Jaina
Actually, my name is Sara. It's a long, VMK story.
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2005
5/17/18 - Photobucket links all fixed!
8/2/2018 - Imgur is currently a mess. Hoping the pics will be fixed at some point. Also, none of the links below currently work. I'm not sure what happened, but the link for this whole TR was also broken, and I had to go back to 2013 in my activity to find a working link for it!
Actual Trip Report:
1. Finally IN California
2. Our First Family Disney Day! (part one)
3. First Time in California Adventure (day 1 pt. 2)
4. Big Day #2 (part one)
5. Day #2 - part 2: Disneyland
6. Great Big Day #3! (part one)
7. The Hot Middle of the Day (day 3 part 2)
8. Wrapping it Up in California Adventure (day 3 part 3)
9. Saying "Good-bye for Now."
Pre-Trip:
It is getting close enough that our plans shouldn't change, so I'm finally feeling confident enough to start writing this. It is my first ever trip report, so I hope it doesn't break any unwritten-rules-of-a-good-trip-report!
Trip dates:
February 26th - March 2nd (3 days in the park between 2 travel days)
The cast:
Me (30)
DH (29)
DS (6.5)
DD1 (5)
DD2 (2.75) (and therefore still free!)
On paper it doesn't look terribly responsible for us to be going on this trip, but we have been talking up Disneyland and PLANNING to go for over 3 years now. Since about the time they were this age:
They literally dream about Disneyland. I feel kind of bad that we've done that to them (when we can't afford to take them much yet) but it will make this trip that much more exciting!
The last time DH and I went was in 2009, before DD2 was in the works, and we didn't take the older kids. They were only 1.5 and almost-3, and it didn't sound fun to us... We had a blast ourselves though, other than a further-than-we-expected walk from our hotel, (Quality Inn & Suites Anaheim At The Park - .85 miles to the turnstiles!) which, coupled with us being older than the last time, led to some tired feet!
This time we're staying a little closer, though still low-budget, at the Anaheim Plaza Inn & Suites. I've been collecting Disney shirts in the same color for everyone, low-cost little souvenirs, and mostly, ideas, so I can help things go as smoothly as possible!
Our kids have been excited to go to Disneyland forever, and we've saved up over $500 in their big Toy Story "Disneyland" bank. Between that and part of our tax return this year, we think the good memories and fun time as a family is worth a very low-budget, but hopefully highly enjoyable family vacation!
We aren't sure when we're going to tell them. We talk about it all the time, but they have no idea than in 5 weeks we're going to be there! What do you think would bring the most excitement from kids this age when we break the news? Should we do it a week before? In the car when we realize we're on our way to California instead of Grandma's? (We're a 6-ish hour trip from there) The night before? (We're staying the first night at a good friend's house, and they're young enough that we could tell them that's the reason for the trip...) The morning we GO to Disneyland?
8/2/2018 - Imgur is currently a mess. Hoping the pics will be fixed at some point. Also, none of the links below currently work. I'm not sure what happened, but the link for this whole TR was also broken, and I had to go back to 2013 in my activity to find a working link for it!
Actual Trip Report:
1. Finally IN California
2. Our First Family Disney Day! (part one)
3. First Time in California Adventure (day 1 pt. 2)
4. Big Day #2 (part one)
5. Day #2 - part 2: Disneyland
6. Great Big Day #3! (part one)
7. The Hot Middle of the Day (day 3 part 2)
8. Wrapping it Up in California Adventure (day 3 part 3)
9. Saying "Good-bye for Now."
Pre-Trip:
It is getting close enough that our plans shouldn't change, so I'm finally feeling confident enough to start writing this. It is my first ever trip report, so I hope it doesn't break any unwritten-rules-of-a-good-trip-report!
Trip dates:
February 26th - March 2nd (3 days in the park between 2 travel days)
The cast:
Me (30)
DH (29)
DS (6.5)
DD1 (5)
DD2 (2.75) (and therefore still free!)
On paper it doesn't look terribly responsible for us to be going on this trip, but we have been talking up Disneyland and PLANNING to go for over 3 years now. Since about the time they were this age:
They literally dream about Disneyland. I feel kind of bad that we've done that to them (when we can't afford to take them much yet) but it will make this trip that much more exciting!
The last time DH and I went was in 2009, before DD2 was in the works, and we didn't take the older kids. They were only 1.5 and almost-3, and it didn't sound fun to us... We had a blast ourselves though, other than a further-than-we-expected walk from our hotel, (Quality Inn & Suites Anaheim At The Park - .85 miles to the turnstiles!) which, coupled with us being older than the last time, led to some tired feet!
This time we're staying a little closer, though still low-budget, at the Anaheim Plaza Inn & Suites. I've been collecting Disney shirts in the same color for everyone, low-cost little souvenirs, and mostly, ideas, so I can help things go as smoothly as possible!
Our kids have been excited to go to Disneyland forever, and we've saved up over $500 in their big Toy Story "Disneyland" bank. Between that and part of our tax return this year, we think the good memories and fun time as a family is worth a very low-budget, but hopefully highly enjoyable family vacation!
We aren't sure when we're going to tell them. We talk about it all the time, but they have no idea than in 5 weeks we're going to be there! What do you think would bring the most excitement from kids this age when we break the news? Should we do it a week before? In the car when we realize we're on our way to California instead of Grandma's? (We're a 6-ish hour trip from there) The night before? (We're staying the first night at a good friend's house, and they're young enough that we could tell them that's the reason for the trip...) The morning we GO to Disneyland?
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