Only The Cool Kids Start Their Pre-Trip Reports This Early! - September Trip 2012

[monkey30]

I love my Dodge!! We were never Dodge people, but got a awesome deal on a caliber back in 2007 so we bought it. DH has put 170,000km on it and no issues at all. They are mainly highway driving, so that helps. He was driving round trip to work and home 100 miles a day, and would get about 300-350miles on a tank of gas.

My uncle was a chevy guy, he bought a Nissian a few years back (4 door!) and loves it. He drove from here to Vancouver and filled up once (he said it was just over 500 miles before it got down to he had to fill!), Thats pretty awesome. Good fuel mileage, and he said he has had no issues with it. He bought it at a auction. It was a repo auction, brand new car had 250km on it!

 

[monkey30]

As for disney hotels, I have no idea!We bookedDel Sol at 91/night, but I can always cancell. We have been watching prices and everything we need is sitting at 180-199/night. If I can find 2 rooms at about 60/night we might do it as it would give us more space.

 

[BeckWhy]

I love my Dodge!! We were never Dodge people, but got a awesome deal on a caliber back in 2007 so we bought it. DH has put 170,000km on it and no issues at all. They are mainly highway driving, so that helps. He was driving round trip to work and home 100 miles a day, and would get about 300-350miles on a tank of gas.

My uncle was a chevy guy, he bought a Nissian a few years back (4 door!) and loves it. He drove from here to Vancouver and filled up once (he said it was just over 500 miles before it got down to he had to fill!), Thats pretty awesome. Good fuel mileage, and he said he has had no issues with it. He bought it at a auction. It was a repo auction, brand new car had 250km on it!

I think that's great your uncle got a car at a repo auction and has had no problems. A lot of the cars here at repo auctions are trashed. People know their car is getting repoed so they put it through h - e - double hockey sticks. It's sad.

My Lumina can go about 400 miles on a take with highway driving. When I'm in the city my fuel guage will be on E and only driven about 250 miles. But when I fill it up, it's usually only 8 - 10 gallons and my tank is 18 gallons, so I don't know what that's about. I guess I could drive on E for a long time! HEHE

I do average about 17 mpg with my V6.

In a car good fuel economy is nice, but I'd rather be able to go fast. But since there are a lot of fast cars out there, fuel economy falls second for specs. For example: Chevy Impala SS runs 0-60 in I think 5.8 seconds and 1/4 mile in 13.9 seconds.

As for disney hotels, I have no idea!We bookedDel Sol at 91/night, but I can always cancell. We have been watching prices and everything we need is sitting at 180-199/night. If I can find 2 rooms at about 60/night we might do it as it would give us more space.

Where's the Del Sol? I haven't heard of it before until you had mentioned it in your pre-trip.

The Tropicana is right next to the Best Western, and it looks nice. But I've been reading about people finding cochroaches in their rooms. Maybe that's normal for all the hotels in that area, but that weirds me out a bit.

As for price, initially I was going to stay at The Disneyland Hotel, so anything cheaper is cheap! HAHA but I do compare options, some hotels aren't worth the extra money you pay.

 

[monkey30]

Del Sol shares a parking lot with Denny's. Right by the crosswalk.

 

[BeckWhy]

Del Sol shares a parking lot with Denny's. Right by the crosswalk.

That's close too. I'll have to check it out. Do you happen to have a link for it you could share?

 

[BeckWhy]

That's close too. I'll have to check it out. Do you happen to have a link for it you could share?

Nevermind! I found it. It looks pretty nice.

Booking online I can get it for $103.

 

[monkey30]

its a decent price, I have read both good and bad, but I think it will be good enough for what we need!
We got the 2 queens with the bunk bed.

 

[BeckWhy]

You'll get good and bad for everything. I mean it could be the best thing on the planet and someone will always have something bad to say about it.

