Two ladies and... The mouse? April PTR!!

[pdxJolene]

Hello all! And welcome to my first ever PTR! I am beyond excited for my upcoming trip, and figured this was a great way to not only organize my planning a little bit but to get some of my excitement out!

Lets begin with the who of the trip! It will be me, Jolene. I’m 20 years old (young?) and work for the State of Oregon. I have been to Disney only twice, the first time when I was 16 for a cheerleading competition. I didn’t get to experience much of the parks, we only spent about a day and a half there since we were in town to compete, lol. That got me started though, and ever since then all I’ve wanted to do is go back! The second time I made it down was in April of ’08. I went with a girlfriend for 4 days and really got to experience the magic. Here is a picture of me during our ’08 trip.

The other half of my party is my roommate, Cara. I don’t know her exact Disney history, but I know she has been to Disneyland at least a few times.

We will be leaving Portland on Thursday April 15th in the am. Hopefully arriving and checking into the hotel by 1pm. Then were off to DL for the day! We will be checking out Sunday April 18th and hopefully have a few hours in the park before taking a shuttle back to the airport and heading home.

We haven’t booked our travel yet, we’re still hoping for another price drop… But most likely will have it booked by early next week. I’m 99.8% sure we will be staying at the Hotel Menage. I know it isn’t everyones favorite on here, but its where we stayed last time and I had a GREAT experience. Plus, I’ve heard there are typically less kids staying there than other DL area hotels which is a plus for us.

We will have 4 day park passes, though I haven’t came up with a schedule of any kind yet. I know for sure we will want to catch Aladdin, because I’ve never seen it. I would also like to check out the food & wine festival, are there any areas of that were its required to be 21? Cara is, but I am not. Or could she grab a glass of wine for herself and then take it to the general areas of the park? I know only in DCA & DTD alcohol is served.

I almost wish we had another weekend available to go down, since it is the first weekend for the food & wine festival… That will draw a bunch of crowds I’m sure. We will manage though!

I'd love to hear from anyone who has been to the food & wine festival, or anyone at all! I don't have many friends on this board yet I promise I don't bite!!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

 

[merrrydeath]

Awesome. A new trip report! I'm in.

I'm not sure if there are age restrictions anywhere in Food and Wine, but your friend can definitely walk around the park with her wine(or beer or a margarita ).

 

[pdxJolene]

Awesome. A new trip report! I'm in.

I'm not sure if there are age restrictions anywhere in Food and Wine, but your friend can definitely walk around the park with her wine(or beer or a margarita ).

Sweet! I can't remember if I commented or not, But I love your TRs! I'm glad to hear she can enjoy her adult beverages while I sip my soda haha. Until we get back to the hotel at least

 

[Bell<3Disney]

Hey Ill be your friend! I just realized you posted on my PTR also, you will be there right after me. Heres hoping for great weather for both of us and a magical time! I wish we were able to go during the food and wine festival, I have heard it is pretty cool. The crowds might be bad, but there is a lot more to experience while your there. Cant wait to hear how your trip went!

 

[merrrydeath]

Sweet! I can't remember if I commented or not, But I love your TRs! I'm glad to hear she can enjoy her adult beverages while I sip my soda haha. Until we get back to the hotel at least

Awesome! I don't think you've commented but it's nice to hear that more people enjoy the reports. Though I'm usually very slow at updating them.

I've always thought that DCA is a bit like Vegas when you see people walking around with their neon cups of alcohol. I have some friends who have their DCA version of an Arnold Palmer: a margarita in one hand and a beer in the other

 

[pdxJolene]

Hey Ill be your friend! I just realized you posted on my PTR also, you will be there right after me. Heres hoping for great weather for both of us and a magical time! I wish we were able to go during the food and wine festival, I have heard it is pretty cool. The crowds might be bad, but there is a lot more to experience while your there. Cant wait to hear how your trip went!

Yay for a hope for good weather!! I'm actually kinda hoping it rains while we're there a little bit... for one day... Only because we're from Oregon and rain is pretty much an everyday thing, so it doesn't bother us. But I know all the California folks can't The food and wine festival should be fun, were planning on spending a little bit of time there, but nothing huge. I can't wait to hear how your trip goes too!!

I have some friends who have their DCA version of an Arnold Palmer: a margarita in one hand and a beer in the other

Sounds like my kind of friend!

 

[pdxJolene]

Another update so quick? Well Cara and I got into deep planning mode last night and spent a few hours together working on a plan for our days in the park. We will have a total of 3 days, Thursday night, all day Friday, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning. We decided we want to try and do every single ride in Disneyland & DCA. Is this possible in 3 days? We’ll be at the parks most of the time we are there, besides when we sleep and take a little break in the afternoon. Take a look at my tentative schedule if you would?

Thursday-
Arrive at LAX, shuttle to Hotel Menage (HoM), check in, and maybe eat something? We’d like to be to the parks by 4pm at the latest. Today the park is open until 11pm. That will give us 7 hours in the park. We’d like to do every ride in Fantasyland and Toontown, plus splash. We’ll probably take half an hour to so to eat something quick for dinner.

Friday-
Breakfast in the hotel. Were spending the AM at DCA and we’d like to be there by 9 when they open. We will try to do a little less than half the rides there, we will have a QS lunch while in line for the 1:50 Aladdin! I’m super excited for this, as neither of us have seen it yet. After Aladdin (How long is the show anyways?) We will retreat to the hotel for some pool side fun and such. We’d like to be back to DL by 5 at the latest. We will be there until closing and have an 8:30 PS for Blue Bayou. We will do all the rides in Critter Country (Minus splash, were going to try to do that the day before), Fronterland and New Orleans Square. If we have some leftover time (which I’m thinking we will) we’ll do anything we missed in fantasyland or head over to adventureland.

Saturday-
We want to have breakfast in the park somewhere, though we haven’t decided where yet (any ideas?). In the AM we’ll be at DL and try to do everything in adventureland and tomorrowland. If we do adventureland the night before, it will just be tomorrowland. We probably won’t go back to the hotel today, rather have a break and catch another show or something like that. We want to head over to DCA around 230. We’ll try to do the rest of the rides we missed the first day between then and closing. We haven’t really decided our dining plans for this day, other than breakfast. We’ll probably wonder around the food & wine festival tonight too, so we’ll most likely eat there. Around 830 we’ll head back to DL since DCA closes at 9 and DL is open until midnight. At DL it will just be rides that we missed previously, or rides that we want to do again.

Sunday-
We will probably use our MM this day, and be in the parks until around 3pm. We’ll park hop and do anything we missed or our favorite again. Dining is still up in the air. I know we NEED to have lobster nachos from the cove bar though!

Input anyone? I may post something on the main DL board about doing every ride in 3 days too… I really want to know if it seems possible. Thanks guys!

 

[Disney owl]

look forward to reading your report

 

[pdxJolene]

Just another quick update... We are all booked! We actually decided to leave Wednesday night after I get off work instead of Thursday am. This will give us another half day in the parks! Woohoo!! Our plan for Wednesday when we arrive isn't too exciting, we get in to LAX at 7:50pm. I'm assuming we will get to the hotel (Hotel Menage) Around 9? We are taking the disneyland express bus, but will have no checked luggage to wait on (couldn't imagine spending almost $100 each for LUGGAGE!). Ideally, we're going to take a cab down to in & out and have that for dinner and possibly go to a grocery store for some small things for the room? Not sure about that though, the grocery store I found near in & out (Henry's marketplace) is only open until 10 Anyone know of a 24 hour grocery store on/near harbor? Preferably north of DL since thats where in & out is.

Only 28 days to go!! yay!