Luv Bunnies
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2006
- Messages
- 9,145
We just flew home last night and I'm finally out of bed, coherent and ready to share our weekend experiences!
- Our big crew- We took this trip to celebrate my husband's 50th birthday, which was on Sunday. Besides my husband and myself, we had our two boys, ages 16 and 13. My mom, dad, sister and brother drove down from San Jose on Friday to join us.
- Transportation - We left Friday afternoon from San Jose Airport. The mean mom (me!) made the kids go to school for half a day. We arrived in Orange County around 3:00 p.m. Apparently, we flew into a brand new terminal that had just opened. My cousins who live down there were even surprised that it was open. We got an awesome $15/day rate at Thrifty so we decided to rent a car rather than use Super Shuttle. We planned to drive to my cousin's house in Newport, so a car was a necessity.
- Hotel - We stayed at the Ramada Maingate for the first time. After a horrible experience (billing issue) at the Park Vue in July, we decided to try the Ramada. I had booked 4 rooms and got a rate of $99/night for 2 queens. They also have free parking, free Internet, breakfast, and fridges and microwaves. We arrived before the rest of the crew and they already had our room numbers assigned. We wanted a connecting room with my sister since one of our boys was going to sleep in the extra bed in her room. We also needed the ground floor since my dad would be using an ECV. They gave us rooms 149, 150, 151 and 157. The desk clerk apologized for not having them all in a row. It was no problem! He asked me to assign the room numbers to my family so he would know where to put them when they arrived. He also said that 149 was a corner room with more space, a sofa sleeper and kitchenette, but we would get it for the same price! Our family took 149, and we put my sister in 150 which had a connecting door. We gave my parents 151 and my brother in 157 a few doors down. It was perfect!
Our room was awesome! It had a lot more floor space. I ended up on the sofa bed the first night since my husband had a cold and I didn't want him breathing in my face! My son just crept over to my sister's room each night to sleep, while the older one had his own bed in our room. It was also nice that the bathroom was down a little hallway. It provided more privacy for dressing and getting ready. Everything was clean and in good repair. We will definitely stay there again.
I had reserved an ECV for my dad at Scooter Village, which is right next to the Ramada's office. I popped in to confirm it, and the guy showed me the pretty red scooter that was waiting for my dad. He picked it up on Saturday morning, and I returned it for him on Sunday evening. It was very easy and very convenient. The cost was $45 per day.
- A little diversion - We had an awesome dinner at my cousin and his wife's house in Newport. I hadn't seen my 3 cousins and my aunt in almost 2 years. My dad had a great time visiting with his younger sister. They're hilarious to watch together. They're both in their 80s, and she still smacks him in the arm and calls him a bossy big brother. He still complains that she was mom's favorite and was spoiled. It was fun!
- Disneyland! - On Saturday, my husband, sons and I headed to DL for our 7:00 a.m. early entry! We had 3-day passes, but the others only had 2-day passes so they weren't eligible for early entry. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. They all thought we were crazy for getting up before 6:00 a.m. to go to Disneyland! We skipped the Ramada breakfast and ate Pop Tarts and Luna Bars in the room. When we got to the gates, there were only a few hundred people waiting. That first hour was amazing! We rode Star Tours, Space Mountain, Buzz, the Matterhorn twice, Alice, Dumbo and Mr. Toad. At 8:00, we grabbed Star Tours FPs to use later.
My brother and sister took the Monorail in from DTD sometime after 9:00 a.m. (they aren't morning people and went to DTD for breakfast). My parents came in around 11:00. After that, we slowed down quite a bit since the crowds were growing and my dad had to negotiate them with his ECV. Around 5:00 p.m., we all left for the hotel since it was getting cold and we wanted our jackets. My parents decided they were done for the day so they stayed in their room. The rest of us stopped at IHOP for dinner, then went back to the park. We had collected FPs all day and had a pretty good stash to use in the evening. My sister bugged out around 9:00. I last until around 10:00, when I left the boys to their thrill rides and did some shopping on Main Street. I had a lovely time browsing the shops by myself (teenage boys can get impatient while mom pokes around shops, looking at "girly" stuff!). Walking back to the hotel was easy and I felt very safe. There are tons of people on Harbor at night, including families with kids, so it never feels the least bit scary. The boys stumbled in around 11:30 and crashed!
