TR: My 25th During Disneyland's 55th

[cinderella-princess]

So, I just finished our TR from December so I thought I'd start our PTR for our May trip right away! I promise to finish this one a lot sooner then the last.

The cast of characters for this trip include:

Me (Jackie - 25) - I will be turning 25 during this trip! I currently work part time and am going back to school to get my teaching credential. My mornings are spent in a kindergarten classroom and I have so much fun with those little guys it's crazy. My DH and I have been married for a year and a half and are looking forward to experiencing DL with a little DS or DD in the next few years.

DH (Jason - 27) - Jason is most excited for this trip because he'll get to see the HM without Jack Skellington! He hates the JS overlay for Halloween and Christmas and neither of us have seen it in it's original form since we got engaged in May of 2007 (3 years ago already! ). Jason is currently between jobs (as are many people these days) but he's got numerous projects to keep him busy. He's very happy right now because baseball season has started! haha

DMIL - (Linda - just old enough!) - Linda is our Disneyland partner in crime and the reason this trip is happening. We thought for a while we wouldn't be able to go on this trip until Linda stepped in and helped us out. She has loved DL for a LONG time and is so excited to be going back when it's warm and she can ride her favorite ride, the Grizzly River Rapids!

A picture of the 3 of us from our September 2009 trip

Mom and Linda right after Splash on our engagement trip in May, 2007

DM (Laura - stopped counting a long time ago) - My mom will be joining us 2 out of the 4 days that we'll be there. I'm so excited for her to come! She's not as into Disney as the rest of us are but she has such a good time when she's there she couldn't resist the temptation of another trip with the Disney Nerds.

We will be in DL for 4 whole days! WHOO-HOO! The exact dates are May 26th - 30th. My mom will be there the 28th and 29th.

We are all staying at the Anaheim Camelot Inn and Suites, our favorite place to stay, besides the Grand Californian of course!

That's it for now...I'll update more on what we have planed to do while we're there in a few days.

 

[Docter419]

AWESOME PTR BABE. 7 and a half more weeks, they couldn't go faster!

 

[blabbermouth]

Yay! Another trip for you guys. Seems like you're getting a bit of baby fever.... do you two have any nieces and nephews? I have a a niece and nephew, but they're totally too cool for disney, they're 15 and 16. Not that I would want to take two crazy teenagers anyway. Although it would be fun to take a kid to disneyland. I'm trying to convince my brother, but he's 22! And a fabulous photographer, so having really good photos of us would be a nice perk.

Congrats on becoming a teacher, it was something I thought of being when I was young (then I realized I have NO patience! )

Have you guys ever been in early October? Is it warm enough to swim then?

 

[cinderella-princess]

AWESOME PTR BABE. 7 and a half more weeks, they couldn't go faster!

I agree! I hope the weeks just fly by.

Yay! Another trip for you guys. Seems like you're getting a bit of baby fever.... do you two have any nieces and nephews? I have a a niece and nephew, but they're totally too cool for disney, they're 15 and 16. Not that I would want to take two crazy teenagers anyway. Although it would be fun to take a kid to disneyland. I'm trying to convince my brother, but he's 22! And a fabulous photographer, so having really good photos of us would be a nice perk.

We are getting some baby fever, probably because there aren't any kids in the family! We'll be the first ones out of our siblings to have kids and both of us can't wait to experience Disneyland with little ones. One of my good friends is pregnant and due in about a month so hopefully I'll be able to get my baby fix in!

Teenagers...they think they are too cool for everything! haha

Congrats on becoming a teacher, it was something I thought of being when I was young (then I realized I have NO patience! )

Have you guys ever been in early October? Is it warm enough to swim then?

I know what you mean about having no patience; I usually don't have a lot but I've realized that it's really only adults being stupid that I have no patience for! I have no problem being patient with the kindergartners.

Jason and I went on our Honeymoon in early October. It was VERY warm, so warm in fact that I had to go out and buy a sundress because I only bought pants to wear! We went swimming a bunch too. I would pack for summer weather in the first two weeks of October.

 

[yupikgal]

thanks for sharing Cinderella Princess!! Do you happen to have pics. of the inside of the hotel that you are going to stay at? I think this is the one that we can see from the hotel we stayed at (and will be staying again) the Fairfield? I'd love to see the inside of one of the rooms at the "Castle" hotel that you are staying at though! I love Grizzly River rapids too, I can't wait!! We are going to be there during the same time period, we are thinking of going later then we were originally going to because of Splash Mountain, which my kids love! And by the way...our kids are both teens, and they LOVE disney, they are not too cool for it, thank goodness!!

