Originally Posted By joeysmommy The crew: Me, my husband, DS5, DS2 (My kids' first time to DL) BIL, BIl's girlfriend and her DD13,DD11,DD8 19 yr old niece (lives in LA), SIL So we wake up at 3:30 AM to get ready and leave our house by 4:30 am. Waking the kids up was sooo hard. I got them dressed while they were half awake. They had to eat "toast to go" in the car. We had to stop and get my FIL so he could drop us at the airport. We made it to the Oakland airport in 25 minutes since the sane people are not on the road at 4:30 am. Security check was pretty easy, just a pain getting the kids shoes back on and shlepping bags. Got to SNA in about an hour. Grabbed our luggage and headed for the Super Shuttle pick up location. They had to take us in 2 vans which was a pain because it took us 45 minutes to get to DLH since we had to drop off 2 other people in Santa Ana at 2 different locations. BIL and his crew got to the DLH in 10 minutes. Next time I would just take a taxi. The Super Shuttle voucher I got with my AAA package, but it could have been skipped. We got to DLH at 10:15am and checked in at the marina Tower. My SIL had also just arrived and was staying with us in our room. I wasn't expecting our rooms to be ready but we were told that our rooms were available. I left our bags (2 large suitcases and 2 car seat bags) with the bell desk. We were staying in the Bonita Tower on the 5th floor, I requested the Sierra Tower based on reviews on LP. I asked if anything else was available and my CM rudely sighed (not very Disney). She said they were all booked up and that my special requests from Vacation Planning were already in our room. So we head to our room. I was unpleasantly surprised at what a hike the Bonita Tower was from DTD! With my 2yr old and 5 yr old at the end of the day it was the longest walk in the world with no stroller. The room was nice but no amenities basket, autographed photos, balloons or birthday pins I had requested from Vacation Planning. After I told the kids there was a surprise waiting for them in their room. They thought all the cool Mickey/Tinkerbell touches in the room was the surprise! Everybody was anxious to go to the parks so I figured I would deal with that when we got back. We walk thru DTD which was all new to me since I have not been to DL in 6 years. The last time I was there they were still building DCA. Once thru the gate we hopped in the stroller rental line and wait 20 minutes for our FREE stroller rental thanks to my Disney Visa. I rented 2 strollers. I used to make fun of people who would put their big huge 5 yr old in a stroller. Look who is putting their big huge 5 yr old in a stroller now! Everyone was starving so we went to Coke Corner and had hot dogs and cokes for $26 (for 4 people). I had ressies for lunch at 2pm at Ariel's grotto for the Princess lunch but we bagged it since everyone was too excited to stop for a sit down lunch. Including me. We headed straight for Fantasyland and rode Dumbo. I think Dumbo should be every kid's first ride at DL..esp their first trip. The boys loved it! We then went to ride POTC. My 5 yr old has been talking about this ride ever since he played the VMK game on the DL website. 10 minute wait but the line moved the entire time. He was a little spooked by the darkness. We had both kids ride in between us so they would feel safer. As we progressed thru the ride I would whisper to my son what was going to happen next and it worked out great. he was a little nervous but not unpleasantly surprised as he knew what was going to happen. At the end he asked when we could ride it again. My 2 yr old hid his face in Daddy's side the entire ride. Just too much for him. We made our way over to Indiana Jones. My favorite ride. I was hoping someone (my BIL)would offer to let me take my husband on it since he hasn't ridden that in 10+ years, but no! So I waited for them with DS2 while they got to ride MY fav ride without me. I got a baby swap pass while they went to stand by line. 45 minute wait! I took Joey to ride Jungle Cruise-he loved it! Then we went over to the Bazaar shop in Adventureland and did some pressed pennies. Who ever gave me the great idea of alternating 2 quarters and 1 penny in a M&M minis container- THANKS! It worked soo well- all the moms around us were so envious. We breezed thru all 12 pressed penny machines (1 large machine with 4 sides) while they dug for change in their wallets. I let him run around Tarzan's treehouse and explore while we waited for the rest of our group. Joey and I had a great time