Disneyland by Surprise TR -- February 10-12, 2012 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I hadn't exactly planned on doing a TR for this very short weekend trip. But as the weekend progressed, I decided to give it a go.
So, let's start with the cast and the plot!
Cast:
Shayne (39) -- that's me! The family's official Disney vacation planner.
David (40) -- my wonderful DH. We spent his 40th birthday at DLR and he loves Disney just as much as I do!
Here's a photo of us celebrating David's 40th at Steakhouse 55:
Peter (10) -- my 4th grader. He is bright and funny and kind of quirky. Peter moved from public school to a small, private school at the beginning of this school year.
Jacob (8) -- my 2nd grader. He is quiet and uber-competitive. He still attends the public elementary school in our neighborhood.
Here's a photo of the boys with Chip at Goofy's Kitchen in 2010:
The Plot:
First, let me give you some brief background. We are WDW fanatics. We honeymooned there in 1999 and have tried to get back as often as possible since then. I have been to WDW 11 times and David has been 10 times. Our kids have been 3 times.
In 2009, we took the DVC plunge and bought points at BCV. David has run the marathon/Goofy Challenge several times and in 2010 decided to go for the Coast to Coast medal by running a RunDisney race on both coasts in the same year. So, after he ran the Goofy Challenge at WDW in January 2010, the whole family headed to DLR for the first time so David could run the half-marathon on Labor Day weekend. Well, we fell in love with Walt's original park!
For David's 40th birthday, we spent 5 luxurious days at DLR without our kids (who went to Camp Grandma in Wyoming!). During that trip, we went to ElecTRONica and loved it. Moreover, we knew our boys -- who loved Tron: Legacy -- would also love it. We promised ourselves we'd try to get them back to DLR before ElecTRONica ended.
In September of last year, I got a notion in my head to try to surprise the whole family with a trip. We did enough Disney travel last year that David and I bought Premier Passports (premium APs valid at both parks). We call them our "golden tickets," and they expire on February 13, 2012. I looked at Peter's school calendar and noticed that Friday, February 10th was a school holiday for parent-teacher conferences. Hmmmm, a plan is born!
I called DVC member services to see if any villas were available at the Grand Californian for the weekend of February 10. Usually, we stay in a 1BR and the kids sleep on the sofa bed. But the only availability was for a 2BR. We had enough points, so I bit the bullet and made the reservation!
After a couple of months, it became clear that I would/should not keep the secret from David. He was really eager to take the kids to see ElecTRONica and get one last use out of the golden tickets. I was worried he would haul off and reserve a trip without telling me! So, I let him in on my devious plan. He was thrilled! And we decided to keep it a secret from the boys.
Up next: The plot thickens … how will the boys react to the surprise??
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Yay! I'm glad you're doing a TR for this trip, even if it was a quick one! I didn't realize that you weren't "regulars" at DLR!
It was definitely a jam-packed weekend! I'm so sorry we didn't have a chance to meet you, but I don't think we've ever toured in such a hard-core commando way, so it probably was best that we didn't try!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Goody... Another DLR trip report! I'm going in July and am trying to be prepared. Your boys are adorable.
I hope you love it! Before our first trip, people told us that we would be disappointed because it's so different from WDW. On the contrary, we love it in its own right. Yes, it's different, but not worse or better. We are just happy that we live in Texas -- right in between California & Florida!!
So, as hard as it was, David and I managed to keep the trip a secret. As I mentioned, Friday 2/10 was a no-school day for Peter because of parent-teacher conferences, but Jacob had to go to school. In fact, I learned earlier in the week that he had a test that day. Our school district policy is that absence for family travel is an unexcused absence and, thus, any work missed is not permitted to be made up.
I talked to Jacob's teacher on Thursday and told her that I was planning to pick up Jacob at 9:30 a.m. She said it would be no problem because the test would be at 8:30. Whew!
We still had to find a way to get the suitcases in the car and find a reason to head out in the pouring rain on Friday morning. I took Jacob to school around 7:30, and he was grumpy as could be that David and I took the day off of work and Peter got to stay home while he was forced to go to school.
