A Day at Disney with the DIS Board Divas (try saying that 10 times fast!)

[mommaU4]

OKay, I finally decided to bite the bullet and try to write down as much of what I can remember from my ONE day with the Dis Ladies.

Let me start off by saying if you are one of those who likes lots of pics in a trip report (I know I do!) then you will be sorely disappointed. I don't have so much as one pic to post here. I left my camera with my husband, Ruben, so this will be pictureless unless I can snag some from the other ladies. We'll see.

Also it will probably be long and boring since I tend to ramble on and am not a very good writer. But if after all that, you still decide to keep reading.....well, you must be extremely bored at work or at home avoiding doing the laundry. So here goes nothing!

Before I begin, let me give you a little history on me and the trip. My name is Beth and this is me: (Ignore the silly hat.....don't ask!)

This all started back in November of 2007 when I was bored one night, and thought what the heck, I'm going to see if any of the ladies on the Disneyland board would be interested in doing a Ladies Only trip.

I had started one to WDW in 2006 and that went great. We had about 35 ladies, some of whom have broken off into smaller groups of friends and take trips together to WDW to this day.

But since I moved from Michigan to Nevada, and bought Annual Passes to Disneyland for my family, it just made more sense for me to see if I could start another one for the west coast ladies.

Long story short, there were several ladies interested, and our group grew and grew! We had ladies taking part in all aspects of the planning from making reservations to ordering and designing tee shirts and everything in between. It was going great!! Better then I had ever imagined and everyone was so nice. I knew it was going to be a blast.

Then some things happened in my "real life" that made me have to back out of the trip. I was so bummed!! The trip I had started and I couldn't even go. Darn real life!!! But the ladies stepped up, the planning went on, and a great trip was still being organized.

So how did I end up getting to go after all, even if for only a short time? Keep reading.....

 

[mommaU4]

So the months, weeks, and days are passing and finally it's trip time!! Whoo hoo!! That's me being happy for everyone who was getting to go and have a great time, while desperately trying to pretend I wasn't totally bummed not to be packing myself.


Mostly everyone arrived at Disneyland on Thursday, April 24. The trip dates were actually 4/24 thru 4/28, although some ladies were coming in later and some were planning to leave earlier.
The majority of the group was staying at the famous HoJo thanks to much help and planning from Lorealle who is amazing, and actually met up with the ladies for a dinner the first night.


I can't comment too much on the first two days, since I wasn't there. From what I've heard, and the pics I've seen so far, it went GREAT! They did the Jazz Kitchen dinner the first night, and everyone I've talked to said the food was wonderful.
The next day, Friday, was the Blue Bayou meal and the VIP tour. I know that the tour was a huge hit with everyone. Thanks so much to Lesley (Tink33) for organizing that.


Friday night I was online and the first pics were posted of the trip! A wonderful group shot of all 30 ladies in front of the castle. (see the next post for that shot) I was so happy to finally be seeing some pics and hearing back from some of the ladies who had internet access or were local and had gone home for the evening. I went to bed really late happy and content that things were going well.


Now let me just say that my husband Ruben, works nights. He doesn't get off until early in the morning hours. So 2 hours after I went to sleep, he comes into the bedroom, wakes me up and says to follow him. I'm totally out of it, wondering what's going on and why I have to get up. I'm thinking is something wrong, did a phone call come in that I didn't hear and someone's been hurt or in an accident. All kinds of crazy, half asleep thoughts.


He pulls me into the hallway to talk to me. By the way, in case you're wondering why he had to pull me out of the bedroom, I had my kids asleep on the floor of my room and he didn't want to wake them just yet. When he works late, they sometimes like to crash in my room to keep me company.
He proceeds to tell me that everything is fine, that he arranged to get Saturday night off, and for his parents who had been in town already for vacation, to stay a little longer and come to our house to watch the kids. He tells me to get ready, pack some clothes, and he was taking me to Disneyland.


Huh? What did you say? Remember, I've had about 2 hours of sleep at this point. None of this is really sinking in, and honestly I just wanted to crawl back into bed rather then try to figure it all out. Sorry ladies, but at that point bed sounded better then meeting you all!


Finally after much back and forth with the questions and explanations, including me insisting there was no way he could work half the night and then drive me 5 hours to Disneyland, I got what was happening and woke up enough to start getting ready.
He hopped on the computer and used Priceline to book a hotel because the plan was for him to go sleep there after he dropped me off at the park. He was obviously tired from work, and it was a block out day for his pass anyway, so all he wanted to do was sleep!


