Which way to Disneyland? TR (comparison update 7/26)

[dawnrose]

Beautiful photos! Your daughters do seem to get along well....at least it appears that way in the photos...lol. Looking forward to the Disney portion of the trip....We will be staying at Hojo for the first time in July, so I am very curious to hear about it. Thanx for the great report so far.

 

[kaoden39]

The beach pictures are so beautiful. I think it was a great idea to take the later train and enjoy your morning in Sn Diego, that is so much nicer than rushing. I am sure it made for a much more relaxed morning. $20 for a pb&j and a grilled cheese. Oh my.

 

[pmama]

The beach pictures are gorgeous but there is no way in Haiti I'd pay that much money for a grilled cheese and an PBJ. I would have gotten up and left. Do tell me the drink was included. Man. If things are that expensive in CA I wont be going anytime soon.

I like the beach pics because you can see the girls having fun....it shows and I don't even notice the stains.

I did want to get up and leave but Granita wouldn't let me. While the prices are a little higher in CA, the restaurant at Hotel Del Coronado was extreme. Probably because they can be since they are such a renowned hotel at a beautiful location. You'd think they'd take a little more pride in the quality of food they'd serve though.

Love the beach pics and the hotel is beautiful!! That stinks about the restaurant

Thanks a bunch.

$20 peanut butter and jelly sandwich Yikes! What a beautiful setting though. Glad you were able to relax and enjoy the next morning.

It was a beautiful setting.

Those pictures are fantastic! And again, I am wondering what kind of camera Granita had because the quality IS so excellent. Even if it is a point and shoot, it is better than many point and shoots. I wonder if it is a Sony or a Canon or Nikon, or some other type of camera.

Isn't it crazy how putting on any kind of all white outfit somehow seems to attract every different kind of red food item there is? That has happened to me in the past. The girls could have probably gone all day wearing dark colors and not spilled a single red item, but as soon as there is any white involved, all the colors start flying!

You are for sure right about kids and white outfits.

What a great update the pics are so cute. Your DD'S seem to get along very well. $20 for a kids meal thats just crazy.

We are lucky, the girls do love eachother (more often than not).

WOW!! What beautiful beach pictures!! I love them in their whites dresses--so classic!

Fun huh?

The girls dresses were so cute, no worries, didn't even notice any stains!! They were the cutest pics, are you thinking what I am, Christmas cards in the making?!! They are perfect, especially the one of them laying in the same, too precious!!!!

The hotel looks beautiful!!!!! Can't wait to hear more....and btw, $20 for a grilled cheese?!! And from the looks of it, Hope wasn't a big fan!

Ha, ha. You definitely do always have Christmas cards on the brain. Thanks though, I'll have to keep those pictures in mind.

How lucky you are the be the mother of two adorable princesses! Those beach pictures look like the pictures that are already in a picture frame when you buy it new!!

That first picture of your oldest daughter eating the sandwich cracked me up!! There appears to be a bottle in the foreground that looks like Heinz Malt Vinegar....and the face she is making looks like someone poured a little on the sandwich!!!

Great trip report! Hotel Del Coronado looks amazing.

Yep, DD8 is not shy about expressing her true feelings and food.

Beautiful photos! Your daughters do seem to get along well....at least it appears that way in the photos...lol. Looking forward to the Disney portion of the trip....We will be staying at Hojo for the first time in July, so I am very curious to hear about it. Thanx for the great report so far.

I'll be getting to the HoJo section soon. It wasn't a bad hotel. I did miss the Disney touch a little but the location was great.

The beach pictures are so beautiful. I think it was a great idea to take the later train and enjoy your morning in Sn Diego, that is so much nicer than rushing. I am sure it made for a much more relaxed morning. $20 for a pb&j and a grilled cheese. Oh my.

Yes, it was so worth changing the train booking. I did have to pay some late fees on the rental car but it was still worth it.

 

[Princess_K]

Beautiful photos!

 

[lmillercrew]

The beach pictures were so great!!!!
And, I have to tell you that I got a chuckle out of the picture with the gorilla's butt facing the window! Priceless!
So, you paid $20 for a grilled cheese?? You were right in saying that you paid for the scenery and not the food.

 

[MaryAz]

Yay another TR, I remember your "broken arm" from last year. I am from Southern Ca and have spent time at all the places in your report. Took my girls to Disneyland for the first time at 5mo and almost 3. Our first trip to WDW was this past May. Your pics are amazing and your girls and so cute. Can't wait to read the rest!!

