The Honeymoon/1st Anniversary Jubilee 10.07.11 – 10.09.11 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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The Honeymoon/1st Anniversary Jubilee 10.07.11 – 10.09.11
The Honeymoon/1st Anniversary Jubilee
Universal & Disneyland
10.07.11 – 10.09.11
Starring:
Kelley (32), second trip to California
Shad, DH, (39), first trip to California
With appearances by:
Megan, 8; Natalie, 6; and Ava, 5
So, how did this trip come to be? Well, DH and I were married last year, on 10.10.10. Due to work schedules and kid schedules, we never got to take a honeymoon. I never really saw it as a huge deal, but kept it tucked away in my mind that I’d like to take a first anniversary trip somewhere if we could swing it.
Fast forward to August of this year. We were tossing around different ideas on where we could go. We both liked the idea of a cruise, but neither of us have passports. My top choices were NYC, Washington DC, and Williamsburg, VA. They were all places that were (reasonably) close, but would require other transportation to get to. For me, that’s a big thing. I love flying (I was actually a flight attendant before 9/11), and I would be thrilled to fly somewhere, anywhere!
I know what you’re thinking. How does California even get in the mix? Well, funny thing about that. After all my choices got vetoed (grumble, grumble), I threw WDW in the mix. Sure, it would have to be a whirlwind tour, but those can be fun too with a lot of planning. Prices weren’t that bad (though we’d have to stay off-site GASP!), and suddenly Florida looked like the front runner.
For laughs, I decided to check out flying across the country instead. I had only been there once before with my step-dad and brothers, and we’d only done a half-day at Disneyland. Okay, we did some other stuff too (San Diego Zoo, driving across the Mexican border to say we’d done it, etc.), but I’m talking about the most important place! Anyhoo, the prices were actually pretty comparable with those to Orlando. Sure, we’d have to fly into the craziness of LAX, but to go to a place where both of us had never (almost) been before? Sold!
The first thing we booked was the hotel. We toyed with the idea (for about 5 minutes) with staying on property, but wow, they are expensive! I priced some more options, and decided to go with Hotwire. I chose a 3.5 star hotel for $66 per night. I held my breath, and clicked purchase. What did we end up with? The Hotel Menage, which looks lovely, and is within walking distance of the parks. And I’ll totally admit to having my mind in the gutter, as every time I see the name of the hotel, I giggle a little.
The next question was, how are we going to get there? As I said before, LAX was going to be our destination airport. We had some choice on this side, Boston, Providence, or Hartford. Not surprisingly, Boston was the cheapest, and we scored great flights for about $310 apiece on Virgin America. What surprised me was that a lot of airlines don’t do non-stops from Boston to LAX anymore. But, then again, when to the airlines make a lot of sense?
So, we had or hotel and flights taken care of. I booked us a rental car through Thrifty, using the Wild Car option. I like a touch of the unexpected (not too much, mind you), so this seems like a good option for me! I originally booked it at around $150 total for three days, but through price watching, I have it down to $72. Not too shabby!
There were a couple of minor kinks that needed to be worked out. First of all, I work 11-7 at a hotel here on Cape Cod, as a night auditor. There is only one other person in the position (I work 4 nights, Sun. – Wed., and he takes the other 3), and he also works the days here that I work nights. Thankfully though, he was willing to switch days with me, and I took an extra day off his hands from the goodness of my heart. Goodness of my heart, desperation to get the time off, po-tay-to, po-tah-to.
The other small wrinkle was the kids. And, while we may joke with them about leaving them alone for three days with the cats, we know it would never happen. I sent out emails to all my family members, and NO one replied! Huh, this could get interesting! Oh, and by the way, my kids are not monsters, I swear! Everyone did eventually get back to me, but no one could do it for some reason or another. I even tried everyone to do one night apiece, but that didn’t pan out either. Thankfully, DHs mom and step-dad stepped up to the challenge, and we were all a go!
Here are our plans for the most part. They are subject to change, but most likely won’t very much, as there’s lots to do, and only a little time!
Thursday, October 6th
• Pick up the girls from school instead of having them take the bus home. This will give us about an hour head start!
• Head two hours west to just outside of Worcester, MA. This is where Shad’s mom and step-dad live, and since our flight leaves at the butt crack of dawn, we figured it would be easier to situate the girls the night before.
• My plan is to go to bed early, and stare at the ceiling for a few hours, because, let’s face it, if I have to get up at 4am, and I’m used to staying up all night, what’s the point?
Friday, October 7th
• Leave for the airport at 4:30am, getting there around 5:30ish. Our flight leaves at 7am.
• After arriving (estimated time is 10:15am), pick up our rental car, and drive straight to Universal Studios.
• We’ve already bought front of the line passes, so we can get as much done as possible. Call it a whirl-wind tour, if you will.
• At 5pm (or before if we’re done), drive south to Anaheim, check in to our hotel.
• We have 7pm dinner reservations at Steakhouse 55 at the Disneyland Hotel for our anniversary dinner.
• Swim, hot tub, pass out in utter and complete exhaustion!
Saturday, October 8th
• Depending on the state of our tiredness, we’ll either be hitting Disneyland at 8am for opening and heading to California Adventure from there, or just heading over at 10am when it opens.
• No real plans, just hit the highlights of the park.
• This is the only night we’ll have in the parks, so we’ll probably be jumping from one to the other. I really want to see the fireworks at DL, but also World of Color at DCA. They’re both do-able, but if we cut one, it will probably be WoC.
Sunday, October 9th
• We WILL make it to opening at 8am today! The plan is to tour, tour, tour, for the majority of the day.
• Leave DL and head for the airport around 6:30pm.
• Our flight home leaves at 9:30pm and arrives the next morning at 5:45am.
Monday, October 10th
• Happy Official Anniversary to Us!
• No real plans today, just get the girls, and go home. I hope to get some sleep, as I have to work Monday night.
So that’s our trip in a nutshell. Not for the faint of heart! I’m mostly packed; I do have to remember to pack Shad’s gifts and card. Sticking with 1st anniversary gifts I got him an engraved pocked watch (clocks), and I made a wedding album on Shutterfly (paper).
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You may want to look into making your dinner plans on Friday, a little bit later as traffic on friday night at 5:00 from Universal to Anaheim can be pretty rough. Wouldn't want you to be stressed before your dinner.
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