Sarah_Rose
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2008
It's my first DL trip report! Alright, let's start by introducing ourselves.
Sarah: ME! WDW veteran, runDisney addict, and definitely "the planner" of the family.
James: DH. Not so into Disney as I am, but he's getting there. In fact, I think this latest trip might have solidified the love.
Callum: The toddler. Our 16 month old son.... this kid is crazy active (he started walking at 10 months and can now climb ladders and run as fast as I can), has absolutely no patience, but is just a sweet little social snugglebug.
Here I am taunting the kid (at 5 months old) with a Mickey bar during our last WDW trip in January 2011 (aka The Trip Where I Vowed to Never Travel With a Child Under the Age of 4, EVER AGAIN).
So how did this trip happen?
Alright, so James and I have been traveling to WDW for the last four Januaries, to take part in WDW Marathon Weekend. And every year, we keep saying that we need to go do the DL half marathon to get the coveted Coast to Coast medals (for doing both a WDW and DL event in the same year). We decided that this was the year. My parents came to stay with Callum, and DH and I went down to DL for three nights to run the race. And we fell in love with Disneyland. Absolutely totally head over heels.
Here we are, stopped for a photo with our favorite brothers (ok, so I am REALLY a Fireside Girls fan) during the DL half marathon.
So, we got home from the trip on September 5th. September 13th was my birthday, and it happened to coincide with a great Alaska Airlines seat sale. So I asked, and James said yes, and I drank the Koolaid. We booked our trip for December 3-6 (Saturday to Tuesday).
Do you know what else it coincided with? So, earlier in the day I'd been discussing pregnancy with one of my girlfriends. We were both joking about being pregnant (she has a little girl the same age as my son) and after the conversation, almost as a joke, I took a pregnancy test. I was so sure that I was not pregnant, that I set the test down on the bathroom counter, walked away, and forgot about it for the rest of the day. A couple hours after booking our DL trip (and being totally elated about it!), I walked into our bathroom to get ready for bed and noticed the test. And it was (I'm sure you've guessed by now) positive. So we actually had one more "guest" on our trip - I'm due May 22nd, so I was 16 weeks pregnant on our trip. This changed our plans a little bit.
Our first change was that we decided to book the closest hotel that we could reasonably afford. We got a great rate on Expedia for the Carousel Inn, so we booked it. We stayed at the HoJo on our last trip, so it was awesome to be right next to the crosswalk to the parks.
So, here was our rough itinerary for the trip:
December 3rd:
6:45 am flight from Seattle to SNA - arrival at 9:18 am. Disneyland Express bus (we didn't want to have to lug a car seat to CA) to the Carousel Inn.
Hang out at the parks, hopefully with a nap time break, for as long as Callum reasonably could handle.
December 4:
7:00 Magic Morning at DL (Callum is an early riser, so we figured this wouldn't be a problem)
9:00 Reservation for character breakfast at the Plaza Inn
1:00 - Nap time!!!
Evening in DCA and ElecTRONica
December 5:
9:00 DL for the morning
1:00 Nap time!!!
Evening in DL to appreciate Christmas decorations without the craziness of the Candlelight Processional. We would have loved to have stuck around to see (hear?) this, but Callum would not have had the patience for this.
December 6:
Pack and DTD in the morning
10:40 on the Disneyland Express back to SNA
1:35 flight back to Seattle
So, how well did these plans work? Day 1 is coming up!
Sarah: ME! WDW veteran, runDisney addict, and definitely "the planner" of the family.
James: DH. Not so into Disney as I am, but he's getting there. In fact, I think this latest trip might have solidified the love.
Callum: The toddler. Our 16 month old son.... this kid is crazy active (he started walking at 10 months and can now climb ladders and run as fast as I can), has absolutely no patience, but is just a sweet little social snugglebug.
Here I am taunting the kid (at 5 months old) with a Mickey bar during our last WDW trip in January 2011 (aka The Trip Where I Vowed to Never Travel With a Child Under the Age of 4, EVER AGAIN).
So how did this trip happen?
Alright, so James and I have been traveling to WDW for the last four Januaries, to take part in WDW Marathon Weekend. And every year, we keep saying that we need to go do the DL half marathon to get the coveted Coast to Coast medals (for doing both a WDW and DL event in the same year). We decided that this was the year. My parents came to stay with Callum, and DH and I went down to DL for three nights to run the race. And we fell in love with Disneyland. Absolutely totally head over heels.
Here we are, stopped for a photo with our favorite brothers (ok, so I am REALLY a Fireside Girls fan) during the DL half marathon.
So, we got home from the trip on September 5th. September 13th was my birthday, and it happened to coincide with a great Alaska Airlines seat sale. So I asked, and James said yes, and I drank the Koolaid. We booked our trip for December 3-6 (Saturday to Tuesday).
Do you know what else it coincided with? So, earlier in the day I'd been discussing pregnancy with one of my girlfriends. We were both joking about being pregnant (she has a little girl the same age as my son) and after the conversation, almost as a joke, I took a pregnancy test. I was so sure that I was not pregnant, that I set the test down on the bathroom counter, walked away, and forgot about it for the rest of the day. A couple hours after booking our DL trip (and being totally elated about it!), I walked into our bathroom to get ready for bed and noticed the test. And it was (I'm sure you've guessed by now) positive. So we actually had one more "guest" on our trip - I'm due May 22nd, so I was 16 weeks pregnant on our trip. This changed our plans a little bit.
Our first change was that we decided to book the closest hotel that we could reasonably afford. We got a great rate on Expedia for the Carousel Inn, so we booked it. We stayed at the HoJo on our last trip, so it was awesome to be right next to the crosswalk to the parks.
So, here was our rough itinerary for the trip:
December 3rd:
6:45 am flight from Seattle to SNA - arrival at 9:18 am. Disneyland Express bus (we didn't want to have to lug a car seat to CA) to the Carousel Inn.
Hang out at the parks, hopefully with a nap time break, for as long as Callum reasonably could handle.
December 4:
7:00 Magic Morning at DL (Callum is an early riser, so we figured this wouldn't be a problem)
9:00 Reservation for character breakfast at the Plaza Inn
1:00 - Nap time!!!
Evening in DCA and ElecTRONica
December 5:
9:00 DL for the morning
1:00 Nap time!!!
Evening in DL to appreciate Christmas decorations without the craziness of the Candlelight Processional. We would have loved to have stuck around to see (hear?) this, but Callum would not have had the patience for this.
December 6:
Pack and DTD in the morning
10:40 on the Disneyland Express back to SNA
1:35 flight back to Seattle
So, how well did these plans work? Day 1 is coming up!