1st trip to DL, 1st Anniversary, 1st time on the coast...COMPLETED!!

[Girldreamer02]

Welcome back!!!! I saw ya post on tlhbdm's pre trippie for her trip in sept and I followed the link on over here. I hope you had a great time in disney land! I haven't read any of this yet so I'll be back to comment once I do!

 

[Girldreamer02]

Okay I'm back and I am loving your trippie so far! Who did you fly? We always fly northwest and when we sit in first class we get a meal and it does not look like that. It is actually good. When we flew home from disney in dec we had turkey sandwiches I believe and something else, but I can't remember. It was yummy though. I wouldn't of ate the stuff you were given either. Good call. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[PRINCESSAJ]

Hi just wanted to say great start to your TR!!

I remember reading your Disneymoon TR on the wedding thread!

Congrats on your 1st wedding anniversary!

It's our 1st wedding anniversary on the 1st May and we are heading to Disneyworld on Friday for 2 weeks - I'm really excited!

Looking forward to reading more
We are hopefully going to DisneyLand next year for the first time 2!

 

[J Lynn]

Hey Karen, I'm reading this at 3:15am cause I just can't sleep. You inspire me to take pictures of everything....my DH would like to know I'm at least getting my money's worth from my camera. Great report so far

 

[Dcanoli]

Yahoo! You're back! Great TR SO FAR...

Can't wait for more girl!

 

[Jennifer48]

Great start Karen! If your plane ride was so detailed, I can't WAIT to read your first view to DL!

 

[MA pigletfan]

LOVE IT!!!!! you even make traveling look fun! and i HATE planes

 

[jnjusoioa]

Great update!!!! Love it, can't wait to hear all about DLR. Your trip reports are so amazing, I finally finished your other two and enjoyed them so much, really loved the Christmas one, I am really starting to feel like that is the most magical time to visit the parks. Keep the reports coming.


Oh and that time change, it is awful, I have three hours when I do it, and it just makes for some craziness for awhile.

 

[nibblesandbits]

Wow! So detail oriented and we're just getting off the plane! Can't wait to read more...and since this will be my first DL trip, I'm sure your TR will come in handy, what with everything so wonderfully spelled out so far!

 

[6Smiles]

Yeah you are back. I've been silently waiting. This report is awesome, lots of details! Can not wait for more!

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

Yes! I totally enjoyed the beginnings of your TR! I'm so excited to read more! WOO! Keep it up!

 

[JaxJags08]

Hi! Great update, as usual!

I actually didn't mind the food on Continental the last time we flew, but I also will eat almost anything! I think I was just happy to get food at all that I didn't have to pay "extra" for. We never fly first class , so I don't have that to compare it to!

 

[Spartangirl]

Karen ~ Great start! Your pictures are wonderful as always! I LOVE that you took a picture of the ticket you got showing where you parked the car. That is a great idea and one I'm going to use! I'm notorious for "losing" the car! I'm looking forward to your next update!

 

[coconutsunshine]

YAY you're back!!

I just love your trip reports, they really make you feel like you're experiencing your trip, I get so excited just sitting down to read your reports!! I think we should start a poll of the dis' best trip reporters and I would vote for you!!

I'm horrible with geography, especially of the USA (as I live in Canada) so when I saw that you had a movie on your flight, I had to google a map of the USA so I could see how far California is from Texas, oopsy I thought it was a lot closer no one tell DH of this as he makes fun of my geography skills soooo much!!

The food on the plane didn't look the best but at least you got some, we're lucky if we get a drink on all the flights we've been on lately, although the last flight we were on they gave us free chocolate bars but only because they made us sit on the tarmac for over 3 hours beofore taking off!! Speaking of food, I know what you mean about the egg mcmuffin, I had one for the first time last year while on a road trip at a McDonalds on the highway. We got to the Mcdonalds just as they were switching to lunch and we're pretty sure the sandwich had been sitting there for quite a while, it was disgusting, I don't even think I got a quarter of the way through it before I had to toss it yuckers!!

One last thing, I LOVE YOUR NAILS!! Since you mentioned that you got your nails done, just to be nosy did you get acrylic or porcelain nails or are those beauties your own??

Sorry I just went on way too long , forgive me??

 

[Disneygrl36]

Great start.
That picture of all the circle formations in the land from the plane is really cool. I wonder what that was?
I can't wait til you get to Disneyland.

