Our Bigger Better Vacation From Missouri--TRIP REPORT

[luulu1999]

All though I am waiting for my PP+ disc to come I decided to go ahead and start the Trip report!! You can read our Pre Trip report thru the link in my signature and if you haven't read it that would be the place to start

 

[luulu1999]

July 25th: I got up that morning took the kids to my moms (they had no idea we were leaving that afternoon), cleaned the car, went home and loaded it up. By this time is was around 1pm so I decided to lay down and try to sleep since Brandon wouldn't be getting home til around 4pm. So about the time I doze off my dog starts acting crazy and I get up and Brandon got home from work early He got a shower and I went to get the kids and tell them we were hitting the road

This is the short video of them being picked up from nana's




So we were on the road by 4ish for the LONG journey to Las Vegas!!!




About 2hrs into the trip this is what was going on in the other lanes...so glad it wasn't our side and this is what made me decide to go a different way on the way home (it was road construction)



Our first stop was somewhere near the AR/OK line....the kids "stretching"



Or something


No offense to anyone who lives in the states but OK and TX are pretty boring states so I was excited when we started seeing this



Im sure we had to stop for gas somewhere between AR and AZ but again uneventful and this is our stop somewhere in AZ



Dinosaurs tried to attack our kids!!!!! This was actually the next day at some point so we were excited because only a few more hours in the horrid car and we would be at our first hotel!!!

I liked the teepees


I took lots and lots of pics of the mountains because I am mesmerized by them but I won't post all of them...however this is def something you don't see everyday...a forest fire!!


Ahh we must be getting close to Vegas



Lake Mead



Next stop...Las Vegas NV

 

[luulu1999]

We arrived in Las Vegas I think around 330is local time, we stayed at the Circus Circus because I thought my kids would really enjoy all they had (even though we didn't even get to explore all of it) this place was HUGE!!! We were in the skyrise tower and had our own parking garage attached which was cool and had to use a special elevator because we were all the way on the top floor!


Some of the rides inside our hotel





Mini Golf anyone?





After playing and exploring our Hotel a while we decided to explore other things, there were several things I wanted to see and I was told parking at Caesars would be the best option for those things, one thing we wanted to see was the Fall of Atlantis in Caesars and as luck would have it we missed the first show and it wouldn't run again at 830pm so we went on to find our way to the Bellagio...which was a task indeed... finding our way our of Caesars was a task!!

Waiting for the show



The show


The kids really enjoyed the little show but instead of doing the other things we decided to call it a night here are some other random photos of Vegas





We didn't get up super early and once we did we explored a little more around the hotel, they have a Mcdonald's in there but the line was CRAZY and we wanted lunch (it was 1030am) and they didn't start lunch until 11AM!!! So the kids played a few games and we were on the road to Anaheim!!

About 30 mins into the trip and traffic was HORRIBLE!!! I have never seen anything like CA traffic...it doesn't matter what day of the week what time of the day there is ALWAYS traffic!! You will be driving along at the speed limit then all the sudden brake lights everywhere then you crawl for a while then your right back to going full speed no rhyme or reason to the slow down or anything....I will say all though we had LOTS of slow downs we never were just stuck stopped for any amount of time the whole trip so that is a blessing.

Next up Anaheim!!!

 

[Dismamx2]

Great start Luulu, can't wait to read more

 

[luulu1999]

After what seemed like FOREVER we finally made it to our destination for the next 7 days...Park Vue Inn, Anaheim CA

Our Queen Bed


The kids bunk beds...he's excited if you couldn't tell


Bathroom...It was a lot bigger than the one last time at Clarion



The kids didn't get to swim at our hotel in Vegas so the first thing they wanted to do was SWIM





After swimming for a while we decided to head to DTD and to go ahead and get our tickets so we didn't have to wait in line the next morning

The view from the cross walk in front of the Hotel...RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET



Goofy Kids



Waiting in line for tickets...the lady that did our tickets was really nice and took her time explaining all sorts of stuff to us gave us pins and even told us not to waste money on bottles of water in the park because any place that has fountain sodas would be happy to give us cups of ice water (which we used ALOT)





