of madness, with all kinds of friends coming into town and DLR trips in the works, etc.

Well, one group of friends is in town at this very moment. I'll call them the G Family. We were planning to get together and they asked what I wanted to do (as a birthday outing). I suggested going to Downtown Disney just to eat or wander around. Nothing extravagant. Maybe a character meal if we were feeling really daring. But my friends don't want to go to Downtown Disney because their young son will wonder why we are not going into Disneyland.

So, instead, they figured it would be a good idea to come with me to Catalina.

Here's the thing - I kind of had my mind set on doing a solo day in Catalina. I had begun to embrace that idea. I planned to wander the Island, take tons of photos (which I cannot do when I have people with me) - and you know I can get on a roll with pictures - commune with nature, tool around in a golf cart by myself, sit and stare pensively out at the ocean, pondering the meaning of life, etc.

Even aside from the solo trip idea, I was going to play it by ear and see if the weather would be too hot for me. If it was going to be what I felt was too hot and uncomfortable for me, I would just cancel the trip. No harm, no foul. It's been years since I've been to Catalina, so even though this free boat offer is a great deal, it won't be the end of the world if I skip it and just wait until a time when I can go there for a few days.

So when the G Family suggested that they come with me to Avalon, instantly I felt overwhelmed. It's a BIG difference going from a mind set of being solo to planning to be with 5 other people - yes, 5 other people. My friend, her husband, her elderly mother and her two young sons, one of whom is less than 2 years old.

Don't get me wrong - I love my friend. I last saw her 3 years ago. She and her family are wonderful people and she has been an awesome friend to me. And they are not flakes like other friends - if they say they are going to do something, they will do it. They probably wanted to be with me so I wouldn't be alone. But I just can't have the same kind of trip with 5 people as I could by myself. They are two different experiences and I have to be in different frames of mind.

Now I was in the position of having 5 other people waiting on me to decide if the weather was going to be too warm for me. When it was a solo plan, I didn't have to answer to anyone about that.

I told my friend I would go if she really, really wants me to go, but honestly, I am so preoccupied with some other things going on right now that I kind of lost interest in going. I'm not 'feeling it' the way I should be right now, and I kind of don't feel like bothering. I'm sure I would have fun once I was there, but right now it all seems like a big hassle. I would still get together with her, of course, for dinner or something, but I just don't know if I am up to a day in Catalina. I'd rather wait until I can go for a few days.

If I go to Catalina on Thursday, I have to book a shuttle to take me to the boat dock by tomorrow. My friend is in town now, but I haven't heard from her in a week. At this point, I have no clue if they are still planning to go to Catalina whether I go or not, or if they are waiting on me. I don't want this to be a last minute frenzy, but if I go, it may turn out like that. I pretty much left it at that I would go if they wanted me there, but I was not really feeling it.

So now I'm waiting to hear from my friend to find out what she wants to do!

For the record, the weather and temperature looks like it will be okay for me on Thursday, but my mood is still not much different.

​

4. Halloween Time DLR trip - The PIN code I got ($163 for the PPH) must be claimed by Wednesday - two days from now - or it expires. The hotel dates it covers are 10/16 - 10/31. I wanted dates earlier in October so my Halloween visit would not be so close to my late November holiday extravaganza, but DLR must be expecting larger crowds in the first half of October and, thus, they offered me those dates.

I started to think that maybe having a hotel room would be good for me if I go to the Halloween Party. That way I can stay later and then just come back to the room to crash and go home the next day. Still, it was not my plan to go to DLR in the second half of October so I needed to rethink things. So I started to ponder....would I go on October 18? October 21? October 25? October 28? Or maybe....here is a WILD thought...what about going ON HALLOWEEN night?? I've always figured that I would eventually do the MHP on Halloween, so why not now?

Well - and you may have already guessed that this was where I was headed -I deduced that the only way I could really swing a hotel for HalloweenTime this year (as opposed to just a day trip) is if I DON'T go to Catalina. The money that would be spent on a shuttle to get to the Catalina boat dock would be a large chunk of what would be due for the hotel.

It would probably have to come down to one or the other - Catalina on my birthday or staying onsite for the Halloween party instead of making a day trip.

Needless to say, when I hear back from my friend and the G Family about what she wants to do for Catalina, I will know what I am doing for HalloweenTime as well, hotel-wise. I don't think they would send me another PIN so soon if I don't use this one by Wednesday, so this would be my only shot, most likely.

​

5. Christmas Time at DLR 7-night/8-day extravaganza - My other group of friends who I will call the I Family - the much flakier group who can't seem to stick to a plan - have gone back and forth a few times with whether or not they are actually coming out here. For a while it was a definite yes....and they were going to stay in my PPH room for a 2-3 nights. But then my plan that I was including them in started to feel more like their plan that they were including me in. I invited them, not the otherw ay around. I would be going whether they go or not, but I invited them to join me and stay cheaply onsite - even though I didn't really want to share my room with 3 other people.

