That's the 30th time we've heard that song.. A GRAND Xmas Adventure! Nov 13 TR 6/19!

[DisneytheKid]

Have an amazing DL trip! Looking forward to more updates!

 

[jessicus]

Have a wonderful trip!! Can't wait for the video!

 

[cheshirecatattack]

Hope you have a great vacation!

 

[khertz]

I have sucked at commenting because its been so crazy with our weekend trip to WDW and now you're galavanting off to DL again!! But I had to chime in with how much I LOVE that fried chicken at the Plaza. The pasta there was really good too! Such a great little restaurant. Bummer it is not open for y'all this time!

 

[Malroy]

Oh man, I had some TR to catch up on. I've been slacking on the reading, but was motivated because you are currently IN DLR! (and I am avoiding working on my final project EVER!)

1. I LOVE THOSE DAMN CORN DOGS! I have a corn dog problem. One time when we were visiting Fiances family in Alabama, we went to this church halloween carnival and they had HOME MADE CORN DOGS and they were just amazing.

2. That fried chicken!!! When Bret found out there is fried chicken in DLR and we DIDN'T HAVE ANY (gasp!!) he was horrified that I let that happen. So I know what we'll be doing next time...

3. The Grand Californian just looks beautiful. Someday I will make it a priority for us to stay there!!!

 

[Mommy Poppins]

Dani - loving your trip report, as always! Hope you are having a great time at DLR!

 

[Tracy161]

Great couple of updates! I had fallen a bit behind

Wow, I'm shocked that Rob the "I survived it's a small world" shirt wearer actually confessed he may ride the DL holiday version!

Oh my gosh, your PJs are sooo adorable!!!

Your room is amazing, from the location right down to the TP!

OMG, I want those nachos!!! One word: YUM.

The DL queue for Space is definitely the winner, it's amazing.

I hope you and Matt are having a fabulous time at Disneyland!!!

 

[NeverGrowingUp]

Yay! I'm glad you decided to join in, even though you haven't been to DL. I hope it's an entertaining report!! But it's such a great place to visit, so I do hope you get to go at some point!

And yeah, it is a nice bonus to not have to pay for the parade or the holiday fireworks, either! I'm not sure I'd pay for MVMCP myself...

Haha, we're only one day in, so it's not too bad!

Definitely entertaining so far!

Thanks for going back this week so I could catch up properly! Comments on last couple of posts

Mmmm, that yule log looks good, and the Plaza Inn ceiling is beautiful, as is the walk up to IASW Holiday, lights and projection, so cool. By the way I'm interested to know what lens you use for night pics? I'm trying to learn more about photography to get more out of my camera (Nikon D3100) and night shots are something I really want to improve on and yours look great.

Also love your pj's - hope that doesn't sound too creepy!

Boo to there being no morning welcome show, I love that at WDW.

Wow Main St looks super long with the small castle in the background. So cool to see the same but different attractions again, teacups, Space Mountain, astro orbiter.

I may have found the answer to my photo question in your next post, the Sigma 10-20mm wide lens?

Hope you're having a great trip.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

It's so strange to me to be over here in the Disneyland section of the boards!

But I'm excited to read more about your trip and I'm now even more convinced I need to get over to the West Coast ASAP!

It seems like they do way more in the parks for the holidays in DL. We LOVE NBC so the HM overlay itself is enough to convince me we need to go for the holidays!

 

[Sereina]

Just finished reading your TR from your WDW trip in September and am happy to be reading this Disneyland one now!

Sooo awesome that you were able to stay at the GCH. I haven't stayed there before, but I love walking around the lobby and the grounds. So beautiful!

A great start to your trip! Love the Christmas Minnie ears. Super cute!

 

[danimaroo]

Hi everyone.

So, I have to start this update by stating that Matt and I are okay, our dogs are okay, and that is what matters most right now.

