June 11-13, 2005 Thank You Trip / Completed 8/19/05 About This Page:

[dsnytina]

Thank You Trip
June 4-11, 2005
West Coast Cruise DCL Magic
June 11-13, 2005
Disneyland/DCA

Pre-trip Summary

Hi, there! Let me introduce my family:
Max – 30’s, husband of Tina, Dad to Cami and son of Marlene
Me, Tina – 30’s, wife of Max, Mom to Cami, and daughter of Roger and Linda,
Cami – 6, daughter of Max & Tina, grandchild of Marlene, Roger and Linda
Marlene – 60’s, Max’s Mom and Cami’s Grandma
Roger – 50’s, husband of Linda, Tina’s Dad, and Cami’s Papa
Linda – 50’s, wife of Roger, Tina’s Mom, and Cami’s Nana

Previously, we had done a trip amazingly similar to this one: in 2000, we did a WDW/DCL Land/Sea Vacation. We stayed at CBR for 3 nights, and were on the Wonder for 4 nights. We all agreed that we wished we could have spent longer on the ship! All six of us were ready to cruise again. That’s right, all of those in-laws and out-laws together again!

Opportunity presented itself with Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary!

We live on the West Coast in Seattle, Washington (except Marlene, who lives in Minnesota), so when the news broke that DCL would be sailing from LA in the summer of 2005, I jumped on the phone and reserved a cabin over a year in advance! Well, my Dad was looking for a job at the time, and they couldn’t afford to go. A suggestion by moi that we could pay for my parents was greeted with the permission to go ahead if Max’s Mom could come, too! So, as a big thank you for all they have done for us over the years, we invited my Mom and Dad and Max’s Mom to come on the cruise with us!

I originally reserved the inaugural cruise: May 28th, then changed to June 4th due to my job. (I need to be there to do payroll – people don’t like to wait until after my vacation to get their checks!)

We were all set with Category 9 adjoining cabins on Deck 2.

Wait – Deck 2…doesn’t that get noisy?

I double check some websites, and while they didn’t mention our specific cabin numbers, I didn’t want to take the chance and secretly upgraded us to Category 8 adjoining cabins on Deck 6. It was approximately $1,000 extra, but my sleep is important to me…more on that later!

Disneyland only turns 50 once, right? So we have to go to DL and DCA since we’ll be so close! Okay, we didn’t have to, we WANTED to!!!

We made plans to go to DL Saturday and Sunday and fly back on Monday, June 13th.

I booked transportation with Disney, until they told me they couldn’t transport us from the port to a non-Disney hotel! Oh, well, it was actually a little cheaper to get a limo for 6 people. We went with JoJo’s Limos.

Our flights from Seattle to LAX were reasonable at $200 a piece on Alaska Airlines, and Marlene’s was slightly higher at $300 from Minneapolis on Northwest.

Now, to wait 380 days!

(To read about the cruise portion - head over to the cruise boards - I'm on Day 3 right now.)

[dsnytina]

June 11, 2005
Saturday

Disneyland, here we come!

Having just left my parents at the San Pedro Terminal, and climbing into the limo that JoJo's Limos had sent to pick us up, we gladly put our feet up and had a cold drink. They had fruit juice, colas and bottled waters. Plus, the limo had AC, of course.

The driver headed out into the crazy LA traffic headed toward Disneyland, and wouldn't you know it, there was a traffic jam on a Saturday.

I was so elated to be headed to DL, I hardly cared about the traffic, and soon we pulled into the Carousel Inn & Suites, right across the street from DL!!!

This was the best hotel ever! Well, after sharing a cabin with DH's Mom for the past week, it was for us! We had a 2 bedroom suite, with 2 baths. "Heaven, I'm in heaven." Cami and Marlene each had a full size bed in the front room, but in the back, with a DOOR, was a bed and bath just for Max and I.

Hallelujah! Of course, our room wasn't actually ready when we arrived at 11am!

What else could we do but go to DCA?




Max, Tina & Cami Max and his Mom, Marlene

We were actually here!

First things first - we needed lunch! We headed over to the Taste Pilot's Grill and had wonderful burgers with a great fixin's bar!

Then off to fly on Soarin'. Marlene liked this every bit as much as I hoped she would!


Cami with Minnie's plane

Minnie used to do the cutest show right by this plane...apparently, they quit doing it, but when we came in 2002, Cami was in the show, so we had to get a pic here again! "I say Minnie, you say Mouse!"

Coming up, the rest of DCA/crowds at DL!

[DebiDebiDebi]

Hey there fellow Washingtonian! Lovin' this report!!!!!

[hktmom]

MOUSE! Sorry had to respond to the Minnie song. So cute!

Don't you wish you were still there? I wish you were still there. That way you could just keep on writing and writing and writing a TR!!

Heather

[dsnytina]

Thanks, Debi! Washington has been my home since I was born - are you a native, too? Don't worry if you're not, I dragged my husband here from Minnesota!

Hey, Heather! You are too sweet! I started this DL report while I'm still writing my cruise report because I couldn't wait!!!

Hopefully, I'll post more soon!

Tina

[kimdisneynut]

Great report

Thanks
Kim

[DebiDebiDebi]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks, Debi! Washington has been my home since I was born - are you a native, too? Don't worry if you're not, I dragged my husband here from Minnesota!



[/ QUOTE ]

Born in Ellensburg, currently living in Yakima! Go Mariner's!

