Our hopeful wishful Christmas jaunt

[stich626]

I hope you are having fun no matter what the crowd levels are! soo jealous.

 

[kelmac284]

We're BAAAAACK!

I should re-name this the soggy trip!! LOL.

Well we came we saw and we got absolutely SOAKED!!!

I don't regret going and we DID have fun but I am a bit bummed that we didn't get to do most of the christmas stuff we were planning on doing or seeing because of the awful storms. BUT nonetheless as someone has said on here before ANY trip to Disney is better than a normal day back home!

Anyway here goes....

DAY ONE DECEMBER 17, 2010

The day started out like it always does however I was SUPER nervous because not only had I been hearing for weeks about the enormous crowds that they had been having, larger than they had had in over 10 years, but NOW I had been hearing RAIN. Not just one or two days but for our ENTIRE trip. Now I know that LA can get rain but in ALL the trips I have taken I haven't gotten very much to cause much bother. Now Florida on the other hand we have gotten drenched to the bone so that is to be expected but we honestly NEVER expected to get as drenched as we did this trip.

The girls went to school, Shane went to work and I spent that day getting all the last minute details sorted.

Shane got home and I picked up the girls from school and we were off without a hitch and fairly quickly. We had a few traffic hiccups here and there but it was a relatively uneventuful drive although we DID get into some weather especially once we hit LA.

We got to HOJO and everything was blocked off which was rather frustrating and they put us in the room at the farthest back part of the complex which consdering the rain was kind of a pain but we drug all of our stuff in and the room was very nice.

We were all MORE than happy to hit the sack so that we could be up bright and early the next morning.

 

[kelmac284]

DAY TWO DECEMBER 18, 2010

Well we were up bright and early and ready to go. It was ALREADY misting but we were not going to let it get us down. Just before we had left I had gotten and e-mail from one of my diva friends Michelle so we would be meeting her and her daughter Zoe for the day but we weren't quite sure when at this point so our plan was to go into Disneyland to activate Shane's AP and I was going to take the girls to meet Rapunzel and then we were going to hop over to DCA as we had dinner plans at WOC. Now I had spoken with Disney Dinning because our friends had asked to join us but it was completely booked but WHILE on the phone with them I found out that IF we wanted to cancel we could up till dinner time but not AFTER eating. Thus if it started raining too hard the show would be cancelled and we would have just eaten a VERY expensive meal but no show. Sooo we decided to kind of play it by ear for a bit and see what the weather did but as it turned out I didn't want to wait around and have nowhere to eat that night, being a Saturday and all, and since it didn't look too promising I just went ahead and cancelled early and we made alternate ressies for Storytellers.

We are planning a trip for June so we will try again then.

Anywho we got to the gates and it seemed the rain was already keeping the crowds away as it was almost 8 and we walked right up to the front. We went in and while Shane went to the AP center I took Katy to get her birthday button. Her birthday is New Year's eve. Anyway then we were told that Rapunzel was not going to appear till 10 so we decided to go on a few rides since we had awhile before DCA opened. We rode on Pirates and I believe Indy. By then I think it was about time to head to DCA so we left and headed over.

Upon entering we did the obligatory march to Toy Story and did that and Screaming was closed due to the rain and we never did get to ride that one. This day is kind of a blur because this day as well as most of the trip was all about finding WHAT was open due to the rain or finding a dry spot to stand etc etc LOL.

One thing I DO know is we did a LOT of shopping My youngest really loves Duffy and we tried to go see him but they had VERY few characters out and about due to the rain so she was unable to see him and was very dissapointed. Also Santa was not out either. So we headed over towards Tower but made a pit stop at the Tortilla factory so Katy could get her free bag of tortillas and one thing I had promised them on our last trip in June was that they could get their portraits done. We came out of the tortilla factory and the artist we wanted was there. SOOOO we found a dry spot and started in. That took quite a while and in the meantime Michelle and Zoe showed up. After that we decided to do Tower and then it was time for lunch. There aren't a whole lot of choices at the present with the park all torn up and so we opted to leave the park and go to Whitewater snacks.

We headed over and had a decent meal there and then headed back into the parks.

We did soarin and the girls wanted to do the animation academy and our character was Dale. Needless to say I need a LOT of work on my art skills LOL. Shelby wants to be an artist and Zoe is pretty good also and the next character was piglet and they wanted to do it again so we welcomed the chance to take a break esp since it is DRY in there!!

So we all sat down and took our break and by then it was about time for Michelle and Zoe to head home. We did the muppets and Monsters Inc before they took off and then we parted ways and they headed home and we headed towards Grand Californian.

We had a bit before our ressie so we went over to one of our fav spots the big fireplace and it was just in time for the storyteller. The girls enjoyed a story and we enjoyed a nice sit by the fire and then we headed over for our dinner. It was good as usual and then we headed out through DTD.

I believe we did a little shopping at World of Disney on the way back so we could get all of our purchases out of the way and take them back to the room so we wouldn't have to carry them around later.

All in all it was a pretty good day. We didn't get to do Tron or WOC but we still had fun!!

[/IMG]

 

[kelmac284]

DAY THREE DECEMBER 19, 2010

Well once again we were up early as this was to be our first full day at Disneyland and we wanted to get there because we had LOTS of stuff we wanted to do!! So we were off and today it was already raining harder than the day before. We got in and Shane was off to get fast passes for Space while the girls and I headed to Riverbelle for breakfast. He met us and we had a yummy breakfast. We then headed to Indy and then I believe did Pirates and Haunted as they both were fairly empty. It was raining pretty good today and so a lot of things were closed down so it was a matter of what we COULD do that wasn't shut down. One thing I should mention is they had a GREAT deal where when you purchased certain meals you got 20% off coupons for certain shops on merchandise and then when you purchased merchandise you got 30% off coupons on dinning at certain counter service restaurants. I had known about the dinning and had printed off a few coupons before we left. We had decided to use one of those this day and headed to Pizza Port. It is a really good deal and we got our lunch and saved quite a bit. We had to eat on the outter patio though because it is one of the few with indoor dinning. After lunch we did Captain EO and then space and also ran into a few soccer friends of ours from home. We also made sure and used our coupon to buy some sweatshirts which at this point we desperately needed to stay dry and warm!!