Right around 6 a.m. as it was just getting light, I finally had everything packed and settled at the house and we were off!! I still could not believe it. I was tired but happy and so nervous! No one knew I was coming. I had all sorts of crazy thoughts going on.
I wondered if I'd be able to find them, would they want to hang out with me, was there even room at any of the meals or any activities since I wasn't signed up, etc. but too late to back out now. I was going to Disneyland!!

Up next: Trying to track down the ladies

 

[mommaU4]

Here is the castle pic with everyone in it. This was taken on Friday, I think just before the VIP tour. Thanks to Mary Jo for putting all the numbers and names on there!

1 Katie (MamaKate)
2 Stacey (stacerita)
3 Shelley (wdwr)
4 Kelly? (Bounce_Tigger)
5 Ruth (Belle1997)
6 Melody (Tinkermel)
7 Lynn (disneegrl4eva)
8 Cheryl (Toocherie)
9 Ellen (Just Ellen)
10 Shelly (castleeto)
11 Jennifer (Grizzbuzz)
12 Cristobel (disney_inspired)
13 Mary Jo (Mary Jo)
14 Chris (Califgirl)
15 Capri (disney-super-mom)
16 Steph (21yankees)
17 Bernice (FunnyGarcia)
18 Heather (Fairycat)
19 Michelle (Zoemakes5)
20 Amy (grumpyvet)
21 Callie (DangerMouse)
22 Stacie (Stacielee)
23 Lauren (LaurenF)
24 Christine (Stacielee's daughter)
25 Dagny (Dagny)
26 Jill (4fosterkids)
27 Megan (staley7580)
28 Cathy (Capri's friend)
29 Linda (Lulubelle)
30 Lesley (Tink33)
DISer in Spirit: Bethlet - Hovering above Shelley's hat, right before the 1 in #12 (Bethlet, you've been having a GREAT time this weekend)


I was so touched that they had a "Bethlet" there to represent me! If I remember correctly, Lesley brought a Barbie doll along to pass off as me. In a bikini no less! Being from Vegas, it seemed appropriate I guess.

So sweet. And funny. Apparently Barbie Beth had lots of fun before I even got there! I heard reports I was hanging out the window on the Lilly Belle, splashing around in the "hot tub" and I guess I had too much to drink and passed out, but we'll keep that hush-hush.

(pic courtesy of wdwr/Shelley)

Also I have to mention that in addition to the doll representation of myself, they also all signed a really great card and wrote nice messages to me about how they missed me because at that point they had no clue I was on my way. Heck, until a few hours earlier I didn't know I was going to be on my way!
So this group of ladies are truly a fun, thoughtful group.

 

[lisadoll93]

Bethlet looks like she is have a good time.

 

[grizbuzz]

Great trip report! So sorry I didn't get to meet you while you were there. And sorry I didn't get to meet your DH...he sounds like a great guy!

 

[mommaU4]

Bethlet looks like she is have a good time.

She does doesn't she?? Too bad I personally haven't worn a bikini since I was 20! That would be 16 years, four kids, and many pounds ago.

Great trip report! So sorry I didn't get to meet you while you were there. And sorry I didn't get to meet your DH...he sounds like a great guy!

Thanks. I'm trying to see just how long I can drag out my one day at Disneyland.
I wish I'd been able to meet you too! Next time for sure.

 

[mommaU4]

From Vegas to Anaheim it usually takes us around 5 hours. That's with at least one stop, usually for breakfast, and this time was no exception. True to form, we stopped in Baker to grab a bite at Burger King.
Force of habit I guess since that's where the kids usually want to eat. I have to say it was weird not having the kids along! Too quiet. No one was bickering or complaining or asking if we were there yet. Although I was tempted to, since I couldn't wait to get there.
(side note: Gas in Baker was $4.09!! WTH???? ugh!)


I drove for a little while so Ruben could close his eyes, but he did most of the driving. I'm not sure the exact time we got to Disneyland but we'd hit some traffic as we got closer to Anaheim so I'm guessing it was around 11:30 or so. I knew some of the ladies had planned to eat at Goofy's Kitchen for breakfast around 10, so I figured they'd be just finishing up with that and I hadn't missed too much so far that day.


