Originally Posted By nevadarebel Here we are again, another year later for Lexi’s 14th Birthday. Our cast of characters has expanded yet again from last year by 2 so now we are up to 10 people on our trip. Here is the list in helps to keep things straight: Myself, DH, Nephew TJ (17), my son Frank aka Bubba (16) his best friend Dakota (16), my daughter Lexi (14), her best friend Ally (13) and my youngest son Tyler (11). We also took both my mother aka Grandma and my mother in law aka Granny. Granny had never been to Disneyland but has been to Disneyworld many years ago. My kids and I go about once a month and the magic has not worn off for us. We are still excited to go all the time. We decided that we were going to stay at the Californian this year because Grandma has bad hips and knees so having a place that she could just go to the room and lay down whenever she wanted and that was close was a major necessity. We booked 3 rooms back in March and asked for 2 queen beds in each room. I had explained that we had 6 kids with us and needed regular beds. (this is a preface of issues we had with staying there and please don’t take it as I am knocking the place because it was wonderful, just had some major issues). I did explain that we needed 2 of the rooms to be adjoining with a door in between them and the third room could be wherever and even if they could not get them all together, as long as 2 of the were, it was good. We left Las Vegas at around 6am, girls in one car, stinky boys in the other. Traffic was pretty light and we arrived at the Californian at around 9:30. I went to check in and waited only a few minutes to be helped. The gentleman that was checking us in was in training so we were patient with him. He was very confused on the whole 3 room thing. I had a feeling at that time that we would have issues and when he mentioned that there were bunkbeds in the rooms, I asked 3 times, but there are 2 queens in each room as well correct (having never seen the layout with the bunk beds, I had no idea how many other beds were there). He assured me that it was 2 queens and bunkbeds. His trainer was busy helping guests that were asking questions at the desk so he missed this conversation. After providing my cell phone number no less than 6 times to him so that they could text us when the rooms were ready (which we were fully understanding about and had planned on checking in and then hitting the parks for a few hours until the rooms were ready), an hour later, we were finally checked in and were told that we could come back later for the birthday goodies for Lexi and those that did not have annual passes now had 2 day park hopper tickets in their hands. The boys went one way, the girls another and DH, Grandma, Granny and I another. Our first stop was the benches near GRR so that I could go get Grandma a scooter. After giving her instructions on how to drive and operate it (more to come on this later) we are in business and headed to find something to eat. The girls called us and they were just getting off Heimlichs Chew Chew so they met us near the pier for soup in the bread bowls. After lunch, we hit Little Mermaid. The girls and DH did the Golden Zephyer and then the Jumpin Jellyfish while the grandmas and I sat and enjoyed the music from Phinneas and Ferb as it passed by. We then headed to Toy Story. They got in line while I went to get fast passes for Screamin, got churros and a drink and then joined them in line. While in line, this was the first of a few “crashes” that Grandma encountered. She was in line and almost hit a girl. DH, Lexi and I then rode Screamin while Ally, and the Grandmas checked out the Midway games and shops. At this time it was around 2pm and I had not gotten any texts about rooms and the boys were texting me and making me crazy because they wanted to go swimming because it was getting warm so we headed back to the hotel. The boys had been on the monorail and had fallen asleep on it so were ready to crash in the room. After waiting in line for 20 minutes and explaining that we had already checked in, the Cast member was so nice about it and said that my phone number was put in the system wrong so they could not text us but had good news that all rooms were ready. We already had our keys from the morning so once we got the room numbers, we texted the boys to where to go and the Cast member asked about the birthday stuff if we had gotten it and when we said no, was awesome in taking care of us. Now here is where my frustration comes in…when I opened the first door, there was only 1 bed and a set of bunkbeds, the room next to that (with no adjoining door) had the same thing and then the 3rd room had 2 queen beds with an adjoining door to the room next to them but it was not one of the rooms we had. Normally this would not be a big deal but when you have a boy who is 6’7, bunk beds do not work. The other boys are 6’2 and Lexi is 5’10 so it became a challenge. Everyone was hot and tired from being up for so long and not having much sleep the night before and so rather than try and wait for other rooms, we just made it work. Everyone crashed in rooms and got cooled off. After a couple of hours, Grandma had enough rest and went to explore with Tyler near the pool and called me. I was awake so I met them and we headed to Disneyland. The lines were crazy waits for Pirates and Haunted Mansion (she does not do the thrill rides) so we headed to Hungry Bear because we were starting to get hungry again. Grandma took out a couple of garbage cans around here. We then stopped in Pooh Corner for a sweet treat. Then we headed to Fantasyland. We were lucky the lines were not bad there and were able to do Peter Pan, Mr. Toad, Snow White, Pinnochio. We got in line for Alice but it went down and they evacuated those that were on it so we decided to leave. The girls called and were headed to go ride Big Thunder. The girls ate at Hungry Bear as well and then rode Pooh. They met up with the other boys and they all rode Haunted Mansion. The