Summertime and Disneyland .Oo-De-Lally!!

[elaine amj]

Just found your TR and love it, especially since we are planning week in California next March for our first visit to DLR!

Like you, I am an over-researcher and absolutely love the level of detail available for WDW trips. We started going around 2010 and fell in love. DH and kids do NOT want to hear any details or spend months debating between riding Space at RD on standby or with a FP at 7pm. They love WDW but are quite happy leaving everything up to me.

Your incredibly detailed reviews are fantastic. Very tempted by the gorgeous Hyatt Huntington Beach. We have a Hyatt CC too but just discovered that you can use your two free nights at their new all inclusives in the Caribbean. So we are jetting off to Cancun to spend 2 nights.

Another tip if you are getting used to club level perks. One of the HIlton CCs gives you Gold status and I typically get upgraded to club with that LOVE club level!!

We really had a great experience with them and in fact are using them again for our WDW trip in Sept. Yes I do have a Disney cruise on my bucket list for sure! Gosh there are just so many Disney trips that I have on my list too! I think if we ever do a cruise though we would probably have to do a land and sea package just because I cannot imagine flying all the way to Orlando and not visiting WDW lol! I also want to do Vero Beach at some point. GAH! There is just so much!! That is awesome that you have been able to cruise three times! I will definitely have to come to you for info if we ever decide to do that

So glad you like Southwest. I started flying with them 3 years ago - went on a quick 45 min flight on a business trip and fell in love. We always flew Delta before and never even looked at another airline. Now I am willing to put up with connecting flights just to fly SW. Since you got into the CC game with your Hyatt CC, check out SW. They have the most amazing deal ever. They have 2 versions of their CC. Get both versions (small annual fees) and meet min spend in one calendar year and earn 100k points. Then you just need another 10k points (spend another 10k or transfer from another loyalty program). Voila, you earned enough points for a Companion Pass which is valid until the end of the current calendar year AND the entire following year. It means you can designate one person to fly with you for free, EVEN IF YOU PAY WITH POINTS. DH and I love it particularly for adult getaways for the weekend. Oh I'm jetting off to Phoenix for the weekend. In a few months, we are off to Cancun. Amazing to do it all so cheaply that we can hop all over the place for a WEEKEND.

My favorite part, you can book and cancel and book and cancel flights on SW with your points without ANY penalty. You do that with cash bookings and you have to use your refund within the next year. With points you have complete freedom and I am constantly booking and cancelling flights. LOVE it.

A Morning Stroll With No Plans

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Bring it on LA!

​

I spotted those Mickey shoes!!!!! Caught my eye as I was scrolling and I started laughing.

 

[elaine amj]

Just read your latest installment. The hotel in Long Beach looked nice and I agree good price for what you got! That Hyatt is gorgeous. Reminds me of our fave spot up in Oxnard of all places. We got a chance to go to the Rose Parade several years ago with a military friend and he lived there. So we googled an embassy suites there and it is beautiful. VERY much like this Hyatt and RIGHT on the beach. We love it and have been back twice since that trip. Looks like my kind of day with the beach chair and the cocktail. Enjoying as always and looking forward to the next installment.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

I went on the Hilton website (DH is a Hilton Gold so we love Hiltons!) and did some searching. Oddly enough, it didn't come up right away when I looked for Oxnard and eventually I found it.

How many "WOW"s can I say? It reminds me of the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs in Phoenix.
The Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach is beautiful.

And if it is too cold in March to swim, we can hop into the whirlpool!

The best part is, they have THREE ROOM presidential suites available.

We often get upgraded and if we manage to get such an amazing upgrade, my kids could have 2 queen beds, we could have our own room with 1 king bed, and we could still have a living room with an awesome view. If we don't get upgraded, the regular king suites are pretty amazing anyway and my kids can just put up with a sofabed.

As a side note, the Fess Parker Santa Barbara Hotel - a Doubletree Resort also looks fabulous and is also right across from a beach.

We are planning our DLR trip for next March and were having trouble coming up with something to do to wrap up the week (hate that we can only have 5 day park hoppers) that didn't cost an arm and a leg. I was planning to go beach hopping. Staying at a resort like this would really wow my family. It will be too cold to get in the water, but we have fun just hanging on a beach. We could even go kayaking maybe.