But suddenly my friend/the I Family started planning which other friends were going to be coming on which days and joining us. They had invited other people - friends of theirs that I don't know - to show up on one of the days, even though I have not seen my friend in 10 years and need plenty of catch-up time. She worked out some sort of plan that she probably thought was a compromise, and it wasn't that it was a horrible plan but I felt like involving more people in it than necessary on MY trip was going to complicate things. I kind of wished that my friend and the I Family could have just left well enough alone and been happy with joining me at DLR. But they were kind of looking at it as their child's first big trip to DLR, which attracted all kinds of interest from their relatives and pals, rather than "We're joining Sherry on her trip."

I kept saying to my friend/the I Family, "I understand you are probably getting pressure from all sorts of people to tag along at Disneyland, but if you tell them you are coming along on my trip, that will change. It's all in how you say it. If you say that you guys are going to Disneyland, that's all they hear and they all pile on. If you tell them I invited you to go to Disneyland with me, that will stop people from insisting they tag along and you can then play it by ear and determine if there is time to see them later.....Blame it on me - tell everyone that your annoying friend Sherry has not seen you in 10 years, that she is your old Disneyland buddy, she invited you along on her trip, and she wanst to hog you all to herself. I don't mind - just blame it all on me. Tell them I am being pushy and greedy and obnoxious and you can't get out of it."

It's really true - it's all in how you phrase it. People generally will not insist in showing up somewhere or tagging along if you tell them you are going somewhere to which you were invited. But my friend simply told everyone that the I Family was going to Disneyland, and so everyone they ever met wanted to join in and be there for every minute to watch my friend's son meet his first characters.

Sigh.

So MY holiday trip was radpidly becoming about the I Family, and I felt like they couldn't be happy just seeing me (after 10 years) and our little group of friends (Shawn, Jackie - the usuals). That, and my friend felt pressured because everyone wanted to see her son experience Disneyland on his first trip (not the second nor the third nor the fourth trip) and she couldn't say no, so she was trying to make it all happen....but it was just stressing me out and making things more complicated. The only good thing for me was that it sounded as if the I Family had decided to stay in their own hotel.

If you recall, the I Family is also the family who was going to be out here on May 8 and we were going to go to Goofy's Kitchen...and then my friend decided to invite "everyone" to go there too....which is when I backed out and said I would skip it.

So, last I heard, the I Family is still supposedly planning to come out here to SoCal in late November (they have to because they have air miles that will expire after that), but I have no clue if they are going to Disneyland, if they are going with ME to Disneyland, if they are staying with me or in a separate place, if they are going to have 100 different friends and family members with us or them, etc. I just don't know.

What I DO know is that I am getting an awesome deal at the PPH for the holiday season, and I could be splitting that cost with someone. If I had someone else stay with me for even just a couple of my nights, I might be able to keep my entire 7-night reservation rather than cutting off two days.

I could invite a DIS'er to stay with me. Most DIS'ers who would be able to get to DLR for late November/early December would LOVE this deal. I believe Molly/Bumbershoot threw her hat in the ring for possible roommate status a long, long time ago, though I don't know if she'd still be able to do it. But lots of people would take $58 per night (including tax) at the Paradise Pier Hotel, in the middle of the glorious holiday season.

Anyway, the only reason I am pointing this out is that, although I didn't want 3 other people in my room for more than a couple of nights, I think my friend and the I Family are out of their cotton-pickin' minds if they pass that up simply because they can't agree to come with me and leave the other 100 people at home. There are other people who would gladly jump on the deal!

So I am not going to wait too much longer for my friends/the I Family to decide what they are doing. If they have not given me a definitive answer on what's happening by August, I will start planning solo - or looking for someone to be a roomie for part of the time!

​

This has been a tremendously tough year in terms of finances. Not that it isn't normally difficult for me, but I wasn't anticipating a major computer crash to throw everything off, such as little things like work and money!! That was a major setback. I'm keeping a good attitude, though!


In case anyone out there thinks that the all moderators on these Disney planning boards get special favors from Disney or go to DLR or WDW all the time, that may be true in some cases but believe me, there are plenty of us who are struggling just like everyone else out there and we have plans that we have to cancel or reassemble just like you!! I feel like my whole TR has been a series of 'will she be able to go or won't she be able to go' stories, so it's such a big deal to me when I finally get to DLR because these trips do not come easily!

​

 

[kaoden39]

I'm here!! Front and center!!

 

[funatdisney]

I am here!

