Are you all ready to join me on my trip #2 adventure!
This trip was planned to be entirely solo except for Sara joining me for a few hours after work one night.
What I discovered about going it the solo route is... it is very easy to weasel yourself into a small spot and end up close to the front of many different places! The next thing... it can get kinda boring being by yourself for almost 5 days.
The thoughts to go on this trip began before I even went on my first trip. When I saw the prices for park tickets vs the price I could get an AP for from my work I realized an AP was the way to go!
This was also going to be a budget trip. I planned to spend only about $450 for the entire trip!
I came pretty close to this!
Gas: $100
Hotel: $210
Food: $105
Misc: $60 (lockers, ART...)
I had made hotel reservations at the same place I had stayed the time before. This time though I had decided I was going to use ART as I didn't want to do that walk at the end of the night.
The motel is the Quality Inn & Suites on Manchester. It is definitely nothing to rave about but I slept decently (after the first nap I tried to take) and the breakfast is enough for me to get my day started.
This trip began Nov 29th and ended December 3rd.
I actually worked night shift on November 29th getting off of work at 7:30am. Everyone thought I was crazy but my plan was to drive from work to
Disneyland. I had packed the day before and everything was in the car ready to go!
I am able to sleep just about anywhere so I figured if I got too tired I would just pull over someplace and take a quick nap.
I had never taken this drive before and was kinda nervous about it. I stopped in Gilroy off the 152 at Panera Bread to get my favorite salad to have when I got hungry. (Do you know how hard it is to eat a salad while driving?)
In Lost Hills I stopped for gas and a LARGE Diet Dr Pepper. I then continued my drive. I had thought I would be at Disneyland not too long after passing through the grapevine but it was a lot longer than I thought it was!
I finally saw the Exit I needed! I pulled off the freeway onto Harbor Blvd. Turned left onto Manchester and then into the Quality Inn parking lot. I was never so glad to be somewhere (well except for those morning that I almost fall asleep while driving home!)
I quickly checked into my room which thankfully was ready! I got my suitcase in the room. Turned on the air conditioner (I like to sleep in a cold room!) layed down and attempted to take a nap. I set my alarm as I was wanting to go to DL for the fireworks that night. After a couple of hours I got up and got ready.
I had bought a new bag to use as my park bag.
It is a waist bag but more stylish than a traditional waist bag. I really liked it!
So after I was all bundled up (It was chilly outside!) I headed out. My first stop was HoJo as I wanted to buy a 5-day ART pass. I soon learned that HoJo can only sell to those staying at the hotel
So instead of taking ART to DL I headed off on foot.
I had arrived!!
When I got to DL I stopped by the ART kiosk to buy my ticket. Unfortunalty they only sell the 1 or 3 day in the kiosk so I had to settle for the 3 day.
Finally I was inside Disneyland!
My camera does not take very good night pictures but I had to try!
So BEAUTIFUL!
The fireworks were wonderful and the hub was not overly crowded either. I believe I used my flip to video it but I will have to find it...
After the fireworks I wanted to catch at least one ride so I headed to Pirates of the Caribbean. It was a completed random choice! I walked directly onto the ride. It would have been perfect except... the people behind me talked the ENTIRE ride! And mostly it wasn't even about the ride! They talked about politics and movies and why be on the ride if you are going to talk the whole way!
So I got off the ride completely dissapointed! It was past 8pm so all the rides were closed and the only one I had experienced that night was ruined! Oh well... I had 3 more full days to enjoy!
I snapped a few more pictures...
No flash...
With flash...
I decided picture time was over and it was time to get some real sleep so I headed back to my motel.
I was really dissapointed when I got there to find my room was warm! I had left my A/C running and it should have been cold. I called the front desk and they sent someone to my room to check it out. They said it was blowing cold air. I said no its not. It's colder outside! In the end they said they could switch out the AC unit or I could switch rooms. I said switching rooms was fine so I moved 2 doors down and by the time I got settled that room was cool just like I wanted!
Off to la-la land I went!!!
Great job!
