Our whirlwind first trip to DL!!! June 5-7 Updated 6/26 About This Page:

[CJDrew's Mom]

Our trip June 5-7
Our party: me (35, never been to DL, but a bona fide Disney fanatic and obsessive-compulsive vacation planner
DH (36 – unaware of above-referenced obsessive-compulsive tendencies until after the wedding but is so laid back that he just goes with the flow)
Drew (6 – thrill-seeker)
CJ (4 – definitely not a thrill-seeker but loves the princesses, especially Sleeping Beauty)

Our Journey flying to LAX from Ohio via Detroit
Lodging: Fairfield Inn Anaheim


Pre-trip report:

I had been surfing the boards religiously in fevered anticipation of our Easter 2006 trip to WDW. Yes, I am one of those types who compulsively plans vacations. When I am looking for some real fun, I check out a bunch of travel books from the library and plan future vacations. I think I have ours roughly planned out for the next 4 years. In my defense, I have to say that although I am obsessive pre-trip, I let it all go once we get there and I think being really familiar with wherever we’re going ahead of time makes it easier to do whatever works once we’re there.

I should also mention that I am technologically-impaired and it will be a minor miracle if I can figure out how to post pictures in this report. I managed to get them from the camera to the iphoto on my Mac, but it remains to be seen if I can get them posted in here.

DH came home about a month ago and said that he was asked to speak at a conference at the convention center in Anaheim, which he heard was very close to DL. The dates just happened to coincide with the end of school for us, and we had been planning a trip to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. It seemed like we were supposed to go. This was all happening the week of May 5th when there was stuff about Disneyland everywhere because of the 50th. In addition, there were several other Disneyland related things that happened right around that time. For example, I bought a Sleeping Beauty costume on ebay about a week before and the seller happened to send me several really nice maps of DL and some times guides, even though I had never even thought of going there before. Also, our tv came on suddenly while I was sitting reading a book and it was a commercial for “The happiest celebration on Earth” Ok, so my cat walked on the remote, but I choose to believe it was a sign.

I’ve been to WDW 6 times (although only once with the kids) but have never been to Southern California or Disneyland (irrational fear of both flying and earthquakes). The thought of going when DH’s plane ticket and the hotel would be reimbursed was too good to resist, so I started cramming information about DL, which I had never even looked into before. It would have to be a short trip because of other family obligations here, just 3 days. Over the weekend, I got more and more excited and by Monday, we were onboard and I was at the AAA looking into packages. Flights were even cheaper than flying to Orlando, which is much closer and we had some frequent flyer miles to cover 2 of us! It was looking good! We decided to go with the 2 night stay at the Fairfield Inn with a 3 day park hopper. I booked the package through AAA and used my Disney Visa so I could get all of the extra perks.

Two days after we booked, DHs employer decided that they wanted him to speak at a conference in Texas in July instead. ? Well, by this point I was in full Disney mode, and there was no way we were backing out. Doing come calculating, I realized it was not that much more expensive to go to DL than Cedar Point. I had a ton of Disney Rewards dollars that would cover our expenses in the park. So after much whining and begging, I had DH convinced. Then I pulled some extra weekend shifts to help cover the cost. The rest will just have to sit on our credit cards for awhile (thank goodness for the 6 months grace period for putting a Disney trip on your Disney visa!)

We got our vouchers and everything from AAA about a week later. It had our parkhoppers, a voucher for the hotel, a voucher for a free tote bag, 4 vouchers for AAA lanyards and pins, preferred seating for either ELP or the DL parade, preferred seating for Snow White at DL, entry to Mickey’s Toontown Madness, and preferred seating at DCA for Aladdin, It’s tough to be a bug and the Muppets. There was also a coupon book and a $10 game card for ESPN.

NEXT UP: We spill the beans to the kids and are on our way!

