Disfans

California Adventure!

October 1, 2007 · No Comments

OK, I have to tell you that I love California Adventure. I enjoy this park just as much as Disneyland, and with fewer people in the park, it’s sometimes more enjoyable than Disneyland.

When we went, it was a Friday, the second to last weekend of August 2007. We entered the park about 30 minutes after the open, and spent probably another 20-30 minutes outfitting the children with hats. You need to have a hat for that warm California sun. I took my two children, and went along with my mother and 4 of my brothers. The temperature was warm, but not stifling.

Another word about the sun. You MUST put on sunscreen, and wear a hat. Drink lots of water while you are walking. California is a desert, in disguise, if you aren’t careful, you will get burned or dehydrated very quickly. I dressed the kids for warm weather, and for the possibility of getting wet. They each wore a swim suit with regular, lightweight shirt on top. (my daughter also threw on shorts over hers, but my son wore his suit as shorts.) I stowed a change of clothes for each of them in a locker outside of California Adventure. There are lockers outside the park, to the left of the California sign, and there are also lockers inside the park, to your right as you enter the park, near the rest rooms. I always stow our gear in the lockers outside the park, they are usually pretty plentiful, and it gives us something to do while we wait for the rest of our group to meet us at the “C” in California. At the time of our trip, it was August. Pretty warm in California. As I’m writing this, its Fall in California, and still pretty warm. But if you’re planning to spend the whole day, you might want to add a sweater to your locker for later. After the sun goes down it can get a might chilly in the evenings.

Um, this will sound silly, but I actually heard someone say, “Meet me by the “A” in California.” There are 2 “A’s” in California, you may want to specify a consonant, like “C” or “F”, or be really specific and say ‘Meet me by the LAST “A” on the California sign’, if you’re going to meet someone in front of that landmark. I’m just saying. Or, you know, at least learn how to spell California, before you make this embarassing mistake. Lots of people like to use these letters as meeting points. You could spend a long time looking for someone who went to the wrong letter “A”.

My mom and I had planned out a few of the things we had wanted to see the day before, but we really hadn’t hashed out a “game plan” like some folks are known to do. Here’s the cool thing we found, to plan what we wanted to see ahead of time. Click Here for planning fun, on the Disneyland.com website. My Mom and I used this tool, to make a list of attractions we wanted to be sure and see.

I’ve visited California Adventure a few times, and I always come away saying things like, “I didn’t know that was there!”, or “I wish I had more time to see a couple more things.” With our list, we knew which attractions were MOST important to us, so we could skip the ones that weren’t as important, and add in things that other people in our group wanted to see, or just slow down for the kids, who were hot and tired and needed to go get wet in the play area. I was glad we did the list, because my Mom didn’t even realize that the parade formerly known as “The Main Street Electrical Parade” now runs at California Adventure every night.

Generally, and especially with kids along, we go with the flow and execute several “plans” along the way. Like when we’re hungry for lunch, we’ll generally consult on where we want to eat, what is available, and when we want to stop, etc. Depending on the whine factor the kids are exhibiting we make a plan from there.

My brothers made a couple of jokes about what we’d do after visiting everything in California Adventure, which they estimated would take about 2 hours. ha, ha. We spent the whole day at the park, campers.

I’ve never understood the complaints about this park, I’ve always found it enjoyable, and usually we don’t budget enough time to see everything. I have always left this park wishing I had more time. OK, yes, there are fewer roller coasters, and BIG rides, but I have to tell you, that I’m not so much into the big roller coasters anymore. I will still ride a few of them, but its not enough to ruin a fun day at the park for me if California Screamin’ is closed.

There is so much to enjoy about California Adventure, that I will keep coming back over and over again.

Here are a few of the attractions that made the list Mom and I made before our visit:

1. Soarin’ Over California: I hadn’t been on this ride before and had heard it was not to be missed. This time I wasn’t going to miss it.

2. Grizzly River Run: A great way to cool off, your standard water rapids ride.

3. Muppet Vision 3D: I have seen this show, every time I’ve been to CA Adventure, and I love it.

4. Disney Animation: Fun for the kids to go in and see how animation comes to life.

5. Bountiful Valley Farm: Getting wet for hot, tired kids can really get them cooled off and ready to go again. And a place for Mom and Dad to relax while the kiddies run around and play.