Ruben drove into the Mickey and Friends parking to drop me off because I have parking included with my AP, and that way he'd have the little white parking pass for later in the day should he decide to come back and walk around DTD. We parked along with tons of other cars, and then we said our good-byes. I was nervous and for a split second thought about saying "forget it, I'll just go hang out at the hotel with you", but I'm sure he wouldn't have appreciated that after all he'd done to make this happen.


So I took off walking, and he drove off. As I was going down the escalators, I was amazed at how many people there were waiting for the trams! Yikes. And the parking lot to the right was full of tour bus after tour bus. I can't remember the last time I was there on a day where that parking lot was so full!
I thought to myself that was not a good sign. It took waiting for 3 trams to fill up, but finally I was able to hop on the 4th one and was on my way. It was weird to be sitting there without having to keep an eye on my kids to make sure they were keeping their hands and arms inside the tram at all times.


After I got off the tram and through security, I realized I had no clue in which park the ladies had planned to spend their day, so I grabbed the list of their cell phone numbers that I had luckily remembered to print off a copy of that morning, and started calling.
I don't remember who all I called first, but it took at least 3 calls before anyone answered their phones. The first one I got a hold of was Capri (disney-super-mom). I didn't want her to know I was there, as I'd hoped to find out where they were and then go surprise them.


I was standing near the ticket booths, and the Disney music was playing so loud in the background I was sure she'd hear it and wonder where the heck I was. She was with Callie (Dangermouse) and I can't remember who else, at White Water Snacks taking a break from the heat and crowds. Darn. I didn't want to go and bother them while they were eating, so I just pretended like I was calling to see how they were and what was going on.
She said the others had just finished up at Goofy's Kitchen and were headed towards California Adventure.
Perfect, just the info I wanted, but now I had to hurry and get off the phone before she heard that darn Disney music! She asked if I wanted to talk to Callie, and I panicked. Ummm, nope sorry, gotta go now, say hi to everyone for me! Sorry Callie, but I had a reason for being so rude!


Well, at least now I know where to find them. Sort of. I mean, how hard can it be to find a bunch of rowdy ladies in California Adventure? That park is usually half deserted anyway. Should be easy. So off I go......

 

[davidsprincess]

Enjoying the report! Can't wait to read more and find out the reactions of the DISgirls when they finally see you!

 

[daisy_77]

Beth!! I am sooo glad you decided to write up a TR for your day trip! I cannot say the title ten times fast...too much spittle comes out!
Your DH ROCKS! What an awesome surprise!

Good job at being sneaky on the phone. Darn that wonderful Disney music!

Looking forward to more, my friend!

 

[mommaU4]

The first thing I notice as I walk into California Adventure and under that wonderfully familiar bridge is ALL THE PEOPLE!! Where on earth did they all come from?? Maybe this won't be as easy as I thought. I walked into the center section near the Sun Wheel, grabbed my handy phone list and started calling.


First number....no answer.
Second number....no answer.
Third number....voicemail.
OK, fourth number..... something weird happens on my phone. It won't work! Now let me just say that this isn't really MY phone. I don't actually have a cell phone so I borrowed one of my kid's phone which is just one of those pay as you go types. But there should be plenty of money on there since we'd just topped it up not that long ago. Should, being the key word here. Nope. I try to make another call and I get a message saying that my phone balance is too low to make a call. Ugh! Great. This is not off to a very smooth start.


As I'm standing there realizing I don't even have a way to add more money to the phone, I see a two females walk by not too far from where I'm standing and one of them has on a really cute brown and pink shirt that looks very familiar! It's one of the DIS ladies!!!!! YAY! I could only catch a sideways glimpse of her, but it appears to be Sarah (MotoXPrincess99) who I knew was going to be there with her mom.


I didn't want to yell out her name just in case I was wrong, so I followed them. They walked over to the Food and Wine information booth in the center near the Sun Wheel and were looking at some of the brochures. I walked up next to them and casually picked up a brochure and pretended to read it while sneaking side long glances in Sarah's direction to make sure that was the right shirt. I'm thinking to myself, "I sure hope she doesn't catch me looking at her and wonder why this weird lady is checking her out!!"


I was pretty sure at this point it was Sarah, but to be safe I leaned over and said to the lady I thought was Sarah's mom who had on a lanyard full of pins, "Excuse me, I just wanted to say I love all your pins." Then I commented to Sarah on how I liked her shirt and asked where she got it.
She starts to tell me she's there with a group of ladies from the DIS boards and at that point I interrupt her and introduce myself. Finally!
She was so nice, so was her mom. I told her I hadn't been able to reach anyone, and asked if she knew where any of the ladies were. She said that they'd been kind of doing their own thing so far that morning, so she didn't know. Darn! Well, at least I'd found one!