together- he was happy to have mommy all to himself. When everyone finally got off Indy, I went with my husband to ride it in the FP line with our Baby Swap pass. We were waiting in line near the well when the ride broke down. : ( They gave us a FP to ride with up to 5 people at any other time/day. The boys wanted to check out Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters so we scooted over to Tomorrowland. That was one of their favorite rides by far! Mine too! We grabbed FP's even tho the line was only 10 minutes. We went stand by, then rode Autopia(which takes forever-20 minutes to me is along time). Soo cute! The kids really believed they were driving. The biggest cheesey smiles I have ever seen. By the time we finished with Autopia our FP's were ready to go on BLAB. We rode that once more and emailing yourself the pics is the best freebie at DL! We hit the rockets once before heading back to the DLH. The bell man called my cell phone to tell me my safeway.com order had arrived at 5pm. We needed to head back for naps before dinner anyway. They wanted Mouse ear balloons, so we got them each one at $7 each on Main St. I commented to the CM at what a good job she was doing at not losing any balloons while making change. She said it was her first day selling balloons and her hands were cramping up. My 2 yr old wanted pink, which I think is cute but my DH didn't. He got pink... They had their own disney dollars so they used that. Which, by the way is a GREAT thing! Their Bdays were 9/22 and 9/29. I asked my family to give them disney dollars for their Bdays instead of toys so they could buy what they wanted at DL. On our way out of the park I made the boys pose for pics in front of the floral Mickey. Thank God I did!! The next day it was boarded up to get it ready for the Halloween display! We got back to our room, I called the bell man and he brought up my $150 safeway.com order. i called DLH weeks before and asked the bell desk if they would accept a safeway.com order and they told me yes. I just changed my user profile address to the DLH address. The bellman who brought the order up said he didn't know why more people didn't order groceries and thought it was a great way to save money while at DL. We had cereal, bagels, milk, sandwich makings, water, juice etc. I ordered 3 cases of water which was a perfect amount even tho I thought it was too much. I was already tired of buying $3 waters by Monday afternoon. I should have ordered beer and martini makings as we racked up quite a bill at the Lost bar by the pool. I called the front desk to inquire about our Birthday buttons etc, as they still were not there. The $100 amenities basket was there but not the FREE stuff. A very pleasant CM brought it up right away and refused a tip. The amenities basket was great! I ordered the one with the Mickey and Minnie plush, 50th celebration CD with all the DL music. We listen to it quite often! It also had 2 huge 50th lollipops, a 50th photo album that holds 100 photos and a golden mouse ears hat. i also requested the 50th postcards set for $5 extra. It was a great choice because now we have something to show for that money, whereas many of the other baskets had mostly candy or cookies for $50+. I put the boys down for naps but had to wake them up at 8pm for our 8:30 ressies at Rainforest Cafe. Big mistake! I pay for this the next day. And my DH gets to say i told you so. We took our sleepy boys along with our large party of 11 over to rainforest Cafe. There were about 30 people waiting in line to be seated. I went over to the hostess and told her we had a 8:30 ressie and we were seated right away. great table too! We had a little alcove table hidden away. The noisy animatronic animals scared my 2 yr old so hidden was good. I ordered a steak because i knew I would be eating sandwiches, hot dogs and pizza for the rest of the week. It was pretty yummy! The boys ordered mac and cheese which they hardly touched. The lightning lemonade was awesome! My DH and I really needed a cocktail by then. We opted for the light uo cups for an extra$1. I love those cups! The boys were crazy to leave and check out the Lego store so I took them and 2 of the girls over there while everyone else finished their dinners. My DS5 wanted to buy a HUGE Lego airplane and I tried to talk him into something smaller. They played at the Lego tables until closing time. I told him we could stop by on our way back from the park the next evening to get what he wanted (not the airplane). I put the boys to bed at 10:30pm while my SIL