So, we're doing this. (Impulse trip Friday, June 18th because I'm FINALLY allowed in this week!)

[Jaina]

I have been really emotional the last day or two, and it could be hormones, but it might be that starting today, I'm (being from out of state) finally allowed to enter Disneyland/California Adventure) but wasn't planning to go until July 28-29. Because we're super busy and traveling a lot, and it didn't make sense until then. But somehow I just bought a park hopper for Friday (after stalking the app and online for an hour or two this morning, waiting for something to open up). My husband always wants me to be happy, and he has vicariously ridden the Disney corona-coaster with me since last March, and he pushed me into taking the plunge. ❤ He saw how excited I was to plan to be back (with my then-AP) when it was supposed to open in July. The plan has always been for me to be back as soon as I was allowed to, but I thought I'd need to wait until it worked into our busy summer better. Apparently I couldn't handle that...

The only wrinkle is that my daughter's birthday is Thursday, and I'll be leaving at like 2 PM. We decided it was better for me to fly (from Phoenix to John Wayne) since we have Southwest points, and save myself the 12-13 hours of driving when we have so many other driving trips this summer. Hopefully she'll forgive me (Dad said he'll make the rest of it great) and I'll be taking her for a trip sometime this fall. Everyone wants to go on solo trips, so hoping we hear something about membership/annual pass/whatever sooner rather than later, haha.

I'm so, so excited. I might be staying at the Motel 6, because it was cheap and walkable, and I -really- just need somewhere to sleep. I could stay with friends in Anaheim, but not much beats staying and Harbor and being able to walk in as early as you want! So I'll be back to let you know how it was for me, as a (mostly) solo traveler! The reservation that I finally saw open up was starting in California Adventure, so that's where I'll be! Hopefully I'll score a WS pass, but mostly just because I want to be let into AC to ride my beloved Guardians! (And see it, obviously)

Happy happy happy!

 

[Piglet99645]

Which thread will have your Friday report?!

 

[Jaina]

This is where I will do my in depth trip report, but I’m sure I’ll post a short recap in that thread or just on the main board, especially if we do a little tiny meet up!

 

[abbeyroad6282]

Hi, this short trip sounds awesome! I can't wait to hear how things go! I have 4 kids but only one son of mine enjoys the parks as much as I do so he and I go together a little more often and I do other things with the others. My son and I are driving down from Reno to park hop on Sunday and then will be back July 1-2. He had the three day child ticket from 2020 and I bought a 3-day park hopper. I also was a passholder 2019-2020 and am eagerly waiting for the new membership options! Can't wait to follow along on all your recaps/trip reports!

 

[Jaina]

Hi, this short trip sounds awesome! I can't wait to hear how things go! I have 4 kids but only one son of mine enjoys the parks as much as I do so he and I go together a little more often and I do other things with the others. My son and I are driving down from Reno to park hop on Sunday and then will be back July 1-2. He had the three day child ticket from 2020 and I bought a 3-day park hopper. I also was a passholder 2019-2020 and am eagerly waiting for the new membership options! Can't wait to follow along on all your recaps/trip reports!

Sounds awesome! I hope your trip is so fun! I, too, have one of those 3-day promotional park hoppers for 3-9, but the child I bought it for is turning 11 this week. And my two children that are young enough to use it still, will not do well in a mask very long at all. I’m really hoping things have eased up even more by like November and I can still use it with one of them. It’s such a good deal, I don’t want to cash it in for credit!

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

I am so excited for you!!! I had largely avoided Disney stuff because it was just too sad and stressful with everything closed. I decided now that out-of-state can visit, it is time for me to catch up - and how awesome that someone I have loved post-stalking is going this first weekend! Can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[Jaina]

I am so excited for you!!! I had largely avoided Disney stuff because it was just too sad and stressful with everything closed. I decided now that out-of-state can visit, it is time for me to catch up - and how awesome that someone I have loved post-stalking is going this first weekend! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Thanks!! I have avoided the boards a lot too, when there was no hope of visiting again any time soon. Instead, I went to WDW twice in the last year, which would have never happened otherwise! It feels surreal that I'm finally going to be back tomorrow, and I've DEFINITELY never planned a trip this quickly. (3 days before from out of state? What??) I've had so many details swimming through my head between plans when I'm there/making sure I understand how things are working/making sure I'm not forgetting anything my family needs to know/do while I'm gone that I haven't slept well the last two nights, and I'll probably have to take a Benadryl or something tonight still! I can't believe I'm flying out in a few short hours!! I'm pretty excited, because we're supposed to have a high of 115º again today...

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

I bet there will be some cool swag you can pick up this trip to surprise your fam with for your July trip! . Hope the weather is glorious for you too

 

[Sujo1214]

I am so happy for you. I have read all your other trip reports over the past few years. I am excited to read about your upcoming trips especially since I have a trip planned for October.

