Originally Posted By Rivkah86 Ok, I know this is a month overdue, but I have finally gotten time to write up a full report on our very special trip. the players: Me, and my boyfriend of two years, Carlos the timeline: Monday, June 22 to Friday, June 26 2009 Enjoy! We sure did DAY 1: This Trip was in celebration of Carlos’s and my two year anniversary, and in planning the trip several months in advance, we counted down daily until that Monday, June 22nd, 2009. We hounded the clock all day, forging through the last hours of work until we finally got relief at quitting time! Around six o’clock we started our journey… we took the bus, the BART and the airBART to Oakland Airport, just in time to catch our 8:45 p.m. flight to John Wayne Airport. Upon arriving, we flagged a taxi to complete the final leg of our travel. We were checked in to the Days Inn and Suites on Harbor and Ball Rd. right around 11 or so, by a brusque but courteous clerk. We found our rooms to be, on the whole, clean and well-kept, and slightly comfy, so we settled in real quick for a good night’s sleep. The next morning, we woke early enough to have breakfast at the hotel and take our excited 15-minute walk to the park to get there by 8:30 a.m. We had brought our camcorder to document the trip. Picture this: we come upon the entrance; we hear the all-too-familiar chime as our tickets are scanned in, and as the train blows its whistle, steaming above us, we pass under the tunnel, greeted by all the splendor that is Main St. We see Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto. We hear the friendly, charmed “Minnie’s Yoo Hoo” playing across the square. And straight ahead, we see the spires and windows, turrets and towers of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, her flags streaming- and we know we are home! We spent that morning in Tomorrowland, hitting Autopia first, then Space Mt., Buzz Lightyear, and Star Tours. Around noon, we met up with my mom and dad in DTD to have lunch at the Rainforest Café. I had the BBQ chicken wrap, which was pretty good, and we followed it up with chocolate muffins and coffee at la Brea. The afternoon we spent in California Adventure. The first thing we did was hit the restrooms, and in doing so, found some lost Ray Bans. So we headed over to the Guest Service/ Lost and Found right there in the sunshine plaza. As we entered the doors and waited until the next Cast Member became available, we witnessed the most horrible, disrespectful guests chewing out a very sweet, composed CM. I couldn’t decipher the entire situation, but apparently, the wife had a condition that made her susceptible to fainting, so I believe they were demanding front-of-the-line passes to all the rides. I heard the CM offering them a wheel chair, and the husband yelled, “she doesn’t need a wheelchair! Are you saying you’re going to make us stand in line? What if she faints? I’m going to have to come back here and deal with you!” The whole time, the cast member kept her unimaginable cool. She never stopped being polite, offering to resolve the situation. The guests were completely over-the-top rude. And after the guy demanded to talk to her supervisor, to which she replied, “of course, as soon as she’s done with those guests, she can take care of it”, we approached her, handed her the sunglasses, and she thanked us. As soon as we left the Lost and Found, we KNEW we had to go back and do what we could to improve her day. So we returned, and since the man and his wife were still there standing to the side, waiting to talk to the CM’s supervisor, we walked up to her, asked for her name, (Jessica) and told her (loud enough to let everyone else hear) “we just wanted to get your name so we could submit a compliment at City Hall for your excellent guest service”. At this, Jessica’s face lit up, she smiled, and thanked us. It felt good to be the ones to bring the Disney Magic back to the Cast Members for once- they do so much to make it happen for us guests! So that started our trip off with a very memorable moment. We proceeded to take DCA on slowly. It was starting to get pretty warm, so we rode TOT, Screamin’ and Soarin’, and then attended the Animation Academy. The first round, we drew Daisy. At the end of the class, the animator announced we would be drawing Jack Skellington next, so Carlos insisted we come back for a second go. What caught my attention was the increase in energy from the Animator the second time around – he was happy to teach us how to draw Daisy, but when we started class on Jack, there was considerably more excitement on his part. Maybe it was one of his favorite characters, but it was cool to get two completely different experiences. We returned to Disneyland in time for a light dinner at the Carnation Café just as the Celebrate Parade started. We tried the loaded baked-potato soup, which was amazing, and had a really friendly, attentive waiter. I though it strange that the Café wasn’t packed during this time, but it made for a great, relaxed view of the parade. The parade itself wasn’t that special for me. I enjoyed seeing Clarice (girl chipmunk from a Chip and Dale cartoon), but other than that, it was a little strange seeing Mary and Bert boogying to Hannah Montanna. I suppose it felt a little too much like Block Party, which in my opinion, doesn’t really fit in Disneyland. So, at least