June 11-13, 2005 Thank You Trip / Completed 8/19/05
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dsnytina · 07-15-2005, 02:49 PM

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 · 07-15-2005, 03:22 PM

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** · 07-15-2005, 10:54 PM

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

hktmom · 07-16-2005, 12:59 AM

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 · 07-16-2005, 06:54 PM

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 · 07-16-2005, 09:52 PM

Great report

Thanks
Kim

PrincessSharon · 07-17-2005, 07:08 AM

Great report! I can't wait to read more!

**DebiDebiDebi** · 07-17-2005, 11:29 AM

[ 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!

snoozy · 07-18-2005, 02:03 PM

Great report

It is getting me excited about my trip.

dsnytina · 07-20-2005, 12:25 PM

Here's a pic of one of our tickets - they were all ride posters:

Next up, we wandered around by the Grizzly River Rafting Company and saw this band of Miner 49'ers playing some wonderful foot-tappin', hand-clappin' tunes!

Max and I were excited to get Cami on California Screamin'. She was ready to go, but would Marlene get on? She said she'd try it!!!

Almost ready to board!

Phew, what a rush! That ride always hurts my ears - and Marlene said it hit her head too many times. She liked the ride, but didn't want to go again. Cami, however, LOVED the ride, and was ready to go right then! We got FastPasses for later, then headed over to 'a bug's land' to see Atta and Flik.

We watched It's a Bug's Life, which had FREAKED Cami out last time, but she laughed all the way through this time! It was Marlene who didn't like the surprises!

We walked through the Sunshine Plaza to get to the Aladdin show, but stopped to Hula and Limbo with the Wave Riders!

Cami Hula Hooping

Limbo with the Wave Riders!

We quickly walked to the Hyperion Theater to see "Aladdin". Well, silly us, we walked up right at the time the show was listed! Of course, the doors had closed, and we would have to see the next show!

We knew the hotel would have our room ready, so we decided to hoof it back to the Carousel Inn & Suites and rest for a few minutes.

On the way out, Max noticed that the Princesses were holding court in the Animation Building, so we walked in.

Belle & Snow White - waving good-bye???

As we're in line, Belle & Snow White have to take a break, but leave Jasmine to greet guests.

Jasmine greeting Cami...noticing that Cami has an Aladdin sticker - nice backdrop, huh?

Pretty princesses

I loved how she let Cami talk to her! They were chatting for a couple of minutes!

On the way out, there is a beautiful backdrop in the hall:

Our new desktop at home!!!

After that, we walked back, struggled with 11 pieces of luggage (people were staring at us, but we just got off a 7 day cruise!), and had a swim in the rooftop pool. We were getting hungry for dinner, and thought about eating at Mimi's or somewhere else outside the park, but decided we might as well spend some more money at Disney!

Up next, Will Marlene and Cami try Tower of Terror?

snoozy · 07-20-2005, 06:40 PM

Looks and sounds like a good time to me

dsnytina · 07-20-2005, 06:56 PM

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 · 07-20-2005, 09:26 PM

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 · 07-21-2005, 09:51 AM

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 · 07-21-2005, 11:47 AM

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!