Oh Sherry. Life is a roller coaster, isn't it? And with friends like the ones you have described here in your TR (good intentions or not), don't help a lot either.

I hope you can get to Catalina Island, but if you can't, at least you can go to MHP instead. Not is all not lost, right?

As for the Christmas trip, all I can say is... frustrating! That has really gotten out of hand with your friends making it about them and their needs. Maybe, you will get lucky and they will book a hotel for themselves. I hope that trip will work out to your benefit and you can have the visit you want and deserve. If you need some DIS'ers to join on some nights, I might be able to go. Just ask when the time comes to make that decision.

Keep up your good attitude. It will get you through a lot of tough times.

 

[deejdigsdis]

Here! *while dodging a wildly waving lethal winter scarf and peppermint cone of death*

I was just thinking about you (well, your tooth, specifically) yesterday. My 3 boys were wrestling and DS8 bumped his mouth on the floor. He has a very loose tooth and somehow the tooth got twisted around. The back is now the front, and it is now going horizontal instead of vertical. (Such a pretty picture, huh?) It's kind of jammed in that space and not budging at the moment. Anyway...it made me think of your tooth and I wondered how it was holding up. Not that yours is twisted around backwards and is now horizontal instead of vertical. Just wondered if it was still painful.

On to your updates...

I am thinking that for your first time back to Catalina after all these years, it might be best to have a solo trip so you can really soak it all in and enjoy taking pictures. It's too bad that the dinner suggestion in DTD didn't work out, but I can understand the hesitation and concern about the younger son wondering why they weren't going to Disneyland. So I assume this child has been to Disneyland before? If he was in DTD would he know he was right next to Disneyland?

It would be nice if you could have your longer solo Catalina trip at another time, do dinner at DTD with the G Family, have an overnight HalloweenTime/MHP visit, have your I friend and family to yourself {with the usuals of Jackie and Shawn -- by the way, did Bridgitte (sp?) ever move back?} while they book their own hotel room, and then enjoy your 7 night-8 day extravaganza to yourself -- while maybe sharing a few nights with 1 DIS'er (as opposed to a family) so you can still have your space. All in a perfect world where money was no object. That's my 2 cents.

Keep us updated!

 

[Sherry E]

Welllllllllllllll...................are any of my TR peeps (past or present) still out there? Roll call! Michele? deej? TK? Marie? Jessica? Jillian? Kaitlin? Molly? Tania? Bret? amamax2? Laurie? PHX? Liza? I could go on and list everyone - and I know I am forgetting people - but you know who you are! And I know where to find you! Muahahahahahahaha! I will chase after you, wildly waving my lethal winter scarf and my peppermint cone of death and you will not stand a chance! Be afraid...be very afraid.

If I can help it, I don't like to post too much in this TR unless I actually have something to say that can pass for an update on DLR plans...or any kind of plans, really. Plans to see friends. Plans to visit Catalina. Plans to go to the supermarket. Plans to do my laundry. Plans to watch TV. Plans to go to the ATM. Plans to clean the kitchen. Whatever plans you want to know about, I'll tell you!

But I sort of feel like I want there to be a clear and definite 'end' (a.k.a. gap of time a.ka. break) in between each trip so folks don't get sick of me! (Okay, you can all keep your comments to yourselves now!) Because of this I end up forgetting to reply to people who have so kindly posted in my thread!

So...time for an update! Or a non-update. I'm not sure.

​

I am hoping to have more solid information to share by the end of this week, but here's what's what for now:

1. Disney Visa Debit Card - Sadly, my Disney Visa debit card stopped earning reward dollars 6 days ago. That didn't last long. I got the Visa last year to begin earning points, and in a year Chase decided to stop all Rewards programs for debit cards. I didn't even have a chance to really accumulate too many dollars - I feel like it was over before it even started! So, once my final, pitiful tally of Reward bucks is posted (probably in the next 3 days or so), I will have them transferred over to the redemption card and then buy a gift card or something. I prefer to transfer as much Disney-dedicated money over to gift cards as possible, because the gift cards will not expire, which comes in handy if any DLR trips happen to fall through (it's not like that would EVER happen in my life, though, now would it?).

​

2. Annual Pass - I had a sense of pride the other day as my monthly Premium Annual Pass payment was taken out of my account. I realized that I only have 3 payments left on this AP, and then it expires on November 13th, I think. That's right - only 3 more payments! I can see the Promised Land!! Then it dawned on me - what am I getting so excited about? If I plan to renew the AP - which I would have to do before the end of November, if not before - I'm just going to start a new payment plan! So, really, there's no break in the payments for the most part. And yet I felt relief in knowing there are only 3 installments to go. Does that make any sense?

