The Trip That Got Me Hooked On Disney!

[Kiren]

Hello! This is going to be my first trip report and its for a trip that happened almost a year ago! I didn't know about the Dis when we first got back so I've decided to write about my first Disney Trip! But first: some background and introductions!

Oh, and a side note: Sadly my DBF and I didn't really take too many pictures while we were there so this isn't going to have many (if any) So sorry! -_-

Background! My DBF and I live in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia, Canada! We both work for the government in some pretty decent jobs that are thankfully almost like your typical 9-5 with the odd weekend thrown in. We have been together for 2 years now and he moved in with me (I own a house) almost a year ago. We have an extremely needy cat named Edward and he has a beautiful son. I guess this is kind of the introductions too!

The trip! The trip had actually originally been a bit of a joke plan. Then we realized that we were really serious about going so we decided to book it. Long story short we had originally planned to go near the end of the July but due to some leave getting switched around we had to book for the first week! We ended up flying in on July 1st, 2014 and flew home on the 8th. It made for a really enjoyable trip though!

We stayed in Disneyland Hotel as this was DBF dream pretty much. He's always wanted to go to Disneyland since moving out West from Central Ontario and he wouldn't have stayed anywhere else. It made for a bit of a pricey trip but we had a great TA who helped us get decent airfare with WestJet.

 

[Kiren]

Flying Day!

Of course the night before we fly out of Victoria I don't get any sleep but we got the cat dropped off at his second home (good friend of mine) and the bags are packed and in the car ready to go!

We woke up bright and early and started the long drive to the airport. We live about an hour away and of course we wanted earlyish flights out. We hopped on a "puddle jumper" (one of the turboprops that WestJet has now under the name Encore). It was this short 20 minute flight to Vancouver that rudely reminded me that I reallllllllllllyyyyyyyy don't like flying. My DBF is sitting there beside me laughing and trying to make me feel better but it wasn't really working. It was at this point that I decided this was going to be a very long day. With no major issues we made it into SNA. I will admit that the approach in was quite beautiful and everyone got excited when someone pointed out Disneyland down below! ^_^ We got to the gate and as soon as we were off the plan DBF made a beeline for the nearest McDonald's. There's something about how they prepare the food in the States that makes it taste so much better. We grabbed our bags and headed out for the Magical Express! the shuttle coach that would take us to Disneyland Hotel! We got to the kiosk only to find out that the coach had just left! If DBF hadn't stopped for his MickeyD's, we'd be on our way! Oh well! We just waiting for the next one. It was only about half an hour and the next coach pulled up!

We were actually the last hotel dropped off, they stopped at the DGC first. i want to stay there next time! But we probably won't. When we got off the bus I will admit that I teared up a little with excitement. Barring any problems with checkin we were home for the next week! Looking around like the tourists we were we walked in and very quickly a CM greeted us with a tablet. I don't remember what they asked but we were directed to one of the counters and were checked in without a hitch! The CM at the desk asked us if we were celebrating anything special on this trip. I looked at Aaron but he seemed to tense up a little bit before replying that it was our first time to DL. We got some cute little buttons and the CM even said she upgraded us to a better room with a balcony! We didn't have a view of the park but this surprisingly worked out for us on the 4th. We were staying in Adventure Tower and I don't remember which room we were in but we were oohing and aaahhing over the the foliage and landscaping on our way there. We got to our room and were in awe. I honestly wish I had taken the time to take pictures because I think Disney may have spoiled me for staying in any other hotel ever.

We took the time to unpack our clothes and tuck our suitcases away before finishing off the day with a wander around Downtown Disney. We had already decided that because we weren't going to be checked in and settled until almost 5 that we weren't going to waste a ticket for the parks. So we wandered through DTD and explored all the shops and grabbed some pretzels for supper before heading back to the room for showers and an early night!

'Til next time!

 

[Kiren]

I found pictures!

Well, not too many pictures but some! Here's the hotel room:




I love this headboard!



The carpet had neat little hidden mickeys throughout!



And now for day 1:

So DBF and I are not early risers so for us to get up at eight was pretty amazing! We got up, had a quick shower, got dressed and filled up our water bottles for a day at the park! When we got outside we noticed that it looked very grey and bleak. We weren't too concerned. There was already a nice heat in the air and it was pretty quiet. We slowly walked through DTD and joined up with the throng heading into the parks. A quick hop through security and we both had grins on our faces. There it was! Woohoo! We didn't want to take the monorail the first day even thought it would have been less of a walk. It was more exciting and seemed more appropriate to walk through the front gates on our first visit! A quick scan of our tickets, a happy photo and we were in! We didn't really feel like rushing around to ride all the rides, we just wanted to take our time looking at all the little things. Walt's lantern, all the happy kids running out. We did think about riding rides as we got to them.

It actually seemed like we had snuck in ahead of the crowds. We would go on a ride with virtually no wait time. When we got off the line up was HUGE! It was totally crazy! But we weren't complaining. We had been there for most of the morning when the sun started to peek out. That's when it got warm. It wasn't humid, so we were surviving but then we realized something: I hadn't put any sunscreen on! Ouch! We took a break from the park for me to run back to the hotel to grab sunscreen and a quick shirt change into something that covered my shoulders. There was a distinct lack of pain which from a first aid point (I've got the level just below paramedic) I realized this was a bad thing. Oh well, wasn't anything I could do for it but keep it covered.

We had managed by the end of the first day to go on (almost) every ride in the park! The only one I think we hadn't made it on was Splash Mountain because I was a chicken! We did hit it later on though which everyone will get to hear about!