I would have liked to have stayed and chatted more with them, but I still had to figure out what I was going to do about my phone. So I went to the pay phones near the front entrance to try to call my husband. I had exactly one dollar in change, but turns out to call his cell would have cost me $3.40!! Ummm, no.
Great. Now what? I'm looking around and I see Guest Services so I decide to head over there. I walk up to the desk and practically beg the lady in there to let me use the phone which she does. I am able to reach Ruben and he gives me directions on how to add more time to the phone. YES! OKay, we are back in business now.


I head back over and find a seat under the bridge. So far this hasn't really gone as planned. I'm frustrated, HOT, and literally right back where I started from. So here goes nothing. I start making calls again. Nothing. Nada. No one is answering!! I'm hoping this is not a sign of things to come.
Just as I am sitting there finally feeling cool and comfortable and debating if I should just spend the day under the bridge people watching, my phone rings!!! Scared me half to death.

I don't immediately recognize the number....Could it be??? Is it??? YES! It's one of the ladies, Katie (MamaKate) to be exact. She and a few others had run into Sarah and thankfully she told them I was there and trying to reach them. Turns out they aren't far, just around the corner in the Animation Building. Perfect. I tell them to stay put and I'm on my way over.


I rushed over the the Animation building and into the area where the Toy Story exhibit is, which is where they said they'd wait for me. The excitement is building. Finally after months of chatting online and planning, I was actually going to be able to start meeting everyone!! I look all around for those wonderful brown shirts, but I can't seem to find any. OKay, it's dark in there. I must have missed them. So I walk all around again. Not one brown shirt. WTH?? I walk around the Snow White exhibit. Nothing. (sigh) That's it. I give up. I'm sure by now that it's all a big joke and no one is really even there. Maybe everyone is at home resting comfortably in their air conditioning.


I grab my phone and once again call my husband to tell him I'm going to give up and spend the day shopping in DTD (ha, that would have sent him running to rescue me before I could do any real damage) when suddenly I see a flash of brown. Then another. And another!! OMG, yay! I've finally found them. I was so happy.
They all came walking over to me and it was sort of confusing at first. Let's just say some people looked nothing like their pics. LOL But I met Cheryl (toocherie), Steph (21yankees), Katie (MamaKate), Michelle (Zoemakes5), and Sarah was there with her mom. I cannot remember if I'm forgetting anyone. Like I said, it was sort of confusing so if I am, I apologize.

They were all so nice and happy to see me. It was great. Finally, let the fun begin!! Whooooo!

 

[mommaU4]

If anyone's reading this, can you tell I am trying to really draaaag out my one day there. My husband said I'm doing a good job of it.

Normally if I were to do a TR it would have lots of pics and little talk, but no such luck this time.

Hey, at least writing all this is helping me avoid the dishes and kill time until the kids get home from school.

 

[Casey's Mommie]

It's wonderful so far! I wasn't able to go b/c I just know my dh wouldn't let me go w/o him! Especially since we're going in a few weeks!

I followed the thread along from the beginning and I'm really glad you ended up getting to go!

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your report!!!

 

[mommaU4]

It's wonderful so far! I wasn't able to go b/c I just know my dh wouldn't let me go w/o him! Especially since we're going in a few weeks!

I followed the thread along from the beginning and I'm really glad you ended up getting to go!

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your report!!!

Hi there!! Wow, you followed our thread from the beginning? You should have come in and chatted with us.

I see that you are leaving in 18 days!! How fun! I already can't wait to go back. I hope you have a great time on your trip and that the crowds are low and the weather isn't too hot.

And next time, you'll have to find a way to join us.

 

[daisy_77]

Just like McDonald's slogan----I'm lovin' it!

 

[mommaU4]

Since we were still in the Animation Building, we all decided to go and see Turtle Talk with Crush, which I always enjoy. At one point in the show, the host came over to talk to Cheryl and she was so funny! Crush asked her name and she said she was Cheryl and was there with some of the DIS Board Divas while the rest of the ladies clapped and kind of hollered.
I was cracking up so I'm not sure exactly what he said but Crush mentioned something about liking Divas. Cheryl then asked him if he went on dates and what he liked to do on those dates. Crush was so funny! He kind of looked surprised for a second, and then embarrassed. He sort of covered his face with his flipper and said in that great voice of his, "Cheryl, are you flirting with me?"