​

3. Catalina birthday day trip - Well, as you may or may not recall, I was planning to visit my beloved Island Valley of Avalon on my birthday - which is in 3 days - with the free Catalina Express round-trip birthday pass that is being offered as a promo for Catalina Express' anniversary this year. Catalina is my second favorite place in SoCal (betcha can't guess what the first favorite place is, huh?), and, woefully, I haven't been there in years.

So guess what? My intended Catalina day is only 3 days away and I'm not sure if I'm going!! I bet you're not suprised, based on how my DLR plans usually go!


AND, you also may remember that this was going to be a year of madness, with all kinds of friends coming into town and DLR trips in the works, etc.

Well, one group of friends is in town at this very moment. I'll call them the G Family. We were planning to get together and they asked what I wanted to do (as a birthday outing). I suggested going to Downtown Disney just to eat or wander around. Nothing extravagant. Maybe a character meal if we were feeling really daring. But my friends don't want to go to Downtown Disney because their young son will wonder why we are not going into Disneyland.

So, instead, they figured it would be a good idea to come with me to Catalina.

Here's the thing - I kind of had my mind set on doing a solo day in Catalina. I had begun to embrace that idea. I planned to wander the Island, take tons of photos (which I cannot do when I have people with me) - and you know I can get on a roll with pictures - commune with nature, tool around in a golf cart by myself, sit and stare pensively out at the ocean, pondering the meaning of life, etc.

Even aside from the solo trip idea, I was going to play it by ear and see if the weather would be too hot for me. If it was going to be what I felt was too hot and uncomfortable for me, I would just cancel the trip. No harm, no foul. It's been years since I've been to Catalina, so even though this free boat offer is a great deal, it won't be the end of the world if I skip it and just wait until a time when I can go there for a few days.

So when the G Family suggested that they come with me to Avalon, instantly I felt overwhelmed. It's a BIG difference going from a mind set of being solo to planning to be with 5 other people - yes, 5 other people. My friend, her husband, her elderly mother and her two young sons, one of whom is less than 2 years old.

Don't get me wrong - I love my friend. I last saw her 3 years ago. She and her family are wonderful people and she has been an awesome friend to me. And they are not flakes like other friends - if they say they are going to do something, they will do it. They probably wanted to be with me so I wouldn't be alone. But I just can't have the same kind of trip with 5 people as I could by myself. They are two different experiences and I have to be in different frames of mind.

Now I was in the position of having 5 other people waiting on me to decide if the weather was going to be too warm for me. When it was a solo plan, I didn't have to answer to anyone about that.

I told my friend I would go if she really, really wants me to go, but honestly, I am so preoccupied with some other things going on right now that I kind of lost interest in going. I'm not 'feeling it' the way I should be right now, and I kind of don't feel like bothering. I'm sure I would have fun once I was there, but right now it all seems like a big hassle. I would still get together with her, of course, for dinner or something, but I just don't know if I am up to a day in Catalina. I'd rather wait until I can go for a few days.

If I go to Catalina on Thursday, I have to book a shuttle to take me to the boat dock by tomorrow. My friend is in town now, but I haven't heard from her in a week. At this point, I have no clue if they are still planning to go to Catalina whether I go or not, or if they are waiting on me. I don't want this to be a last minute frenzy, but if I go, it may turn out like that. I pretty much left it at that I would go if they wanted me there, but I was not really feeling it.

So now I'm waiting to hear from my friend to find out what she wants to do!

For the record, the weather and temperature looks like it will be okay for me on Thursday, but my mood is still not much different.

​

4. Halloween Time DLR trip - The PIN code I got ($163 for the PPH) must be claimed by Wednesday - two days from now - or it expires. The hotel dates it covers are 10/16 - 10/31. I wanted dates earlier in October so my Halloween visit would not be so close to my late November holiday extravaganza, but DLR must be expecting larger crowds in the first half of October and, thus, they offered me those dates.

I started to think that maybe having a hotel room would be good for me if I go to the Halloween Party. That way I can stay later and then just come back to the room to crash and go home the next day. Still, it was not my plan to go to DLR in the second half of October so I needed to rethink things. So I started to ponder....would I go on October 18? October 21? October 25? October 28? Or maybe....here is a WILD thought...what about going ON HALLOWEEN night?? I've always figured that I would eventually do the MHP on Halloween, so why not now?

Well - and you may have already guessed that this was where I was headed -I deduced that the only way I could really swing a hotel for HalloweenTime this year (as opposed to just a day trip) is if I DON'T go to Catalina. The money that would be spent on a shuttle to get to the Catalina boat dock would be a large chunk of what would be due for the hotel.

It would probably have to come down to one or the other - Catalina on my birthday or staying onsite for the Halloween party instead of making a day trip.