I can say I saw it, but I wouldn’t take time to see it again. After dinner, we stopped over at City Hall to submit our compliment for Jessica (When we did so, The CM that we submitted it to knew who we were talking about and agreed that she was definitely a great CM), and then headed back to DCA for the Electrical Parade. This was Carlos’s first time ever seeing this parade, and he enjoyed it very much. I also liked the new additions to the floats/ new floats, and even the new music passed my standards I didn’t think it to be such a negative change. The parade ended around 8:45, and we were caught up in the mass exodus out of DCA and into DL… it took us till 9:40 or so to get to the Astro Orbiter in Tomorrowland. So just as the fireworks were ending, we were blasting off into Disneyland’s atmosphere (this is one of my favorites for riding at night). We ended the day with riding through It’s a Small World and Storybook Land, and walking back to our cozy little room around 11. We were exhausted! DAY 2: We woke up still tired from day one! We started it off with breakfast at our hotel and were in the park by 8:30. The first thing we decided to do was ride the submarines. This ride really is becoming one of my favorites; it’s subtle, but imaginative and totally captivating. There was a dad sitting next to us, telling his daughter, “ok, watch for the mermaid… watch… THERE! Did you see her?” and the little girl was like, “Where? I missed her again!” This was our actual anniversary- two years ago this day, we started officially dating and had our first kiss. So right after the Subs, we headed out to Snow White’s Wishing Well to exchange gifts… I had gotten him a silver ring with a personalized engraving on the inside, and he bought me a gorgeous silver and Baltic amber necklace (which I had been eyeing for a while!) and as we sat there sharing such a special moment, a gracious couple asked if we wanted them to take our picture… they initially thought we were getting engaged! So we have a few great shots from that moment. Next up was Critter Country: We rode Splash Mountain, Winnie the Pooh, and the Davy Crocket Explorer Canoes. Tom Sawyer’s Island followed: we took lots of pictures and walked the perimeter of the Island. It was the first time I got to see the details of the Pirates Lair overlay and I particularly enjoyed the area where you can pump water and empty the little body of water to reveal a pirate skeleton and his treasure. At this point, it was getting a little monotonous asking strangers to kindly take our picture for us, so we began setting the timer on our camera and setting it up on a railing or a trash can and taking our pictures that way. It really works! And of course, we could only get away with this when there weren’t a lot of people around to walk in front of the camera. We eventually took on New Orleans Square, visiting all the shops, meandering through the streets, and generally just imbibing the atmosphere. We fast-passed Indie and lunched at Bengal BBQ, then headed to DCA for some more Screamin’ and TOT, and watched It’s Tough to be a Bug. For the first time, I decided to sit towards the front center of the theatre, and boy! did I notice a big difference in the intensity of the special effects… the bug spray engulfed us , there was more acid sprayed on us, and there even seemed to be more bugs leaving the theatre at the end! We loved this so much- it has always been a favorite of mine, and I was glad to watch Carlos experience it and enjoy it as much as I do. We ended the day in DCA exploring Bug’s Land a little more and had some ice cream from Burrrrbank. Back to Disneyland! By this time, we were yawning every three minutes, but we were having so much fun anyways. Our dinner reservations for the Blue Bayou were at 7:10, and when we arrived at 6:30, they said we’d have to wait maybe ten minutes. So we enjoyed our meal early, listening to the lull of the sounds of the Bayou. Again, this was a first for Carlos, and luckily, it was a wonderful dining experience to celebrate our special day- our waiter was very attentive and our food was delicious! In the evening, we tackled Peter Pan, Pinnochio, and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, then ended the day with the fireworks. We watched them from the Plaza Gardens and overall, it was a good view, except for the initial moments of Dumbo’s flight and a few of the lower fireworks. But we could see the Castle well and were out of the hustle and bustle of the Main Street crowds, so we had a great experience. We left for our hotel, utterly worn out. And we welcomed our short walk home and our somewhat comfortable beds that night. Day 3: This was to be our final day in the parks. We were greeted at the Disneyland entrance with the Disneyland Band and it set the tone for a terrific day. We hopped aboard the Disneyland Rail Road and took the grand circle tour, plus a ¼- getting off in New Orleans Square. Surprisingly, this was our first run on Pirates and the Haunted Mansion- surprising, since they’re both some of the first rides we do when we first get in the park. Then we toured the Rivers of America aboard the Mark Twain and rode Big Thunder. We took the afternoon pretty slow… we caught the end of the noon Billy Hill show, then bought our lunch and mile-hi chocolate cake and settled into the right-side box to watch the