- Sunday - My husband's birthday - We went to DL around 8:00. This time, my sister was up early and came with us. My brother planned to come over later with my dad. My mom desparetly wanted to go to a service at the Crystal Cathedral at 9:30, so she went there by cab and met up with us later. She didn't want to miss my husband's birthday breakfast, but she decided that seeing the Crystal Cathedral was important to her.
We did some Fantasyland rides with my sister, then met up with my dad and brother in front of the Plaza Inn for Minnie's Character Breakfast. My husband was decked out in his birthday shirt, buttons and birthday mouse ears! Although a little pricey (over $200 for 7 of us), the food was good and the characters were awesome! We saw Minnie, Hook, Suzy, Fairy Godmother, Rafiki, Pooh, Tigger, Chip and Dale. Max and Eeyore were outside but didn't make it to our table before we left. We told Hook that our DS13 had played Peter Pan in a show and pushed Hook off the stage. Hook decided to take revenge by putting his Hook around his neck. It made for a great picture! Chip showed DS13 how to fold his arms and pose like a teenagers who's too cool for characters! My DH and I had fun with Tigger and Pooh. Minnie made the innocent mistake of touching our DS16 who has Asperger's and doesn't like characters. DS said, "Please don't touch me with your weird costume!" Minnie put herself in timeout by facing the wall behind the Christmas tree. It was funny! When we started singing Circle of Life, Rafiki stuck the pose of holding Baby Simba over his head. Every character was amazing. Toward the end, my husband got a little teary-eyed and thanked me for setting up the breakfast. That's exactly the response I was looking for - seeing him happy!
We hopped over to DCA after breakfast and my mom joined us there. It started pouring rain about mid-morning. We just put on our ponchos and kept going. It got a little tough for my dad in the ECV and he was tired so he bugged out around 3:00 p.m. He called later to let my son know that Tony Stewart had won the NASCAR championship. That made his day!
We hopped back over to Disneyland later, and the crowds had thinned considerably. We practically walked onto the subs, Autopia and Small World. We hardly needed Fastpasses for anything. While we were on Small World, my DH, brother and the boys went on the Matterhorn 4 times! My mom, sister and I left around 10:00, while the boys kept going. They got multiple rides on Space, Star Tours, Thunder, Splash and Indiana. They came in around 11:30 happy, tired and wet! The rain really chased a lot of people out. They also cancelled the evening parade, fireworks and Fantasmic. I couldn't believe how easy it was to walk around with no crowds waiting for F!
- On Monday morning, the rest of the family started their drive back to San Jose. We packed up the rental car and checked out. The desk clerk said we could leave it parked until 4:00 p.m. when we needed to leave. DL was ridiculously crowded on Monday. We got in around 8:30 a.m., rode Space, got Star Tours FPs and went across the park. Everything was packed. We got Thunder FPs, knowing it's disconnected from the FP system and we didn't have to wait 2 hours to get them. We wanted to get Indy FPs next, but it was down. Thunder went down for a while too, but came back up before we had to leave. When Indy did start up again, the FP return time was 3:30. We figured we could ride it then, and still be out by 4:00 as we had planned. We were also able to get Haunted Mansion FPs. The line was 60 minutes long, but like 5 minutes with our FPs! When we returned at 3:30 for Indy, the stand-by time was 120 minutes, and the single-rider line was posted at 60. The whole park was just insanely crowded, and we were actually kind of relieved to be leaving.
- We were able to pick up our car at the Ramada and make it to the aiport in plenty of time. We grabbed some food at McDonald's and Subway and off we flew to San Jose.
Our oldest boy goes to a private school and had to (under protest, of course) get up and go today. He already had an unexcused absence yesterday and didn't need another. My youngest and I were furloughed today. I work in our school district and we are furloughed today and tomorrow. No matter! I went back to bed after putting the oldest on his bus. I don't care that I'm not getting paid. DH went back to work this morning, too.