Needless to say, when I hear back from my friend and the G Family about what she wants to do for Catalina, I will know what I am doing for HalloweenTime as well, hotel-wise. I don't think they would send me another PIN so soon if I don't use this one by Wednesday, so this would be my only shot, most likely.

​

5. Christmas Time at DLR 7-night/8-day extravaganza - My other group of friends who I will call the I Family - the much flakier group who can't seem to stick to a plan - have gone back and forth a few times with whether or not they are actually coming out here. For a while it was a definite yes....and they were going to stay in my PPH room for a 2-3 nights. But then my plan that I was including them in started to feel more like their plan that they were including me in. I invited them, not the otherw ay around. I would be going whether they go or not, but I invited them to join me and stay cheaply onsite - even though I didn't really want to share my room with 3 other people.

But suddenly my friend/the I Family started planning which other friends were going to be coming on which days and joining us. They had invited other people - friends of theirs that I don't know - to show up on one of the days, even though I have not seen my friend in 10 years and need plenty of catch-up time. She worked out some sort of plan that she probably thought was a compromise, and it wasn't that it was a horrible plan but I felt like involving more people in it than necessary on MY trip was going to complicate things. I kind of wished that my friend and the I Family could have just left well enough alone and been happy with joining me at DLR. But they were kind of looking at it as their child's first big trip to DLR, which attracted all kinds of interest from their relatives and pals, rather than "We're joining Sherry on her trip."

I kept saying to my friend/the I Family, "I understand you are probably getting pressure from all sorts of people to tag along at Disneyland, but if you tell them you are coming along on my trip, that will change. It's all in how you say it. If you say that you guys are going to Disneyland, that's all they hear and they all pile on. If you tell them I invited you to go to Disneyland with me, that will stop people from insisting they tag along and you can then play it by ear and determine if there is time to see them later.....Blame it on me - tell everyone that your annoying friend Sherry has not seen you in 10 years, that she is your old Disneyland buddy, she invited you along on her trip, and she wanst to hog you all to herself. I don't mind - just blame it all on me. Tell them I am being pushy and greedy and obnoxious and you can't get out of it."

It's really true - it's all in how you phrase it. People generally will not insist in showing up somewhere or tagging along if you tell them you are going somewhere to which you were invited. But my friend simply told everyone that the I Family was going to Disneyland, and so everyone they ever met wanted to join in and be there for every minute to watch my friend's son meet his first characters.

Sigh.

So MY holiday trip was radpidly becoming about the I Family, and I felt like they couldn't be happy just seeing me (after 10 years) and our little group of friends (Shawn, Jackie - the usuals). That, and my friend felt pressured because everyone wanted to see her son experience Disneyland on his first trip (not the second nor the third nor the fourth trip) and she couldn't say no, so she was trying to make it all happen....but it was just stressing me out and making things more complicated. The only good thing for me was that it sounded as if the I Family had decided to stay in their own hotel.

If you recall, the I Family is also the family who was going to be out here on May 8 and we were going to go to Goofy's Kitchen...and then my friend decided to invite "everyone" to go there too....which is when I backed out and said I would skip it.

So, last I heard, the I Family is still supposedly planning to come out here to SoCal in late November (they have to because they have air miles that will expire after that), but I have no clue if they are going to Disneyland, if they are going with ME to Disneyland, if they are staying with me or in a separate place, if they are going to have 100 different friends and family members with us or them, etc. I just don't know.

What I DO know is that I am getting an awesome deal at the PPH for the holiday season, and I could be splitting that cost with someone. If I had someone else stay with me for even just a couple of my nights, I might be able to keep my entire 7-night reservation rather than cutting off two days.

I could invite a DIS'er to stay with me. Most DIS'ers who would be able to get to DLR for late November/early December would LOVE this deal. I believe Molly/Bumbershoot threw her hat in the ring for possible roommate status a long, long time ago, though I don't know if she'd still be able to do it. But lots of people would take $58 per night (including tax) at the Paradise Pier Hotel, in the middle of the glorious holiday season.

Anyway, the only reason I am pointing this out is that, although I didn't want 3 other people in my room for more than a couple of nights, I think my friend and the I Family are out of their cotton-pickin' minds if they pass that up simply because they can't agree to come with me and leave the other 100 people at home. There are other people who would gladly jump on the deal!

So I am not going to wait too much longer for my friends/the I Family to decide what they are doing. If they have not given me a definitive answer on what's happening by August, I will start planning solo - or looking for someone to be a roomie for part of the time!

​

This has been a tremendously tough year in terms of finances. Not that it isn't normally difficult for me, but I wasn't anticipating a major computer crash to throw everything off, such as little things like work and money!! That was a major setback. I'm keeping a good attitude, though!


