Sparkling With Joy-A December 2008 Trip Report

[teacherlisa1978]

Now that I'm back I want to write this trip report so that:
1) I don't forget any of the magic!
and
2) To help with the planning/inspiration for a holiday trip for anyone else who may read this on a cold winter night, like I was doing with so many wonderful holiday trip reports last year.

I plan to write this in day by day installments to keep it a little more organized. I will add pictures once I get them loaded.

And so, without further ado...in the words of the immortal Peter Pan
Here we go!"

Day 1, Friday, December 5th
I could barely contain myself at work and had all my substitute plans written out and set out by about noon. The last 3 hours of the day just couldn't end quickly enough! I came home as quickly as possible and changed into my Disney t-shirt (yay!) and we were off to drop Lucy the Disney Basset Hound at the kennel for the weekend and head to the shuttle park to leave our car. It was cold and we had to wait outside for a shuttle van to pick us up for about 10 minutes-usually they are there before we even have our luggage out of the car so this was unusual, but I just kept saying that as long as we got there safely I'd be happy. I would be tested on this as the night went on!

But, we eventually made it to SeaTac and were amazed at how quiet the airport was-I'd never traveled in December before and was surprised. We had a lovely quick dinner (pannini for me, Wendy's for the oh so adventurous DH of mine) and went to the gate. We actually loaded the plane 10 minutes early. We quickly realized we would have no one sitting in the window seat next to us so we were able to spread out with the open middle seat between us. This was great news! Elbow room! Yes!

We sat and sat, and I listened to 2 whole episodes of my favorite podcast-WDW Today before I realized we'd been waiting a long time...Finally the captain came on and said there was a slight mechanical problem with the 1st officer's oxygen mask but they were going to try to change some parts out. More waiting and waiting...and after about 90 minutes and several updates it was decided we would get on another plane. We got the same seats and were quickly ready to go when they realized we needed fuel. A few more minutes of waiting and we were off! Everyone on the plane was a bit concerned because we were flying into LGB and those who were renting cars were getting different answers about whether or not the rental car desks would still be open when we arrived 1 1/2 hours late, when they had called before we took off. About 30 minutes before landing we hit a huge patch of turbulence but my mind was quickly taken off of that, when the pilot announced that we were going to miss LGB's 11pm curfew by 5 minutes. So, we would be flown to LAX and he would give us more details later.

The conversation on the plane quicly began buzzing as we tried to figure out what to do...would people just rent from LAX? But they'd reserved from LGB, and what about the shuttles? Would people be charged who had pre-paid? Luckily, we had not pre-paid, just reserved ahead of time with Super Shuttle. Right before we landed we were told to gather our luggage and we would be bused to LGB. Well, this didn't make a lot of sense, and when we talked to Super Shuttle they told us they were not waiting for us to arrive, so we'd be stuck when we got there. We were able to get on Super Shuttle at LAX and it ended up being cheaper by about $20 than going through LGB. At least that worked in our favor.

After endless (it seemed) trips around the airport in the shuttle van, we were dropped off (after 4 other stops!) at the Embassy Suites at 1:23 am. Our original flight had been scheduled to land at LGB at 9:23 the previous evening but no matter-we were there, we were safe, the folks at the Embassy were wonderful and welcoming and our room was perfect.

I last remembered looking at the clock at 2:42 am, knowing that my alarm was going off at 5:30 to be there for our Magic Morning the following morning. I made a deal with DH-we'd still get up and go as planned, thinking it would be a very crowded day (Saturday, Candlelight Processional, etc...) and it was our only day just us before my parents arrived and slowed the pace down considerably. We were determined to be at ToonTown right at 9am to get our Mickey Christmas Card picture taken. So, the deal was this-get up and go but the 1st time he said he was done I wouldn't try to twist his arm to stay 'just a bit longer' and he could leave-and I also wouldn't give him a bad time about not going on any attractions that I wanted to go to (we have 3 last minute Big Thunder Bailouts on his part under our belt that I did not react to in the kindest, most compassionate fashion, shall we say). Deal was made and we hit the hay for a very few winks.

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Day 2-Saturday, December 6th
I couldn't quite believe it when that 5:30 alarm went off but I jumped out of bed and hit the shower first-something I never do on vacation. I realized that if I wanted DH to put up with me today I needed to be extra flexible and accommodating.