CJDrew's Mom

[loobyoxlip]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, our tv came on suddenly while I was sitting reading a book and it was a commercial for “The happiest celebration on Earth” Ok, so my cat walked on the remote, but I choose to believe it was a sign.



[/ QUOTE ]

I love your way of thinking

Great beginning.

[lauren-roxy]

Great start!!! Can't wait to read more!!!!

[PrincessSharon]

Great start! I believe the TV coming on with the Happiest Celebration on Earth commercial was definitely a sign! Can't wait for more!

[DawnDenise]

It was sign no matter if the cat stepped on the remote!!! Can't beat that way of thinking. Great start and looking forward to more.

[CJDrew's Mom]

We decided to make this a surprise for the kids, so we didn’t say anything until the Friday before we left. We went out to eat to celebrate the end of kindergarten for Drew. I drove separately and came back a little early to set things up. When DH and the kids got here, there was a sign on the front door alerting them to a treasure hunt and after each line of a little poem, there was a hint directing them to where they could find their next clue. I had a little toy plane, a map of the US, sunscreen, an orange, and their suitcases set out at each spot with the written clue attached. Then, at the final clue, I had a Mickey and Minnie beanie wearing the kids’ lanyards with some trading pins I got a great deal on on ebay. This is the entire poem I wrote:

It’s time for a family treasure hunt
Your school year now is at an end
You’ve learned so much and made new friends.
Now that your hard work is done
It’s time to have some family fun
A surprise your mom and dad have planned
We leave Sunday morning for DISNEYLAND!

Drew was screaming and running around he was so excited. CJ was overwhelmed and I’m not sure she completely got it (until I found her the next morning packing up her little tea set in case she ran into Alice or Sleeping Beauty or Wendy – her favorites). Then the 4 of us watched a special from the travel channel on DL and DCA.

On Sunday, we got the kids up at 4:30 top get to the airport. The flight to Detroit was uneventful. We had a layover of a little over 2 hours, so we ate breakfast and rode the airport monorail. On the trip to LA, both kids slept at least 2 hours. Yes!!! Some hope of them making it until the ELP that night! The geography was really interesting on the flight. Being from Ohio, I am not used to the mountains and especially the desert area with canyons and mesas. I wish we had more info about exactly what we were flying over. I think we flew over Las Vegas, but I couldn’t tell since it was daytime.

We landed, got our bags at around 11:45 and headed right for Supershuttle. I had heard some negative things about them driving around residential areas and other hotels. Since we had such a limited time, I wanted to get right to our hotel, so we booked an exclusive van. It took about 15 minutes for it to arrive once the woman at the stand called it in. They separate the shuttles according to where you’re going. There were 3 people waiting when we got there. One got in a shuttle for Beverly Hills area about 10 minutes after we arrived. I don’t remember where the other couple were going. A couple came up going to the Disneyland area about 5 minutes before ours got there, so I was questioning whether we made the right decision in booking exclusively, but the woman said where they were going was actually residential Anaheim and we would have ended up on the same shuttle but going out of our way, so we made the right decision!

We got to the Fairfield Inn at about 12:45. I had decided on that hotel, because we have the Marriott Rewards card and usually stay in a Fairfield when we travel and because I was told that it was within easy walking distance to the parks. It seems like it’s a much bigger deal to stay onsite at WDW than DL. Since everything is so compact, it didn’t seem any different to stay offsite and was much cheaper. We wouldn\’t be there long enough to enjoy the pools at the Disney hotels anyway.

I was pleasantly surprised that our room was ready and by the plentiful Disney theming of the hotel. There was a statue of Mickey in the lobby and the elevators and room had Disney posters on the walls. They gave us a voucher for the restaurant in the parking lot (Millies) so that the kids could eat for 99 cents for the duration of our trip. Very nice! We changed into shorts and headed for the park. It was 1 block down and across the street to get there – about a 5 minute walk!

NEXT UP: DCA here we come!! Will the kids make it to ELP???

CJDrew's Mom