 

[Jaina]

I’m Heeeeeere!
I do NOT know how these images are going to work, since I haven’t really used the Imgur app to upload, and I was work for my desktop. If they show up super giant, I promise I will fix them when I get back! Here we have the flashback to the late 90s picture-of-myself-in-the-mirror just for kicks, and then we have my Disneyland backpack staging area. I’m staying at the Desert Palm Hotel and Suites on the corner of Katella and Harbor, and so far I love it! Of course, I’ve been traveling all day, and it’s like 30° cooler here than it was in Phoenix when I left, and I have a hotel room all. to. myself. So what’s not to love?

 

[Jaina]

I am so happy for you. I have read all your other trip reports over the past few years. I am excited to read about your upcoming trips especially since I have a trip planned for October.

And I saw your post earlier before I flew out, but didn’t have time to respond! Thank you!! I’m sure things will be so much calmer by the time you go in October, and they won’t be so much crazy wondering how everything works! Thanks for following along!

 

[abbeyroad6282]

I’m Heeeeeere!
I do NOT know how these images are going to work, since I haven’t really used the Imgur app to upload, and I was work for my desktop. If they show up super giant, I promise I will fix them when I get back! Here we have the flashback to the late 90s picture-of-myself-in-the-mirror just for kicks, and then we have my Disneyland backpack staging area. I’m staying at the Desert Palm Hotel and Suites on the corner of Katella and Harbor, and so far I love it! Of course, I’ve been traveling all day, and it’s like 30° cooler here than it was in Phoenix when I left, and I have a hotel room all. to. myself. So what’s not to love?

I’m Heeeeeere!
I do NOT know how these images are going to work, since I haven’t really used the Imgur app to upload, and I was work for my desktop. If they show up super giant, I promise I will fix them when I get back! Here we have the flashback to the late 90s picture-of-myself-in-the-mirror just for kicks, and then we have my Disneyland backpack staging area. I’m staying at the Desert Palm Hotel and Suites on the corner of Katella and Harbor, and so far I love it! Of course, I’ve been traveling all day, and it’s like 30° cooler here than it was in Phoenix when I left, and I have a hotel room all. to. myself. So what’s not to love?

Yay! I can't wait to hear how everything goes. Have the best time!

 

[Piglet99645]

Pics!!!!!

 

[disneymouse16]

Awesome! It is so cool that you did this last minute! I look forward to hearing about your impromptu trip!

 

[Jaina]

Ugh. I'm having lots of trouble with Imgur and I also just wrote a post, but ended up restarting my computer (trying to get Imgur's upload feature to work, which it did not improve) before I posted it, apparently. Saddest day! (I'm not dramatic at all or anthing.... I just hate re-doing anything!)

To repeat:
I flew in from Phoenix to John Wayne (Santa Ana?) on Southwest, and my flight was delayed just a bit, so I came in about 4:30. Neither of my friends that live there were available to pick me up, so I took an Uber to my hotel, the Desert Palms Hotel & Suites. The Uber drive was about 30 minutes, since traffic was a bit busy. The driver was nice, except he had kind of a sad story about how his wife and girls had all moved here from Dubai, so they could get better schooling, but then his wife divorced him after 6 months or so, so he had followed them here so he could still see his girls. So I was kinda wishing that ride was a little shorter...
But my hotel was great! Everything was really nice, including the staff. I loved the plantation shutters that opened all the way up, for a nice view of Katella (I asked for the top floor, to avoid feet over my head while I was trying to sleep). I didn't try the pool, or the grab and go breakfast. The beds were comfy, but the pillows were lackluster, so I was glad I had brought one of my own. Everything seemed clean and worked.

I was pretty excited to have a hotel room all to myself! It made me wish I was staying two nights instead of staying at my friend's house Friday night after my park day!

I went to the little store between the 7-11 and the Candy Cane Inn and even found a few souvenirs for some of my kids. I usually buy those at the Disney Outlet in Tempe, AZ, but this trip was too fast to plan for that, and I didn't get excited about trying to buy in-park stuff for kids (who get Disney swag all the time from all my trips) at full price. Then I went over to CVS and got a salad for dinner and an egg/sausage scramble for the next morning.

 

[Jaina]

Imgur is continuing to be weird, and I can only upload on the app from my phone, not from my desktop. So I'm going to have to experiment a bit, and sizing might be a little weird. I usually upload them at a smaller size so they aren't huge pictures for viewing, but they'll probably be bigger while it's not working properly... Hopefully it will be fine though!

I had some struggles with an alarm set at PM instead of AM (just the one reminding me to get my WS pass, not the one to wake me, thankfully!) so it was a little iffy grabbing it last minute instead of being set up and ready like I prefer. I was all shaky afterwards, but I got boarding group 30! I'm glad I had already tested my internet the night before, so I knew that my cell signal was way faster than the hotel's wifi. My hair is always a little exciting in the humidity, and it did not disappoint that morning...

I coordinated with @Astylla and she had gotten boarding group 39, so we were hoping to maybe be able to ride together. That was lucky! I finished getting ready, packed up all my stuff, ate breakfast, and was ready to check out at 7:20. The hotel was happy to hold my suitcase for me during the day, which was so helpful.

