Pre trip report.. with pictures :)

[brookies_mommy]

My family alredy thinks I am nuts. I know if I started a binder for our dec trip they might have me commited.

muhahahahah! They will thank you after an amazing trip!!!

 

[brookies_mommy]

So we will be doing WoC on Friday. My SIL and niece will be joining my DD and I. I have made reservations for Fantasmic for Sunday.

18 days!!! And I cannot wait!!!

 

[kaoden39]

So we will be doing WoC on Friday. My SIL and niece will be joining my DD and I. I have made reservations for Fantasmic for Sunday.

18 days!!! And I cannot wait!!!

Oh how fun. We are doing WoC on the 22nd. I can hardly wait!!

 

[mvf-m11c]

Get your FPs early so you can get the 9pm WoC show for Friday.

Good to hear that you will do the F! dessert package. You will like the dessert package and get to the booth early so you can select your seats for the show.

 

[Bungle]

I'm thinking of doing the f! dessert package so I'll be interested in seeing if you think its worth the price.

Can't wait to see the finished plan book either.

So jealous you have less than three weeks to go

 

[Bungle]

Oh how fun. We are doing WoC on the 22nd. I can hardly wait!!

Ooooooo you are going soon too. I need to check out your ptr!

 

[Disneyland 1951]

So we will be doing WoC on Friday. My SIL and niece will be joining my DD and I. I have made reservations for Fantasmic for Sunday.

18 days!!! And I cannot wait!!!

You have made great detailed plans.... Some of the most fun can be the unplanned events.

Usually every day they have an unannounced event. It is not on any guide, but is great fun for younger children, especially girls.

At 2:30 each afternoon a piano player comes out at the Refreshment (Coke) Corner at the end of main street on the left and begins playing ragtime music. Without announcment the Mad Hatter and Alice in Wonderland and organize a game of Musical Chairs. Usually several other characters also show up (Queen of Hearts, White Rabbit, Peter Pan, Tweedle Dum & Dee, Chip & Dale, etc.) It is a half hour, or more, of play time with Jokes, and Disney music. It is a great time with NO LINE or waiting, especially for Alice in Wonderland fans.

 

[kaoden39]

I love Coca Cola Refreshment Corner for that reason. When we were there in June we saw Mary Poppins and Bert there more than once too.

 

[MommyWithDreams]

I love Coca Cola Refreshment Corner for that reason. When we were there in June we saw Mary Poppins and Bert there more than once too.

I agree, musical chairs with them is so much fun. The Mad Hatter I think is probably one of my favorite characters to meet.

 

[kaoden39]

I agree, musical chairs with them is so much fun. The Mad Hatter I think is probably one of my favorite characters to meet.

You know what? Me too!

We had a great experience with him at Goofy's Kitchen.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

Musical chairs was on our list for Christmas but was one of the things that never got done due to the crowds. I never knew about it until I found the DIS it is on our list again for our Oct 2011 trip.

 

[wvnative]

I have a word document for each trip we've taken. I decided over the weekend to use a smaller binder this year and I started shrinking down my pages. Of course, then I got distracted by football. lol

Yours is really cute!

 

[kaoden39]

I have a word document for each trip we've taken. I decided over the weekend to use a smaller binder this year and I started shrinking down my pages. Of course, then I got distracted by football. lol

Yours is really cute!

Hi there!!

 

[brookies_mommy]

You have made great detailed plans.... Some of the most fun can be the unplanned events.

Usually every day they have an unannounced event. It is not on any guide, but is great fun for younger children, especially girls.

At 2:30 each afternoon a piano player comes out at the Refreshment (Coke) Corner at the end of main street on the left and begins playing ragtime music. Without announcment the Mad Hatter and Alice in Wonderland and organize a game of Musical Chairs. Usually several other characters also show up (Queen of Hearts, White Rabbit, Peter Pan, Tweedle Dum & Dee, Chip & Dale, etc.) It is a half hour, or more, of play time with Jokes, and Disney music. It is a great time with NO LINE or waiting, especially for Alice in Wonderland fans.

OMG!! I didn't know this!!!

I love Coca Cola Refreshment Corner for that reason. When we were there in June we saw Mary Poppins and Bert there more than once too.

I agree, musical chairs with them is so much fun. The Mad Hatter I think is probably one of my favorite characters to meet.

I'm excited to try this!!

I have a word document for each trip we've taken. I decided over the weekend to use a smaller binder this year and I started shrinking down my pages. Of course, then I got distracted by football. lol

Yours is really cute!