I was getting frustrated coming up with something that excited me - and this DOES!

OK OK - I am about to start writing a pre-trippie - back to the star of this thread OP: your review of your stay at Hyatt Huntington Beach really inspired me to consider a beachfront resort for post-Disney. Now I'm going to have to extend my trip!

 

[kelmac284]

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

I went on the Hilton website (DH is a Hilton Gold so we love Hiltons!) and did some searching. Oddly enough, it didn't come up right away when I looked for Oxnard and eventually I found it.

How many "WOW"s can I say? It reminds me of the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs in Phoenix.
The Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach is beautiful.

And if it is too cold in March to swim, we can hop into the whirlpool!

The best part is, they have THREE ROOM presidential suites available.

We often get upgraded and if we manage to get such an amazing upgrade, my kids could have 2 queen beds, we could have our own room with 1 king bed, and we could still have a living room with an awesome view. If we don't get upgraded, the regular king suites are pretty amazing anyway and my kids can just put up with a sofabed.

As a side note, the Fess Parker Santa Barbara Hotel - a Doubletree Resort also looks fabulous and is also right across from a beach.

We are planning our DLR trip for next March and were having trouble coming up with something to do to wrap up the week (hate that we can only have 5 day park hoppers) that didn't cost an arm and a leg. I was planning to go beach hopping. Staying at a resort like this would really wow my family. It will be too cold to get in the water, but we have fun just hanging on a beach. We could even go kayaking maybe.

I was getting frustrated coming up with something that excited me - and this DOES!

OK OK - I am about to start writing a pre-trippie - back to the star of this thread OP: your review of your stay at Hyatt Huntington Beach really inspired me to consider a beachfront resort for post-Disney. Now I'm going to have to extend my trip!

YES that is it!! We just happened upon it that year and you would NEVER guess how amazing it is. We stayed in january and it was pouring rain but we made up our minds to come back that June and we also took another trip in 10 and stayed 2 days. It is in the middle of a residential area and when you drive up you can hardly find it and think is this it?? LOL but then you get in and WOW. The rooms are amazing and you get the typical embassy free breakfast. This is a GREAT place. And Oxnard seems so out of the way and like it would not be that great but if you are up North and have a reason to be up there this place is GREAT!!

 

[kelmac284]

Jen loved your latest installment esp the bathroom part LOL.

We were staying at the Ramada Maingate a few trips ago and my mom has a bad knee and so we asked for an accessible room thinking it would be larger for her scooter but she doesn't really need the wheelchair stuff. Anyway the bathroom was gigantic and had a REALLY weird lock on it. We all got locked in several times but usually figured it out and we tried not to use the lock but if you closed the door too hard it locked anyway. One morning I went in to shower early and it locked on me and it took me forever to get it unlocked. I kind of freaked because I have claustrophobia and anxiety and I was panicking but luckily I got it done but we made sure to not even close the slider all the way after that.

And speaking of that LOL this happend to my mom in Germany. We were staying in a pension which is like a boarding house where the bathroom is down the hall and shared by others. Well this place was probably 200 years old and so you can imagine how old the bathroom door was. It had a skeleton key lol. My mom got locked in and was calling me through the keyhole. It was like some disney comedy LOL. And one more when I was in my 20's mom and I and some friends of ours went to San Diego and the firend's daughter who was my age went to the bathroom in the middle of the night. She ALSO got locked in and just slept on the floor instead of waking us LOL. I had to go and thought what the heck is taking her so long. So apparently this is not just an annomally to only yourself LOL.

Great installment and again great room/resort.

Looking forward to reading your DW report esp since we had to cancel our trip for nov and haven't been since 10 and now can't go till 17 because my girls are in HS and can't miss school

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

JINGLE BAM! We had pool and ocean people!! Ah this place was perfect. If not for Disneyland in our near future I would have not wanted to leave this place….ever. Seriously I would still be there right now.
​

Oh right, there is still Disneyland to come...