 

[alabamagirl]

I'm here! Great TR so far, love all the pictures!! I couldn't wait for you to return so I could read another one of your TRs!

I'm glad your wedding cake was still good. Ours looked and tasted awful! We were not romantic about it at all either. We both took one bite of it straight out of the container and threw it away. But we also ate McDonald's on our first anniversary too! We were poor because we had just bought our house. We made up for it the next year with a trip to the Bahamas. Anyway......

Can't wait for more!

 

[kmab00]

Tinkermell - Thank you so much!! I'm glad you enjoy the pictures!


disneyfanatic4 - Our first day was a blast! Thanks for reading along!


Soonergirl - Thank you!!


Angel*lady - Thanks for reading along! I appreciate the input!!


Girldreamer02 - We flew Continental. I wish we could afford first class. This trip cost us enough as it was.... especially since it was not yet value season!!


PrincessAJ - Aww thanks!! I started out only being a part of the Wedding/Honeymoon board and now since I've "branched out", I've met SO many wonderful people!!! 2 weeks in Disney World...how fabulous! Disneyland is great, too!


JLynn - Sorry my TR kept you awake at 3 a.m.!! I agree about getting your money's worth for the camera! You paid for it, you might as well use it!!


Dcanoli - Thank you very much! More is on the way!!


Jennifer48 - Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying it so far!


MAPigletfan - I'm not a huge fan of planes, either...they scare me, really! When we are taking off and landing, I'm holding onto Jason for dear life!! I'm a huge chicken!!


jnjusoioa - I agree about the time change...ugh!! Thanks for following me here! I'm glad you enjoyed the Christmas report! I had a lot of fun "reliving" that trip!!!


nibblesandbits - Yay another first time Disneyland-er!! You're going to LOVE it! It really is a beautiful park!


6Smiles- Thank you very much!


prettyprincessbelle - Thanks! Not too much longer before your next trip! Hope you have a fantastic birthday!


JaxJags - I know what you mean....I've never flown first class in my life! I would love to one day, though - just to get that experience!


Spartangirl - I take pictures of parking signs, garages, tickets we get when we arrive.....simply because of our Honeymoon trip. When we returned to the airport, we spent FOREVER searching for our darn car...we didn't write down where we had parked! NOW, I document it all!! Thank you!!


coconutsunshine - AWWW That's so sweet of you to say! THANK YOU!!! I can't believe that flights hardly even give out drinks anymore! That's just crazy! It's not as if you paid five bucks for a plane ticket! Eeew ... grosse Egg McMuffin! Sorry you had to endure that! The nails are unfortunately not mine! I had acrylic applied, but it is the American tip instead of the French tip.....the difference - American tip is kind of shiny and more irridescent looking---French tip is solid white. You didn't go on too long! Thanks for commenting!!


Disneyglr36 - I don't know what those circle formations were! It would be nice to find out, though! Anyone have an idea?


alabamagirl - Thanks for following me over here! Sorry your wedding cake wasn't very good a year later!! Oooh the Bahamas...sounds fabulous!!


More is on the way........

 

[kmab00]

April 7, 2008 - Arriving in California and Paradise Pier!!

We taxied, were allowed off of the plane, and made our way through SNA for baggage claim!! I was so excited...we were finally here!!

We got ALL of our bags back, too!! Yay for not having any lost luggage!!

After collecting all of our bags, we next started the hunt for the Disneyland Express. See here in California, there is no "Magical Express" like there is in Florida. Sooo, you have a few choices of transportation: The Disneyland Express (sponsored by Grayline if I remember right), Rent a Car, Take a Taxi, and Super Shuttle are a few of the most common methods of transportation. All options require a fee (of course). I think the Disneyland Express from SNA to Paradise Pier was like $48.00 round trip but I can't remember. What's nice about it though is when I made our reservations through the Disney Travel Company, they added on the Express fee to our total cost so I didn't have to make the reservation separate and pay for it apart from our trip!

We found the Disneyland Express without any problems! I was actually really surprised how quick we found it! I'm sportin my in-style super huge sunglasses! I was so excited about finding these! They were PERFECT for our trip. I had ordered the online and they arrived the week before we left!

Surprise surprise...a bus was waiting there for us! There is a schedule out for the Disneyland Express that shows how often buses leave the airport for the hotels. It looked as if a bus would arrive every 15-30 minutes. When we boarded, we found that there were hardly any people on the bus!!

We only waited about 5 minutes before we departed for our hotel, but only after a few more people had joined us.