Around 8:30, David went to Target to pick up some last minute stuff. We hadn't talked about our cover story, but thankfully we were able to improvise. He came home from Target in a huff. When I asked what was wrong, he said his brother had called from Austin and that his brother's friend, Madge, had an aunt here in Houston was in the hospital in grave condition. Madge was flying in that morning and we needed to pick her up at the airport and take her to the hospital to be with her family. I acted like I was peeved -- "We have to drive all the way to the airport [it's about 55 miles from our house] in the pouring rain? In the next hour?" So David offered to take Peter to Gamestop to buy a new video game to play on his Nintendo DS while we waited for Madge.
While they were gone, I loaded up our truck with the suitcases. As it turned out, Gamestop wasn't open yet, so they came back home. We got in the truck and stopped at Jacob's school. Peter was totally unfazed. He simply said, "Oh, we're springing Jacob from school?"
And off we went to the airport. We feigned getting a text from DBIL telling us what airline and flight number. We parked and got out of the truck and then we broke the news that we were not, in fact, there to pick up Madge. Unfortunately for me, I had told Peter about the reaction of Goofyboysmama's kids when she revealed they were going to WDW last summer. Her oldest DS simply looked at her and said, "We're not that gullible."
Here is my video of the kids' reaction -- man, when did kids get so cynical?!?
For a Friday morning, security at the Houston airport was remarkably light. It took us only about 10 minutes to make it through and get on our way to our gate. When we made the flight reservations, we wanted to make sure we got overhead bin space for our bags, so I chose 4 seats in row 30 -- pretty far to the back of the plane -- so that we'd be able to board in the first or second group. Well, wouldn't you know, Continental/United has changed their boarding procedure. They now board by numbered groups and we were in group 8, meaning we were last. This wasn't how it was done for our Christmas trip to WDW, so it must have changed at the first of the year.
The flight was totally full and the new procedure was totally inefficient. There was hardly any overhead bin space left, but I was able to find a spot for my bag (after some guy yelled at me for moving his jacket !).
We took off about 20 minutes late because of a maintenance issue with the plane. Can I just say what a blessing it is to have the on-board TVs when traveling with children? They were totally occupied with TV and their iPods the whole flight (about 3.5 hours) and everything went smoothly. Because of the late departure, we landed about 20 minutes past our scheduled 1:30 arrival time.
We had made reservations on the Disneyland Resort Express bus, so we found our way to the pick-up spot. We had to wait about 15 minutes for the bus. We got on board and, since our stop was the last one, got on our way to Anaheim. About an hour later, we were strolling into the lobby of the Grand Californian and soon heard that most wonderful greeting, "Welcome Home!"
Our villa wasn't ready, so we got set up to receive a text when the room was available. We dropped our bags with Bell Services and headed to DCA.
So great! I remember goofyboysmama's video and am amazed that Peter got it just right! What a great little actor... and then he just couldn't hold in the excitement. I love it!
Loved the reaction! He's such a little actor, isn't he? Jacob still looked a little dazed about the whole affair!
I'm not thrilled with United's boarding policy either. If I understand it correctly, it's all the window and inside section seats first, then it's the seats next to the window, then it's all the aisles last...or something like that. It was quite annoying the last time I had to deal with that! What's so wrong about boarding from back to front? Oh well, at least you made it to Anaheim!!!
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Usually, we stay in a 1BR and the kids sleep on the sofa bed. But the only availability was for a 2BR. We had enough points, so I bit the bullet and made the reservation! 
He was thrilled! And we decided to keep it a secret from the boys.
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I took Jacob to school around 7:30, and he was grumpy as could be that David and I took the day off of work and Peter got to stay home while he was forced to go to school. 
So David offered to take Peter to Gamestop to buy a new video game to play on his Nintendo DS while we waited for Madge.
Unfortunately for me, I had told Peter about the reaction of Goofyboysmama's kids when she revealed they were going to WDW last summer. Her oldest DS simply looked at her and said, "We're not that gullible." 
!).
the whole flight (about 3.5 hours) and everything went smoothly. Because of the late departure, we landed about 20 minutes past our scheduled 1:30 arrival time.
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