 

[cinderella-princess]

thanks for sharing Cinderella Princess!! Do you happen to have pics. of the inside of the hotel that you are going to stay at? I think this is the one that we can see from the hotel we stayed at (and will be staying again) the Fairfield? I'd love to see the inside of one of the rooms at the "Castle" hotel that you are staying at though! I love Grizzly River rapids too, I can't wait!! We are going to be there during the same time period, we are thinking of going later then we were originally going to because of Splash Mountain, which my kids love! And by the way...our kids are both teens, and they LOVE disney, they are not too cool for it, thank goodness!!

You're welcome, thanks for reading! You are right, the Anaheim Camelot Inn and Suites is next to the Fairfield. I actually have never taken pictures of the inside of the hotel! OOPS! But I found some pictures on their website. It's a nice clean room inside and pretty quiet. We just love the proximity to the park and that it's a small but important step up from a Quality Inn or even the Best Western.

King Mini Suite

Two Queen Beds - the room we have for this trip

King Suite - we've stayed in this room with 4 people and it worked really well. The only problem was sharing 1 bathroom between 4 people but it wasn't too bad.

How fun that you will be there at the same time as us! Aren't you excited to see the park without any Halloween or Christmas decorations and when it's actually warm?! I know I am!!

I'm glad to know that there are teens who don't think they are "too cool" for Disney. That gives me hope that our kids will someday be that way too!

 

[yupikgal]

Hey Cinderella! Thanks for the photos, it looks nice! I like the look of the outside of the hotel, so I was just curious what it looked like on the inside...do they include a breakfast? Did you find it to be quiet? I love going in the summer months, last year we went in August, and it was great! That was the first time we had ever gone in the summer. I do love Christmas too though, and Halloween in WDW was awesome...someday I'd like to make it to the Flower Festival at Epcot in the Spring!

Yes I'm happy (and lucky) that our kids love Disney, I'm wondering how they will like Knott's Berry since we will probably go there this time too...I'm sure they will like the rides! Have a great time on your trip!

 

[Docter419]

6 more weeks! One more week closer to an incredible trip!

 

[cinderella-princess]

Hey Cinderella! Thanks for the photos, it looks nice! I like the look of the outside of the hotel, so I was just curious what it looked like on the inside...do they include a breakfast? Did you find it to be quiet? I love going in the summer months, last year we went in August, and it was great! That was the first time we had ever gone in the summer. I do love Christmas too though, and Halloween in WDW was awesome...someday I'd like to make it to the Flower Festival at Epcot in the Spring!

Yes I'm happy (and lucky) that our kids love Disney, I'm wondering how they will like Knott's Berry since we will probably go there this time too...I'm sure they will like the rides! Have a great time on your trip!

It's very nice on the inside! They include a breakfast but it's pretty limited. They have a few types of cereals (frosted flakes, cheerios, etc) and some pastries. They don't have any hot food like pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, but they do have hot coffee and tea. The McDonalds next door is usually where Jason eats breakfast. They also have a refrigerator in the room so I bring some milk and cereal and plastic bowls/spoons and have breakfast in the room. Last time Linda even brought a little toaster so we had toast as well!

I'm sure your kids will like Knott's Berry farm, although I've never been there. Teenagers usually love roller coasters though! haha

I would love to go to Epcot during the Flower and Garden Festival! It always looks so beautiful.

6 more weeks! One more week closer to an incredible trip!

I can't wait!

 

[cinderella-princess]

Linda was so cute this morning and made this itinerary of where we'll be at what time on our drive down.

We always leave at 4am and we usually get to the hotel around 10:45 or 11am depending on how many stops we make. Usually we get hungry around 2 hours in and we all need some (more) coffee by then so the McDonalds in Panoche is our stop! There's also a gas station connected to the McDonalds so we fill up and use the clean bathrooms.

I just thought I'd share it with everyone!

 

[Docter419]

Awesome Chart!

For those of you who don't know what the pipes are, they are part of the aqueduct that sends water south to LA. And you can see them from I-5. Its kinda a visual landmark for me when I was a kid because when I saw them it was about 1hr and 45min away from D-land! Always got me excited!

 

[blabbermouth]

Nice work Linda!

I recognize that photo... unfortunately by then we've been driving for much much longer than you. Ok, I'm ready to move to California now.

 

[Docter419]

Only 5 more weeks!