Here we go with the road signs again.....

I was shocked that we didn't stop first at the Disney hotels like I thought we would. We stopped at a La Quinta or something and then another "Disney Friendly Neighbor Hotel" before stopping at the Grand. Paradise Pier was the last stop, even though we were one of the first to board the bus!

Finally we saw THE sign!! Sorry it's not a great picture but it was the best we could get! There were some REALLY annoying kids sitting somewhere on the other side of the bus behind us...they were SO loud! I couldn't wait to get off the bus!!!

We waited in a small line before it was our turn to check in! The CM was WONDERFUL! She was SO sweet...she was from Great Britain if I remember correctly! When she found out it was our Anniversary, she really went above and beyond! She did note that we had requested a King bed but she said that there are only like 10 King bedrooms in the entire hotel. Since our trip was 6 nights, there was no way that she could fit us into a room with a king bed. Soooo, she offered to UPGRADE!!!! Of course we agreed! We had only booked a Standard Room and I was hoping that she would say the word CONCIERGE but sadly....that word did not come out of her mouth! However, we were still excited at the thought of an upgrade to Theme Park View!! It would have been more than we paid for at least!

She searched and searched and you could really tell that she was doing her best to get an upgrade for us, but unfortunately, an upgrade just wouldn't work for us! She kept saying, "You guys are staying too long!!"

After she had us all checked in, she gave us Happy Anniversary buttons and told us to WAIT and not go ANYWHERE! Sure...no problem! lol! (That's me waiting...haha!)

Within a few minutes, she returned with................

Balloons and a black and white picture signed by Mickey and Minnie! What's cool is that we have the same autographed picture from our Wedding (I sent Mickey and Minnie a wedding invitation ) and now we have one from our 1st Wedding Anniversary!!

...................................CONT................................

 

[kmab00]

...........................CONT..........................

First thing's first....gotta decorate the DOOR, of course!!! I made these all before I left home and I made sure to remember to bring tape along in my carry on!

We were given room 717 on the 7th Floor (obviously!)

I LOVED our room! It was HUGE to me compared to other Disney hotels that I had stayed in!!

I loved the decor, too! It was all centered around California Adventure. That couch pulled out to a sofa bed!

My favorite part was of course, the Mickey Lamp!!

Another view of the room. The closet was huge, too! Inside was a crib with all of the blankets/sheets to fit it and the sofa bed! I thought that was too cool!!

The Bathroom

The Bathroom #2

I LOVED the little extras! The bottles were SO cute! The mickey heads flipped up to make a squeeze bottle! I bought like a million of them home!! Haha!!

Now one of the best parts...........OUR VIEW! No it wasn't a theme park view, but it wasn't of a parking lot, either!!

THE POOL complete with slide!

If you looked directly out and down the window in our room, this is what you saw!

I loved our room keys, too!

TV cabinet complete with refrigerator and a safe!

Before too long, we realized we were hungry! We decided to eat our "plane food"! Hehe! I took one bite of that chicken sandwich and almost barfed. The bread was DISGUSTING. I decided to chop up the chicken and add it to my salad. THAT tasted a lot better but it wasn't great! We also realized that we didn't have anything to drink so DH set out on a quest for a coke!

What he came back with was a Cherry Coke that he paid $2.75 for!!!

While we were eating, a knock came on the door from a housekeeper. When she saw that we were in the room, she was like, "Oh I'm SO sorry!" and hurried up and left. I thought that was quite suspicious since the room was fresh and already cleaned! Hmmm.......

Since we weren't on the dining plan, I decided to bring snacks to eat during the week! This is all that made it safely across the country on a plane! lol!

Something else that was given to us upon check in ... a personalized itinerary!! I was so impressed! It showed park hours of the parks every day and also gave times for our PS for the week!!

After eating, it was time to hit up Downtown Disney!! At the elevators, DH made a philosophical announcement!! "This morning, THESE VERY socks were in Louisiana! And now...they are in......California!" He's too crazy sometimes!!

The Downtown Disney sign!

Couldn't forget one in front of our hotel!

Disney's Paradise Pier!

Up next: Downtown Disney, EXTRA PIXIE DUST, and What's WRONG with my EYE??

 

[weslovesauntmeg]

Loving your trip report!! You guys had great weather that week!! We were there the 16th for an afternoon trip with my nephew and sister's..and it was quite hot in the afternoon. Can't wait to her more..