Mugglemama
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2008
- Messages
- 1,501
Sorry in advance for the lengthy post, but I have to explain! 
Our most recent visit to DLR was July of 2010. After we returned, I just found myself feeling like I was really "done" with DLR for a long while.
We had treated my husband's parents and our 2 nieces (that DH's parents have been raising since birth) to 5 days in the parks. The nieces were 8 & 9 at the time, and had never been to ANY amusement park, let alone Disney. The in-laws had not been to Disneyland in more than 30 years, and I really, REALLY wanted them to get to experience it with ALL of their grandchildren. MIL is not in great health, and hasn't been for a really long time. So when I received my inheritance from MY grandmother (thanks, Grandma!
), I decided I would use it to treat another grandmother to special time with her grandkids.
The trip really was very good....for what it was. It was wonderful to spend time with everyone, the nieces were WONDERFUL and sweet and amazingly well-behaved. So although there were many really positive things about the trip, it was SOOOOO much work for DH, myself, and our 2 oldest children (ages 18 & 12). MIL was in a wheelchair, which my husband was pushing, and my 2 oldest had to help me keep track of our 2 youngest PLUS the nieces (the nieces were just in awe of everything, therefore they had an impossibly difficult time focusing on staying with the group as we walked, etc., so my 2 oldest and I had to work very hard to keep them from getting lost every 10 seconds). FIL didn't want to pay $15 every day for parking, so we did a lot of "dropping half the group off and heading back for the rest" kind of thing most days - which in and of itself was exhausting and SOOO terribly inconvenient). They are from AZ and July was unseasonably cold, so there was a lot of complaining about the weather, etc. That sort of thing. Still, I know my in-laws and the nieces had a fantastic experience, and I'm very happy for that.
However, by the time we got home from Disneyland, we felt like we hadn't been there at all! So much of the trip was just work, and we never had a moment's rest. It's no wonder that DH and I felt like we could not handle another DLR trip for a long time. It just seemed like the magic was gone, and that maybe our best times at DLR were behind us. Which was really sad, because our family has been serious DLR fans for more than a decade.
But we changed our minds this week! We are now planning our "best Disneyland vacation EVER", lol! We realized that our best family memories of DLR don't have to be over....so now we are determined to go back and make some more!
To that end, we will be visiting alone this time....our 4 kids and us. We are going to stay at a hotel that is within very close walking distance so that we don't have to deal with the parking structure (because we saw WAAAAY too much of it on our last visit!). We're going to eat in the parks for every meal so that we don't have to prepare food to take in, and carry that food around all day (which we had to do on our last trip in order for me to be able to afford to take both families). And for the first time ever, we are going to purchase SIX day PH's (we usually do 5).
I'm so thrilled to feel excited about Disneyland again, so I just wanted to share!
Our most recent visit to DLR was July of 2010. After we returned, I just found myself feeling like I was really "done" with DLR for a long while.
We had treated my husband's parents and our 2 nieces (that DH's parents have been raising since birth) to 5 days in the parks. The nieces were 8 & 9 at the time, and had never been to ANY amusement park, let alone Disney. The in-laws had not been to Disneyland in more than 30 years, and I really, REALLY wanted them to get to experience it with ALL of their grandchildren. MIL is not in great health, and hasn't been for a really long time. So when I received my inheritance from MY grandmother (thanks, Grandma!
), I decided I would use it to treat another grandmother to special time with her grandkids. The trip really was very good....for what it was. It was wonderful to spend time with everyone, the nieces were WONDERFUL and sweet and amazingly well-behaved. So although there were many really positive things about the trip, it was SOOOOO much work for DH, myself, and our 2 oldest children (ages 18 & 12). MIL was in a wheelchair, which my husband was pushing, and my 2 oldest had to help me keep track of our 2 youngest PLUS the nieces (the nieces were just in awe of everything, therefore they had an impossibly difficult time focusing on staying with the group as we walked, etc., so my 2 oldest and I had to work very hard to keep them from getting lost every 10 seconds). FIL didn't want to pay $15 every day for parking, so we did a lot of "dropping half the group off and heading back for the rest" kind of thing most days - which in and of itself was exhausting and SOOO terribly inconvenient). They are from AZ and July was unseasonably cold, so there was a lot of complaining about the weather, etc. That sort of thing. Still, I know my in-laws and the nieces had a fantastic experience, and I'm very happy for that.
However, by the time we got home from Disneyland, we felt like we hadn't been there at all! So much of the trip was just work, and we never had a moment's rest. It's no wonder that DH and I felt like we could not handle another DLR trip for a long time. It just seemed like the magic was gone, and that maybe our best times at DLR were behind us. Which was really sad, because our family has been serious DLR fans for more than a decade.
But we changed our minds this week! We are now planning our "best Disneyland vacation EVER", lol! We realized that our best family memories of DLR don't have to be over....so now we are determined to go back and make some more!
To that end, we will be visiting alone this time....our 4 kids and us. We are going to stay at a hotel that is within very close walking distance so that we don't have to deal with the parking structure (because we saw WAAAAY too much of it on our last visit!). We're going to eat in the parks for every meal so that we don't have to prepare food to take in, and carry that food around all day (which we had to do on our last trip in order for me to be able to afford to take both families). And for the first time ever, we are going to purchase SIX day PH's (we usually do 5).
I'm so thrilled to feel excited about Disneyland again, so I just wanted to share!
you can never have to much 
You will have a fabulous trip!