In case anyone out there thinks that the all moderators on these Disney planning boards get special favors from Disney or go to DLR or WDW all the time, that may be true in some cases but believe me, there are plenty of us who are struggling just like everyone else out there and we have plans that we have to cancel or reassemble just like you!! I feel like my whole TR has been a series of 'will she be able to go or won't she be able to go' stories, so it's such a big deal to me when I finally get to DLR because these trips do not come easily!

​

I figured I'd better quote my update to bring it over to this page so people see I'm not slacking off and have actually posted something!

I'm here!! Front and center!!

Yay! Glad you're still hanging 'round!

I am here!

Oh Sherry. Life is a roller coaster, isn't it? And with friends like the ones you have described here in your TR (good intentions or not), don't help a lot either.

I hope you can get to Catalina Island, but if you can't, at least you can go to MHP instead. Not is all not lost, right?

As for the Christmas trip, all I can say is... frustrating! That has really gotten out of hand with your friends making it about them and their needs. Maybe, you will get lucky and they will book a hotel for themselves. I hope that trip will work out to your benefit and you can have the visit you want and deserve. If you need some DIS'ers to join on some nights, I might be able to go. Just ask when the time comes to make that decision.

Keep up your good attitude. It will get you through a lot of tough times.

Hi, Liza! I have not forgotten to PM you back, by the way, but I've been waiting to get this darn Catalina issue resolved one way or the other - once and for all - and then figure out when I am seeing my friends (the G Family) if we don't all go to Catalina together before I can progress beyond that. I need to tackle one thing at a time!

Yes, you know, having extra people involved in the plan automatically complicates things, good intentions or not.

I feel guilty and bad now because my friends (G Family) wanted to come with me to Catalina, thinking that would be a great idea. I'm sure they thought, "Hey! What a great way to celebrate Sherry's birthday!" They are really, really good people and not flakes. I don't want them to think that I didn't want to see them - or even that I wouldn't want to go to Catalina with them on another day. I've been to Catalina with them before, in fact, and we had a great time! It's all in the timing, though. I had already planned out what I was going to do with my day, and I had planned to cancel if I felt the weather was too warm for me. I wouldn't have to answer to anyone and no one would be waiting on me to make up my mind. When other people become involved in the plan, suddenly you are no longer just thinking for yourself. What you're doing affects other people.

And I just wasn't in the mindset this year to be with a bunch of people in Catalina when I knew I would either cancel if it was too hot, OR I would be busy on a photo mission and wouldn't want people around me. Now I feel guilty for not being in the mood for my own Catalina plan!!

Yes, if Catalina is out of the picture for now (why can't the stupid birthday promo run next year, when my birthday is on a Saturday? That would be so much better for me!), then I will probably proceed with an MHP plan and hotel. But I am waiting to hear from the G Family to find out what the final Catalina plan (or non-plan) is. They are always super busy when they come to town, and I'm sure they have been bogged down with visiting other friends.

As for the Christmas trip and the I Family, at this point I wonder if they may just be coming to town but not going to DLR. Or they may decide to go to DLR at a time when I'm not there.

I can totally, totally understand why my friends/the I Family want to please everyone when they come to town and try to see everyone. But again, I haven't seen them in 10 years, while they have seen many of these other people who are clamoring to be at DLR in the last 6 years or so. And this IS a trip I invited them along for, so I would have thought that they would view it as such and let people know. Instead, it seems more like they are just viewing it as their trip, and that's why all of these people want to come along.

The thing is, my friend from I Family tends to get frustrated when there are roadblocks, and wants to give up. If she runs an idea past me and I say I don't like it, or if planning gets to stressful or annoying to her, she will get quiet, stop talking about it and not work anything out. I like to try to figure out a way - that's my nature. I don't give up easily. I like to figure out a solution, or at least try as many different options as possible - options that will work for everyone but not totally compromise my trip that I am planning!

So then there is no discussion at all and I sit there, waiting for someone to tell me what's happening!

This is why I said I am not going to wait past August. I either have to go forth with getting someone to chip in on the room with me if the I Family is not going to be in my room (they may be in a separate room somewhere, who knows?), or I have to make the decision to cut off a couple of days. Someone chipping in for a couple of nights may make the difference in how many nights I stay. And, again, I think the I Family would be ridiculous to pass that up, even though I didn't want my room to be crowded like that!

Liza, I'm sure you'll definitely come out at least one of the days I'm there (I'll let you know as plans progress which day or days would be best), and Michele (kaoden39) is going to try to work on possibly making a family trip so she may or may not be there at some point when I am. I'm not worried about being alone - you know I love my alone time! And it seems like there are going to be plenty of DIS'ers at DLR at the same time I plan to be. I just hate keeping plans in limbo! I just want friends to let me know one way or the other if they are coming out and how it involves me, and hopefully not involve 100 other people in the plan!