 

[DisDancerina]

Haha, the twenty dollar thing sounds like my experience.
I got my parents to take me to Napa Rose. Being people who didn't know much about it, when they saw the prices they about passed out.
My mom got soup for $23 (Or somewhere around there) and my dad and I got steak (49 dollars a person). Let's just say they never trusted me with that again...
I said, "What? It's Disney, it's not like we spent $20 on a kid's meal!"
I remembered that and your experience made me laugh!!
At least the scenery and experience were nice, ditto with Napa.

 

[pmama]

Beautiful photos!

Thanks

The beach pictures were so great!!!!
And, I have to tell you that I got a chuckle out of the picture with the gorilla's butt facing the window! Priceless!
So, you paid $20 for a grilled cheese?? You were right in saying that you paid for the scenery and not the food.

Yep, scenery can be expensive to eat sometimes.

Yay another TR, I remember your "broken arm" from last year. I am from Southern Ca and have spent time at all the places in your report. Took my girls to Disneyland for the first time at 5mo and almost 3. Our first trip to WDW was this past May. Your pics are amazing and your girls and so cute. Can't wait to read the rest!!

You are so lucky to live in such a beautiful place so close to DLR and also visit WDW! I'll have to check out your TR.

Haha, the twenty dollar thing sounds like my experience.
I got my parents to take me to Napa Rose. Being people who didn't know much about it, when they saw the prices they about passed out.
My mom got soup for $23 (Or somewhere around there) and my dad and I got steak (49 dollars a person). Let's just say they never trusted me with that again...
I said, "What? It's Disney, it's not like we spent $20 on a kid's meal!"
I remembered that and your experience made me laugh!!
At least the scenery and experience were nice, ditto with Napa.

You are right. It's a little easier paying the $ if you're prepared.

 

[pmama]

We awoke to our last day in Coronado. I was excited to be going to Disney but also knew I would miss Coronado. We had a nice calm morning. We went to our great continental breakfast. I had to take some pictures of the architecture of the hotel. The main lobby and center of the hotel is a beautiful historic mansion.

The girls loved this piano. It was one that played on it's own.

We headed back to our room to pack the suitcases. I kid you not it took a full hard workin 2 hours. This was one of the MANY moments I really missed DH. It really made me realize what a help he is on vacation. I was SOO excited knowing that tomorrow night he would be flying in!!! And you have no idea how grateful I was we had changed our train booking. Finally we were all packed up and we headed out for a farewell to our new favorite beach.

It was kindof windy and not really hot this morning. Not "lay on the beach" weather. But as you can see this didn't stop the girls from stripping down to swimsuits and enjoying themselves.

This picture makes me laugh. DD5 took to making snow-angels, I mean sand-angels face first in the sand. She had sand in every crevice of her body. We were still picking sand out of her ears at Disneyland the next day.

I tried taking a picture of the water on the shore. It truly does look like shiny gold is washing up at your feet. Beautiful.

We went back to our hotel one last time to wash up quickly and headed out to return our rental car. We wanted to leave plenty of time because we did not have too good of an experience picking up our rental car. We had to wait forever for a shuttle from the airport, then forever in line. The staff was also not welcoming. However, I am happy to say our return went much smoother. We returned the car without issue and even got a private shuttle to the train station. It all went so smoothly we ended up at the train station an hour and a half early.

We were able to check in our luggage and walk across the street to a pizza joint. That was one positive as it was 1:30 and we'd not eaten lunch. The girls were facinated by the transit system. We're small town folk so it's easy for our children to be amazed. Granita and I shared a very good veggie pizza and the girls had cheese pizza.

Soon it was time board our train. This was the girls' first train ride and they were sooo excited. (That is if you don't count Disney's train.) I was excited for them. This train ride was slightly less than two hours which seemed like the perfect duration for children to ride a train. Not too long, not too short.

The girls sat on the bench while I waited in line.

They both enjoyed their ride, especially DD5 who liked to sit in her own seat behind us. There was more than enough room to spread out which was nice. We got a four seater w/ the seats facing eachother.

Most of the trip is along the coast. We loved watching the beaches and the surfers along the coast.

When we arrived at the train station in Anaheim there were a couple of stuffed Mickey's in the window. DD8 was starting to get suspicious but DD5 was still completely clueless. We took a taxi to the Howard Johnson for only $10. I had the camcorder out and ready. I thought the taxi ride would be their moment of realization. Even though our hotel is across the street from Disneyland our taxi driver came in the back way and the girls did not see the park. However, the street lights were lined with pictures of Disney characters. I decided to tell them before we went in the lobby of the hotel because I was sure the clerk would say something. (Which she didn't.) I asked the girls where they thought we were. DD8 was not positive but thought we were in Disneyland! Rather than being overjoyed they were more mystified which was just as fun.

