Our Family Christmastime Trip to Disneyland!

[fairykin]

Our Disney Cast of 8 is:
My Mom
Mother in Law
Father in Law
Oldest Granddaughter {6}
Youngest Granddaughter {4}
Only Grandson {4}
Me
Husband

We took a early morning Southwest Airlines flight from el paso with a plan transfer through phoenix and flew on to john wayne airport in orange county. We always fly Southwest airlines when the option presents itself, they have great rebooking policies, no charge for 1 and 2nd bags and generous rapid reward plans.

Upon landing at John Wayne Airport, there we were met by the Limo Driver from http://www.u-r-there-limousine.com/ ...we had excellent service and will use them again for large parties.

Our driver took us to our hotel, Holiday Inn Express...on South Walnut...that is where we always stay. Before their renovations, during their renovations and we will stay there after their renovations. We booked 3 rooms at $80 for each room a night. Here is a pic the room.

 

[fairykin]

As You can guess we couldn't wait to head for the park, so we bought our $4 dollar all day and night til the park closes ART passes and hopped on the shuttle to the park.

And *Who* did we see, dressed so Christmassy?

After big hugs and happy smiles, we then headed out to get my the annual passes for the children and my mother at the bank. The line moved quickly and we saw lots of people getting annual passes over the time we were there.

 

[fairykin]

So by this time it was getting to be late afternoon, and we went and ate a nice fried chicken dinner at Plaza Inn for $13.95. We ordered 4 of the meals for 8 and there was chicken left over. Afterwards we sat and watched the parade and it was so crowded, we decided to go back to the room and make it an early night. So we picked up 3 bags of cotton candy and made our way back to the hotel. As the next few days would be filled with much happiness shared!

 

[wendylady36]

Yay, you started your report!

Thank goodness there are no scary cowboy children paintings on the walls anymore!

The little ones are SO cute.

I can't wait for more!

 

[fairykin]

The night passed so quickly and soon it was time to go back to the park. There were princess costumes to be put on and a very special captain's hook costume to be found at the park!

Celebrating multigenerations with disney magic! a picture of my mother on the teacups.. with her great granddaughter

No time to say Hello Goodbye We Were Late We Were Late We Were LaTe!

Wow! We couldn't believe it, It's a small world was a walk on. But when we went by an hour later the line was verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRrrrrrry Long.

 

[fairykin]

Then we went off to frontier land..because we heard someone special was there.. and who do you think we ran into on the way?

And right around the corner was this Guy!

 

[fairykin]

Hey WendyLouWho! Who by the way is CindyLouWho's much cuter sister ... hhmmm... yep those cowboy kid pics are gone by the wasteside literally. You know my husband and i were talking about it. Last year we did a renovation on one of our branch offices and we would have been real sad if our clients had taken their business somewhere else while we were doing updates to make things nicer for them. So I think that is why we have stuck with this hotel. Besides they were so nice to us when my husband was ill on that trip in october. Eek.. this is my first trip report.. i never really got to do one on the other trip..so let's see how this one goes.

Heather was so sweet to teach me how to upload pics to tinypic. And so did Miss Melody, both so great to help.

 

[fairykin]

Alrighty back to the trip report..

So we stopped in to see Santa!

 

[wendylady36]

What precious pictures! The little ones must have been WAY excited to see Santa.

I can't wait to read and see more of your trip!!!!

How nice of Melody and Heather to teach you how to post pictures.

 

[fairykin]

*Hugs* for Wendy

One thing i noticed on our trip was... that my DH came home from disneyland very much in the christmas spirit! He said, it was the best trip we've ever taken to disneyland. And that he would like to go each year. That it really put him in the mood for christmas.

We did Disneyland laid back style.. we had reservations each day at the same time at the same place for lunch so if anyone in our group of 8 forgot or got parted from the group, they could meet up there and all would be kewl. For Us, Cafe New Orleans is a great lunch spot, it gives you a nice sit down meal with a pretty view and the worlds best fries!

After a delicious meal where I remembered to ask for our ornaments for the first time, I always forget! So we got three of two different kinds for two different days.. for the kids to take home for their family tree. We stopped by this pretty area to take a pic but the kids were little monkies so where do MoNkIeS belong?

TooN ToWn! We headed there!

Toon Town is the best place for little kids to run and play! It's bright and colorful, and so kid friendly. A super great place to find the characters. Which on this trip, we really didn't see alot of characters.
So we were Very Happy to Find Mickey at Home!

That brought lots of smiles!

We played here for an hours, seeing several characters. Then we took the train around the park several times. This trip was so much fun because it was relaxing and peaceful even amongst the crowds, as we had no set agenda or rushing around to do. Our goal was to have a happy time and keep everyone healthy through the holidays as the weather was starting to turn cold.
Our grandchildren are so sweet natured..they never asked for anything while we were at the park.. so we told them on that afternoon they could each pick a special treasure to take home from the toy store near it's a small world. Rosalyn {age 6} picked a cute stuffed baby Belle doll, there she also had her first pin trade! She traded for a beautiful purple hannah montanna and was the very happy girl Faye {age 4} selected a adorable stuffed baby dumbo, since dumbo was her favorite ride! While Logan {age4} choose a playset that had Captain Hook in it as He loves Peter Pan and Captain Hook. We had a nice dinner in the park, then decided to go back to the room so the kids could have a long bubble bath and go to bed early for their big day tomorrow.