 

[Sherry E]

Here! *while dodging a wildly waving lethal winter scarf and peppermint cone of death*

I was just thinking about you (well, your tooth, specifically) yesterday. My 3 boys were wrestling and DS8 bumped his mouth on the floor. He has a very loose tooth and somehow the tooth got twisted around. The back is now the front, and it is now going horizontal instead of vertical. (Such a pretty picture, huh?) It's kind of jammed in that space and not budging at the moment. Anyway...it made me think of your tooth and I wondered how it was holding up. Not that yours is twisted around backwards and is now horizontal instead of vertical. Just wondered if it was still painful.

On to your updates...

I am thinking that for your first time back to Catalina after all these years, it might be best to have a solo trip so you can really soak it all in and enjoy taking pictures. It's too bad that the dinner suggestion in DTD didn't work out, but I can understand the hesitation and concern about the younger son wondering why they weren't going to Disneyland. So I assume this child has been to Disneyland before? If he was in DTD would he know he was right next to Disneyland?

It would be nice if you could have your longer solo Catalina trip at another time, do dinner at DTD with the G Family, have an overnight HalloweenTime/MHP visit, have your I friend and family to yourself {with the usuals of Jackie and Shawn -- by the way, did Bridgitte (sp?) ever move back?} while they book their own hotel room, and then enjoy your 7 night-8 day extravaganza to yourself -- while maybe sharing a few nights with 1 DIS'er (as opposed to a family) so you can still have your space. All in a perfect world where money was no object. That's my 2 cents.

Keep us updated!

Hi, deej! I certainly can't wildly wave a scarf without you here! Just keep me away from any trash cans or chairs, as I seem to have bad luck with those!

The description of your son's tooth incident just made me cringe and shudder! Poor little guy! Is he okay? Is your son at the age where he is traumatized by this tooth episode or is he at the age where he thinks it's cool (I know boys could go either way on that sort of thing)?

I remember the days of my youth when my teeth were loose and I had to wait for them to come out. It was a horrible feeling to have to yank them out, but it was also awful to leave them loose and try to eat with them when they were moving around and getting in the way! Banging a loose tooth into the floor and then having it twist around in crazy, serpentine directions is just...ick.

My tooth - or teeth - are still bothering me. Thank you for asking. I still can't tell if the pain is in one specific tooth or two adjacent teeth. Colgate Sensitive toothpaste does not help at all. I still tend to think there must be exposed dentin somewhere in there or there is a tiny crack somewhere. It just hurts too much when I drink water, eat apples, etc. In fact, I like cold water - especially during hot weather - but I have now taken up drinking room temperature water (blech!) because the cold hurts my teeth too much.

I am totally on board with your 'perfect world" scenario, deej!

A longer trip to Catalina would be ideal, but a solo day trip would be better for my massive photo-taking spree, which will require tromping up and down side streets, going up in the hills, examining pieces of tile and various plantlife, trying to catch a sunset before the boat leaves, etc. It's very involved, and anyone who is with me would probably feel like I was ignoring them if I stopped every few feet to snap a photo of a shop sign.

Actually, I had planned on starting a Catalina Superthread down the road - I have a thread in the SoCal section now about Catalina, but not a Superthread - and it will require many current photos. If I were there for a weekend or so, then I would have no problem with friends being there for one of those days.

Somewhere along the line, I just started to lose interest in my Catalina day trip. Maybe it was just because it seemed like it would be a hassle, and the DLR extravaganza is rapidly approaching, or maybe it's because my mood just changed and I didn't feel like being out in the heat. I just feel bad now because I have a hunch my friend/the G Family thinks I don't want to see them, which, of course, is not the case at all.

Yes, my friend's older young son (he's 7, I think) has been to DLR before. They went there in 2008. Toy Story is his favorite ride, and my friend also couldn't get him away from Fantasyland. They've also been to WDW a couple of times before their new baby was born. Since they walked through DTD in 2008 when they left Goofy's Kitchen and made their way to DL, I think my friend's son would instantly recognize where he was if we were in DTD, and I don't think they were prepared to do a DLR trip when the youngest son is not even 2 years old yet. But that giant Sorcerer's hat might give it away.

Bridgette is in SoCal, near Shawn. She was in Massachusetts, then she came out here in March of this year for a temporary visit. She claimed several times that she was going to go back to MA to collect her things and then move back to SoCal permanently, but in reality she hasn't even gone back to MA yet so I have no clue whether she will be here later this year for DLR - Halloween, Christmas or otherwise. I haven't seen her, but she has been in SoCal for 4 months.