First stop on our DTD journey the first night was Ridemakerz!! It is a really neat store but its EXPENSIVE!! Luckily DS got a $70 Gift Card for his birthday that helped ALOT



His Ride



Next stop...next door to Build a Bear...also expensive but she too had a $70 gift card



And Applejack..she really wanted Rainbow dash but they were out until Tuesday and she didn't want to wait



She got all kinds of roller skates boots and clothes for Applejack...Oddly enough both kids spent the exact same amount on the car and Build a Bear

For dinner we went to Earl of Sandwhich we had a coupon for a brownie and free sandwhich...I failed to take food pics sorry but I had some sandwhich with Avacado and it was awesome!!! The kids had like ham and swiss and it was also very good.

We took our sandwiches back to our room and ate and hopped in bed for our busy day the next morning at DISNEYLAND!!!!

 

[DisneytheKid]

Loving the trip report! Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[Amilo]

Great trip report! Looking forward to the rest!

 

[DenaRox]

loving the trip report!! makes me SOOOOOOO excited to get there already

 

[luulu1999]

Thanks everyone!! I keep forgetting to bring the pp+ cd with me to work so I haven't been able to update but I am gonna try to get it done this week!!

 

[MommyJKM]

Ready for more

Sorry again we missed each other for the GCH pool key! My fault for not giving you my email

 

[crystal1313]

Loving the report so far!! Can't wait to see more

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Loving it so far!!

 

[surfmontana]

Following along. Your kiddos are super cute! Just went back and read your pre-trip report. Loved your tees!!!

 

[petals]

joining in.

 

[luulu1999]

Ready for more

Sorry again we missed each other for the GCH pool key! My fault for not giving you my email

That's Ok thanks for the offer!!!

 

[luulu1999]

Thanks everyone for reading I have FINALLY remembered to bring my PP+ to work so I am going to get on this trip report and get it done!!!

 

[luulu1999]

OK let's get back in to it....First Day at Disneyland!!!!!!

Can you tell they are excited


This is like the only food pic I took the whole trip and it is the breakfast at Park Vue which I really enjoyed...one day they had biscuits gravy and bacon the other it was potatoes sausage and eggs both days and then fruit yogurt hard boiled eggs cereal waffles etc etc...I loved the biscuit and gravy and the potatoes



Here we come!! I am excited just seeing the pic


We got in line just before 730am and this was the ONLY day we were there that early and this was the line


Of course we had to do this once we got in


Our first stop was the camera store to get our PP+ it did kinda suck that they didn't "open" til 8am so we had to use precious park time to get it but it only took a few mins
and then we were off First up..with no wait




I am def not a fan of things that go around in circles so this was not my fave and it was a tight fit for all three of us to get in and my feet were squished

Next up...to infinity and beyond...and I just now realized I never got my email with our Pic

It blurry because there was no wait so my kids were rushing me!!

This one is a little better


Next we went across the street to Star Tours...again with no wait


I liked all the theming and I really liked the ride, I was afraid I wouldn't because I was already nauseas from the Astro Orbitor but it was good and the kids really loved it

Next...Space Mountain...and it also had basically no wait..I have to say I HATED that ride I hated not being able to see anything and I made me even more nauseas and I refused to ever ride it again!!!




I was also a little worried that my kids were freaking out it was our first roller coaster and all though they wanted to ride them I was worried about it being pitch black in there!!! They didn't freak out but they both said they didn't like that one

After that we decided to head to splash mountain we stopped for a few pics along the way

Notice the BF isn't with us, I think there was only one morning he actually got up and came with us when we started..but we were fine with that cuz he doesn't really like the rides anyway



I loved the lady who took this she told them a story about how she would txt tink and we wouldn't be able to see her until we got the pics because she was so fast and when my kids seen the pic with Tink in their hand they were so excited...I was sad this was the only magic shot we got I found tons of PP+ ppl in CA but couldn't seem to find them in DL

On our way to splash we decided to make a stop on the World Famous Jungle Cruise, the line was short so why not


The kids liked listening to these guys in front of Pirates


We also stopped at Haunted Mansion again with no wait...