As you can see, Our oldest granddaughter really did ask Santa for her 2 front teeth for Christmas!

 

[fairykin]

WendyLouWho..incase you are wondering.. yesssssssss..it's a little playdough mickey mouse on miss rosalyn's pillow...

she made it and wanted mickey to sleep with her...i was worried mickey was going to end up in her hair.. or on the stuffed animals.. but luckily teal blue and hot pink play dough mickey survived just fine. Hhhhhmmmm... i should let them make some and bake them in the oven for christmas ornaments. Anyhoo..the mini cans of playdough were fun.. a nice toy for them to play with at the desk in the room.. it was a quiet before bed activity which switched gears from a excitting day at the park!

We had such a happy trip.. simple and fun.

 

[mt mommy]

What a great trip and fun way to bond with your grandkids. I love the playdough before bed idea, I'll use that next time we go!! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[tinkermell]

Yay!! I trip report from Dawn!!

I love it, and all of your grandchildren are adorable. So sweet!!

I laughed at the one of your GD who is missing her two front teeth, and then I read your caption. Perfect!

The picture of your Mom and her great GD is a keeper!

So Miss Dawn.....................do you have any pics of you and DH??? Hmm?

 

[wendylady36]

Yay for Play-Doh! Speaking of fun toys, my one mission for my trip next month is to buy pink legos at the lego store in Downtown Disney.

The little ones look SO happy in all the pictures! Pictures of me at that age are quite different.

That baby Dumbo is way cute, I've never seen him before! Yumyum, pomme frittes, I can't wait to get me some of those!

 

[fairykin]

WendyLouWho.... Thank You for helping me post the christmas trip report on my signature.. You are always so thoughtful to help your most techie challenged friend

Hi Kristie... Thanks for stopping by! I found the mini cans of playdough at Target two weeks ago. They came in a multipack and were very reasonable!

HiYa Miss Melody!... You know... we didn't get any pictures together.. it was a challenging trip dealing with my mother in law and her Alzheimer's Disease. She would get disoriented easily ..and often i would have to find myself not only dealing with the three little children but with her. When we came home my husband thanked me, saying.. for insisiting that his parents came with us. Because she won't be able to travel anymore. While we were at the airport she would say.. what are you all doing at the airport? i would say we are going to disneyland. And she would say, oh i am not sure where we are going, ask Bob. Then when one of the kids came up she said, are they here to see you off? I would say.. no. They are going to Disneyland with us. She would say..oh you will have fun, we are going to the lakehouse.

My Husband promised me that He would take me to Disneyland for the Wine and Food Festival. I'm looking for information about that. I'll take lots of pics then.

 

[fairykin]

We had called ahead and requested a mini fridge and microwave in our room because we knew we wanted to have breakfast in the room each day. Each morning we had oatmeal as well as instant country gravy with precooked bacon and biscuits. We also brought fruit and mini boxes of juice and milk. The room had coffee makers in it for those who drank coffee.

Off to the Park we went and Our very own Captain Hook just *Had* to Sail His Ship!

Yo Ho Yo Ho A Pirates Life for Captain LoGaN!

Man the Cannons, MaTeS!

 

[wendylady36]

My Husband promised me that He would take me to Disneyland for the Wine and Food Festival. I'm looking for information about that. I'll take lots of pics then.

You should let me tag along!

You're very welcome for helping you with your signature.


OMG! Those pirate ship pictures are TOO precious!

 

[tinkermell]

WendyLouWho.... Thank You for helping me post the christmas trip report on my signature.. You are always so thoughtful to help your most techie challenged friend

Hi Kristie... Thanks for stopping by! I found the mini cans of playdough at Target two weeks ago. They came in a multipack and were very reasonable!

HiYa Miss Melody!... You know... we didn't get any pictures together.. it was a challenging trip dealing with my mother in law and her Alzheimer's Disease. She would get disoriented easily ..and often i would have to find myself not only dealing with the three little children but with her. When we came home my husband thanked me, saying.. for insisiting that his parents came with us. Because she won't be able to travel anymore. While we were at the airport she would say.. what are you all doing at the airport? i would say we are going to disneyland. And she would say, oh i am not sure where we are going, ask Bob. Then when one of the kids came up she said, are they here to see you off? I would say.. no. They are going to Disneyland with us. She would say..oh you will have fun, we are going to the lakehouse.

My Husband promised me that He would take me to Disneyland for the Wine and Food Festival. I'm looking for information about that. I'll take lots of pics then.

Oh wow Dawn,

I give you lots of hugs for being such a wonderful DIL! I'm sure your DH does too!

How are ya feeling today? Still got the cold bug?

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

YAY! A TRIP REPORT!!!

Your grandkids are SO CUTE!! sooooo so fun!

 

[trodrigue]

Oh Yeah. I have been looking for your report! It's so wierd that you are a Grandma and my age! I keep telling my boys 12 and 6 that I can' t wait to go to DL with my grandkids. They just roll their eyes at me.