A note on food: I've heard a lot of people complain about the prices of food in Disneyland. As a Canadian coming down from the land of teeny tiny restaurant portions, I was floored! For the price I paid the quality and amount of food was astounding! I honestly don't remember what we had that first day but it was a lot of quick service that didn't really feel like quick service.

We called it quits pretty early that night I think. We were getting a little tired and my shoulders were finally starting to hurt. On our way back to the room we stopped at the front desk to make reservations for some sit down meals. We chose Blue Bayou for the next night and Carthay Pacific Circle in DCA the next. It was time to relax but we may have grabbed a drink at Trader Sam's... I'm not sure...

 

[Canadian Harmony]

We're flying out of Victoria so I'm excited to read the rest of your report!

 

[Kiren]

Oh my goodness! Where did the time go?! I'm so sorry for not posting anything else! Life threw me some curveballs and I'm getting ready for my wedding in October! I'll try and update in the next few days.

 

[disneyhopeful4]

Please do! Enjoying reading about your trip!

 

[Kiren]

NO! I had this almost done and I hit backspace! It went to the previous page. I have to start over!

Ahem... DAY 2!

So there won't be any pictures from now on (mostly because DBF and I stopped taking them haha!) but I think I can make up for that! I left off the previous day with us making reservations at Blue Bayou for tonight and Carthay Pacific Circle two days after. But before that we had a day to spend at the park! I got up fairly early but DBF wanted to sleep in a bit so I headed down on a hunt: For aloe for my sunburn. I had pain in it now which was making me slightly uncomfortable so I went down to the lobby to check out the stores. Luckily I found some, and the price wasn't too bad! Only one arm! On the way back to the room I picked up a fruit plate for breakfast from the Tiki something that's attached to Trader Sam's. It was time to kick DBF out of bed! Luckily he was already up so we packed up our bag of water bottles and headed to the park! We wanted to spend another full day in DL before heading to DCA so we wandered through DTD, taking our time. The parks were well and truly open at this point so we didn't want to rush. We made our way in and wandered around, hopping on rides as we came to them (if the lines weren't long) and otherwise just taking in the sights.

Soon enough it was time to head back to the hotel to change into our "fancy clothes". I wore the red polka-dot dress that you can see in my Profile picture and DBF was in a nice pair of slacks and a button down shirt. We made our way back into the park and headed straight for Blue Bayou. We checked in and they said it would be a few minutes so we just took that time to sit and people watch! Eventually it was our time and we headed in! We weren't seated near the water which we actually didn't mind. Although it is cool that POTC goes around the outside of the restaurant, we found it quite annoying that people on POTC were taking pictures of people eating! With flash! No we were perfectly content where we were! There were also a lot of kids running around and it was quite loud but it worked for us. We both enjoyed our meals and paid with the room key (too cool!). Afterwards we headed out. Around this time they were starting to set up for Fantasmic! so we headed back to Main Street where things got interesting!

Unfortunately I had overfilled my stomach so I was a little uncomfortable. We kept walking towards DRR on Main Street and looped around where we found Minnie! I couldn't resist, seeing as how we were matching so we hopped in the short line and got a couple of pictures with her. We continued on and my stomach was feeling better so of course when we passed the Starbucks I couldn't resist! I had to get a caramel macchiatto. So good! By this point DBF was a little grumpy and said his feet were bothering him so we headed back towards DRR and plunked our butts down on a bench with a nice view of Main Street Station. We sat there quietly for a bit and then DBF started talking. He was saying all the usual sappy stuff when he said, "I really like doing these things with you." I agreed with him and then he pulled out a ring and said, "Would you like to keep doing them with me?" :O I was in shock! All I could do was put my coffee down, look at him and say, "Really?" HaHa! He finally had me at a loss for words! Of course I couldn't do anything other than hold out my hand and he slipped it on! It was a quiet peaceful moment just the two of us enjoyed in our own little world. We sat for a few more minutes then decided that we needed to ride DRR one more time before we headed back to the hotel! While we were on it, DF (Disney Fiance! EEEK!) proceeded to explain to me the process of finally proposing! He want to do it in BB but there were too many people. Then he wanted to do it at the fountain in POS but they were setting up for Fantasmic! Finally he had though about doing on the Lily Belle but we weren't able to get on (Club 33 and all) so he settled on the most unique looking bench on Main Street he could find!

We headed back to the hotel through DTD, stopping in World of Disney along the way. I had forgotten when Trader Sam's closed and we wanted to celebrate with a drink so we headed back to the front desk. The CM who was there didn't seem to happy and when I said I had a couple of questions she looked kind of annoyed. I found out when last call was then asked her if we could change what we were celebrating. She replied with possibly depending on what it is so I showed her my ring and said we got engaged! What a change! She started smiling and got really happy! She congratulated us and said that she'd be right back and she took off into the back room. She came out a few moments later with two more CMs tow, both with grins on their faces! She gave us two happily ever after buttons and the promise that there might be a little something extra in our room when we got up there! We told her we were going to run up to change and then head down to Trader Sam's. One of the other CMs then said he'd be right back so he took off and when he returned he had two large envelopes for us. Inside were autographed photos of Donald and Daisy! What a fantastic surprise! We said thank you and headed up for a quick change. We had a drink and a small snack at Trader Sam's. Heading back up to the room I opened the door and was confused. I looked at DF and asked "Did you leave the lights on?" He said no so we went further in and we had turn down service! We ended up having it for the whole trip! It was a lovely surprise! We headed to bed after deciding that we didn't want to deal with the 4th of July crowds so we were going to have a lazy morning with room service and just a day wandering DTD.

Until next time!