 

[BeckWhy]

So there's several entertainment things going on between the two parks at Disneyland, including the Jedi Training Academy (which is shown almost on a daily basis). But I've decided to spend special attention to the nightly things: Mickey's Soundsational Parade; The Magic, The Memories & You!; World of Color; Fantasmic!, and the fireworks (for the life of me I can't remember what the name of the show is). So based on last years schedule (since this years won't be released until August) here's what I think:

Thursday: World of Color at 8:15 pm. I hear horror stories about the wait, about getting a good spot, etc, so I'm thinking we'd get Fastpasses first thing. Later in the day we'd either stop somewhere for dinner, or grab dinner to go and get in line for WoC at about 6:15 pm - 6:45 pm. (I heard we should be in line two hours early. I don't know if that's ligit or what, but I'm planning on being there early, unless someone tells me otherwise.)
Friday: Mickey's Parade at 4:00 pm. Mickey's Halloween Party at 7:00 pm. (Then if we're bored of it, or do everything maybe go to DCA for WoC at 10:15 pm.)
Saturday: The Magic, The Memories at 8:45 pm and then Fantasmic at 10:30 pm OR Fantasmic at 9:00 pm and The Magic at 10:15 pm (I think they can be interchanged, but I don't really know how far they are from each other in the parks.)
Sunday: The fireworks at 9:30 pm.
Monday: Mickey's Parade at 5:00 pm if we missed it before and WoC at 8:15 pm if we missed it or want to see it again.

It seems like we'll be spending a lot of time on the entertainment. I hope we'll have time to get the rides in too since it's assumed to be super busy because Cars Land is opening.

But I guess if I miss anything, and I like Disneyland, I can always go back.

 

[BeckWhy]

So... I'm really ashamed of myself. I'm the heaviest I've been in 5 years. I've put on almost 20 pounds since my dad died. I'm really not doing a good job with self control at all. The fact of the matter is, I can watch what I eat all day while at the office (even though everyone there eats all day long) but as soon as I get home, BAM! I'm donezo.

So I have to decide how I'm going to tackle this eating at home thing. My mom and I talked about sitting down and making a menu for the week (just like 3 or 4 days, since it's just me and her eating usually). I told her since my dad was gone I really wanted to move away from buying the junk food and more into healthier items. And cooking healthy too. I had figured out that when my parents were away (my older sister lives in New York) that I'd always lose weight because I would only cook and prepare healthier dishes. But when they were home, my dad never really liked the healthier options.

I noticed my mom munches a lot. She was supposed to have quit smoking in 2007, but I have a feeling that she really didn't (and now she is) and plus just stress eating. So if I'm downstairs with my mom (as opposed to being in my room) I munch with her.

So I just need to get control of that. And it's not like I'm hungry. My appetite is actually really low and I'd be happy munching on carrots or blanched green beans.

Number two, I need to get myself sleeping again. I've always had difficulty sleeping (I'm actually taking Ambien) but I can't sleep. I think I let the things that are going on around me affect me too much.

Number three, I need to start walking. I'm thinking a half hour a day to start with, maybe after two weeks (or a month) move it to 45 minutes, then an hour. When I lived on my own I'd walk 2 miles every day after work, and 5 on the days I didn't work. I didn't really lose any weight, but I definitely think I felt better. I have to decide what to do on days it rains, since it rains about 50% of the time here.

Number four, no drinks. I don't drink a lot, but I love those fruity cocktails that pack a million calories. Years ago when my ex was in college, I quit drinking (I'd have like margaritas everyday) and I lost like 10 pounds over the summer, just from that alone.

I think if I can handle all that, which really isn't a lot... then I'll be looking better and feeling better for my trip to Disneyland.

 

[monkey30]

Lets do it together! You are on the right path for thinking, changing your lifestyle rather then focusing on diet! I have to lose 100lb to get my BMI in a safe range, so I better get on it, and whats a better reward then a trip to Disney!!

 

[BeckWhy]

Lets do it together! You are on the right path for thinking, changing your lifestyle rather then focusing on diet! I have to lose 100lb to get my BMI in a safe range, so I better get on it, and whats a better reward then a trip to Disney!!

The funny thing is, I know enough to be a nutrionist! I know so much when it comes to what to eat and how to exercise. I can even cook meals without a recipe! My problem is I just don't listen to what I say. Actually that's a lie. My problem is I think I binge eat a bit. Or a lot.