The walk was just less than 20 minutes, and at 7:40 (for an official 9 AM opening) I was about halfway down the little road approaching the Disneyland Hotel. The air wasn't warm at all, but it was humid enough that I wanted my little neck fan once I stopped and was waiting in line. The security line started moving at 8 AM and I was through at 8:10 AM.

 

[Jaina]

It took me nearly 8-9 minutes to walk through DTD and get to the front gates of CA. People had been going through already and the entry lines were only 6-10 people long at 8:20 AM. I entered, tried not to cry too much, and headed for RSR. Since I had a boarding group for WS, I wasn't worried about getting into Avenger's Campus (which didn't have a standby line yet), but RSR is one I didn't want to wait a long time for, and which I also don't enjoy riding when it's warm outside. When I entered the line at it said 30 minutes, and I expected it would be less, but it was right about 25 minutes. It felt long, since it was my first ride of the day. I'm really a front-of-the-line rope drop kinda person... I don't know if I would go the DTD route again next time. I might want to leave 20 minutes earlier and just take my chances with the Harbor line.

While I was in line I had tried to figure out mobile ordering food for the rest of the day, but how the heck was I supposed to know when I wanted to eat, and which part of the park I'd be in? I ended up ordering a milk and cookies churro at the Cozy Cones starting at 9 am, and some food at Bengal BBQ for like 5 PM. I was interested in Pym's Test Kitchen, but only breakfast times were up, and I'd already eaten and wouldn't be hungry for real food for an hour. I coordinated with @Astylla, and went and got my churro after I exited RSR. I looked at riding Luigi's or Mater's, but Luigi's wasn't quite open yet, and Mater's line was already 10 minutes at 9:05 AM. (Maybe) I was thinking the milk and cookies churro would be a bit like the Santa's milk and cookies churro, which was amazing, but it wasn't. I wasn't a huge fan, and I kinda wolfed it down, because my boarding group was called about then, and I wanted to spend a little time in Avenger's Campus.

AC is pretty cool. I can't say I don't miss A Bug's Land, because I just loved the theming so much, and it was a cooler, shady little oasis for those of us with toddlers. But I know this land will be popular, and my own kids mostly love Marvel now and will think it's awesome. I love being in a "new" land, because there's so much energy, and so many characters out and things happening. I saw Captain Marvel, the Wasp, Iron Man, and some soldiers while out and about waiting for @Astylla's boarding group to be called. I decided to get in line to meet Iron Man (Tony is my favorite) and almost missed him (Black Panther would have been coming out) when @Astylla was able to come in. Fortuitous timing! She took my favorite picture of my trip for me. Me and Iron Man, with me NOT looking awkward (like I usually do, and did in 75% of the pictures with him.) I'm 0% good at talking to "face" characters. So awkward.

 

[disneycat321]

Loving it so far! That picture of you and Iron Man is awesome! I am also "0% good at talking to face characters" (perfect way of putting that!) I am always 100% awkward. I'm going next week with a friend I know will be better at it than I am, so I'm really hoping that she helps me with that little difficulty...haha!

 

[Astylla]

Loving it so far! That picture of you and Iron Man is awesome! I am also "0% good at talking to face characters" (perfect way of putting that!) I am always 100% awkward. I'm going next week with a friend I know will be better at it than I am, so I'm really hoping that she helps me with that little difficulty...haha!

I've really forced myself to interact more with face characters to overcome my anxiety. And Iron Man doesn't hold back lol. He was like "Oh so I guess you're in the picture too huh ?" , when snapping a selfie together with @Jaina , it was great lol. Thor also called me out because I was decked out in Loki gear even calling me "brother" , it was amazing. I'll try to post my own report soon , overtime this week is killing me. I already miss Disneyland !

 

[Jaina]

Loving it so far! That picture of you and Iron Man is awesome! I am also "0% good at talking to face characters" (perfect way of putting that!) I am always 100% awkward. I'm going next week with a friend I know will be better at it than I am, so I'm really hoping that she helps me with that little difficulty...haha!

In theory I know the kinds of things I could say, but in reality, I'm terrible at "lying," and that includes pretending, apparently. (big eyeroll at myself) Whatever happened to my imagination?? I love to watch other people do it, so I don't think it's dumb at all, I'm just not any good at it!

I've really forced myself to interact more with face characters to overcome my anxiety. And Iron Man doesn't hold back lol. He was like "Oh so I guess you're in the picture too huh ?" , when snapping a selfie together with @Jaina , it was great lol. Thor also called me out because I was decked out in Loki gear even calling me "brother" , it was amazing. I'll try to post my own report soon , overtime this week is killing me. I already miss Disneyland !

Yes, Iron Man was pretty full of it. I had forgotten he said that! I usually don't have to worry about it, because I'm not into princesses unless my girls are with me, and there aren't as many other face characters doing meet and greets. I can usually do a little better with fluffy characters, since they can't talk to me, haha! But I DO love Marvel characters, so I have to work on my interactions! I'm so lame! I can't wait to read about what you did, too, even though I heard about some of it!