That really is a lovely view, my goodness. I certainly wouldn't mind that right about now.

locked in the bathroom AGAIN????????

 

[kelmac284]

So thought if anyone was curious I would post our pics from the queen mary. This is the front sitting room and that couch was a hide a bed

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This was one of the two bathrooms in case anyone is curious what a ship's bathroom is like lol

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The master bedroom

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The "maids" quarters ala my older daughters room. And that is my youngest Shelby who was then about 10 or 11 and is now 13

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I had pics of the rest of the ship but apparently not on photobucket. I don't use it anymore and post most of my stuff on FB now but thought if anyone was curious. And I didn't even take pics of the entire suite. There was actually MORE to it. I recommend the tour if nothing else and if you CAN stay on it lots of fun!

 

[thornton0511]

WOW! What a lovely room! And double WOW! What a gorgeous view!!

That is too funny about your bad luck with locking bathroom doors. Glad they didn't have to rescue you this time.

Excited to hear/see about the beach!

Yes the room and the whole resort were amazing! Ugh me and bathrooms....it's like its becoming a thing with me now on vacations!

Oh goodness that is a huge crisis averted. Can't wait to hear more about this place and the beach. Woohoo

lol I know right?! Yes the beach! Update coming soon

Glad we aren't the only ones with stuck in the bathrooms stories while on vacation. My daughter got stuck in one on Amtrak on our way to Disneyland. I told my son to get one of the employees. He got the engineer! The train was delayed because he had to rescue my daughter from the bathroom. Another trip to Great Wolf, it seemed we all had a chance to get stuck in the bathroom that didn't always choose to unlock.

Oh my goodness what a story!!! That is awesome that your son came back with the engineer well at least I know now that I am not alone with this phenomenon...maybe we should start a club?

 

[thornton0511]

Just found your TR and love it, especially since we are planning week in California next March for our first visit to DLR!
YAY!!! First trip to DLR, how awesome! Well welcome aboard and I am happy to have you follow along
Like you, I am an over-researcher and absolutely love the level of detail available for WDW trips. We started going around 2010 and fell in love. DH and kids do NOT want to hear any details or spend months debating between riding Space at RD on standby or with a FP at 7pm. They love WDW but are quite happy leaving everything up to me.
lol you and I sound a lot alike
Your incredibly detailed reviews are fantastic. Very tempted by the gorgeous Hyatt Huntington Beach. We have a Hyatt CC too but just discovered that you can use your two free nights at their new all inclusives in the Caribbean. So we are jetting off to Cancun to spend 2 nights.
I did not even think about the Caribbean. I better make sure my DH does not find out that we could have used our nights there instead lol. That does sound like a fantastic use of the reward nights! I hope you have a wonderful time when you go!!! But yes, the Hyatt at Huntington Beach was wonderful and we would definitely stay there again.
Another tip if you are getting used to club level perks. One of the HIlton CCs gives you Gold status and I typically get upgraded to club with that LOVE club level!!

that is good to know! Thanks

So glad you like Southwest. I started flying with them 3 years ago - went on a quick 45 min flight on a business trip and fell in love. We always flew Delta before and never even looked at another airline. Now I am willing to put up with connecting flights just to fly SW. Since you got into the CC game with your Hyatt CC, check out SW. They have the most amazing deal ever. They have 2 versions of their CC. Get both versions (small annual fees) and meet min spend in one calendar year and earn 100k points. Then you just need another 10k points (spend another 10k or transfer from another loyalty program). Voila, you earned enough points for a Companion Pass which is valid until the end of the current calendar year AND the entire following year. It means you can designate one person to fly with you for free, EVEN IF YOU PAY WITH POINTS. DH and I love it particularly for adult getaways for the weekend. Oh I'm jetting off to Phoenix for the weekend. In a few months, we are off to Cancun. Amazing to do it all so cheaply that we can hop all over the place for a WEEKEND.

My favorite part, you can book and cancel and book and cancel flights on SW with your points without ANY penalty. You do that with cash bookings and you have to use your refund within the next year. With points you have complete freedom and I am constantly booking and cancelling flights. LOVE it.