We grabbed some granola bars, bought our ART passes from the front desk and were on a 6:30 shuttle. We ended up being second in line behind the family that got to open the park that morning. Everyone must have run to Nemo or Fantasyland (is Space open for MM? that's one we don't enjoy so I don't know...)because we headed towards the Matterhorn and weren't even sure we were in a part of the park that was open-it was so eerily empty (and totally wonderful!) We were on the first bobsleds of the day and then headed to Fantasyland, riding Peter Pan, Mr. Toda, Snow White (where I finally looked up and noticed the queen in the castle!), Pinocchio, Alice, the Tea Cups, and Small World by 8:15. That's what I call a successful morning!

We headed to the Blue Ribbon Bakery for some yummy treats-a pumpkin muffin and peppermint latte for me, and a chocolate muffin and cocoa for DH. Then we had time to wander and take lots of pictures of decorations. We had a photopass pic taken in front of the castle and enjoyed Snow White's grotto for a bit.

We entered Toon Town right when it opened to us at 9 am-I was worried that it would still be filled from the TTMM crowds, but it wasn't. We were about 6 families back to go in Mickey's house. We didn't realize it, but he was greeting guests right on his front porch, not out back like we'd seen before. The downside was there was no Photo Pass photographer there, but we did have a CM take the Christmas card picture-check that off our list!

We then did Pirates, saw the 33 sign, rode Haunted Mansion Holiday which I loved even though I'm not a big fan of the movie, went over to Tom Sawyer Island just because in 3 Disney trips together we've never done that-DH absolutely loved it and said he can't wait to come back with our future children for more adventures there. Too sweet.

We visited the Reindeer Roundup but didn't wait to see Santa. We had skewers from Bengal BBQ for lunch (delicious) followed by a Dole Whip dessert. Does it get better than that? We browsed some Main Street shops on the way out (DH wanted stocking stuffer ideas for me-oh gee, twist my arm on that one!), and then walked through DD to go to the Lego Store to get a Christmas gift for our 8 year old nephew. Finally, we went back to the hotel around 1.

DH napped and I tried but I couldn't-too much Disney excitement I guess. I sat by the pool for a while but it was windy and the jacuzzi was full so I just went back to the room and channel surfed. At 5 I woke up DH, we enjoyed the free snacks and beverages at the Manager's Reception at the Embassy and headed back to the parks. We rode Indy with fast passes we'd collected in the morning and then had the most delicious dinner at Cafe Orleans-Pommes Frites (soo good!) and the regular Monte Cristo for DH, the 3 cheese for me. I discovered I didn't care for the sugar on the sandwich and scraped as much off as I could. But it was still delicious and this is certainly going to be a must have meal for us from now on.

We rode Star Tours after dinner adn then staked out spots in the very crowded area in front of It's a Small World (but so worth it! My new favorite fireworks spot!) I teared up during the fireworks and then the snow-don't think I've ever been around so many people so happy all at once! Then it was off to Big Thunder for my first night time ride on that one. We rode Buzz once and then headed back to the hotel around 11pm. We had spoken to my parents who had arrived safely and planned to meet in the lobby at 8 the next morning for more fun.

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Day 3-Sunday, December 7th

We met up with my parents (who were on time for once!) and got their ART passes all squared away, then took the 8:20 shuttle. We had brunch PS's at Storyteller's for this morning because my mom loves Chip and Dale. We arrived early enough to walk at a leisurely pace (which is good because my dad's hip-replaced last May-was really bugging him on this trip) and take some pictures of the amazing tree in the GCH lobby. We had a great breakfast complete with Mickey waffles and visits with our woodland friends. My mom practically leaped over the table to visit with Dale.

We headed to DCA after this-I ran down to get Soarin' FP's and the family met me at Toy Story...somehow I arrived before they did, which just goes to illustrate my pace vs. their pace. At any rate, we rode Toy Story with about a 25 minute wait, it was advertised 40 from the point we joined the line so we were fine with that. It's also nice that it's a continually moving line, too. We loved this and wished we would have had more time to ride it again-definitely a new favorite.

From here, we headed back towards the front of the park-I'd never visited Flik's Fun Fair so, since the crowds were so light (a nice surprise) we stopped and rode the Chew Chew Train-really cute, and especially liked the scents. Then we did Monster's, Muppets, Soarin, the Tortilla and bread factories and poncho'd ourselves up and rode Grizzly River twice in a row. I love that one!