next show. We captured the whole show on camera, and it was hilarious watching them from that close-up; they kept staring right into our camera lens and making faces. We followed the show up with the Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room. Afterwards, we headed back over to DCA for one last go- we rode CA Screamin’, the Maliboomer, the Golden Zephyr, and River Run. We spent a half hour or so, perched on the outlook point just after the last drop on the ride, getting drenched over and over. Then we got in line for Aladdin at the Hyperion- this is one of our absolute favorite attractions. Last time (during our January trip), part of the show was interrupted by some out-of-place booing by the audience, and we watched in amazement as the Genie handled the situation with ease, turning the awkward moment into a stand-out improvisation. The performance that we caught this trip was more by-the-book, but just as enjoyable as ever. (Unfortunately though, the magic carpet wasn’t running) We made our goodbyes to DCA one last time, and went back to Disneyland for a few more hours. We were lucky enough to be standing around the front of the castle taking pictures (the ropes were up blocking it off for the fireworks) when a guy got down on his knee and proposed to his girlfriend. Apparently, he got special permission from the cast members to stand behind the ropes to “take pictures” and had friends snapping them with their own cameras. It was a magical moment indeed when he jumped back up after a minute and yelled, “she said yes!” loud enough to be heard over the cheering crowd. We rode the Mattahorn, then POTC and HM again, caught the late showing of Fantasmic! (got front row seats along the railing around the edge of the river just as everyone from the first showing filtered out), and shopped on Main Street. We ended our night around 11 or so… we were absolutely exhausted by now, and Carlos started getting a small fever... we were even wondering if we were going to make it to our breakfast at Goofy’s Kitchen the next morning… Day 4: We got up at 6:30, checked out of our hotel (this was the first time we found out about Michael Jackson’s death- we saw it on the front page of the paper at the lobby), and headed off to DTD, even though Carlos was still feeling a little sick. We got to GK a little early for our resies at 9, and as soon as we started eating, Carlos started feeling a little better. We had a great breakfast! They brought us a cupcake with Anniversary pins, we purchased the photo package that they offer, we took lots of pics with the characters (we got Chip, Dale, Goofy, Jasmine, Baloo) and had great food. After breakfast, we meandered back to DTD- bought a round on the motor boats that they have at the hotel, visited the Fantasia shop, the Lego store, and of course, World of Disney. Once we were sure we had all our souvenirs, we headed back to our hotel, got out luggage, and taxied back to John Wayne Airport in time to make our 1:30 flight back to SF. We had a wonderful trip… full of magic and memories for sure. Now, we are finishing up our scrapbook for the trip, and are looking forward to planning our next one!
Originally Posted By Rivkah86 <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=2159325&id=11710500" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/home.p...11710500</a> Here is a link to the pictures of our trip.
Originally Posted By 73baloo Great report. Thanks for sharing your special vacation. I leave in 8 days with one of my daughters and son-in-laws. Taking them on their last trip sans kids. She is 5 months pregnant so no big rides but we will still have fun.
Originally Posted By redlegtwo Nice trip report and pictures. Do you mind if I ask how much you paid for a taxi and how soon before you had to be at the airport did you call for one. I've always used Super Shuttle but last time they picked us up at Hojos 3 hours before our flight. I'd like to spend as much time as I can at Disneyland instead of sitting in the airport.
Originally Posted By Steph-n-Kev Great pics, thanks Rivkah86! We've got 38 days and counting to go...!!
Originally Posted By Rivkah86 well it cost me about 45$ (including tip) to get from the Days Inn and Suites to the airport. we called the taxi about 45 minutes before we had to be at the airport, and it arrived within 10-15. It took less than a half hour to get there. I had so much fun! thanks for your comments guys... and 73baloo and steph-n-kev, have fun on your trips!
Originally Posted By redlegtwo Thank you Rivkah86. I think I'll try a taxi back to the airport next time.
Originally Posted By iamsally I had been waiting for your report 'Bekah. But then I got busy and forgot to check. I am so glad you finally posted. Sounds like you two had a really great time. I worried a bit when you mentioned Carlos feeling ill but I guess that all turned out okay. On our trip last April I was sick the WHOLE time. I did not let it stop me though. Luckily we had a whole week so we could take things easy. We even rented a wheelchair one day. (Boy are the CM's nice to people in wheelchairs.) Rod was so sweet through the whole ordeal that when I got my gift card on my birthday I just handed it to him. Didn't mean to ramble on. So happy you two have each other. And loving Disneyland together just makes it so much better. This I know from experience.