6. Disney’s Aladdin - A Musical Spectacular: I hadn’t seen this before, but again, had heard great things.

7. Turtle Talk with Crush: Another first for me, I was really interested to see what the hub-bub was about.

8. Disney’s Electrical Parade: An old favorite from my childhood, I never miss this parade. I was so happy that Disney brought the Main Street Electrical Parade to CA Adventure.

9. Monster’s Inc. : This is a classic dark ride, like those found in Fantasyland, and not to be missed.

10. It’s Tough to Be a Bug: Another 3-D show, but I never miss it. Great to come here and cool off while others in your party head off to the Tower of Terror, which is so not for me.

Tips for California Adventure:

As always, start early, as soon as the park opens.
Dress to get wet.
Store a change of clothes in a locker at the beginning of the day. Clothes are available in the park for purchase, but they may not have your size, and they are expensive. You’ll be glad to walk back to that locker if you can have your own dry clothes that fit, instead of a $25, too small T-shirt.
Dress for the season… it may start off warm in the Fall/Winter months, but gets chilly after the sun goes down. Put a sweater in your locker for later.
Buy/bring a hat, sunscreen and sunglasses. You can get all of these items at Walmart/Target much less expensively than at the park. I usually will plan to buy hats at the park, because the kids love to have special “Disney” hats, but I try to pick up sunscreen at the store before we get to the park, because Disney prices are much higher, even on these basic items.
Bring/buy and drink lots of water. I always bring one bottle of water per person, and buy others during the day, as needed. You don’t want to get dehydrated, heat exhaustion and heat stroke can ruin your day at the park.
Bring batteries/film for your camera. These items are also available for purchase in the park, but very expensive.
If you have a digital camera, make sure you charge the battery the night before, and pack an extra SD card in case you have some kind of malfunction when you get to the park.

Plan ahead. Check out the Disneyland Resort website and check out the list of attractions and have an idea of what you want to see before you hit the park. (see my link above and at the right). Its not necessary to plan every single moment, but you should know what to expect before you get to the park.

Photos by: Mike, editorial comments by Jen

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Trip Notes, Part II Arrival in the OC

September 16, 2007 · No Comments

After a long journey, we arrived in Orange County, CA at 9:30 in the morning. A great advantage to flying early in the morning, is that we arrive early in the morning. This is a very cool thing to me, that Disneyland has over Disney World. When you fly to Florida, unless you’re on Eastern Time already, you pretty much lose a whole day for travel. Not so flying into California, I always feel like I’ve gained a day, if I fly in early enough.

The kids were immediately appreciative of the cooler temperatures in the OC. Back home, even at 9:30 in the morning, it was at least 90 degrees. At John Wayne that morning, we were grazing 75 degrees.

We stood in line for our rental car at Hertz, because I don’t rate #1 Plus Gold Membership. I had rented an economy car to save on our expenses. The nice lady at the counter asked if we’d like to upgrade to a Solara for $10/day extra. It amounted to about $60 dollars, and I figured I had saved that much on the rental car by booking through Travelocity, so I said “why not!”.

The kids were enchanted with the concept of a convertible. They claimed to have never ridden in one before. (this I don’t quite believe… but they were excited about it) The extra $60 was worth it because one of the kids claimed this to be our best vacation ever. After a quick stop at IHOP, across the street (almost literally) from John Wayne Airport, we sallied forth.

I grew up in Southern California, but I still get lost on the freeways. I highly recommend getting a map, and directions from the person at the rental counter. I consulted my Hertz map, and set off in search of a Target.

On this day, we had PLENTY of time, so I figured we’d find a local Target before heading to our hotel. My daughter needed a swimsuit, and due to recent changes in security restrictions, I didn’t pack a lot of toiletries. Target stocks a large number of sample sizes of shampoo, soap, toothpaste, and any other toiletry item a person might require on a short visit to California. I also make it a habit to purchase a 24 pack of bottled water at Target before checking in to any hotel. You never want to drink tap water in a hotel, and while most hotels offer bottled water in vending machines or even in the rooms, the prices are outrageous. For example, at a recent hotel stay, Aquafina water was stocked in our room for the bargain price of $3 per bottle. Across the street at Target, I purchase 24 bottles of water for approximately $4.