The family was tired out so we took a quick break for a Mickey bar and they decided to go back to the hotel and rest, but I was still raring to go and decided to stay. I visited the Beast's Library (I am most like Mulan-loyal to my family and steadfast in my beliefs-I agree!), saw the Toy Story zoetrope for the first time which made my jaw drop, did some shopping in DD, and just hung out, had a pretzel and people-watched on Main Street.

At 5 my family met me in the esplanade and we went to our 5:30 dinner reservations at Hooke's Pointe at the DLH for the Candlelight Processional Dinner. We didn't know what we'd be getting with this dinner, but it ended up being really good-a great salad, some good chicken and risotto and a delicious chocolate mousse cake.

At dessert my parents surprised me by handing me a Christmas Card, saying they wanted to give me my gift right then. I opened it up and there was Mickey on the front and on the inside, the words, "You're going to Disney World!"

I was speechless and didn't know what this meant. They explained that my dad's going to a conference in Floriday in January and they thought they'd stay and visit WDW for a few days afterwards and since the room would already be paid for and they had enough miles to fly me down for free, they wanted me to join them. They'd apparently already discussed this with DH who was in total agreement.

See, this has been a hard year for us, and we've been trying to have children for 2 years with no luck. Disney is my happy place, like it is for so many people, and this holiday trip was already bringing me to a better place than I'd been in for many months, and this just put me over the top! I'd have to come home and work out a few unpaid days for this trip with my principal but I was determined to make it work! The best part was I knew I wouldn't have to be sad to leave DL this time because I'd be in WDW in a little over a month!

From dinner we headed to DL to see the Candlelight Processional. I just kept turning to my mom and saying, "I just love you so much!" I was euphoric. We were lead to our seats-4 rows back, right behind John Stamos!
I can't say enough good things about this experience-it was so moving and beautiful and put us in such a wonderful, Christmasy mood. It obviously meant a lot to John Stamos to be there and that only added to it.

Afterwards, dad and DH were tired so they headed back together and mom and I watched the fireworks and snow, and then I took her through New Orleans Square-dripping with decorations and so amazing. We rode HMH-I wasn't sure she'd care for it since she's never seen the movie and she loves the original, but she said she actually liked it even more, surprisingly.

We thought about staying for Fantasmic but were tired and since this was a trip where I was supposed to be focused on not overdoing it, we called it a night at about 10:30. Another wonderful day.

 

[dawnrose]

I'm enjoying your report, as I write mine for the same time period...I so wanted to see the Candlelight Processional and was hoping to squeeze in with the crowd to watch it, but it didn't work out this trip...It's the second time I've been there during the show and not seen it (1st time it got rained out) I'm glad you got to enjoy it with your family...sounds like a great time! Maybe I'll get there one day...looking forward to the rest of your report...thanx for sharing.

 

[teacherlisa1978]

I'm enjoying your report, as I write mine for the same time period...I so wanted to see the Candlelight Processional and was hoping to squeeze in with the crowd to watch it, but it didn't work out this trip...It's the second time I've been there during the show and not seen it (1st time it got rained out) I'm glad you got to enjoy it with your family...sounds like a great time! Maybe I'll get there one day...looking forward to the rest of your report...thanx for sharing.

Thanks dawnrose...I was so worried that we would get rained out this time-we had the ponchoes at the ready but I really think it would have significantly lessened the magic. I hope you get to experience it one day!

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Day 4-Monday, December 8th, 2008
This morning we were up an on the shuttle at 7:20, ready to enter the parks right at 8. My Dad opted to sleep in this morning so mom, DH, and I were a little more 'commando' than the day before with dad in tow.

When Disneyland opened we headed straight for Splash, my absolute favorite ride. Silly us-we had the ponchoes with us but declined to wear them. I think we were just so excited to get on the ride! We were soaked all up and down our left sides, but it was so much fun, when the CM asked if we wanted to go again we said sure before my mom knew what was happening! She was happy afterwards, though.

Then we rode Pooh, which my mom had never been on in DL or WDW, and she really enjoyed it. After this we headed to Indy, (forgot to mention, it had been our first stop of the day but was down and we were told to return in a little while). We rode and then did Jungle Cruise. This was really fun because we had a big family group with us (grandparents, lots of grandkids) who had obviously never been on it before. I saw one little girl pull out her camera to take a picture of "the backside of water" just like I did on my first trip!

