Ohana! A family trip! March 14-19th

[EsmeCullen]

I've never done a trip report before, but they look fun. I am determined to write a trip report for my upcoming trip to Disneyland. I am super excited for it! I haven't been to Disneyland in about 4 years.

Cast

Me(31, pictured above)
Mom
My brother Brian
Sister in law Lani
Their kids Nicolas and Nathaniel (Ages 10 and 3)
My brother Paul
Sister in law Ofelia
Their kids Cynthia, Luis, Kylie and Jaeden (Ages 12, 10, 4 and 2)

I just bought about 60 pins from a seller on eBay and a few lanyards so my mom and I can introduce my sisters in law and the kids to pin trading. I'm looking forward to that!

Plans
We've always been "go with the flow" people but with a family this large it's hard to do that, so we have made plans. They could change but here's what we have so far. We will be in Anaheim from March 14th-19th. We will be staying in the Super 8 on Disneyland Drive.

March 14th
My mom and I will drive to Anaheim, CA from Albuquerque, NM. It is about a 12 hour drive. She and I will check in our room and just relax from the long drive.

March 15th
My brother Brian and his family will land at LAX. They are flying in from the UK where my brother is stationed. My other brother and his family will also arrive. They will be driving down from the Fresno area. Once we are all together, we will go ahead and purchase our tickets. Being that my brother Brian is in the Air Force and my mom has a military ID because my step dad is retired military, we will be buying the military salute tickets.

That night my brothers and their wives will hit up House of Blues while my mother and I take the kids to PCH grill for dinner. We will also hang out in Downtown Disney as we like to devote an evening to DTD every time we go.

March 16th
Wake up 6:00AM-6:30AM
Breakfast 7:30-8:00AM
We will walk to the parking garage where we will take the tram. We hope to be at the gate by 8:30AM.
-Once Disneyland opens we will get buttons for the members of my family who have never been to Disneyland prior. We will probably send one member of the family to Tomorrowland to get fast passes for Space Mountain for those who want to ride it. We will probably hit up Fantasyland first and take the smaller kids on the Fantasyland rides. We will then go to Tomorrowland and ride Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear. Hopefully we can catch Star Tours if the line isn't insane.
-We will do counter service lunch. Pizza Port looks good. I may have to sneak over to Adventureland and grab a Dole Whip. I got addicted at Disney World last year
-We will use lunch to unwind and rest our feet. We will take our time.
-We plan on hitting the other lands after lunch but take it easy. We definitely want to catch Fantasmic.

Some of us may want to split and go to DCA later in the day. We aren't sure how easy that will be since we are getting the military salute ticket. But we'll find a way to make it work.

I will update this with the plans for the other days shortly. Stay tuned!

 

[EsmeCullen]

Okay so our plans are becoming more finalized! Yay! Thirteen days until I leave the freezing desert weather of Albuquerque, New Mexico and head to sunny Southern California.

I started making autograph books for my nieces and nephews. I made three so far. I have three more to make.

I also bought a few St. Patrick's Day lanyards.

On March 14th my mom and I are going to drive to Anaheim and checked
into Castle Inn and Suites for that night and just hang either at the Garden Walk or Downtown Disney that evening. We wanted a room closer to those places for that evening. We will also go get groceries for the next few days.

On March 15th we will check out and head over to Hollywood to sight see until we pick up my brother, sister in law and their kids from the airport at about 7PM. We will then head to Anaheim and check into the Super 8 on Disneyland Drive or we will meet my other brother, his wife and their kids for dinner and then check in to our rooms at the Super 8.

More to come!!