By the way we had heard from Michelle and they had wanted to meet us for dinner and so I had called that morning and made reservations for Jazz Kitchen. They wanted to come back with the whole family and only she and Zoe had park tickets so we had to go to a DTD or hotel restaurant. Jazz Kitchen was all I could get that would accomodate our party. Anyway we spent the rest of the afternoon trying to stay dry and doing mostly the indoor rides such as Buzz, Pirates etc until it was time to leave to meet Michelle and Family.

We headed to DTD and met them and had a very nice dinner. I have eaten there a few times but it was many years ago. After dinner we all headed to World of Disney to do a bit more shopping and then parted ways.

It was another fun but VERY wet day!

 

[kelmac284]

DAY FOUR DECEMBER 20, 2010

Well today was our last Disney day and proved to be the wettest yet! We got up and decided we wanted to try something different and since it was so ugly and miserable we decided to go to Mimi's for breakfast and not worry about getting to the park first thing.

We had a VERY nice breakfast there and then headed over. We actually had a small lull in the storm and it seemed everyone came out of the woodwork. They all most of thought the storms were over because the parks were VERY busy. We did Thunder since it was the first day that we COULD do it and Casey Jr of all things LOL as well as Pinochio and got in line for Mr. Toad but then it broke and Snow White was already down. The boats, Tea Cups and Alice were ALREADY down due to the rain and we never did try Matterhorn because of the rain. We had done Small World once the day before but the whole ride before you go inside is quite miserable when it is raining and the boat had a good foot of water in it!

We made our way to tomorrowland and the kids wanted to do Autopia and decided to go into inoventions while waiting for their fastpasses and I was sitting out waiting and then headed to main street to do a bit of shopping and then it just started pouring. We had planned to use another coupon for lunch as our lunch at the BBQ had been cancelled on Sunday and our lunch at carnation cafe got cancelled today but everything was drenched and we didn't want pizza port again so we decided to try DTD.

We left and went to Napolini and had OK pizza and while there it was just SO wet and we were tired we decided to take a break and go see a movie. At this point the parks were crowded and we were drenched and just wanted OUT of the rain. So we went and saw Narnia. It was ok but the best part was getting a break from the weather for a few hours LOL.

When it was over we rode the monorail back in to the park and had a bit before our dinner ressies at Blue Bayou so we went and saw the Billy Hill Show. That was great as always and then it was finally time to go have dinner.

Honestly had we not had the ressie we prob would have just called it a day. It was SO wet and the wind had come up it was just miserable!

But this was Katy's birthday dinner and EVERY ressie I had made had gotten cancelled so we were bound and determined to make ONE of them!!

We went in and requested a water table and got one! Shane and I had the surf and turf, Katy had salmon and Shelby had mac and cheese. We got her the little birthday cake and we all had a really nice time. We hated to have to go back out in the weather but we went STRAIGHT to our room!

This was probably our WORST day weatherwise but we still had fun!

 

[DizNee Luver]

I'm sorry that it rained the entire time you were there.....what a bummer! Even with all the rain, you still found fun things to do & fun people to do them with!! Glad to see Michele & Zoe joined you.....I know we had a blast the day they came up.....the kids got along very well! One of these trips I'll have to try the Jazz Kitchen.....we've talked about it, but just haven't planned it in.

 

[kelmac284]

DAY FIVE DECEMBER 21, 2010

Today we were off and headed to Universal. We got up bright and early once again and checked out of the Hojo and headed up to Hollywood. We hit some traffic but still made it up there in pretty good time and we were probably the ONLY people driving in to that entire lot LOL.

We walked into City Walk and there was pretty much no one there. We had asked about places to eat breakfast but the place they told us wasn't open so we found a starbucks and of course there were only 2 tables and everyone that WAS there was fighting over them LOL.

So we got our coffees and had to go looking for some shelter to stand under to drink them but finally it was time to head into the park.

We immediately headed to the tour and we haven't been in over 5 years so it has changed a bit. Since the fire they changed the King Kong section and that was most impressive!! We always enjoy this part and the only part I was dissapointed in was not getting to see the back lot where they filmed Ghost Whisperer as that was one of my FAV shows.

After the tour Shane and Katy did the Simpsons and then we did the mummy and they went on it again while I looked in some shops. Jurrassic Park was shut down so we went back up top and did Shrek and then had some lunch. We then saw the special effects show and even got to be in it!! We also saw the Blues Brothers, Animal show and Terminator. We pretty much did everything we COULD do and like everything else the special Christmas program was cancelled so we left and had dinner at Bubba Gump's at City Walk.

It was good as always and then we were off to find our hotel in Burbank.

We had stayed here before and although they were pretty unorganized they didn't have the room I had booked so we got upgraded to a REALLY nice suite so that was a bonus! We were all exhausted from fighting the weather all week so we all hit the hay pretty early and we were up early again on Wed to get out of dodge before the next round of storms.

Luckily we made it over the grapevine without incident as they had predicted snow and we had a very uneventful drive home.

All in all we had a fun time. I was dissapointed that we were unable to see the fireworks or more of the christmas activities or be able to go to most of our dinning ressies but we are going back in June so hopefully we can have a do-over. I hope we can make it back in the next few years for a "christmas" do-over and next time the weather will cooperate more!