I would love to see what you have. I am always looking for good tips/tricks! Oh my gosh!! LOVE the DIS boards!!

 

[wvnative]

Hi there!!

Hi there to you too!

 

[wvnative]

I would love to see what you have. I am always looking for good tips/tricks! Oh my gosh!! LOVE the DIS boards!!

The cover is always a scenic pic from somewhere in the park from our last trip. Then it's just sectioned out kind of like your book. I'm excited to get my black ink refilled so I can start printing it out.

 

[brookies_mommy]

The cover is always a scenic pic from somewhere in the park from our last trip. Then it's just sectioned out kind of like your book. I'm excited to get my black ink refilled so I can start printing it out.

I would love to see yours! Always looking for new ideas

 

[brookies_mommy]

Ok so we leave in two days.. I keep packing and unpacking so now it's just a mess! I am going to have a couple of really busy days! I hope to chime in tomorrow on all our updated plans... as A LOT of them have changed and keep changing.. DD has been sick the last week and we just had puppies a few nights ago so things are crazy around here! We are both looking forward to going away.. I just wish it was for longer.. but next time I guess

 

[brookies_mommy]

I have not uploaded pictures yet so I will be adding them into this later today (hopefully).

We had an amazing trip! We used some of the tips I got on here and it made it even more special! Two things that could have made it better... A longer trip and DD not being sick. She was on the tail end of a cold so her energy level was just not how it normally is. All in all though it was an amazing time and I can't wait to start planning the next one.

I'm going to start with my reviews of HOJO, The Car rental, and LAX

HOJO-

AMAZING!!!! DD and my niece (me too) LOVED the pirate pool area. The beds were super soft! We were in building 4. Room 4209 overlooking the pirate pool area. My brother and his family were in the room right next to me, we had a door inbetween our rooms. This was all HOJO's doing. We did not request it. BUT we loved it! DD and my nieces had two rooms to roam as they pleased.
As far as HOJO service.. again AMAZING! I had made arangements for a special order of goodies to be put in my room and my brothers room for the kids. It was in the room when we got there and it was sooo cool to see DD's face light up when she saw it. When we were in our room I could here people playing at the pool but it was not too bad. We came back to the room for DD to take a nap before F! and she fell right asleep. I loved the ceiling in that room. While I had all the lights off there was just enough for me to get things done while DD was napping. At night I usually had my side of the ajoining door open in case my brother needed anything and I did hear my niece a couple times but when the door was shut I could not. Again, my niece so its not like it was bothersome.

The walk was not bad at all on the way there! LOL Day two at DL DD HATED walking back. She was also EXTREMELY tired and again on the tail end of being sick. I think this was also the day I was feeling it too. We were both wearing crocs too.

Since no hotel is perfect and I feel that I have to say "something" negative... sooo ummm.. the bathroom room I did not like! LOL Which I actually didn't it was tile and at the end of the day feeling those cracks in my sore feet.. well ya I didn't like that! lol oh.. and no ATM machine LOL I had to go ALL THE WAY to the Fairfield lol

Car Rental- Alamo

great service! I am from a smaller town and having to take a shuttle carying 2 45 lbs bags and a 25 lb carseat while watching a five year old.. not too much fun. They made it a plesent experience... There shuttle was there when I arrived, they loaded and unload my bags and then helped me with them into the office area. I had already checked in so I went to the kiosk and did the rest. I had to have a rep come and help becauase I was using a debit card and then needed to enter my return flight info. Then since DD was being so good I told her she could pick the car.. there was one compact left and one economy left they told us to pick whatever we wanted.. DD picked the compact (BOO) and her reasoning... It sparkled like pixi dust!!! LOL It was silver and had just been washed.. but it was funny and thats the one we took!

LAX-

Although it took forever to get our bags it was a typical large airport. I do think next time I will go into one of the other two just because it is so much closer. I chose LAX because it was cheaper. I hated the long drive.. mostly becuase I never knew what to expect. On the way from LAX I hit A LOT of traffic.. so I expected that on our way back.. I got like none! So I was three hours early for out flight. I checked in curbside as it looked like the line inside was huge and found out our flight was delayed 45 minutes.. So now I'm basically there 4 hours early. I was NOT happy. DD and I found ways to entertain ourselves though so it all worked out.


Next up... Day one of Disneyland

 

[6Smiles]

Although I don't think I've commented, I have been following your trip throughout the planning phase and am looking forward to reading all about your adventures. I hope your DD is feeling much better.