We are still very new to Southwest so still learning all the inside info! Thanks for the tips. We are about to cancel our citibank advantage card with American and hopefully will never use them again. We have gotten the offer for the Southwest card before and seriously thinking about it. I love the freedom you have with changing your flight around with Southwest with no penalties! American just says sorry you are stuck no matter what unless you want to pay an outrageous fee. I think we changed and rebooked our flights on this last trip like 6 times lol.

I spotted those Mickey shoes!!!!! Caught my eye as I was scrolling and I started laughing.

GAH!! I love my Mickey crocs and went to a whole lot of trouble to get them in WDW our last trip in Dec!

 

[thornton0511]

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

I went on the Hilton website (DH is a Hilton Gold so we love Hiltons!) and did some searching. Oddly enough, it didn't come up right away when I looked for Oxnard and eventually I found it.

How many "WOW"s can I say? It reminds me of the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs in Phoenix.
The Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach is beautiful.

And if it is too cold in March to swim, we can hop into the whirlpool!

The best part is, they have THREE ROOM presidential suites available.

We often get upgraded and if we manage to get such an amazing upgrade, my kids could have 2 queen beds, we could have our own room with 1 king bed, and we could still have a living room with an awesome view. If we don't get upgraded, the regular king suites are pretty amazing anyway and my kids can just put up with a sofabed.

As a side note, the Fess Parker Santa Barbara Hotel - a Doubletree Resort also looks fabulous and is also right across from a beach.

We are planning our DLR trip for next March and were having trouble coming up with something to do to wrap up the week (hate that we can only have 5 day park hoppers) that didn't cost an arm and a leg. I was planning to go beach hopping. Staying at a resort like this would really wow my family. It will be too cold to get in the water, but we have fun just hanging on a beach. We could even go kayaking maybe.

I was getting frustrated coming up with something that excited me - and this DOES!

OK OK - I am about to start writing a pre-trippie - back to the star of this thread OP: your review of your stay at Hyatt Huntington Beach really inspired me to consider a beachfront resort for post-Disney. Now I'm going to have to extend my trip!

lol no worries! Feel free to post info about beautiful resorts anytime ! I think you should start a pretrip report it sounds like you have a lot of great ideas!!!

 

[thornton0511]

Jen loved your latest installment esp the bathroom part LOL.

We were staying at the Ramada Maingate a few trips ago and my mom has a bad knee and so we asked for an accessible room thinking it would be larger for her scooter but she doesn't really need the wheelchair stuff. Anyway the bathroom was gigantic and had a REALLY weird lock on it. We all got locked in several times but usually figured it out and we tried not to use the lock but if you closed the door too hard it locked anyway. One morning I went in to shower early and it locked on me and it took me forever to get it unlocked. I kind of freaked because I have claustrophobia and anxiety and I was panicking but luckily I got it done but we made sure to not even close the slider all the way after that.

See there should be a club for all of us! Or at least group therapy lol That is so funny that you guys kept getting locked in oh my goodness!
And speaking of that LOL this happend to my mom in Germany. We were staying in a pension which is like a boarding house where the bathroom is down the hall and shared by others. Well this place was probably 200 years old and so you can imagine how old the bathroom door was. It had a skeleton key lol. My mom got locked in and was calling me through the keyhole. It was like some disney comedy LOL. And one more when I was in my 20's mom and I and some friends of ours went to San Diego and the firend's daughter who was my age went to the bathroom in the middle of the night. She ALSO got locked in and just slept on the floor instead of waking us LOL. I had to go and thought what the heck is taking her so long. So apparently this is not just an annomally to only yourself LOL.
Wow that is crazy! #1 if I ever got locked in a 200 year old bathroom in a foreign country I would die and #2 I would never just sleep on the floor to keep from disturbing others lol the poor dear!
Great installment and again great room/resort.
Thank you!
Looking forward to reading your DW report esp since we had to cancel our trip for nov and haven't been since 10 and now can't go till 17 because my girls are in HS and can't miss school

Oh that stinks that you had to cancel
I hear ya on the school thing. It was a little tough taking our DS12 out of middle school last Dec for our WDW trip and I am a little apprehensive about taking both out for our Sept trip this year. DS will be in 7th and DD in 3rd which is a big deal now for her because 3rd grade means business and also state testing . Hopefully since they will only miss 4 days this time and missing the 2nd week of school it won't be as big of a deal, but I cannot even think about what we will do especially when high school starts! I just can't see spending all that money for a summer trip. crowds and heat just sound miserable and the moderate crowds we have become accustom to have us spoiled. I hope that everything works out for you guys in the end and you can find a way to get to WDW again soon!!!