boys were hungry and were out of money so they headed back to the hotel to meet up with us. DH and Granny had woken up and decided since we had already eaten, they were going to find something and ended up at Ralph Brennans Jazz Kitchen and had a wonderful dinner. The boys hit California Adventures for dinner and the girls explored the hotel and then headed to Disneyland since by this time, DCA was closed. The boys were in the room sleeping as was grandma. I had dozed off so they were on their own. DH and Granny got back from dinner around 10:30 and the girls came back around 12:20. Sunday morning, DH and I got to Disneyland at 7:45. We stopped at the Jolly Holly for a season cupcake that I had read about and some coffee. The cupcake is to die for and is a must!!!! We then got fast passes for Indy, rode Pirates, Haunted Mansion and Splash (where we got soaked). We met the girls at the Riverbelle and they were hungry so they had breakfast. The grandmas had waundered over and after getting Grandma a scooter, they found us and had breakfast too. The boys showed up, got food and the girls went to get fast passes for them for Splash. The girls had fast passes for Indy so I went with them to ride it while the boys were eating. DH, the grandmas and I did Pirates. As we were getting off Pirates, Grandma ran me over. Knocked me completely out of my shoe and down I went. I was ok, my foot hurt because it was right on the Achilles. DH had homework to do so he headed to the hotel, the grandmas went exploring and waited for us to get off Indy. The boys headed to Splash. After the girls and I met up with the grandmas again, we did all of Fantasyland again. We then took a spin on Roger Rabbit and Granny and the girls headed to the hotel. They were going to ride the Train but the line was way to long so they walked instead. They went to Haagen Das in Downtown Disney for ice cream along the way. Grandma and I did It’s a Small World, Tiki Room and the Jungle Cruise. We were hot so we headed to the hotel for a rest. We all met for dinner and went to Fridays near the Block of Orange. Once back at the hotel, the grandmas toured DCA before returning the scooter and heading to bed. The boys and I were going to ride Tower but the line was 70 minutes so we decided to head elsewhere. They decided they wanted to ride GRR even though it was like 8pm so I met up with DH and the girls and we did Toy Story again. The boys met us in the room so they could change into dry clothes, Lexi needed to charge her phone so we hung out for a bit then DH and I headed to DL. DH had decided to upgrade his park hopper to an Annual Pass but had I been paying attention, we would have done it Saturday before the prices went up but we didn’t so his ticket cost a whole lot more now. The kids said they would meet us because the boys had fast passes for Indy and I still had one left from earlier in the day so I wanted to go with them. DH and I got a dole whip and found a table at the Jolly Holly to just enjoy the atmosphere when I got a call from Lexi asking where we were. I told her and I could tell she was upset and starting to cry. She said she had tripped coming up the stairs from Autopia and hurt her elbow and knee. They were headed our way so when they got there, she was bleeding so we took her to the first aid. They cleaned it up and got her bandaged up and the boys were waiting for us outside. DH had gone shopping while we were in the first aid so the girls went and met up with him while the boys and I did Indy. The boys were going to Splash again so I called DH and they were already in the room so I was on my own to do a little shopping and enjoy my last little bit of DL magic. Monday morning, we had reservations at Storytellers to have breakfast with Chip and Dale which are Lexi’s favorites. We saw the bears from Brother Bear, Rafiki, the gorilla from Tarzan and of course Chip and Dale. The characters were so good with us and made sure the kids got plenty of attention. We had gotten the bills for the rooms and of course they were wrong. They had charged 2 vehicles to each room so DH had to go to the desk to get that fixed. We loaded up and headed home to a quiet trip as the kids slept most of the way. Overall, we had a fantastic trip with a few bumps in the road. I have learned some things that I would do different next year like renting a scooter from a company outside the parks so Grandma would have the scooter in her room anytime she needed it rather than having to park it and walk into the hotel. It was a little sad for me because I missed that fun memory making time standing in line with the kids because they were off on their own.
Originally Posted By KCCHIEF Sounds like a nice celebration all in all.........but, how did you make it from Vegas to the hotel in three and a half hours? it takes me five....
Originally Posted By nevadarebel I have never taken over 4 1/2 hours to get there...I do drive very fast though. It was a Saturday morning and no traffic to slow me down between Baker and Barstow so that helps. My average is 4 hours. I also take 210 to 57 and that seems to cut down my time too. It was a great time..
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 >>>The boys were hungry and were out of money so they headed back to the hotel to meet up with us.<<< This made me LOL and brought back memories of having teenaged boys in the park with us Sounds like you all had a fun time with a few ouches along the way SO frustrating about the Grand rooms. We love the Grand but the room configurations can be frustrating sometimes. Good for you for letting it slide and continuing along with your vacation. Thanks for sharing your family's fun!
Originally Posted By nevadarebel The only time we really saw them is when they were out of money and hungry. And teenaged boys eat ALOT! A trip with out a few challenges would not seem complete so we just make the most of it.
Originally Posted By WDWdreamin Sounds like a busy but fun trip (despite some scooter and bed issues).