After this we headed to Toontown for a quick trip on Roger Rabbit and then we bought cocoa and coffee (and a souveneir holiday mug for me, yay!) at the Blue Ribbon and Dad met us. From here we did Small World with only about a 15 minute wait even though the line looked terribly long. After this was Star Tours, Dad's all time favorite ride and it did not disappoint.

Now, it was time for our PS at Carnation Cafe. This was a delicious meal-dad, mom and I all had the 1/2 turkey sandwich with a cup of baked potato soup-I could have eaten a vat of that delightful substance! Oscar himself brought our food out which was a little piece of Disney magic right there. DH had the Chicken club on a croissant which he really enjoyed. This was a nice place to relax and people watch.

After lunch we did Buzz which I have to say, after Toy Story, is just not as much fun as it used to be, unfortunately. But it was still a good time and DH made it up a level from where he's been before so he was in a good mood. Then we rode Pirates, HMH, rode the train full circle, hit Big Thunder Mountain, Indy again with FPs I had gotten earlier, and then Dad and DH left for the hotel while I staked out a spot on Main Street for the parade right near the Corn Dog Wagon.

I loved this parade from the reindeer to the princesses to Santa-my favorite Disney parade ever (and I'm a HUGE Spectromagic fan in WDW but I loved the magical holiday feel of this one). Mom and I enjoyed this and then she headed to the World of Disney for some shopping. I had wanted to try to fit Nemo in on this whole trip but we'd checked several times and the waits were always longer than we were happy with. So I ran over there again and the wait was only 30 minutes but I didn't feel like waiting by myself, so I met mom at World of Disney and helped her buy out most of the store. After an hour of this I finally told her I needed to be done (feet were KILLING me at this point) and we checked out and must have just missed a shuttle because we had a long wait. At least we got to sit down! During this time dad and DH called at least 3 times wanting to know when we'd be back-we kept telling them to go down and enjoy the Manager's Reception without us but they didn't-finally when we called and said we'd just gotten on the shuttle they relented. We appreciated their offer to wait but did not want to come back to hungry, grumpy guys!

We had some snacks and then appetizers at the Embassy bar before heading in for an early evening around 7 or 8. We had to pack up tonight as checkout would be the next morning. But never fear because I knew I was going to Disney World next month!

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Day 5-Tuesday, December 9th

Our last day... But we were up early ready to check our luggage with bell services and be at the park right at opening again-this time with all 4 of us in tow-I was so proud of dad!
We met the sweetest family in line this morning-twin 6 year old girls with Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella fuzzy ponchoes their mom had gotten on sale at the Disney Store. Mom hadn't been to DL since she was 5, and dad hadn't been in over 10 years and they were all so excited and sweet. It was fun to share some tips with them since it was clear that they, ahem...hadn't done the insane amount of planning that I'm guilty of. But it was also clear they were going to have an amazying time regardless of that! Is that possible only on your first trip?

Anyway, they reminded us of our niece at home whose 6th birthday would be the next day-we had really hoped she'd join us on this trip but my dear brother kept saying she was too little to ride everything and she wouldn't remember it...I disagreed and had the Unoffficial Guide's height charts to back me up but he wouldn't relent...so we were missing our girl but determined to have a great day.

We hit the Matterhorn first and practically walked right on, then it was off to Peter Pan with an advertised 40 minute wait that was actually only 25 or so, so not bad at all. Then it was next door to walk on Mr. Toad, Snow White and Pinocchio with no waits at all. When we were coming out of Pinocchio I saw two cast members waiting at the exit and didn't think twice, except to wonder if they'd move aside so we could get out. Their white vests didn't register with me at all.

We were dreamed with Year of a Million Dreams Lanyards and pins. I knew nothing about pin trading and was pleased that the CMS told us that we should be sure not to trade the 2 YOAMD pins on there since they couldn't be bought. This was such a fun magical moment for us. I mean, it wasn't the Dream Suite, but I had to be at work the next day anyway! It meant a lot to me even though it was such a small thing. I loved being able to take home part of the magic, and explain to my family what this was since they had no idea. And of course, it may start off a pin collecting frenzy with me...those Disney people know what they are doing!

The rest of the day the CMS just kept congratulating us on getting dreamed, and it really helped us to feel the magic. After this we rode the Canal Boats which I have to say felt a little overstuffed and cozy on this voyage...I was afraid someone would sneeze and we'd all go in the water. Happy to be on land again we realized we'd completed our whole morning list of 'have tos' and decided to check on the wait at Nemo. It was only 30 minutes so we happily got in line for a different kind of nautical journey. We all really enjoyed this-me, more than I thought I would since I haven't exactly heard rave reviews about it. Now, is it worth waiting 2 1/2 hours for? No, but it was cute and I bet kids love it.