If you stay near Disneyland on Harbor Blvd, Target is located on Harbor, just past Chapman on the left hand side. You can find toiletries, clothing, and beverages and snacks for your hotel room, at a very economical price. The nearest Walmart, is on Euclid, in the Anaheim Plaza. Head North on 5, and exit at Euclid.

Comfort Inn Maingate

We purchased our supplies and found our hotel, right off the Harbor Blvd exit on the 5 Freeway. Well, not right directly off the freeway. It’s a short drive down Harbor Blvd, on the right hand side before Chapman. My first impression of the hotel, was that its smaller than any other place I have stayed before, but I knew it would be, this being a 2 Star hotel.

I have no trouble with a 2 Star hotel, as long as it is clean and well kept. The lobby was very small, but clean and well kept up. The staff at the front desk was courteous, and we were in and out in just a few minutes.

There was just a parking lot, no security, and the pool was a very small one, located in a corner of the parking lot. Our room was on the back side of the hotel, away from the parking lot. It seemed very quiet and a nice location, but this was just after noon, and most hotels are pretty quiet at that time of day. It was away from the street and there was no noise from the street as far as I could tell.

The room itself, was not as small as my first impression. We had booked a 2 double, kids suite, and it was actually quite large for a 2 star room. It appeared very clean, and once we figured out the air conditioning, very pleasant. 2 Double beds in the main room, with a bathroom,refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, television and desk.

Just off the main room, where there would ordinarily be a connecting door to the room next door, was a door with glass windows, through which was a bunk bed, television, child’s table and chair set, and best of all.. a full bathroom. The kids loved the bunk bed, with the thoughtful touch of reading lights with their own light switches above each bed.

Everything seemed clean and well kept, so I unpacked our bags, and set about trying to find a place to plug in the trusty laptop, video camera, and cell phone. Since I wanted to sit on the bed and watch TV, rather than sit at the desk and work, I tried to plug in near the bed. The light was plugged in, and the alarm clock, and as I reached to unplug one, I noticed the lamp cord was extremely frayed, and the plastic end of the plug was actually melted. I unplugged both the lamp and the alarm clock and moved the edge of the bed away from the outlet. That melted plug frightened me a little bit, and I worried that the bedding could catch fire.

There was another plug in the wall nearby the other bed, so I just moved over and tried to plug in there. My computer’s plug actually fell out of the outlet. This was not good, I was getting a bit frustrated. I moved over to the desk, plugged the computer in, and turned the overhead light on, which flickered constantly. Three strikes on electricity. Now I was left with the light from our window, and the light in the bathroom to read by.

Before we went out the next morning, I called the front desk and told them about the electrical problems. They offered to send someone out right away to fix them. We spent the day out at California Adventure, and by the time we returned, the major issues were fixed. The reading light over the desk no longer flickered, and the plug for the lamp over the bed was repaired.

My only other complaint about the hotel, was that the water in the shower fluxuated in temperature while you’re in there. It can be quite annoying to have to dodge out of the way when the water suddenly shoots up 10 degrees. It happened every time I was in the shower, not just during the busy “morning rush” times either. We skipped the parks on Saturday, and slept in late, but the water temp was jumping up and down even when the main rush of people had already left the hotel.

Our stay at Comfort Inn Maingate was mostly pleasant and quiet. There was no street noise from Harbor Blvd, as our room was located on the back side of the hotel. The swimming pool was very small and located across the parking lot, we did not use it. We were visiting my parents while we were in Southern California, and used their pool instead. If we had not had the other pool to go to, we possibly would have used the hotel pool, but it did seem inconvenient to have to walk across the parking lot, to use a very small pool.

Our room was on the ground floor, and while it was quiet 99% of the time, when the upstairs neighbors came in, every movement they made was loud and jarring downstairs in our room. The first night we were there, the neighbors came in at midnight, and proceeded to spend the next hour getting ready for bed, with much stomping and banging. The children and I were both awakened by the noise. The neighbors didn’t seem to be making a lot of noise on purpose, it was just the normal activities of using the bathroom, and settling down for the night, which made a lot of noise downstairs. This continued for each night of our stay.

The hotel offers a “continental” style breakfast in the morning, and honestly, we did not partake of their breakfast. I had read that it was a very small buffet, seating is limited by space, and we had many other offerings to choose from. I did manage to snap a quick photo of the outdoor seating for the continental breakfast on our way out of the parking lot one morning.

It seems best that we avoided it. Harbor Blvd has many different restaurants to chose from. Dennys, IHop, and Carrows to name a few. There are also many fast food places for the budget conscious. Another option that I have used from time to time is to buy breakfast food at a grocery store, such as cold cereal

and milk, with paper bowls and spoons, for the kids to eat in the room before we leave. Most rooms have small refrigerators and microwaves available. Making your own breakfast and eating it before you leave, is by far the least expensive option if you want to avoid the free breakfast buffet.

All in all, the Comfort Inn, Maingate was a very pleasant, clean place to stay. There were a few, minor problems, but I have no major complaints about the place, and it was very clean and comfortable for me and the kids. The staff was helpful and nice, and it suited our purposes very nicely. I’m glad to know there is an affordable place that offers a kids suite. Its so nice to have a private bedroom and bathroom for the children so I’m not forced to go to bed when they do, and so I have a private bathroom to myself.

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Trip Notes, Part I: the exodus

September 6, 2007 · No Comments

Alright, I got the kids back to school, and many other pressing matters have been taken care of. So I may now report on our trip to Disneyland.

We were very excited about the trip, this last minute vacation was just what we needed to escape the Texas heat and relax before the flurry of activity that awaited us when we returned. I tried to put school supplies, book lists, and shopping for school clothes out of my mind.

I had chosen an early morning flight on Frontier Airlines, with a stop in Denver, rather than the more expensive, non-stop late morning flight on American Airlines. I reasoned that the 2 kids I was taking on this trip, are seasoned fliers, and are able to carry their own backpacks and march through an airport with only a little guidance and supervision from me. My husband had volunteered to drive us to the airport, even though the early flight time had us all up at 4:30am.

The kids were excited, and ready to go, springing out of bed, and grabbing their stuff. Ha! Just kidding. They grumbled and fussed a bit, but they were excited about Disneyland and once awake, were easy enough to pursuade to the car.

We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, and my kids were really easy going about checking our bags, and going through security. They know how to peel off their shoes and put their stuff into a gray security tray, and march through the metal detectors, and gather all their stuff again, in what I must say is a record of speed and coordination for them. I have never seen my kids get ready to go with this level of speed, when the starting point is home, and the end target is school.

Our experience with Frontier Airlines was great. The kids loved that they got to have FREE headphones, and they got to watch TV… on the plane. The novelty of watching whatever they wanted on DirectTV programing on the plane, or the map, or the weather channel entertained them all the way to Denver. We hardly noticed the same old cattle car atmosphere, because we could watch our own individual TVs.

For a short flight, such as this was, into Denver, we did not get a meal, and since we left very, very early indeed, we had not procured any provisions at the airport. The kids didn’t understand why the TSA banned liquids in the carry on luggage and why that meant we had no food or beverages with us. Frontier did provide a beverage and a granola bar. Our stopover in Denver was a very brief, 10 minutes, during which we had to virtually sprint across the airport to the next terminal, passing by a very fragrant, and appetizing food court. I didn’t want to take the time to stand in a McDonalds line when I didn’t know where our gate was, so I dragged the kids past all the wonderful food smells to stand in line at our gate.

Once at the gate, it was pretty apparent that we weren’t going to be boarding in the next 30 seconds or even the next 5 minutes, so we darted into a newstand to acquire some small consumables. On board Frontier once again, the children were content to munch on their snacks and watch TV. May the deity of your choice bless the person who came up with this idea, because the whining of a bored child is a curse on an entire airplane. My kids not only didn’t whine for the entire 2 flight trip to Southern California, and they are champion whiners, my friends… I was also able to block the incessant whining of smaller children who were too young to enjoy Direct TV programming (or perhaps their parent was too cheap to pay the $5, who knows?) For $15, I was able to entertain myself and 2 children for 2 hours, and they got free cheap headphones. I used my iPod headphones with zero trouble, but we liked the Frontier cheap headphones for the kids, because they are so cheap, you can bend them to fit a small person’s head if necessary.

My travel tips for this leg of the journey:

Have your child carry their own backpack, appropriate to the size of your child. They can carry a stuffed animal, small blanket, and travel pillow, and small toys for the plane. Snacks are also a good idea, but with increased security, no beverages.
Tell your child what to expect at the security checkpoint. Have them wearing easy to remove shoes, that they can pull on and off themselves. If they can put their own bag and shoes into that bin themselves and slide it to the conveyor belt, its that much easier for you. Remember you will have to take your camera, phone, computer, and other electronic equipment out of your bag, while taking off your shoes and finding bins for all those items. If your child can manage his/her own items its so much easier to handle. Even more so on the other side, if they can put on their own shoes and grab their own bag while you are wrangling everything else, its so helpful.
Bring cheap headphones or grab some freebies from the airline. If you fly Frontier, you get free headphones for watching TV. On other airlines, the headphones are still entertaining for the children to listen to music on the plane. Cheaper headphones are easier to bend and make fit on a smaller child’s head.

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Home again.

August 22, 2007 · No Comments

I have so much to tell you about our trip, including a review of the hotel we stayed in. I also have lots to catch up on that was neglected in my absence, including getting one child ready for school tomorrow.

I have many photos to upload and thoughts to organize, and many other details to manage, including additions and improvements to Disfans. So, Stay Tuned.

Here a cool photo to tide you over in the meantime. Taken by my brother, Rob at California Adventure.

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Alternate Travel Plans

August 16, 2007 · No Comments

So what is a Disneyland bound traveler to do when their budget is small.. and travel packages are waaaay too expensive? That’s the question I asked myself after I finished breathing into a paper bag. I freaked out a little, pondered… fiddled and tweaked the packages online, and moped and fretted. After I was done, I shook myself, got a grip and went back to work.

I consulted my trusty copy of “The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2006″ ..

I took some of their advice, and checked with AAA, Costco, and Expedia. I changed my flight, and I changed my hotel, and I saved a lot of money.
Normally, when traveling with the entire family, we will choose, for the sake of convenience, a non-stop flight. With 3 kids and a wheelchair, and various paraphenalia required for our Special Needs child, its so much easier to travel if we don’t have to deplane, and find another plane, etc. You can imagine the hassle we avoid by paying the higher price for a non-stop flight.

This time, it will just be me and 2 able bodied children, ages 12 and 8. They aren’t toddlers anymore, and can manage quite well with minimal assistance from me, so a stop in Denver won’t kill us. These kids have traveled quite a bit, so they know they will have to tote their own backpacks, and they’ve experienced the joys of Airport security and air travel before.

So instead of flying on the pricier American Airlines, non-stop round trip, we’ll be going on Frontier Airlines, and making a stop in Denver. The plane also leaves bright and early, Thursday morning, at 6:50am. My husband is not so happy to drive us to the airport at 4AM, but he did volunteer.

In addition, I skipped the pricier hotels, and went for a 2 star hotel, that I haven’t stayed at before, The Comfort Inn, Maingate, in Anaheim. They offered a Kids Suite, with 2 bathrooms, and include Continental Breakfast. My kids love to partake of a hotel breakfast, so we’ll check it out.

With an economy car from Hertz, the total package cost $1409.63. Thats right… I’m under my budget, by $90.37. Yes, its a 2 star hotel, we’re making a pitstop in Denver, and I haven’t bought my Disney tickets yet… but I’m happy.

I really, really, really wanted to stay at Paradise Pier. I love staying at Disney hotels. HOWEVER. The only room available, was a standard room, for which I would be paying a premium price. If this was a trip just for me, I’d be fine and happy. Picture me in a room with two arguing kids, hot and sweaty from Disneyland, and nowhere to go. All there is in the room, is a bathroom and 2 beds. That’s no fun. I’m not one of those people who goes to bed early on vacation. I like to sit up and watch tv or read and relax, and with 2 kids with me, I often have one of them go to sleep first, and send the other in after that first child is sleeping. In a one room, two bed situation.. its lights out for everyone at the same time. None of us would have been happy with that, and I sure don’t want to pay extra money for it.

Right now, I’m happy with the room I chose. Its a Kid Suite, with a bunk bed, and two bathrooms, microwave and refrigerator. I have not stayed at this hotel before, but I don’t mind trying a new place, so I can tell y’all about it. I’ll write about some of my other favorite places in another post.

So here are my money saving tips for this post.

1. If you don’t mind changing planes, do it. Non-stop flights are more expensive, you pay for the luxury of flying straight through to your destination. Also, early morning flights are less often chosen by travelers, and airlines will give a better price for them.

You should keep in mind, however, who you are traveling with. Young children and toddlers, and special needs children and adults will not do as well on a 1 or 2 stop flight. Don’t torture yourself and your fellow passengers, opt for a nonstop flight, you will be glad you did. I’ll also try to schedule flights for young children, when they are more likely to nap. If you have a way to upgrade to First Class, by all means go for it. The extra space is so worth it when you are traveling with children.

2. There are sooo many hotels to choose from. Shop around and find one with a price and comfort level you are happy with. Don’t settle for a Standard Double room at Disney, when you can find a much nicer room for less money, less than a block from the park. One of the main differences between Disneyland and Disney World, is that there are many more hotels that are “offsite” to choose from, and competition is a good thing. There are many different price ranges, and different rooms and accommodations to suit any need. It just takes a little legwork to find the best deal.

3. When you have tons of time to plan, check with Costco and see what travel plans they offer.

4. Automobile Club (AAA) can get you discounted hotel room rates, and upgrades and discounts on rental cars.

Now, I have to pack.. our flight leaves in the morning.

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Travel Plans

August 15, 2007 · No Comments

I want to add as a footnote to my last post, that I’m not leaving out one of my 3 kids on this trip. She’ll be perfectly happy to spend that vacation time at home with her Daddy. My little girl has cerebral palsy and is also developmentally delayed. While she would love going to “Its a Small World” with us, the summer heat would be too much for her, so my husband and I made the executive decision to have her stay home with him. They are both perfectly fine with this.

When we made the decision that I could make the trip, I got right into planning. I had a budget for air, hotel and car rental in mind as I got started, realizing I was booking sort of late in the season, and also sort of close to the 2 weeks notice the airlines like. I was somewhat limited in that I needed to plan around the start of the upcoming school year. I have a 12 year old starting 7th grade, a 10 year old starting 5th grade, and an 8 year old starting 3rd grade, and here in Texas… we start school in August. My eldest goes to private school, and starts on August 22. She is home schooled on Tues/Thurs, and goes to school on Mon/Wed/Fri. Orientation for me, is on Aug 15, and since we home school part of the time, orientation is important for me to attend, and I can’t send my husband instead. The 2 younger ones start August 27, at public school. Their orientations aren’t until the 21st. So that gives me a window of Aug 16-20. Whew. I need a nap after all that.

So, now that I have my dates figured out… I start planning. I’ve heard that Disney has some good deals if you order through their website, so I start there. I’ve stayed at the Grand Californian once, and I loved it. I remember it being extremely pricey though, so I’m doubtful that I’ll be staying there on my meager budget this time. I’m game to stay at either the Disneyland Hotel or Paradise Pier, since I’ve never stayed at either one, and there are advantages to staying on Disney property. I thought it would be fun to compare the prices I got from the Disneyland website with the prices I got from Expedia or Travelocity.

I fired up the trusty laptop, on August 4, and here’s what I found out. Inexplicably, Expedia was down, so I got no information from them for this comparison. I wanted to try and stay at the Disneyland Resort, but I am on a limited budget so I was going to consider Disney Good Neighbor Properties as well. After digging around a bit, I thought for this comparison I would choose 2 hotels, one at the Resort, and one Good Neighbor.

Here’s how it broke down. For the first comparison I went with the Paradise Pier Hotel, round trip tickets on American Airlines, non-stop, and an economy rental car. I’ve done a little chart for easy comparison, but I noticed a few differences when booking the details. On Disneyland’s site, you can only choose a rental car from Alamo, the official car rental for the Disneyland Resort, and there is no option to choose not to purchase park tickets. I also noticed that through the Disneyland site, the only hotel at the resort with rooms available during my stay were at Paradise Pier. Travelocity showed some rooms at Disneyland Hotel, as well.

A Standard View, Standard Room at Paradise Pier is your basic 2 Double Bed, 1 bathroom, no frills room, with a view of… something other than California Adventure. Probably something akin to the backside of water. I don’t give the breakdown of how much each item cost.. because it wasn’t given on the Disneyland site. Travelocity did give their breakdown, and there is a lot more flexibility and choice on the Travelocity site. For instance, I could choose any car company I liked, and if I wanted to try and find less expensive park tickets, I didn’t have to buy them from Travelocity.

I took one look at the bottom line for Standard Rooms at Paradise Pier, and after a short, unscheduled nap, from which my husband revived me with smelling salts, I started over with Good Neighbor hotels in mind. Y’all, I looked high and low, and carefully considered many Good Neighbors. The Disneyland area is chock full of hotels in the immediate area and there are many, many good choices in many different price ranges. For the purposes of our little exercise here, I decided to pick a Good Neighbor Hotel that I found on both Disneyland’s website and on Travelocity and kept as many of the details the same as possible.

I had another unscheduled nap, and when I was finally revived, I started to freak out just a little. Let me see if I can draw a picture for you here.

Do you see that tiny, little number in the green box on the left? That’s my budget for air, hotel, and car. Now, I know that the packages I quote all include park tickets, and I have a separate budget for tickets and food, but y’all.. those numbers to the right of my budget are unspeakably high. 3 out of 4 of them are over my total budget for the trip, and we haven’t eaten anything for that price. I’m going to have to go for Plan B.

→ No CommentsCategories: disneyland · travel planning

I’m going to Disneyland!

August 14, 2007 · No Comments

Oh, and I’ll take the kids too. My husband and I decided that a little mini trip was in order, since its about 1000 degrees Celsius in the shade here in Dallas.
Weather Channel, Dallas Weather

Here’s what it is right now:

The kids are off to school next week, but at the end of this week, we’ll be chillin’ in the OC and visiting Mickey and Friends.

Check out this 10 day forecast for Disneyland, I mean.. Anaheim, CA. MUUUUCH cooler.

Thank you, Weather.com.

It will be nice to give the kids this little vacation before they have to sweat in school rooms and try and cram information into their tiny brains, while avoiding heat stroke. They have been reasonably good children this summer, patiently sweating it out at home, thinking all the while that they had no vacation this year.

It’ll just be me and 2 of our 3 kids, since my nice husband has to work, and he would rather stick bamboo shoots under each fingernail and hammer them in firmly with a sledge hammer, than go spend one hot, sweltering day at the Disney parks with us. He’s not a fan of large crowds in warm weather, and he just barely survived last summer when we went to both Disney World and Disneyland.

I myself, would rather visit Disneyland in the cool, breezy autumn, but I have children, and if I want to take them with me, without having them miss a week of education, I have to brave the crowds.

I will recount my experiences in detail for you all to read about. I have recently sorted out my travel details, and I’m staying at a new place so I can report back to you, dear readers. I will share my past experiences along with the new, and I’ll take lots of pictures this time to post on the blog.

Coming very soon, all the details of booking my trip, and some things I learned.

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don’t give your Mom the camera

July 8, 2007 · No Comments

Unless she knows how it works. Don’t go to Disneyland, and then hand your camera to someone who may not know how it works and expect to get a great photo. Sometimes it works out fine, and other times… you get a shot like this. Isn’t this great?

That’s me in front, with no head to put that hat on, and right next to me, my daughter’s elbow. She’s grown so much! My brother C’s elbow right behind me, he has my son on his shoulders, that’s his foot under C’s arm. And the upper torso and legs next to C is my brother D.

So yeah. Photo tip. You want that great group shot for the start of your day? Practice at home first, when you have lots of time to teach Grandma how the camera works. It is suprisingly difficult to get a turn standing in front of the famous flower bed in front of Disneyland. Once you’re up there, you can feel somewhat rushed by all the other folks who want to do the same group shot of their group. Which can lead to a photo like this one, if your photographer suddenly has 3 different cameras shoved at him/her, and doesn’t know how they all work.

Note to my brothers: Did anyone get a good group shot on this trip? can you email it to me? KTX

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Ratatouille Review

July 7, 2007 · 1 Comment

Author’s Note: I try not to give away spoilers or ruin the movie, but there are some scenes and plot points I will discuss that I feel are important if you are bringing a child to this movie. I hope that this will not ruin your enjoyment of the film. If you don’t want to be spoiled, skip down to my final paragraph.

My initial reaction when I heard about this film was probably the same one that most people over the age of 18 or so had when they thought about a film starring a rat that cooks. I was disgusted. Rats are revolting creatures that carry disease and the rumor of a single rat in a restaurant kitchen is probably enough to ruin that restaurant. I couldn’t imagine how even the mighty Pixar could turn that into a cute feature film for families.

I watched a few film clips on the Moviefone site, and on the Disney site (see my previous entry), and I started changing my mind. The film looked great, the actors sounded great. I showed a clip to my children (girl age 12, and boy age 8 ) and they were enthusiastic about going to see it. We made plans to go see the movie on opening day, Friday June 29. I was actually looking forward to it, having taken the same 2 kids to see Shrek the Third a week previously, I felt that this movie would probably be much better.

I have been a fan of Pixar since Toy Story came out on video, and my kids wore out the VHS tape. The only Pixar/Disney film I haven’t seen is Cars. My whole family has seen and loved The Incredibles, directed by Brad Bird, who is the director of Ratatouille. Therefore, my anticipation for this movie, after I watched a few clips, was pretty high. I felt confident that if Pixar could make me believe in Woody and Buzz, they could charm me with a rat who cooks.

Before heading to the theater, I had a brief conversation with my 5 year old niece. I told her we were going to see Ratatouille, thinking that if she was interested, I would invite her along. Her mother had taken her to a Sneak Preview a couple of weeks prior to opening day, but I thought she’d like to go with her cousins if she enjoyed the film. Her review was as follows: “You won’t like it.” Stern frowny face, arms crossed over chest. If she had been standing, she would have stamped her foot. Niece’s mom explained, there is a scene where Remy’s dad tries to convince him that humans really have it in for rats, and shows him a shop window full of rat poison and dead rats, which really bothered my niece. She didn’t understand why something like that would be in a kids’ film, and I kind of agreed with her. I decided that at 8 and 12, my kids could probably handle that level of scariness.

I won’t lie to you and say I headed off to the theater confidently with my kids in tow. I was reasonably sure my 12 year old would be just fine, but I wasn’t sure about the 8 year old. He’s a pretty sturdy rough and tumble kid, but he has a sensitive side, and I didn’t want him to be worried or frightened by the film. Then I got a grip, and reasoned that Pixar, unlike other film studios, hadn’t let me down yet, and I’m a good parent, I should be able to handle my son’s concerns, if he had any.

I really enjoyed the film, ick factor and all. There were points during the movie where I turned to my 12 year old and said “that’s just gross” or “now they have to throw all that food away”, but her reaction was “Mom! He’s so cute!” So I don’t think the feeling was mutual. The kids seemed more able to turn off that “ick factor”. There is no blatant grossness like you would find in a lot of films put out for kids today, other than rats eating garbage and even that was only mildly gross in comparison with some other kids’ films I’ve been forced to sit through. (*cough* Shrek*cough*)

The scenery and animation are beautiful, and well up to the Pixar standard. Its all so detailed you really do feel like you are there with Remy and Linguini. I want to see it again just to look at all the beautiful scenes of Paris, and the detail of Gusteau’s kitchen is fantastic.

***Possible Spoilers in the next 2 paragraphs, don’t read if you don’t want to know*** Keep reading →

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Ratatouille!

June 25, 2007 · No Comments

At first I wasn’t that excited about this movie. Its about a RAT. ew. Lets face it, rats are disgusting, revolting creatures. I didn’t think Remy was that cute.. he seemed to be a bit more realistic than cute. But I just watched a trailer from Moviefone.com (scroll down and click on Clip No. 1 to see what I saw) and I think I’ve changed my opinion.

Then I went to Disney.com. Since the film opens next week, its alll over their site. Lots of fun videos and clips there. The actors make the movie look very enjoyable. I love Brad Garret, and Will Arnett and while I could do without Janine Garofolo, I might be able to overlook her. Patton Oswalt is a great voice for the rat. I do also love how Pixar used some of their employees for voices because they were perfect for the roles.

This might be a good film. Pixar drags me in again. The rat is growing on me, a bit. I’ll be at the movies on opening weekend, and I’ll let you know what I think and what the kids thought.

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