 

[thornton0511]

Oh right, there is still Disneyland to come...

That really is a lovely view, my goodness. I certainly wouldn't mind that right about now.

locked in the bathroom AGAIN????????

hardy har har Rob! Yes for a few minutes I could not get the lock to twist and unlock...the stupid thing was stuck lol....apparently from what I have heard from others here I am not alone and getting locked in bathrooms seems to be a common thing. Who knew? But yeah that view was to die for and also I am getting to Disney soon I promise

 

[thornton0511]

So thought if anyone was curious I would post our pics from the queen mary. This is the front sitting room and that couch was a hide a bed

[/URL][/IMG]

This was one of the two bathrooms in case anyone is curious what a ship's bathroom is like lol

[/URL][/IMG]

The master bedroom

[/URL][/IMG]

[/URL][/IMG]

The "maids" quarters ala my older daughters room. And that is my youngest Shelby who was then about 10 or 11 and is now 13

[/URL][/IMG]

I had pics of the rest of the ship but apparently not on photobucket. I don't use it anymore and post most of my stuff on FB now but thought if anyone was curious. And I didn't even take pics of the entire suite. There was actually MORE to it. I recommend the tour if nothing else and if you CAN stay on it lots of fun!

Kelly thank you for posting these pics of the Queen from your trip that is awesome! I gotta tell you it does not look at all what I was thinking it would either. More modern. I guess maybe I had it in my head that it would look old like from the early 1900's....I dunno sounds silly now. Look very cool though

 

[thornton0511]

A Search for Sunscreen


We headed down and took the path towards the beach. Before we took the bridge over, however, we first needed to try to find some sunscreen. We typically are not a huge sunscreen wearing family but after our little morning on the pool I could feel that this vacation was going to be a bit different and sunscreen would be a good idea. Thankfully the kids have already been out in the sun quite a bit from camp and swimming so they were more protected from being burned, and DH plays golf and is in the sun all the time, but me….well not so much. I am pretty sure that I could have blinded people with the sun's reflection from my white skin.

We stopped for a quick picture in front of the bridge that would be taking us to the beach. This bridge connects the resort directly to Huntington Beach and also has a place where you can pick up chairs and umbrellas that are included with your stay. Go Hyatt. So anyways back to finding sunscreen.

We found an area of the resort directly across from the beach access that had a collection of stores and eating places.

This area was really neat and I realized that you can seriously be at this resort and not leave for anything because everything is right here on property. Like Disney!

We first decided to check in the small grocery store type place.

They did not have sunscreen in here but they did have quite a few food items that can be purchased and taken back to your room. They even had some fresh deli sandwiches and pastries to choose from. Also in here were a few beach toys and things along that nature to buy.

I had heard that you can purchase smores packages here (that do include the roasting sticks) to enjoy making over the fire pits that they have located all over the resort in the evenings. And since the weather does get quite cool here in the evenings this can be a very fun thing to do with the fam.

With no sunscreen to be found here we moved on to another store that strictly sold beach wear and items like that.

We found sunscreen here. Only it was close to $20…..I'm not kidding. Um yeah we may need sunscreen but not for that price lol. We slowly backed our way out of this place.

With no sunscreen in hand we decided that maybe we could find somewhere closer to the "town" . I did not get a picture of the food places but to the left of this picture is a "casual" table service type restaurant and behind us was a pizza place.

We did find this neat little area while looking around that seems to lead into a convention type building. I thought it was pretty.

We figured at this point we had spent enough time exploring and headed over the bridge to welcome the beach!
​

 

[thornton0511]

The Beach


We crossed over to the beach. This is the other side of the bridge that leads back to the resort. You can see the little area they have a the top for resort guests to pick up the chairs and umbrellas, as well as beach towels.