I'm not sure how your clothing sizes and such work in Canada, but this is what I have to say about myself. As an adult, at my lightest I weighed 115 pounds (that was only for about a week) and I wore a size 8 from American Eagle. I looked skinny, but I really wasn't. Hang on let me find a picture!

This is from 2002!

I would like to get back to that 115, but will settle with 125 - 130. Actually I don't really care how much I weigh, I want to be a size 6, but will settle for a size 8. So I have to lose up to 75 pounds or 7 dress sizes. I'm pretty sure I can do it. I just have to really watch what I eat and just spend some time walking or something.

But Erin I'm more that happy to get a buddy! And I'm more than willing to give out any advice I have! But I think you're right, motivation is really what I need. I don't think either of us will make our *BIG* goal by Disneyland, but I think we can put a big chunk in it! I think I can lose 25 - 30 pounds between now and Disneyland - especially if I can control myself and get outside a few times a week! Erin, I don't know your weight, but if you need to lose 100 pounds to make a safe BMI I'm thinking you could possibly lose 40 - 50 pounds by Disneyland! Now these are big numbers, and you don't wanna lose weight too fast, but I think it could work!

 

[BeckWhy]

I wish the Disneyland Hotel was cheaper!

 

[kaoden39]

I wish the Disneyland Hotel was cheaper!

Me too!!

 

[BeckWhy]

Me too!!

The rooms are so lovely!

 

[BeckWhy]

Ok, so I guess the hotel thing will just continually be debated and thought over for weeks to come.

Best Western Park Place Inn was my number one choice, followed by Tropicana Inn & the Ramada Maingate. I really like Best Western Stovall's Inn, but it's really far away.

Anyways, since my dad died my mom decided it was time to get ride of a lot of stuff. My dad was kind of a pack rat. Like he has receipts from who knows what from the 80s! OY!

So it kind if inspired me! I lived on my own for a year, but then came back home (it saves me so much money, and I don't do too well by myself). So I had a lot of furniture and stuff. I was supposed to get half of the upstairs (one room for my bedroom, another for like a "living room"), but that didn't really happen. So just about everything got shoved into my 12 x 13 bedroom.

Since then, I decided if I move (which wouldn't be in town, it'd be probably be on the other side of the country) I'd just end up buying new furniture when I got there, instead of paying $2000 to move everything (all must stuff is mix and match hand me down stuff from my aunt and grandmother). So I figured I'd get rid of the little odds and end pieces I have. Boy I didn't realize how much stuff these odds and ends pieced held! I have junk everywhere. Well actually it's bagged up, not organized. That'll probably take another week to go through.

And I also finally decided to get rid of my desktop. I've had it since about 2002 or so. I've replaced the hard drive twice, and this third one died too. I've only held on to it for so long because it ran on XP and my home design program worked on it (it doesn't work with my Windows 7 laptop).

I have a desk, which I don't really use (I use it for about 10 minutes in the morning to do my make up), but I'm keeping that for now. I moved it and hoping it will create a little bit better air flow in my room since it won't be in front of the window. I'm hoping to put up some hooks so I can hang my bags up and get them off the floor and out of the way (my dad wouldn't let me put any holes in my walls).

But I really need to work on getting rid of anything I won't take with me when I move.

 

[kaoden39]

I stayed at the Disneyland hotel in February 2011 and the rehabbed rooms are so pretty! The headboards light up and play music.


My mom is a terrible pack rat. Recently she has shown a desire to get rid of things. I about cried with relief. She has things that she hasn't even thought about for 10 or more years. So I am slowly but surely getting rid of things. Yay!!

 

[BeckWhy]

My worst nightmare happened! Airfare skyrocketed! From $190 each way to $235! EEK!

 

[BeckWhy]

I think I should rename my trip report... something about going solo, oh no going with family... oh wait solo again.

I think the biggest thing now is finding a hotel and hope that whatever I book, if my mom and sister decide to go that I can cancel or change the room, because I'll book a king room if it's just me.

 

[BeckWhy]

Airfare to LA dropped drastically with the SouthWest Fall Sale. Looks like this might be the time to book. Now I don't know where to stay! I'll keep you informed!