Up next: Howard Johnson hotel and Rainforest Cafe Downtown Disney. We Are Finally Here!!!!!!

 

[princess&her4princes]

Awww, sand angels..too cute!!!! The train ride sounds sooo peaceful and nice an scenic!! Love the pic of DD looking out the window at the ocean....how beautiful!! Yay, you're there!! The beginning of lots of surprises, fun!!!!

 

[cdotla]

Yay! Can't wait to read all about your DL adventures!

That train ride up the coast looks beautiful!

 

[MaryAz]

Good bye beach, hello Disney! Great pics. Ah, how I wish we lived back in Ca and not in this desert....

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

The train view looks fantastic! Sidney is wanting to take the Amtrak all the way to DL from here! He actually priced it last week. It took us up to NYC then over to Chicago and out to CA. This was a really long train ride though. Days of traveling. Our family would love it though.

That's so funny that she made sand angels. You guys need to move somewhere close to a beach as much as these kids like it. Can't wait for the next update!

 

[dawnrose]

The train ride looks great...making me wonder how much it would be for us to take the train from No CA...hmmm...I'll have to look into that.

 

[DisDancerina]

That train gives me bad memories...
After living in Cali for a while, we moved to AZ, then took a trip back to California. We went on the AmTrack and I REALLY had to pee, so I went into the train's bathroom. I went to open the door and it would NOT open! I started pounding on it when I heard what I thought was our stop and started freaking out.
It had been 10 minutes and I heard my mom called my name. She finally got the door open and I was SO relieved!

Good bye beach, hello Disney! Great pics. Ah, how I wish we lived back in Ca and not in this desert....

Ugh. Ditto. I hate AZ.

 

[ladybugmom]

Oh wow!! What beautiful scenery you got to see on the train! Can't wait to hear all about your time at DL!!!

 

[Sarah84]

Great update.
I'll be taking the train from San Diego upto LA in september and those pics have me excited. the journey looks a really pretty one and the trains look much bigger than we have in the UK

 

[Princess_K]

What a beautiful ride! I'm sure the girls loved being on the train. I just went on my first train ride to Chicago a couple months ago, and I'm 22

I'm excited to hear about Disneyland!

 

[Me&3]

The train sounds looks and sounds fun. Can't wait to see and hear more

 

[pmama]

Awww, sand angels..too cute!!!! The train ride sounds sooo peaceful and nice an scenic!! Love the pic of DD looking out the window at the ocean....how beautiful!! Yay, you're there!! The beginning of lots of surprises, fun!!!!

Yep, we're finally to Disney!

Yay! Can't wait to read all about your DL adventures!

That train ride up the coast looks beautiful!

It was beautiful and so nice to enjoy the view rather than drive.

Good bye beach, hello Disney! Great pics. Ah, how I wish we lived back in Ca and not in this desert....

Oh bummer, you left paradise huh?

The train view looks fantastic! Sidney is wanting to take the Amtrak all the way to DL from here! He actually priced it last week. It took us up to NYC then over to Chicago and out to CA. This was a really long train ride though. Days of traveling. Our family would love it though.

That's so funny that she made sand angels. You guys need to move somewhere close to a beach as much as these kids like it. Can't wait for the next update!

That would be a LONG train ride. I actually took a train ride from Colorado to Disneyland when I was 10 years old. I have fun memories but it felt like forever just from Colorado.

The train ride looks great...making me wonder how much it would be for us to take the train from No CA...hmmm...I'll have to look into that.

We found the price to travel from SD to Anaheim to be a bargain!

That train gives me bad memories...
After living in Cali for a while, we moved to AZ, then took a trip back to California. We went on the AmTrack and I REALLY had to pee, so I went into the train's bathroom. I went to open the door and it would NOT open! I started pounding on it when I heard what I thought was our stop and started freaking out.
It had been 10 minutes and I heard my mom called my name. She finally got the door open and I was SO relieved!



Ugh. Ditto. I hate AZ.

Oh, that does sound like an awful memory. How traumatizing. Well actually when I was a child on Amtrak the engine caught fire in the middle of the night and we all had to load off with all our luggage and take charter buses the rest of the way. That was pretty miserable too.