I think I have.
Updated itinerary:
Saturday Dec 6: leave SLC, drive through to So Cal, pass Go (Vegas), save $200 (think along the lines of Monopoly). Check into Waterfront Beach Hilton in Huntington Beach.
http://www.waterfrontresort.com/ Check it out. It's pretty nifty.
Sunday Dec 7: beach
Dining is still up in the air. Ideas posted further down. Bonfire at night.
Monday Dec 8: beach
Tuesday Dec 9: check into the GCV.
Disneyland!
Park hours: Disneyland 9a-9p with EMH/MM 8a-9a and DCA 9a-8p
Wednesday Dec 10: DCA!
Park hours: Disneyland 9a-9p and DCA 9a-8p with EMH/MM 8a-9a
Thursday Dec 11: Disneyland! This is the day we're spending with Alison.
Park hours: Disneyland 9a-9p with EMH/MM 8a-9a and DCA 9a-8p
Friday Dec 12: break* or DCA
Park hours: Disneyland 9a-midnight and DCA 9a-10p with EMH/MM 8a-9a
Saturday Dec 13: break* or DCA, depends on what we did the day before.
Park hours: Disneyland 8a-midnight with EMH/MM 7a-8a and DCA 8a-11p
Sunday Dec 14: Disneyland!
Park hours: Disneyland 8a-midnight and DCA 8a-11p. No EMH/MM.
Monday Dec 15: drive home, straight through, Utah bound.
It looks as though, from last year's calendar, the parade, fireworks, and WoC are shown once nightly Tues, Wed, and Th of our trip. The parade, WoC, and Fantasmic! are shown twice nightly on Fri, Sat, and Sun. The fireworks are still shown once a night.
The story on dining. Our family has a few So Cal musts. This time Michael has chimed in so I'm excited about that. Our collective choices include:
Super Mex
http://www.supermex.com/index.php/page/menu/44/271
Taco Surf no website. So weird.
Mrs. Knott's fried chicken with my dad
https://www.knotts.com/california-marketplace/mrs-knott-s-chicken-dinner-restaurant
Dwight's, lifeguard tower 3 in HB
http://www.dwightsbeachconcession.com/Menu.html
S'mores via beach bonfire
Those are our absolute must-eats during the beach portion of the trip. Because we may be in a hotel and won't have access to a full kitchen, it looks like easy will be theme for breakfast on our beach days. We'll have our cooler from the drive so I'll have cereal, milk, yogurt, and fruit for those two breakfasts. We can prep proper breakfast if we want in the villa. One day I'm sure we'll have Dwight's for lunch. Their cheese strips are that good. The other day we'll venture up to Main St. There is a ton to choose from. Huntington Beach Brewery is a favorite.
http://www.hbbeerco.com/PDFs/Menu.pdf There is also a BJ's Pizzaria and we don't have those here.
http://www.bjsrestaurants.com/menu Jan's Health Bar is also a favorite from my late teen years.
http://www.janshealthbar.com/menu.php Here is link for most Huntington Beach restaurants but we'll stick to the ones on Main St so we don't have to drive.
http://www.surfcityusa.com/restaurants/
*Break day includes seeing my dad and bringing him Mrs Knott's fried chicken meal with all the fixings plus boysenberry pie. We'll decide on the break day by the weather. Rain and it'll be the parks, warm and it'll be the beach and seeing my dad. Ideally I'd like the break to be Friday. The thought of having only one park day after the break sort of make me feel panicky inside.
Park hoppers are still up in the air. Totally undecided. It's. nice little savings if we skip the hoppers but with 5 days its a nice option. I found that with only 2 days our desire to hop greatly diminished.
Groceries: not staying at my friends definitely throws a wrench in this as the hotel doesn't have more than what I am thinking is commensurate to the ice box on the Wonder.
My options are to either get up and shop before we check in however that would require getting up very very early. The other option would be to shop once the villa is ready let the kids have a break. The girls like their midday breaks and all. I'm leaning towards that idea and perhaps making the EMH/MM that morning. My crew doesn't do so well with rope drop anymore but knowing we'll spend a good two hours midday unpacking and shopping makes me really want to make that extra magical hour. We usually come from my friends which is about 10-15 minutes away. I'll have to plan on a solid 30 minute drive from the beach.
That's all for now. Thoughts, comment, concerns.....
Yes, they're all missing school. For Gabby it's a non issue. She's graduating after winter break anyway. We had to change Chloe's drivers Ed driving days to this term so she wouldn't miss. If you miss driving at all, you don't pass. She's got her final next Tuesday. 
Im emailing teachers next week. Joshua will be fine too. He's a great student. With advance notice, they should all have time to make it up. I know I said they'd never miss again but it's just impossible to get the GCV at 7 months during break. I also would rather not deal with the actual Christmas Day crowds and the week following if we don't have to. It was go when we have planned or stay somewhere else, off property and you know nobody voted for that. 
He doesn't think I'm so funny. 
And I really do want to do some of the things we tend to skip over, I'll wear my fitbit for Tarzan's Treehouse.
Twas not in the budget. 
Plus there's a good chance I'd squat and never leave. 
And if all else fails, it'll be Joshua in need and he'd be more than happy with a sleeping bag and egg crate. 