If you've made it this far, thanks for staying with me. I hope I've given you some tips or ideas for your next trip. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll help if I can. Happy Thanksgiving!
- Our big crew- We took this trip to celebrate my husband's 50th birthday, which was on Sunday. Besides my husband and myself, we had our two boys, ages 16 and 13. My mom, dad, sister and brother drove down from San Jose on Friday to join us.
- Transportation - We left Friday afternoon from San Jose Airport. The mean mom (me!) made the kids go to school for half a day. We arrived in Orange County around 3:00 p.m. Apparently, we flew into a brand new terminal that had just opened. My cousins who live down there were even surprised that it was open. We got an awesome $15/day rate at Thrifty so we decided to rent a car rather than use Super Shuttle. We planned to drive to my cousin's house in Newport, so a car was a necessity.
- Hotel - We stayed at the Ramada Maingate for the first time. After a horrible experience (billing issue) at the Park Vue in July, we decided to try the Ramada. I had booked 4 rooms and got a rate of $99/night for 2 queens. They also have free parking, free Internet, breakfast, and fridges and microwaves. We arrived before the rest of the crew and they already had our room numbers assigned. We wanted a connecting room with my sister since one of our boys was going to sleep in the extra bed in her room. We also needed the ground floor since my dad would be using an ECV. They gave us rooms 149, 150, 151 and 157. The desk clerk apologized for not having them all in a row. It was no problem! He asked me to assign the room numbers to my family so he would know where to put them when they arrived. He also said that 149 was a corner room with more space, a sofa sleeper and kitchenette, but we would get it for the same price! Our family took 149, and we put my sister in 150 which had a connecting door. We gave my parents 151 and my brother in 157 a few doors down. It was perfect!
Our room was awesome! It had a lot more floor space. I ended up on the sofa bed the first night since my husband had a cold and I didn't want him breathing in my face! My son just crept over to my sister's room each night to sleep, while the older one had his own bed in our room. It was also nice that the bathroom was down a little hallway. It provided more privacy for dressing and getting ready. Everything was clean and in good repair. We will definitely stay there again.
I had reserved an ECV for my dad at Scooter Village, which is right next to the Ramada's office. I popped in to confirm it, and the guy showed me the pretty red scooter that was waiting for my dad. He picked it up on Saturday morning, and I returned it for him on Sunday evening. It was very easy and very convenient. The cost was $45 per day.
- A little diversion - We had an awesome dinner at my cousin and his wife's house in Newport. I hadn't seen my 3 cousins and my aunt in almost 2 years. My dad had a great time visiting with his younger sister. They're hilarious to watch together. They're both in their 80s, and she still smacks him in the arm and calls him a bossy big brother. He still complains that she was mom's favorite and was spoiled. It was fun!
- Disneyland! - On Saturday, my husband, sons and I headed to DL for our 7:00 a.m. early entry! We had 3-day passes, but the others only had 2-day passes so they weren't eligible for early entry. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. They all thought we were crazy for getting up before 6:00 a.m. to go to Disneyland! We skipped the Ramada breakfast and ate Pop Tarts and Luna Bars in the room. When we got to the gates, there were only a few hundred people waiting. That first hour was amazing! We rode Star Tours, Space Mountain, Buzz, the Matterhorn twice, Alice, Dumbo and Mr. Toad. At 8:00, we grabbed Star Tours FPs to use later.
My brother and sister took the Monorail in from DTD sometime after 9:00 a.m. (they aren't morning people and went to DTD for breakfast). My parents came in around 11:00. After that, we slowed down quite a bit since the crowds were growing and my dad had to negotiate them with his ECV. Around 5:00 p.m., we all left for the hotel since it was getting cold and we wanted our jackets. My parents decided they were done for the day so they stayed in their room. The rest of us stopped at IHOP for dinner, then went back to the park. We had collected FPs all day and had a pretty good stash to use in the evening. My sister bugged out around 9:00. I last until around 10:00, when I left the boys to their thrill rides and did some shopping on Main Street. I had a lovely time browsing the shops by myself (teenage boys can get impatient while mom pokes around shops, looking at "girly" stuff!). Walking back to the hotel was easy and I felt very safe. There are tons of people on Harbor at night, including families with kids, so it never feels the least bit scary. The boys stumbled in around 11:30 and crashed!