As some of you guys know (those of you who follow me on IG and twitter/are Facebook friends with me), Thursday night, Matt and I came home from work to find our garage door wide open. Matt ran inside while I quickly parked the car, and as soon as I backed it into the garage and saw all of our cupboard doors open in the garage, I knew. I knew that our house had been burglarized (I'd say robbed, but the correct term, as we learned from the police, is burglarized). Matt opened the door and exclaimed WE'VE BEEN ROBBED, THEY TOOK EVERYTHING.

My first thought was "OH MY GOD ARE MILO AND ANYA OKAY?" because they are our babies... and second thought was "WE HAVE TO REMAIN CALM RIGHT NOW". So I helped calm down Matt, and when I walked into the laundry room and saw Milo with his little cheeseburger toy and Anya pacing around, I let out a sigh of relief. The dogs were okay.

I then looked around a bit quickly, noticed just tons and tons of stuff missing, and immediately called 911.

Basically, they took every expensive electronic item you could think of. Two televisions, our iPads, our Macbooks, my iMac, my GoPro, my two DSLR cameras, every single lens I owned, every single video game console we own (except our old school Nintendo/old school systems), every single video game we owned except our Wii games, all of my Disney jewelry, our watches, some of our luggage, my Haunted Mansion Dooney hand bag... and other things I'm not even thinking about right now.

The GOOD thing is they did not hurt our dogs (in fact, they gave them dog treats and kept them in our bedroom while they stole everything), they did minimal damage to our house (only the window they broke in through), and they did not take any of my Vinylmation or other Disney collectibles. Things really could have been SO much worse, and for that part, I am thankful they weren't.

While things are things, and are easily replaceable, what isn't replaceable are my photos. All of my photos were on those computers. Photos from all of our Disney trips... The photos from our Disneyland trip we just got back from were on my SD card, which was in my iMac as I had JUST begun editing the photos the day before. My videos I'd taken on my GoPro, the ones I planned on using for our trip video, those were on the SD card inside of my GoPro, which they took.

All of our photos and videos are gone. Gone.

I could deal with the thousands of dollars in electronics being gone, and even the Haunted Mansion Dooney (though when I saw that it was missing, I may have let out an expletive or two) but losing those photos and videos.. that's what made me lose it. They're irreplaceable. I wish I could send a message to the people who stole everything and tell them to keep everything they stole, just please give me back those photos and videos.. Please. But I can't, and I'm doubtful they'll be returned to me, so I'm considering them lost. I'm usually an optimistic person, but in this case, I feel like it's best to just accept the fact that everything is gone, and if things are recovered, it's like a little bonus for us.

And to answer a few questions now before people ask them (because we've had friends/family ask them already):

Yes, we have the serial numbers for nearly every bigger item they stole;

Yes, we have the Apple programs to track our computers and iPads (and awesomely enough, they were stupid and used Matt's iPad that night so we got an address for them, though it is an apartment complex);

Yes, we are having a home security system installed on Tuesday which will be HUGE;

and

Yes, we have homeowner's insurance;

So, why am I telling you guys this whole thing? Well number one, I thought you might want to know. I mean, I've let you guys into my life a bit writing these trip reports for the past few years. And plus, writing about it is a bit cathartic in certain ways... but there's more.

I only had photos from Day 2 of this trip that I'm writing the TR for uploaded to Photobucket... which means that Day 3 and 4 were not uploaded yet. I wanted to edit them and go through them first before uploading them. And well, now they are gone.

So, with a super sad and heavy heart, I am going to have to end this trip report prematurely and it will be the first one I am unable to finish. I know I may sound like I'm being over-dramatic about having to end it early, but I'm genuinely sad. Writing about our trips has been something that has kept my spirits up after difficult weeks at work. Has it at times been an absolute pain in the butt to write? Absolutely. But they're worth writing. They really are, and having to end this one early truly bums me out. Especially because of the reasoning.