So I continue to wait to hear from the G Family as to whether or not they really, really want me to go to Catalina on Thursday, and if so, it will be a mad dash to get my stuff ready for that. If they decide that it's okay for me to stay home, I will have to plan to see them before they leave next week.

Once I find out if Catalina is off the table, then I can proceed to formulating a Halloween DLR adventure!

 

[DizNee Luver]

So if you go to Catalina for your birthday could you not worry about the nice pin code & come the first week of October???? You know me.....still trying to meet up with you there!!!!

 

[Belle Ella]

Haha, you posted and of course I don't have time at the moment to write out much more than a hi and to say one day we better be at Disneyland at the same time gosh darnit!!

I have also come to the conclusion that I cannot do long-winded posts anymore. There's a reason why I stopped, and after my last PTR updates I was reminded why. Too much pain in my hands/wrists/elbows/shoulders after the fact. I spent way too much time typing yesterday and was on the verge of tears last night while trying to sleep. I don't know how you do it without wanting to chop your arms off Sherry!

 

[Sherry E]

So if you go to Catalina for your birthday could you not worry about the nice pin code & come the first week of October???? You know me.....still trying to meet up with you there!!!!

Hi, Laurie!

That idea is not out of the question at all! I may just skip Catalina (still waiting to hear from my friends as to whether that's off the agenda or not), and I may skip the PIN code and just do a day thing in early October. When I tried to get the PIN code in the first place, I plugged in dates for early October. I didn't want mid-late October this year, simply because it was going to run too close to my holiday trip. It just happened that they sent me the PIN for the second portion of October and it got thr wheels a-spinnin'!

For some reason, the Halloween trips are always the hardest to nail down for me. With Christmas trips, it's easier for me to narrow down a time frame to go by process of elimination. I know I don't want to go before Thanksgiving (for multi-day stays). I know I don't want to go between Christmas and New Year's, for the most part. I've already gone on the weekend before Christmas and want to try earlier trips. So that leaves me with that window of time between Thanksgiving and the third week of December.

But with Halloween, it's very hard to pinpoint the best trips at the best times for myself!

In any case, if I am, by some miracle, going to be at DLR in early October I will definitely let you know, or I will hunt you down in the parks and find you!!

Haha, you posted and of course I don't have time at the moment to write out much more than a hi and to say one day we better be at Disneyland at the same time gosh darnit!!

I have also come to the conclusion that I cannot do long-winded posts anymore. There's a reason why I stopped, and after my last PTR updates I was reminded why. Too much pain in my hands/wrists/elbows/shoulders after the fact. I spent way too much time typing yesterday and was on the verge of tears last night while trying to sleep. I don't know how you do it without wanting to chop your arms off Sherry!

Hi, Jessica!

Remember that a lot of what I do for work (when I have a computer that is not broken and when I am working, that is) involves typing...typing long documents. It's not fun, by any means, and my desk set-up is not really ergonomically sensible, but I guess my wrists got used to it after a while??

I think I can more easily manage whipping out one long update post here and there, once in a while, instead of posting every day on my TR - unless I have photos to post or something. For some reason I have a hard time doing daily or weekly updates!

We certainly don't want you to cry and be in pain as you labor over your PTR or your TR, for goodness' sake, woman! But whether you spread out the TR posts over a number of days or do it all in one sitting, it's an undertaking no matter how you slice it, I suppose! TR's are a commitment. And it does require lots of time, attention and love - especially for you, when you have tons of photos to edit - so you can only hope that it's appreciated in the long run. It is a sad feeling when you post something and no one speaks up, isn't it? You at least want to feel like your efforts are worthwhile.

You never know, I may just end up at DLR for Halloween during the time when you and Laurie are there if I abandon my PIN code. But remember, I have a whole long 7-night week booked at PPH in late November and early December (checking in 11/28; checking out on 12/5) - whether or not my pesky friends join me, stay at their own hotel or whatever they do. So that's plenty of time to meet up or be at DLR at the same time if you end up there in that time frame.

I think Meredith was talking at one point in the Christmas thread about possibly trying to do her own holiday trip in that same week, post-Thanksgiving into early December, before her AP expires (although this was before the AP payment plans became applicable to all of California). Check with her to see if that's still her plan - maybe you can swing something?

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Yes. I'm still here.

 

[Sherry E]

Yes. I'm still here.

Yay! Good! Thank you, Kaitlin.

Hopefully I will be getting my DLR Halloween plan straightened out shortly. Halloween Time starts in 2 months at DLR, so I have to start thinking about it!

 

[mvf-m11c]

I am still here. Just not on the threads a lot lately. Busy with other things.

If you choose the Catalina trip or DL trip during the Halloween season, you will have a great time. It would be neat to go to Catalina since I have never been there before.

I hope that everything works out well with you and the family.

Have a great night Sherry.