- Sunday - My husband's birthday - We went to DL around 8:00. This time, my sister was up early and came with us. My brother planned to come over later with my dad. My mom desparetly wanted to go to a service at the Crystal Cathedral at 9:30, so she went there by cab and met up with us later. She didn't want to miss my husband's birthday breakfast, but she decided that seeing the Crystal Cathedral was important to her.
We did some Fantasyland rides with my sister, then met up with my dad and brother in front of the Plaza Inn for Minnie's Character Breakfast. My husband was decked out in his birthday shirt, buttons and birthday mouse ears! Although a little pricey (over $200 for 7 of us), the food was good and the characters were awesome! We saw Minnie, Hook, Suzy, Fairy Godmother, Rafiki, Pooh, Tigger, Chip and Dale. Max and Eeyore were outside but didn't make it to our table before we left. We told Hook that our DS13 had played Peter Pan in a show and pushed Hook off the stage. Hook decided to take revenge by putting his Hook around his neck. It made for a great picture! Chip showed DS13 how to fold his arms and pose like a teenagers who's too cool for characters! My DH and I had fun with Tigger and Pooh. Minnie made the innocent mistake of touching our DS16 who has Asperger's and doesn't like characters. DS said, "Please don't touch me with your weird costume!" Minnie put herself in timeout by facing the wall behind the Christmas tree. It was funny! When we started singing Circle of Life, Rafiki stuck the pose of holding Baby Simba over his head. Every character was amazing. Toward the end, my husband got a little teary-eyed and thanked me for setting up the breakfast. That's exactly the response I was looking for - seeing him happy!
We hopped over to DCA after breakfast and my mom joined us there. It started pouring rain about mid-morning. We just put on our ponchos and kept going. It got a little tough for my dad in the ECV and he was tired so he bugged out around 3:00 p.m. He called later to let my son know that Tony Stewart had won the NASCAR championship. That made his day!
We hopped back over to Disneyland later, and the crowds had thinned considerably. We practically walked onto the subs, Autopia and Small World. We hardly needed Fastpasses for anything. While we were on Small World, my DH, brother and the boys went on the Matterhorn 4 times! My mom, sister and I left around 10:00, while the boys kept going. They got multiple rides on Space, Star Tours, Thunder, Splash and Indiana. They came in around 11:30 happy, tired and wet! The rain really chased a lot of people out. They also cancelled the evening parade, fireworks and Fantasmic. I couldn't believe how easy it was to walk around with no crowds waiting for F!
- On Monday morning, the rest of the family started their drive back to San Jose. We packed up the rental car and checked out. The desk clerk said we could leave it parked until 4:00 p.m. when we needed to leave. DL was ridiculously crowded on Monday. We got in around 8:30 a.m., rode Space, got Star Tours FPs and went across the park. Everything was packed. We got Thunder FPs, knowing it's disconnected from the FP system and we didn't have to wait 2 hours to get them. We wanted to get Indy FPs next, but it was down. Thunder went down for a while too, but came back up before we had to leave. When Indy did start up again, the FP return time was 3:30. We figured we could ride it then, and still be out by 4:00 as we had planned. We were also able to get Haunted Mansion FPs. The line was 60 minutes long, but like 5 minutes with our FPs! When we returned at 3:30 for Indy, the stand-by time was 120 minutes, and the single-rider line was posted at 60. The whole park was just insanely crowded, and we were actually kind of relieved to be leaving.
- We were able to pick up our car at the Ramada and make it to the aiport in plenty of time. We grabbed some food at McDonald's and Subway and off we flew to San Jose.
Our oldest boy goes to a private school and had to (under protest, of course) get up and go today. He already had an unexcused absence yesterday and didn't need another. My youngest and I were furloughed today. I work in our school district and we are furloughed today and tomorrow. No matter! I went back to bed after putting the oldest on his bus. I don't care that I'm not getting paid. DH went back to work this morning, too.
If you've made it this far, thanks for staying with me. I hope I've given you some tips or ideas for your next trip. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll help if I can. Happy Thanksgiving!