This is a view of the resort from the beach with the PCH separating the two.

And in the distance. My child cannot seem to stop walking into my pictures lol.

Very iconic for what I imagine a California beach to look like. Very Baywatch lol.

We made our way to the water. First observation I made that differs from the Gulf is the sand. Not sugar white at all. Very brown and it seemed to have lots of seashells ground up with the sand. Not to say it's better or worse, just different from what I am used to. We kept our shoes on for the walk down. I was afraid of cutting our feet on the shells lol.

Once we had approached the wet sand the shoes came off and the kids immediately ran toward the ocean.

Holy cow nothing can prepare you for the coldness of the Pacific. Observation number two. The Pacific Ocean is nothing like the warm bath like water of the Gulf. How in the world were people even going into the water with these temps?! And without a wet suit lol?!

DS seemed a little hesitant about the temp of the water

DD not so much. This child could care less how freezing the water was. She was just excited to be here lol.

Moments like these. My child…..

We spent a good amount of time watching the kids walk to the water, then run for their lives as the cold waves chased them back in. Then it was time to make our way toward the pier.

That pier. The pier that seemed to not get closer the further we walked toward it. It seemed like a good idea in the beginning to walk there by beach then get in the car and drive.

Finally we got closer to it but it ended up being an incredibly long and tiring walk. And I was really thinking at this point that $20 for sunscreen did not sound like a bad thing.

We made our way under the bridge where the sand was cooler and walked the rest of the way to the entrance of the pier under the bridge. We tried to find somewhere to wash the sand off of our feet before putting our shoes back on put there was nowhere to do this that we could find. Why oh why at this point I decided to let Sydney wear her TOMS I do not know. But it would have been murder for her to walk in them with sand on her feet, but yet there was no way she could walk the pier barefoot either. So DH carried her for as long as he could. We finally made it to a place on the pier where they had restrooms, but after taking one step in a seeing the port-o-potty state they were in it was a no go. It was disgusting. We finally had enough and I washed the sand off her feet in a fish cleaning trough while DH held her. Drastic times call for drastic measures people.

We had finally made it to our destination and where I wanted to have lunch. But would that work out for us or would this adventure continue to spiral downhill?

We walked around to the other side of Ruby's to find the entrance. It was now 2:15pm and the sun was just beaming down on us. We were hot, and tired, and hungry. And the state of this pier was not helping with the mood either. It was not clean and to top it off someone had gotten sick right outside the entrance of the restaurant and it was just left there. We went ahead in the restaurant and were told the wait would be about 45 minutes. We passed. No way I was spending 45 minutes in the hot sun on this not so clean pier. Since Ruby's was all the way at the end of the pier we now had the task of walking all the way back to the beach entrance. Ugh. I had never wanted to be in the Disney bubble more in my life than I did at this point. All of this added to our trip to Hollywood I was so over California I could scream. Or cry. Or both. Why in the world I had dragged the family so far away from the safety of the seeming perfect resort we were at was beyond me. I felt awful.

We finally made it into the town strip at the end of the pier. It was so crowded. The sun had definitely taken its toll on me and I could feel my skin was on fire. I gave up. I could not go anymore. So I stood there in the middle of all of the chaos surrounding us and cried. It was just all too much for me at this point. DH found a shaded spot for us right outside the entrance of a restaurant and told us to wait. He was going to run all the way back down the beach to the resort and grab the car and come pick us up and take us back to our "home". That sounded so wonderful. This is why I am so in love with my husband. He truly is my prince charming.
So as the hubs made the long beach run back to the resort the kids and I waited patiently, out of the sun, for his return.

While we waited I took to people watching. I noticed a dog in the car with a bowl of water above him. A lot of good that will do him lol. Don't worry though the owner was eating not too far away and within a few minutes let the pooch out and gave him the bowl to drink from lol.

Then at some point a ball came spiraling down from a rooftop and was followed by a group of people who apparently were enjoying a game on the roof until someone overthrew. They did manage to talk someone into throwing the ball back. It was after 3:30 when DH had returned to us with the car. I had never in my life been so happy to see a white rental car.