[dsnytina]

Back in the park, we headed over to the Muppetvision 3-D area, and decided now would be a good time to see it.

We went inside while Max got FastPasses for Tower of Terror!


Waiting for Muppets to start

Along the way, we found these wonderful doors to pose by. Doesn't it look like Cami is in the room with Sully, Mike and Boo?



Now was the moment Max and I had been waiting for...we hadn't been on Tower of Terror since WDW in 2000! Would the DCA version be as good? Would Cami and Marlene survive?
There was only one way we could find out! We headed in, and all was well, the bellhop was especially "dead"pan if you catch my drift.

We fell, came back up, fell again so many times that we couldn't tell if we were going up or down! Cami was fine the first drop, but the rest of the time, she was buried against my shoulder.



I know those aren't the best quality, they're pictures of the screens where you can preview whether you want to buy them or not.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my digital camera???

Okay, I do!

We survived Tower of Terror!!!



Off to see Aladdin's Musical Spectacular at the Hyperion!


In the theatre, we were able to ask if we could sit in the Handicapped Section, since Marlene's leg is really swollen, and she has limited mobility. No way could she climb up and down those stairs! As it turned out, the balcony seats would have been great to see the Flying Carpet scene!


Loving Grandma

We went back to use the FastPasses for California Screamin' that we had gotten before, but the ride was closed down!

Instead, we rode King Triton's Carousel.



ELP coming up next!

[PrincessSharon]

Great updates and I love the pictures. It really does look like your DD is in the room with Mike, Sully & Boo. Cami is one brave girl! Glad everyone is having a good time. Hurry back with more, please.

[DawnDenise]

What a great update!!! Loving all the pictures. Makes me look forward even more to my first trip to DL in February!! More please!!

[dsnytina]

After the carousel ride, we shopped for souveneirs and gifts to take home. I found the cutest graduation antenna toppers for our 3 graduates at home! In the store, we asked where some good seats for the ELP would be. A very nice young man said that across the way under a lamppost would be the best spot. While Marlene and Cami went on the Sun (Ferris) Wheel, Max went across to see if there were any spots open. We had walkie talkies with us, but did we grab them when we went to the hotel? No!

Well, of course it was too late for any good spots to be open, so Max hoofed it back to me and said to stay where I was, to wait for Marlene and Cami, then come and find him. He took the flashing ring I had purchased at home, and walked into the crowd. Not long after, Cami and Marlene came off and let me know that Cami and another little girl screamed every time the car tipped! So, Marlene and the little girl's father didn't have a very relaxing ride!

We went in search of Max, and kept walking and walking...wait, there, I see a flash! Max had scored a piece of pavement and saved it with our repeat cruiser's gift from the cruise - a beach blanket, also known as a parade seat saver!







Beautiful as always, even though the track is a little, shall we say, repetitive? We followed this cutie all the way to the front of the park, and high-tailed it over to DL to watch the fireworks show!

[PrincessSharon]

Glad you were able to grab a good spot for the ELP. You got some great pictures! Hurry back with more, please!

[kimdisneynut]

Great update. More please


Kim

[Colexis Mom]

Just catching up Tina What a great report

Love all your pictures More please

[dsnytina]

After the parade, we headed across to Disneyland!
Not many people were making the trek with us, so we paused to take a picture:


Outside DL at night

Sorry so blurry! I must have been shaking with excitement to get into DL - or was it exhaustion from this huge day that started on a cruise ship?

We headed in to Main Street, and couldn't believe the crowds! This was before we understood the fireworks glory that we were about to behold!

We stood on the left side of Main Street, and if I had any advice to offer, it would be to go to the right side. We could only go a few feet up Main Street, where it was wall to wall people! We could hear everything, but trees blocked most of the fireworks above the castle. Not to worry - the narration, music and fireworks all around us were incredible! The castle was changing colors and Tink flew!

I'm so happy we were able to witness it!

Now comes the bad part - this mass of humanity turned toward us to leave! It was like my worst nightmare come true - I hate crowds! We started walking down the middle of the street, but heard some CMs instructing people walking into the park to head for the right sidewalk. After that, it was painfully slow, but at least we weren't salmon going upstream (remember, I'm from Seattle). We wanted to head into Fantasyland, since we were sure all the little munchkins would be fast asleep by now, right? Wrong! It was wall to wall strollers - mayhem! Saturday night in June in DL...oh, well. Max and Cami jumped in line at the Alice in Wonderland Tea Cups, while I found Marlene somewhere to sit and looked for something to drink. We were hot and thirsty after fighting our way into Fantasyland! And I looked, and I looked. Meanwhile, Max and Cami were having a spin.


Pure joy!

I was still walking around looking for something to drink - why would they take all the carts away, and close the restaurants with everyone still in the park?

Finally, I found a churro cart that sold drinks! Hallelujah!

We sat down by Dumbo and tried to decide whether it was worth waiting for another ride with everything so crowded. We knew we would be back early the next morning, so why not just go back to the hotel and sleep? Well, Cami really wanted to go on one more ride, so I pulled out a memory from long ago, and suggested IASW. The HIGH capacity ride, with the most annoying theme song! We wandered that way, and saw the wait was only about 10 minutes!


Had enough, Cami?


Happiest Cruise? Naw, that was the Magic sailing out of LA on 6/4/05!

By this time, I'm sleepwalking, but we make it back to the hotel and snuggle into bed, knowing that tomorrow will see us at Disneyland bright and early!

Goodnight! Sleep tight!