Originally Posted By WestWind This is a bit dated but here is a link to my trip report with photos from May. I even recognized Darkbeer from some web site photos, and had a chat with him. <a href="http://www2.nethop.net/~sparkes/vacation.htm" target="_blank">http://www2.nethop.net/~sparke s/vacation.htm</a>
Originally Posted By liveforvacations This report was so great! What a lovely family you have! I have never seen a trip report like this and I loved it. It proves the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words." I love how you have incorporated the text and pictures and made such a informative and fun report to read and look at. It is surprisingly short for all the information in it and flows so well too! Did you do this completely yourself or do you have a program you use? I have been to Disneyland many times but have always flown out of Vancouver and have stayed at Hojos but never in a view room but I helped plan a trip for friends who are flying out of Seattle and have booked a "parkview" room at Hojos. So I hope you do not mind if I ask you a few questions. What hotel did you stay at in Seattle? Did you leave your car at the hotel or at the airport? What room numbers did you get at Hojos? (I didn't even know that they had views like that???) Thanks again for the fabulous trip report!
Originally Posted By ShivaThDestroyer WestWind, this was one of the most enjoyable trip reports I have ever read. The pictures and captions really made me feel like I was there with you. You and your family obviously had a wonderful time, and it shows! Thanks for sharing this way. I loved it!
Originally Posted By WestWind Thanks for the nice comments liveforvacations, and ShivaThDestroyer, glad you enjoyed it. To answer liveforvacations questions, of course I don't mind questions, I love to talk Disney and trip planning. I did make the web page myself using an old program specifically for this purpose. I learnt by trial and error. It is not hard to do if you have some computer savy. The Disney trip planning I did myself as well. For the first part of our trip, we planned to find a hotel somewhere before getting into Seattle however we ended up in downtown Seattle looking for a room. It was very late, I had a headache, and the first few places we stopped at were full. I was getting desperate for a room to sleep in. I had never been to Seattle before and here we were driving around Seattle in the dark. Somehow we happened on a Marriott (the Courtyard Marriott) and they had rooms. I could not have said "yes I'll take it" any faster. It cost more than we planned but it has secure underground parking and was VERY VERY nice. I had a reservation for the next night at a Ramada right beside the airport. I've known the Ramada chain to have a good reputation but I was not impressed with this place. Oh well, we were not there very long and we were close to the airport. As for leaving the car somewhere, that was a concern for me. I had planned to leave it at the airport however I did some investigation and found news stories about the high rate of vehicle crime in the area. It seems the hotel parking lots had the highest crime, the airport second, and the private parking lots almost no crime. We parked the car at a private parking facility called Masterpark. We parked in their new parking structure called the valet garage which is right beside the Ramada. We put the car in Masterpark when we checked into the hotel (did not park at the hotel). In the early morning we walked next door to Masterpark and they drove us to the airport in one of their shuttles (they are open 24 hours). It is valet style parking and they were very helpful and even unloaded and loaded our luggage. It cost us $192 for the 15 days and was entirely worth the peace of mind for secure parking. At HoJos we were on the top floor (7), building 1 (tower), Disneyview. They consider Disneyview rooms as the westside of building 1 from the 4th floor up. The top floor rooms have the curved/vaulted ceilings with the high windows for lots of light. I think the room numbers were 7107 and 7109 but I am not sure. The photo of DCA is using the camera zoom. That was the all-out trip. Now I am thinking of a December trip on a small budget. I am also working on putting all my trip photos and videos on a dvd with music, headings, etc. It you have more questions or want some specific photos I may have, just ask.
Originally Posted By liveforvacations Thank you so much for the information. It is all so helpful, especially the information with regard to parking is so helpful! I am going to pass all this information onto my friends. The zoom lens explains the view of DCA you showed. I wondered how it looked so close! Since you were so helpful, I am going to take the opportunity to ask a few more questions. If you go again in December or anytime, would you fly out of Seattle again? If so, would you stay at the Ramada in Seattle? Would you stay at Hojos again? Just wanted to say again how great your trip report was and thank you for all the information. as
Originally Posted By WestWind For our next trip - December or in the spring - we plan to drive. Our oldest daughter is now in University so we will likly only have 5 for the trip, and I just want to drive. If we were to fly, I would look at the cost again, but would not hesitate to fly from Seattle again. This last trip we saved a substantial amount by flying out of Seattle instead of Vancouver. I also looked into flying from Spokane which is a little closer for us, but there were no direct flights. I would not stay at the that Ramada again. There are many other hotels along that strip. I think I would try the one on the other side of the Masterpark garage but I can't remember the name of it. I will definitely stay at Hojos again. The Disneyview rooms we had were great but next time I will try one of the other buildings for something different (and for a reduced budget). [I don't want the kids to know yet, but I have a reservation at Hojos - if everything works out, we will be going in December. I can't believe it - twice in one year! I have never been there in the Christmas season. As our May trip was so long, we purchased annual passes and I want to use them again.]