went to pick up Audrey (niece) at her apartment 45 minutes away. They came back at 12am and woke me up. I couldn't get back to sleep for 2 hours. man was I tired the next day! <a href="http://www.costcophotocenter.com/slideshow/AlbumID=12556232/PictureID=314418586/a=31309473_31309473/t_=31309473" target="_blank">http://www.costcophotocenter.c om/slideshow/AlbumID=12556232/PictureID=314418586/a=31309473_31309473/t_=31309473</a> <a href="http://www.costcophotocenter.com/slideshow/AlbumID=12556232/PictureID=314418597/a=31309473_31309473/t_=31309473" target="_blank">http://www.costcophotocenter.c om/slideshow/AlbumID=12556232/PictureID=314418597/a=31309473_31309473/t_=31309473</a> <a href="http://www.costcophotocenter.com/slideshow/AlbumID=12556232/PictureID=314418232/a=31309473_31309473/t_=31309473" target="_blank">http://www.costcophotocenter.c om/slideshow/AlbumID=12556232/PictureID=314418232/a=31309473_31309473/t_=31309473</a> <a href="http://www.costcophotocenter.com/slideshow/AlbumID=12556232/PictureID=314414805/a=31309473_31309473/t_=31309473" target="_blank">http://www.costcophotocenter.c om/slideshow/AlbumID=12556232/PictureID=314414805/a=31309473_31309473/t_=31309473</a> <a href="http://www.costcophotocenter.com/slideshow/AlbumID=12556232/PictureID=314418210/a=31309473_31309473/t_=31309473" target="_blank">http://www.costcophotocenter.c om/slideshow/AlbumID=12556232/PictureID=314418210/a=31309473_31309473/t_=31309473</a> Tuesdays trip report to come!
Originally Posted By 4Disnee It sounds like your trip was very nice. I could not view your photos they would not come up. I cant wait to hear about Tuesday! Thanks for sharing.
Originally Posted By Duffy :O water is 2.75!!! not 3.00!!! buy some churros! about the rude cast members... sometimes, it isnt what it seems... for example, on sat, i sold hot chocolate and coffee at fantasyland. a guest started yelling at me cuz i gave my "relief" (person who gives me a break) a cell phone, and he gave me a napkin and we started talking. of course, it seems bad... BUT, someone left their phone, i wanted someone to bring it up to city hall to claim, the napkin was his name which i need to report, and im talking to him because i ran out of hot chocolate and cups... that guest completely went off on me... but anyways, have fun!
Originally Posted By joeysmommy Hi Duffy I stand corrected, yes the water was $2.75 not $3.00 : ) I forgot to mention, yes we did buy churros thru out our visit. We frequented the churros stand in Tomorrowland outside BLAB quite often and the one by the Haunted Mansion. For some crazy reason everytime we left DCA we were craving candy corn! Thanks for your input. I did come across some very nice cast memebers and I thanked them for being so nice. The check-in CM was the only one who wasn't feeling the Disney. I'm not looking for fault like the guest you ran into. That's a bit much.
Originally Posted By ploeb909 Wow! You are good! What a well written repot,I love it. I always bring my own bear,wine, and Jack and coke! How funny, we are there for 7 days and its fun to "chill" at night. I did not know that the hotel would allow groceries delivered! I always bring my own, my poor hubby has to lug it from the parking lot! I love that you asked family members to give Disney $$$, I always do that and we save alot of money this way. And the kids can take a picture fetting there stuff and send a thank you card along with the pic.! I cant wait to hear about the rest of your trip!
Originally Posted By mamacita Love your first day joeysmommy! Good thing you got the boys picture in front of the flower Mickey before the walls went up. It's our tradition to do that first too. I think we might try safeway.com too. Was there a delivery charge?
Originally Posted By joeysmommy mamacita- I had a free delivery coupon code for orders over $50, but my order was over $150 so it's free anyway. I just felt sorry for the bellman who had to bring up all those drinks and cases of water. I tipped him nicely. Try the photos again and let me know if it worked. when I go in and click on a photo from LP disc. board/trip reports then just click on the LOG IN icon it works. My PW is already there. ploeb909- I wish I had ordered alcohol on my safeway.com order because the bartenders were getting to know us too well at the Lost bar. Wow! Good idea on taking the picture while they are getting their stuff. My kids are 2 and 5 so I had to hold onto their $$ or it would have been lost. But I could have had them hand the Disney $ to the CM and take a picture. Next time...