But we quickly had to change our plans cuz DD started freaking out as soon as we walked into the front room so she did not want to ride it and we moved on to Splash

We hadn't even been in the parks two hours and had already done a ton of rides so I was pretty pleased with our progress
Of course getting off Splash the next logical place would be Pooh's

The kids of course really liked this
They started asking about riding RSR so we decided to hop on over to CA...I was trying to fully prepare them that at 10AM it was not likely we would get a FP and would probably have to wait until the next day to ride the ride....Next Stop RSR FP line...would we get them or would we not!!??

 

[luulu1999]

So we were off to CA and the FP machine...I kept my kids from stopping anywhere and kept telling them we needed to hurry if we were going to try to get a FP...I was very pleasantly surprised when we got there and there were FP's left!!!! YAAAY...and even better they were in the evening!!!



And it was almost 11am and they were still available!!
Since we were right there we went on into Bug's Land and rode a few of the rides there


I just love the "lightning bugs"








After bugs land we decided to head on back to Cars Land




We were getting hungry so we headed to Cozy Cone for some Churro Bites and I had to have the Verde Chicken...I tried the other one out the last time and the chicken one was ok but I liked the other one a lot more....the kids of course loved the Churro Bites but didn't like the dipping sauce


We then made our way back toward paradise pier and hopped on Mermaid an all time fave for our family


And watched Phineas and Ferb a little


I am thinking we stopped at Award Weiners on our way back for our afternoon break because the kids didn't want Corn Dogs they wanted hot dogs...then we went to take a break at the hotel....and this is my kids idea of a break




We rested until about 5ish I think and then all four of us headed back in and we came across these folks when we got back in the gates






We headed on back to Autopia because it was something we could not ride with just the 3 of us...I got stuck with DD and she is a HORRIBLE driver...I think I got whiplash


After getting out of the cars we were heading to our dinner destination but the kids wanted to stop and make there first purchases...and DD also got a little pixie dust

DD had been asking for that little misting fan ALL day I kept talking her out of it telling her it was really a waste of money...so we go into the little store outside Autopia and she picks her ears out and also starts in again about the fan, I was tired of trying to convince her not to buy so I told her she could get it but it was a lot of her money....she didn't care...so the lady at the register said this is really what you want to spend your money on and then she told Briley a little "secret" and told her it would probably just tear up anyway so Briley reluctantly put it back and had a pouty look on her face so the lady said well let me see it so Briley gave it back to her and she told Briley she was going to give her the fan as long as she shared it with her brother....Briley was SO happy about it!!
NOW...on to our Dinner Destination...Plaza Inn!! Of course we got the chicken my kids liked it so much they ate part of my chicken lol

After dinner we hopped back over to CA to use our FP's for RSR...We had a little time to kill







I think this is one of my favorite rides for some reason

 

[luulu1999]

Cont'd

We were actually waiting as long as possible so it could get as dark as possible to get on RSR...I think we actually just sat for a while and watched people and waited for them to light up Cars Land..then we headed on over


the kids were so excited they have been talking about this ride since our last visit 2 years ago and we only got to ride it one time then

We got us some white walls and unfortunately didn't get to race anyone...Bj was a little upset about that but we would have plenty more opportunities during the trip

I was trying to raise my hands but I was scared

I just love the neon lights


After our cars land experience we headed toward Hollywood Land

The kids really wanted to ride this but the line was CRAZY so I told them we would ride it in the morning
We made it to the Mad Tea Party and this was awesome!! I could have sat there for a while watching it


The pic is not very good but these girls were doing acrobat things on this metal box thing it was awesome


We rode Monsters Inc then headed back to Paradise Pier




Everyone was lining up for World of Color but that isn't what we were doing...We went on over to Toy Story Mania!...I was afraid it didn't stay open during WOC but it does woo whoo...of course we loved this ride, we didn't get to ride it our last trip, and it was nice not having to wait in the hot sun for it too



I have NO idea how people can get 200,000 pts in this...I sucked...the other one was one of my kids...at least I beat them

We called it a night after this...I was really pleased with how our first day turned out we got a lot of stuff done and wasn't running around like crazy people to do it

 

[Dismamx2]

Great update looks like a fun day, love your pics