Originally Posted By liveforvacations Thanks again for the information! We have always stayed at Hojos as well and cannot say enough nice things about it. However, as my mother-in-law is coming with us and she didn't want to stay in a separate room, we are trying out the Residence Inn in Garden Grove. I hope we enjoy it just as much! I just purchased Annual Passes because our trip is going to be long also and we plan to return before the year is over too. It is an added incentive, isn't it? Then again, does anyone really need more incentive to go to Disneyland? Well I really hope it works out for you in December as Disneyland is really beautiful all done up for the Christmas season! Good luck and happy planning!
Originally Posted By ShivaThDestroyer >>I have never been there in the Christmas season.<< It's the BEST! IMO there is nothing quite like DL during the Christmas season. The way Main Street is made up, the Christmas music playing, HMH, IASWH, the Christmas parade, Santa's Reindeer Round-up, The Christmas fireworks with the snow and White Christmas playing afterwards just does it for me every time. I could keep on going but I think you get the idea. My favorite experience with DL at Christmas was meeting our clones, RAM1984 & MrRAM1984. That was an incredible piece of Disney Christmas Magic. >>I can't believe it - twice in one year! << WARNING!!! The more frequently you go, the more addicted you get! I can't speak for the locals but there are many of us who live 6 or more hours away from the park that go quite often. My DW and I usually get in about 5-6 visits a year, for about a week each time, and that never seems to be quite enough. I do remember those days when we considered ourselves lucky if we could make one visit a year. I really didn't come back to re-post. I just wanted to look at your visual trip report again. It is so simply stated but very impressive at the same time. It reminds me very much of a PowerPoint presentation. I'm surprised that I have not read other trip reports done in a similar manner. You may be starting a trend ; ) liveforvacations, it's just about 5 weeks more until the next visit. Even though we may not be able to see you in the park on the 14th, don't be surprised if the 4 of us drop by your hotel on the way out of town. WestWind, we'll be in the park in December also, probably from around the 2nd through the 10th. I have a feeling you might be there more towards Christmas but, if not, let me know and maybe we'll have a chance to meet. If you do end up driving down on your next visit, you'll have to pass within 3 miles of our house. Feel free to stop by, grab a cup of coffee and use the facilities. We know how hard those long drives can be. oh yeah, my friends just call me Shiva : )
Originally Posted By travellerandquilter Great trip report. We were in DL in Sept 2006 and are now going again Jan 2008 and bought AP for myself and daughter with the faint hope of returning Nov or Dec 2008 to see the Christmas Decorations. DH is going elsewhere in Jan with 2 DS so maybe in Nov or Dec they may come as well but it is so far from Australia. But we live in hope and DH thinks I am bonkers for being a Disney junkie!
Originally Posted By WestWind Shiva, our plan is to be there the first week of December. I assume the crowds will be smaller, and I am hoping all the Christmas magic is there. Maybe we can meet somewhere. Where do you stay? I don't see a way to send you a private message on this LP site so I put my email address in my profile. Travellerandquilter, thanks for your comments and I hope all your Disney plans for 2008 work out. Maybe you are bonkers for being a Disney junkie, but you are not alone.
Originally Posted By ABBY WestWind, I loved your trip report! It is obvious that you guys were having the time of your life!! We will be at DL Nov 29-Dec2. You will love the holiday decorations! We will be staying at HoJo's. My favorite place to stay! I love putting my photos/video clips to movies with music. My family lives on the east coast so I do this a couple of times a year and send out Cd's to everyone. I use Windows movie maker or Power director to do it.
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 WestWind, I just found your report and I'd like to add my admiration as to how well it was done Looks like your whole family had a wonderful time together. Great idea to work in so many sidetrips!
Originally Posted By The-Tink-Mobile Your picture outlay was wonderful, you have a spark-ling family, you must be proud, we are staying at hojo's this time as well, we are hoping to arive on dec 22 sometime before noon for 11 days, we are on the 6th floor in the tower in the middle of the floor facing disney, we are sooo excited, willie has been wonderful to us at hojo's and he hasn't even met us yet, it will be a long trip, my wife cindy has just gone thru her second colon cancer operation, the first being cancer in the third stage , the second pre colon cancer some how it was missed the first time, but these things happen , she now is worried because they found something brewing again, we want to make this trip very special for her, we will know if anything is up in the next lil while, i hope the dream team nabs cindy for something a pink cancer landyard with tink and the princess's on it would tickle her fancy, along with her favourite eyore, her doctors said she is a breath of fresh air in the cancer clinic, she is so up beat, most of the time, the chemo wasn't fun, on a brighter note, your pictures were absolutely right on time , we needed to se those pictures ,there is a christmas movie out there called christmas-shoes....one of the morals of this story is...make memories robert....not money...your pictures are exactly that, we all neeed to see the most important things in our life laugh smile have fun... thank you , maybe we will see you in december ...if not have a safe n' Wonderful Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year..ho ho ho ho ho ho don't forget to have santa autograph your photo , that would be a wonderful kepsake for sure,