I truly appreciate all of you being here and choosing to read along with our adventure, and I apologize I'm having to end this trip report this way. It's under really crappy circumstances and I have no control over it. I'm not sure when my next trip report will be, but just know that I will definitely be back on the DISboards again soon. We will be going back to Disney World in September and then Disneyland in November with my in-laws (staying at the Villas at Grand Californian again, this time in a one-bedroom!), so this is definitely not the last you will see of me around the DIS.

If you want to keep up with me in the meantime, come find me on instagram (my username is dmags), or find me on twitter at twitter.com/BrerDani. Hopefully I'll talk to all of you quite soon!

Love,

Dani​

 

[amyrella]

OMG dani... I know there is nothing I can say to bring all those things back especially your photos. I think you are an amazing person to stay so positive about all of this... I am so so sorry for what you and Matt have had to go through. I really hope they catch these *beep*holes... Do they have any leads? Did neighbors see anything? I'm sure it's not something you want to discuss... And I know for myself I totally understand why you do not want to finish.. I'm so sorry...

 

[meplus3]

Hi Dani,

I have read all of your trip reports and love reading about your Disney adventures! After reading about this terrible experience I had to come out of lurkdom to say I am so sorry that this happened to you and Matt. You bring so much joy to others with your reports, I hope the police find these people and get your things back. So glad your puppies are ok!

 

[Sherry E]

Dani -

Oh this is terrible news! I'm not FB friends with you, nor do I follow you on Twitter or Instagram, so this is the first I am hearing of this horrible event.

I'm so, so, so sorry this happened to you. I know how you feel about the photos -- I would literally be sick over losing them. The photos being stolen along with the other stuff is like a piece of your heart and your memories being yanked away. I was nearly a wreck when I lost some photos in a huge computer crash a few years ago, so I can't even imagine how I would feel in this case, having them taken by some group of criminals.

The lead to the apartment complex is a start, though. Even if the police have no clue who in that complex could have Matt's iPad and other things, at least they have narrowed down some bit of info. They can follow up on that lead, even if they have to go door to door and knock on every apartment, or get the landlord to let them in. Someone in that building must have seen something or noticed someone marching in with equipment.

Is the apartment complex anywhere near where you live?

Do you think that someone could have been stalking your neighborhood, getting used to your daily schedules so they'd know when you'd be gone?

Well, I would still be sick about losing the photos, the cameras and all of the other stuff, but as you said, at least your fur babies are safe and unharmed. That is the most important thing other than your own safety.

Please keep us posted on what is happening and if anything is recovered. I will be crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.

 

[Denovagirl]

Again, so sorry this happened to you! Thanks for answering all those questions for us, because you didn't have to, but your right, we all care, and are just glad you and the pups are ok. Glad to hear about the serial #s and such, I hope the people are dumb and try to pawn it and it will get reported as stolen and they'll get caught! Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[cedricandsophie]

So sorry about your loss. For future reference consider Carbonite to backup everything on your computer. Plus if you had all your pictures from your phone Or iPad backed up to iCloud you could still recover them.

 

[mollybuck]

Hey - I've been following along with you about this on Twitter and I'm so sorry. I nearly had a panic attack myself when you posted about it. I hope everything is okay - so glad that the puppies are safe. And thank you Apple for having the tracking; hopefully that will be a big enough lead to help out the police.

I'll be sure to keep checking your twitter to see if any of your things are recovered, and in the meantime I will be anxiously waiting for the next trip report. Hope all is well.

 

[PryncessChrysty]

 

[Gracefulskinny]

How absolutely horrible!!! I am so sorry to hear that you had that happen to you. Prayers that the stupid thieves get caught and your things returned soon.

 

[Flower1]

Dani, I have never commented on the DIS boards before, but I have read all your trip reports and watched your videos. They are great. You're a talented writer!

I'm so sorry this has happened to you and Matt. Glad your dogs are okay. I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers.