Another One-Day Wonder (Halloween Party Sept 2018 complete)

Jaina

Actually, my name is Sara. It's a long, VMK story.
Joined
Jul 22, 2005
Actual Trip Report Starts HERE! (on page 4)


Apparently my new way to experience Disney is one day at a time... After my single day trips in October and December of last year (girls' trip and then with my husband) I thought it would be a while before my next trip. We're trying to save for a house, after all, and 5 kids x anything = $$$$$.

5hzA3pX.jpg


But my daughter got picked to be part of a study at our local research place (where they test products) and for 25 days of testing their products she is scoring $100. I have either brainwashed her or inspired her, because her eyes lit up as she said, "That's a Disneyland ticket..."

fIAxdwq.jpg



And she started talking about me taking -just her- to Disneyland. A lot. Do you know how hard that is to turn down, when I'm always wanting to go too? I have been using the site DietBet over the last year to lose some of this baby/nursing weight AGAIN, and I have $300 coming my way next month. For a long time I've thought it would be super fun to do a Halloween party with my husband, especially since we're close enough to drive over one morning, go to the party, and drive back the next morning. Busy, but more do-able with a bunch of kiddos at home. But we did a really fun day last December together, so it opened this idea up to do with my DD.

She has always been my most-Disneyland-obsessed child. Her first visit was when she was 5, and we had been accidentally-ish indoctrinating them for years already in all things Disney. Her first trip was so magical for her, and she was so happy to be there, I don't know if she whined once (unlike her two siblings...) Over all it was an amazing trip, but she really soaked it all in.


BSTEmA6.jpg

67odgLc.jpg

rZLWso2.jpg

FBhUFUo.jpg

NZ1Nds6.jpg


For financial reasons, her second trip wasn't until November 2016, when we went during Christmas time. It was a crazy, exhausting, (but fun) trip, mostly because we had added a toddler and a 4-month-old to the three we took before! She thoroughly enjoyed that trip, too, but it's a little harder to tour with so many different wants and needs and ages.


VbrjBgc.jpg

XVTftEN.jpg

KdpADVb.jpg

nwfLChR.jpg

ZI2y3H0.jpg

vDuTSZ2.jpg

(And yes, her name is Jaina. Mine is Sara. I joined the DIS when I was playing VMK (virtual magic kingdom) at my boring post-college job, before I had kids. Jaina was my character's name, since it was one of my favorite names at the time...)

So we've been thinking, and researching, and THEN they released the dates/prices WAY before I expected. YAY! So we are officially planning, have some plans in place, and are shooting for the Monday, September 24th party... there's no way they'll sell out before they're available to the regular public, right?? :P
 
Last edited:
Following :wave2:

I so know what you mean about putting Disney off for a while to save for a house.....but i just dont know if its possible for me... :confused3
I love all your matching shirts, they are so cool. :thumbsup2
 
Following :wave2:

I so know what you mean about putting Disney off for a while to save for a house.....but i just dont know if its possible for me... :confused3
I love all your matching shirts, they are so cool. :thumbsup2
Thanks for following! And I get that. We keep trying, but any time we've gone it didn't seem like the -best- financial decision, and I've never regretted it afterwards! But it just adds up so fast with a family of 7. :P I'm scheming a one-day trip in February or March maybe, before our baby turns 3. :) We'll see if that happens...
 
So it's going to happen! This is exciting -- so happy for both of you! And isn't is so true (and funny) how the Disney gene works? My youngest is my Disney kid. Oldest likes Disney, really enjoys the parks, but... youngest is the one who lights up and want to be a CM one day. :) And we both got the gene from Grandpa! Too funny.
 


So it's going to happen! This is exciting -- so happy for both of you! And isn't is so true (and funny) how the Disney gene works? My youngest is my Disney kid. Oldest likes Disney, really enjoys the parks, but... youngest is the one who lights up and want to be a CM one day. :) And we both got the gene from Grandpa! Too funny.

Yeah, we get it from her grandpa too. He's the one that would always get super excited when we were going to Disney. Even when he was feeling "old" and was kind of overweight and was willing to pay $100 to go sit on the benches and just BE at Disneyland. :) He once apologized to me for "doing this to me." (Contributing to me being so obsessed with such an expensive place) :earboy2:

fCHAyJz.jpg

(Me and my dad in 1988)
 
Last edited:
Following along! :) You have a beautiful family!!

Thanks! They keep us busy! I'm excited for this first one-on-one trip! In a couple years (when finances and babies getting older permit) our plan is to get AP's for DH and I and take each child on an individual trip sometime during that year! I'm pretty excited for this!
 


Awesome! Sounds like its going to be a wonderful trip! We love Disney at Halloween-time, such great theming and events. Can't wait to see how it all comes together popcorn::
 
Sounds like a fun mother daughter trip! I get it from my momma too... my parents had been taking my brother and I on and off since we were old enough to walk. My brother is indifferent to Disney but I'm still obsessed. We actually did a mother daughter trip last year for her 60th birthday. So much fun!

Can't wait to hear more about your trip. :-)
 
Sounds like a fun mother daughter trip! I get it from my momma too... my parents had been taking my brother and I on and off since we were old enough to walk. My brother is indifferent to Disney but I'm still obsessed. We actually did a mother daughter trip last year for her 60th birthday. So much fun!

Can't wait to hear more about your trip. :-)

Thanks for following along! It seems so far away, but in other ways, so close! My siblings all like Disneyland, but I think I'm definitely the most obsessed. My SIL is also super into it though, which is fun. :)
 
So, I think our travel plans have to be a little flexible, because depending on what's going on with my friends in Anaheim (I have two, the ones that I took this fun trip with - they were college roommates, and we talk weekly via Marco Polo and try to see each other when we can!) we could leave Arizona either on Saturday or on Sunday, and stay 1-2 nights at one of their houses. If it works for them at that point, of course. DD10 is really looking forward to having some vacation time with just she and I! If we go out Saturday, we'll probably just spend Sunday hanging out with my friends, going to church, etc. Monday morning we'll go to breakfast somewhere, and then I'm hoping we can check into our hotel (whether our room is ready or not) around noon, and then head over to Downtown Disney. We had a reservation at the Budget Inn, and were planning to walk to and from Mickey and Friends, but I looked into it more, and the walking seems kind of iffy, which I don't want to be dealing with, just me and my daughter, around midnight. So I changed our reservation to the Magnolia Tree hotel, which is about a half mile south of the Toy Story lot on the same side of Harbor. I'm more comfortable just walking along Harbor that time of night than trying to navigate footpaths over to the Budget Inn from Mickey and Friends. It was about $25 more, but parking is still free, and there's a continental breakfast. And if the pictures are truthful, it's cute in the rooms, which my daughter will like. :) We will get up whenever we're ready Tuesday morning and drive home at that point!
Zhwgu01.jpg



 
My daughter has been going back and forth on costumes or just cute t-shirts and ears or bows or something for this trip. While I was willing to dress up with her, I cheered inwardly when she decided maybe not real costumes, "because they wouldn't be that comfortable, or they'd be hot." That's my girl! Though I'm excited to see all the fun costumes, we don't need the novelty of dressing up at Disney. She's only been twice in her 10 years, so Disneyland IS the novelty! I bought this shirt last year on clearance at the Disney Outlet near our house, and actually made the ears for my last October trip, but didn't end up wearing them. My girlfriends and I found these shirts and visors at Target instead the day before we did both parks.
ZqNDF68.jpg


So I'm excited to get to wear them, because I may never make another set. Or not until I get a better technique. I took some ears I got a set of cheaply on eBay (see the ones with the Descendants shirt) and used them as a template to make some of my own. But the ears aren't even in the right spot, especially on an adult, so I had to rip them off and move them over. It was long and involved, and they don't fit nearly as comfortably as these:

VbrjBgc.jpg


(btw, I haven't been able to make myself spend $25 on ears yet, so I got these for $7 a piece at our Disney outlet a full 1.5-2 years before we took that trip, and I have another set with the blue sparkly bows on top hanging out in my closet for next time... also $7-8. When you're buying for 3 or 4, it adds up fast!)

But right before I went to the Disney outlet yesterday (I haven't been in ages, due to breaking my toe 6 weeks ago :crutches: ) DD said she might be interested in dressing up something like Mal from Descendants. I tried hard not to roll my eyes and said we'd see what we could do. I'm just not a Descendants fan... But this t-shirt was $4 at the outlet, plus I told her we could customize those little ears, and maybe even get some hair chalk to make her hair purplish. She liked that idea, so for now that's our plan!