Also a friend of mine told me about a website called http://mp3ify.com
that lets you make mp3 files out of youtube videos. So we have been taking some of our favorite Disneyland videos and putting them on our ipod! Our favorite so far is the music to Soarin'. these will be great for the ride down!

 

[blabbermouth]

Neat, I'll have to check that out. I definitely want to download some podcasts too, but I keep forgetting, I listen to my ipod a lot at work.

 

[Docter419]

4 more weeks from now we'll be passing the pipes right now! I can't wait to go. GRRR IT should be here already!

 

[Docter419]

And more good news, A small startup has decided to hire me when they start up business in a month! So I'll have an awesome job waiting for me when I get back from d-land.

So that means they will be lots of Celebrating in D-land

LIKE THIS!

 

[cinderella-princess]

Nice work Linda!

I recognize that photo... unfortunately by then we've been driving for much much longer than you. Ok, I'm ready to move to California now.

You have a MUCH longer drive then we do! Our 6 hours are fun but by hour 5 or so we are ready to just be there already!

Neat, I'll have to check that out. I definitely want to download some podcasts too, but I keep forgetting, I listen to my ipod a lot at work.

I listen to my iPod or stream sports talk at work too. I can't work when it's too quiet! I'm actually listening to the Wishes fireworks on my iPod right now.

4 more weeks from now we'll be passing the pipes right now! I can't wait to go. GRRR IT should be here already!

I agree - we should be there now! April went by super fast so hopefully May will too.

And more good news, A small startup has decided to hire me when they start up business in a month! So I'll have an awesome job waiting for me when I get back from d-land.

So that means they will be lots of Celebrating in D-land

LIKE THIS!

I can't wait to celebrate! We have so much to be celebrate this trip, my birthday, your job, life in general...haha

 

[cinderella-princess]

We are officially one month away!

I thought I'd post some of our tentative plans for the trip. Everything is subject to change, we usually just go with the flow and do what sounds fun at the moment when we are there.

Birthday Dinner - Naples
I wanted to go somewhere other then ESPN Zone (sorry Jason). I love pasta and Italian food in general and their pizza's here are great! Birthday dinner is on mom, which will allow us to go to...

Birthday Breakfast - Storytellers Cafe
I love this place! It's decorated so nicely inside and the characters are cute. For some reason I feel less silly at this character breakfast then at the one in DL at the Carnation Cafe.

Jason's birthday breakfast in September 2009

ESPN Zone - I know that we'll be here a few times, either for lunch, dinner or just drinks. We usually get some sliders and fries (sometimes cheese covered) and they have good beers on tap.

Jason happily eating his cheesy fries and a slider on our honeymoon

They also have this thing called a glowtini that is kind of fun!

We might hit up Ralph Brennans or Tortilla Joes; we'll just have to see. We plan on bringing stuff for breakfast and some snack things for lunches/snack time. We're also bringing some beer, wine and peppermint schnapps! That way we won't spend SO much on food and adult beverages.

 

[Docter419]

3 More weeks! I can not Wait!

In other news, happy cinco de mayo everyone! For our part we'll be doing Mexican Food and Margaritas, we'll have to sit around and pretend we are at Tortilla Joe's tonight! Saw an ad for 40% off of the Grand Californian this week on the net, wish we had a few more dollars so we could jump on that oh well the Camelot is awesome as well!

 

[cinderella-princess]

3 More weeks! I can not Wait!

In other news, happy cinco de mayo everyone! For our part we'll be doing Mexican Food and Margaritas, we'll have to sit around and pretend we are at Tortilla Joe's tonight! Saw an ad for 40% off of the Grand Californian this week on the net, wish we had a few more dollars so we could jump on that oh well the Camelot is awesome as well!

Yay for margaritas and pretending we are at Tortilla Joes! It's kind of funny because we never actually go there when we are at DL. My parents went there in December and said it was actually really good and they had drinks for $4 or some crazy cheap price. We'll have to check it out this trip!

I'm sad that we can't jump on the GCH deal but it's alright. I'd rather stay at the Camelot for 3 days then at the GCH for 2. Plus, if we are going to shell out that much money I would like it to be for a more special trip then just a random trip in September. Maybe an anniversary trip or something in a few years. The rooms were good, but not that good!

Yay for 3 weeks though! I can't wait to be down there. I only am able to get through my nasty days at work by reminding myself that in 3 weeks I'll be at the happiest place on earth.

I have some updates about my birthday breakfast that I'll post later - stay tuned!