Once we had gotten back to the resort and the room DH called the resort pizza place that we had remembered seeing earlier and had them deliver a pizza for us to eat. Within no time it was delivered to us with everything we would need to go with it. Not sure if it was because of my state of mind from our little adventure but it was the best pizza I had ever had lol! After filling our bellies I went ahead and took a shower and decided I needed a nap. I was exhausted and sunburned. We all rested a bit and the kids watched the Disney channel. At some point DH woke me to say he was going to take the kids to the quiet pool right below our balcony and asked if I wanted to go or sleep. I chose sleep. I was pretty sunburned at this point and did not want to be outside until the sun went away. I had the best sleep of my life this afternoon. It had been a day for sure. Oo-De-Lally…golly what a day!!!
​

 

[thornton0511]

A Relaxing Evening, Dinner, and Aloe Vera


So after a good while the DH returned with the kiddos from their swim and I was already up from my much needed mommy nap and sitting out on the balcony and enjoying the sun going down and the temperature getting cooler. It felt good on my sunburned skin.

Sydney came out to ask if I wanted to go to my favorite Italian place for dinner. I will never turn down that invitation lol.

After getting freshened up we headed a bit south towards Costa Mesa to dinner. The "June Gloom" was rolling in again and it was so hard to see this and not think that it was going to storm. California is so weird lol. It was funny to see so many signs for Newport Beach as this was going to be one of our destinations on this trip before we finally went with Long Beach instead.

It was only about a 20 minute drive, or so, and soon we were seeing this familiar place. I told you guys we are obsessed with this food.

We did not have to wait too terribly long and before you know it we were sitting at our checkered tablecloth table with our yummy bread.

While we were waiting for our food I tried to capture the environment with my camera….phone camera so obviously there was no WOW factor to be had lol.

It really is a great place.

Oh and then there was me. Delusional and yet happy, and red as a lobster.

Soon enough the food had arrived. The kids once again went with the kids ziti pasta with Alfredo.

DH decided to switch it up a bit this time and went with the Peppercorn-Crusted Sirloin with garlic mashed potatoes. Such a bad picture. He said it was really good though.

I went with the Crab and Shrimp Cannelloni with roasted red peppers, Asiago cheese sauce, and seasoned breadcrumbs. Again with the horrible picture but it was soooo good.

For dessert this time around DH and I decided to split Nonna's Toasted Pound Cake with Caramelized Bananas complete with hot fudge and vanilla bean ice cream. Oh my goodness all the nom nom nom!!

DS went with the lemon cookies again so no surprises there

But DD decided to switch it up a bit and go with vanilla bean ice cream this time around. Total with tip and discount this time around came to about $45.00. We were doing so well with our budget vacation so far!

After leaving the restaurant we had to make one last stop before going back to the resort. I was in need of two things, sunscreen and aloe vera. So we found a CVS just down the road and made a pit stop.

Nectar from the sunburn healing gods. I could not wait to get back to cool my skin with this stuff. We did in fact grab sunscreen too, and it did not cost $20 either lol.

We then headed back to the resort. It was getting late and it had been a long day.

When we returned we found that we had a turn down service

Complete with a sweet treat for DH for Father's Day. I thought it was a nice touch! I forgot to mention earlier in the day that we did not forget about today being Father's Day and had surprised DH with a card from the kids and a new pair of sunglasses, which came in very handy because he had broken his favorite pair a week prior to our trip and tried, unsuccessfully, to fix them with super glue. He was happy to have a new pair almost like the other pair. Anyways it was off to bed for us as the clock was inching toward 10:30pm. Tomorrow a new adventure was starting, and yes everyone you may now get excited because…..we were going to finally be in Disneyland!!!!
​

 

[amandaw]

What a day!

I think most of us have been in that situation where the vacation is not happening the way you envisioned and it just breaks you. I know I've shed my fair share of tears on vacation before. Even at WDW.

Sounds like your DH knew exactly how to turn the day around for you though. I'm glad you were able to end the day with some favorite food and that it ended on a good note for y'all!