5GQS3CQ.jpg
 
Following! That's awesome that you will get to take a trip with your daughter just the two of you. I am 37 years old now...but it would have been so cool to do this with my mom when I was young. (Okay...it would even be fun now...ha!)
 
Following! That's awesome that you will get to take a trip with your daughter just the two of you. I am 37 years old now...but it would have been so cool to do this with my mom when I was young. (Okay...it would even be fun now...ha!)

Yes! I would love to go with my mom and my sister as an adult. Or even just one of them. Now that's on my bucket list!

I was just looking at my signature and realize that this Halloween Party will be my 20th trip to Disneyland! That's an exciting "anniversary" for an out-of-stater who's never been an AP! :) I shall have to celebrate somehow...

(picture from my first visit in 1986)
HW8gqw9.jpg
 
That's awesome! This will be my 12th visit if I exclude the year and a half we lived near the park. Only 6 for WDW though. Definitely need to get back there sometime.
 
Aaaaand, we changed our hotel again. Booking.com probably rolls it eyes whenever I book a hotel there. I've canceled like 8 times as many rooms in the last few years as I've actually kept! Although I liked the looks of the rooms in the Magnolia Tree Hotel, I just couldn't shake my uneasy feeling about that near-midnight walk from the Toy Story lot to the hotel, with just me and my girly. And I felt stressed at the idea of trying to find an Uber or Lyft driver that time of night too. So we decided to just change it up. For the exact same price, with just booked the Quality Inn & Suites Anaheim at the Park (on Katella, southwest corner behind CA). It gets great reviews, and I've stayed on that corner before. (Maybe even at that hotel. I don't remember, but it was like 10 years ago) We were planning to go do downtown Disney for a couple hours before we can get in line and enter California Adventure around 2:30/3 anyway, so walking over that way is no big deal, and it's less security. And then we can either walk back if we want, or we can catch ART. I have a little more research to do there. I think we can just pay cash ($3 each) for a one way ride though. And for the same price (still free parking and free breakfast) we get a much better looking breakfast (which my daughter is excited about. "Doughnuts???? Yogurt???" So am I actually - I prefer the protein options, since I eat pretty low carb most of the time) and there is a pool, in case we want to swim the morning after. I feel much more settled about this choice!
Speaking of Downtown Disney: someone said there is a corn dog cart of some sort? I must look into this! Because that's what I want for lunch on Monday!!
VtzE9lP.jpg

1cFFY5l.jpg
 
I'm crazy about booking and rebooking hotels when I'm planning a trip too (although I didn't with our Disneyland trip). Sounds like a great plan. We just took our youngest to Disneyland and it was so much fun... but then again she's 18 it's a little different. Still, much easier to tour when it's just 1 kid vs 3 kids. Hope you have a magical trip.
 
That breakfast looks good! Our hotel doesn't have much so we'll likely be eating in our room like last time. We're boring and staying at the same hotel as our last two trips. I am too paranoid to try anything new. Ha!
 
I'm crazy about booking and rebooking hotels when I'm planning a trip too (although I didn't with our Disneyland trip). Sounds like a great plan. We just took our youngest to Disneyland and it was so much fun... but then again she's 18 it's a little different. Still, much easier to tour when it's just 1 kid vs 3 kids. Hope you have a magical trip.

And the last time I did it with kids, we had 5, with two of them quite little! Touring for less than a day with one easy 10-year-old will be cake! (And very fun!)


That breakfast looks good! Our hotel doesn't have much so we'll likely be eating in our room like last time. We're boring and staying at the same hotel as our last two trips. I am too paranoid to try anything new. Ha!

When you pick something that works well, it's hard to want to change it! I'm like that with restaurants though. I have a hard time ordering new things if there's something I already know I love!
 
Tickets to Mickey's Halloween Party bought for September 24th!! :) I got on about 7 AM this morning (west coast time) and they site was working just fine. I bought the two tickets in two different transactions, since we used the gift card for one, and my regular card for another. But they are both already linked in my Disney App, and it makes me very happy to look at it and see them there! :)

WdRngKa.jpg
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!






Top