We just had time after this to leave Dad and DH on a bench by the castle while mom and I did the castle walk through-I hadn't realized until this morning that it was open again and it was definitely on my list of 'must dos' since it's one of my most vivid memories as a child. It was updated nicely, I thought and I didn't miss the "barbie dolls" in there at all!

We had PS's for lunch at the Blue Bayou after this and were able to get a table right on the water. So wonderful and special! Our server was clearly not a dedicated Disboards member because 1)she tried to tell us that they were serving their dinner menu only (at 11:30 in the morning!) but she could check and see if they could do the monte cristo-and then 2)I asked if I could have the 3 cheese version instead and she said what they could do was take the meat out of the regular one before giving it to me but they didn't have access to the cheese one. I told her very politely that I'd been told it was possible to get the 3 cheese one here and asked if she could please check. She came back with our bread and gumbo and didn't say a word about the sandwich status so mom and I just didn't know what we'd be getting. When she brought the food out though she said, "You were right!" and there were our delicious, melty, gooey, heaven on earth 3 cheese monte cristos. Yum! We were able to save half of each of ours and eat them at the airport that evening where there was a microwave. Dad had the jambalaya and really enjoyed that as well. This was our best meal of the trip and it was really hard to get ourselves to leave!

But, we knew there were hordes of people waiting for our coveted table, so leave we did, and when we came through on the ride a few minutes later sure enough there were happy people at our table. Oh well-we had a great ride on Pirates and then enjoyed the Tiki Birds (somehow we found room to stuff in one last Dole Whip!) and then enjoyed "Disneyland-The First 50 years" before being ready to end our day. We had about an hour before we really needed to leave, so mom headed out to do a bit more shopping and dad, DH and I tried to hoof it over to Tomorrowland and ride the monorail once around but got there, having just missed one monorail and realized we wouldn't have time. Oh well, we saved it for the next trip I guess. If that's the only thing we didn't get to, I'd call it a pretty good trip!

We left the park at 3:30 and headed back to the hotel where our airport transportation was waiting right on schedule at 4pm. We thought the hotel had called us a cab but it ended up being a beautiful town car at the same price as a cab. It was a great, easy ride and we loved our experience at Long Beach-so small and easy to get around, we'll definitely fly through here again as long as it's not pushing the evening curfew! (see Day 1 for more info on that!)

 

[trodrigue]

Awesome report. Can't wait for the pictures. It sounds like you had a wonderful time.

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Awesome report. Can't wait for the pictures. It sounds like you had a wonderful time.

Thanks! It truly was the best Disney trip I've ever had. I can't imagine going back any other time except for Christmas, now.

Hopefully pictures will be coming this evening or tomorrow if things go as planned and we get a coveted snow day in Seattle!

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Part of my goal for this trip was to do some new things at Disneyland that I'd never done before. I think I accomplished everyone of those things on my list. They include:
*Taking a picture in front of Club 33
*Riding a Main Street vehicle (we rode the yellow car that Walt liked to use for the parades)-it was really fun to have a new take on Main Street, in the mornings I'm usually rushing down it and in the afternoon or evening I'm just trying not to bump into people so it was fun to sit back and enjoy and pretend it was 100 years ago in a small town like Marceline.
*Taking a picture with Mickey at Disneyland (have done it once at WDW but never at DL)
*Visiting the Reindeer Roundup and all the other holiday events-fireworks, snow, projections on IASW and the ride inside, HMH and peppermint mochas.
*Candlelight Processional-hands down the best part of the trip
*Trying new restaurants-Carnation Cafe and Cafe Orleans are new favorites for sure.
*Eating my first Disneyland corn dog. How have I never done this before?
*Seeing the Evil Queen above Snow White, touching the apple outside the ride, and visiting her wishing well next to the castle. Very cool touches I don't remember seeing before, although my mom swears we did when I was 11.
*Riding Grizzly River Run with my parents and seeing a wall of water wash over my dad's head-a classic moment I've been dreaming of since riding it for the first time in 2002.

These firsts, plus all the classics, helped make this a great trip!

 

[goofycathy]

I really enjoyed reading your trip report! cant wait to see pics !

 

[Laneychris]

Great report!