 

[elaine amj]

Yikes - what a day! I am really surprised Huntington Beach does not have a boardwalk. I kind of expected that in a major tourist beach.

Good thing you had a knight in white armor along! Glad you ended the day on a good note in your favorite restaurant.

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

What an exhausting day. I got a bit excited when I saw the Ruby's picture, because we have decided to eat there (LAX though) during our layover to WDW. I was hoping for a review, but after being that tired and hot, I wouldn't have waited 45 minutes either.

We ordered pizza delivery at WDW last trip. Kind of the same story. I was tired and very hungry and it was the best pizza I ever had.

I grew up in California, so when I moved to Texas and went to the Gulf Coast for the first time, I was shocked at how warm the water was. I couldn't swim in it. It was too warm for me. Now, living in Oregon, there is never any desire to swim in the Ocean.

Funny about cleaning feet at the fish cleaning station. We went camping in Eastern Gulf of Mexico in Texas once. We had gotten so muddy, but the campground had closed down the bathrooms while we were there. We didn't know how we were going to get clean. We went to nearest town and found a do-it-yourself carwash. It worked but we felt a bit hillbilly.

 

[kelmac284]

Wow you poor thing. What a miserable day. I do agree though that you have to take the california beaches/boardwalks with a grain of salt. We did the Santa Monica Pier a few years back and we too felt like it was pretty dirty and a bit seedy but we knew that going in so didn't expect much. And yes I agree the sand sucks LOL. I have been to Hawaii and a few other places with that lovely sugar sand but here and esp the more north you go like the Oregon/Washington coast it is down right brutal to walk in with all the rocks and shells. In fact our summer trip this year was to my parents condo in Puerto Vallarta and same thing there although I had to laugh because I am so used to our "cold" ocean and we were ON the pacific but it DOES get warm even HOT the farther south you go. Down there it was SO flippin hot and humid and the ocean was no relief. The water was probably 85 degrees and even the pool at our condo was hot. So trying to cool off in the water didn't work. I would have LOVED that cool ocean about then LOL.

I'm sorry your day didn't go well and you got burnt. Sounds like dinner was good though and I am going to have to see if we have one of those around here and have to try it. Or if not maybe on our trip to LA in November.

And yes it SUCKS that we had to cancel our DW trip. We have been 4 times but since we live in CA we usually only gone every 3 years. We have been in 02, 05, 08 and 10. We LOVE it and we knew we wanted to come back and as I said had it all planned and even a deposit for this Nov. We were hoping for free dinning as we got it in Nov of 10. Well before it was released we cancelled and then wouldn't you know they released our week. But due to my mom needing knee surgery and some financial issues we had to give it up. SOOO hard esp since we can't make it back till 17.

And yes taking the kids out of school is tough. When my oldest who is 22 was in school we took her on 2 of the DW trips and she was in HS and it didn't seem to be a problem but since then the few times the girls have missed even jr high they have gotten grief. And my older one will be freshmen this year and she is in honors and is taking some HARD classes. She doesn't even want to miss the 1 day we are going to miss in Nov because it is so much to make up. So therefore we have no choice but to go in Jan of 17 over their xmas break. I agree I REFUSE to go in the summer. WAY too hot and crowded. So they get till like the 7th of Jan off that year and we are going to take advantage and go then and they will miss a few extra days but since it is the first week back after the break hopefully it won't be too bad. I just wish it wasn't ANOTHER 3 years away. That will make 7 years since we have been. Oh the horror LOL.

Luckily we do live in CA and can go to Disneyland but we love DW too and miss it and with all the prices increases we gave up our AP's that we have had since 06 and we don't have ANY trips planned even to the land till sept of 15. We were last there for just 2 days this past march but it wasn't fun and was part of a student govt field trip for the girls so I am def going to be in major withdrawls by then LOL.

Loved your DW report and will be anxious to check out your sept report!

Looking forward to see how you like our disney in your next installment.

 

[luulu1999]

uuggh I hate sunburn!!!!! I think we have pretty much decided Newport beach will be the beach we visit on our beach day, the balboa fun zone and island and all that sounds fun! Can't wait until your Disneyland visit!!!