It was great. One of the funniest Turtle Talk shows I've seen. After that one of the ladies, Steph, wanted to head over to the Pacific Wharf area to see how long the line was to wait for the Guy Fieri demonstration that was part of the Food and Wine event. I could not believe that the demonstration was at 4:00 and people had started lining up since around noon!!
Steph decided she still had a good chance of getting in to see him, and that she wanted to wait. At that point I think it was between 2:00-2:30, so she still had quite a wait ahead of her. I'm glad she did it though since that was part of what this whole trip was about; being able to do the things you normally wouldn't be able to with a husband and kids in tow. She got a great pic of herself with him which I will post in the next entry.

Anyway, while we were in that general area, I also was able to meet another DIS lady, Lynn (disneegrl4eva). She was also in line for the demonstration with Guy Fieri and she was actually second in line!! Now that's dedication, especially in that heat. Lynn was very nice and I'm glad I was able to meet her. I told her I hoped she enjoyed her time with Guy and then we were off.


We didn't get too far, still in the same general area near the entrance to the wharf area, when we were able to meet up with more ladies!! A couple of them were sitting down in a near by shady area, so the group I was with already and I all went over to say hi.
That's when I got to meet Lesley (Tink33), Callie (Dangermouse) and her friend Ellen, Stacie (stacielee) and her DD, Capri (disney-super-mom), Shelley (wdwr), Dagny (Dagny) and I think that might be it...... I hope I didn't leave anyone out. We just sort of hung around there for awhile. They all asked me what the heck I was doing there! So I told them my story. We talked about what they had all been doing up until that point. It was just really nice to finally be there and be able to put faces to the names.

From this point on, it seemed like the rest of the day was kind of a fast blur. I think the combo of lack of sleep and heat/crowds, plus all the excitement made it all just seem like a dream! LOL But I'll do my best......


After awhile, the group sort of split up. A few of us went over to ride Soarin. Katie (and I think one other?) had been dreamed earlier in the day so she had a FP and some others had already picked up some FPs and were nice enough to share with me. Soarin was great as always, but the regular line was so long! Yikes. Glad for those FPs. After Soarin, it was on to ToT, where I sat that one out with 2 or 3 others, thank you very much! LOL But not before some very hard convincing to go on it from Lesley. Nice try.


We headed over to Screamin, and then to grab some ice cream. It was so hot that day, I know for myself personally it made it hard to be my usual chatty self, since it's so draining.
At one point we headed over to Bug's Land to cool off in the water play area, only to find it wasn't on! The hottest day in a long time and the water is off. We all found a spot to sit and wait for it to come on, but it never did. I was happy just sitting and relaxing though.
Ellen was so cute, she had taken off her shoes and rolled up her pants all ready to splash in the water. But all that was left were little bitty puddles from when it must have been on earlier in the day. So she went and hopped in one teeny puddle. It was so funny.


By then it was nearing time to head over to House of Blues for some dinner. I'd never been to the HOB before but it was really good! I'd definitely go back. We sat outside at one big table, but by then the sun was fading and so was the heat, thankfully. The dinner was a blast! I was able to meet some more DIS ladies: Megan (staley7580), Sarah was there, Bernice (funnygarcia), Rochelle (eatmypixiedust), and Antoinette (a friend of Michelle's), Mary Jo (Mary Jo) and her DD. Katie, Steph, and Capri were all there as well. We had a lot of fun, some of which simply isn't DIS appropriate. Sorry. LOL


After the dinner it was off to watch the Electrical Parade. Some of the other ladies were at a Food and Wine event that night. Then we all headed over to Disneyland where they had preferred seating for the fireworks. That was nice. It's fun to be treated like a VIP and I was really grateful to them for letting me crash their seating area.


After the fireworks, we hopped the train over to see Fantasmic where they also had preferred seating. On the train we ran into Amy (seattlebusymom) who was there with her kids. I decided to call my hubby to see where he was and what he'd been up to all day. I thought he'd been resting at the hotel, but when I called him, low and behold he was on the Jungle Cruise!!! Turns out he decided to pay the money to buy a block out day ticket and had been in the parks all day taking advantage of the single rider lines.

He finished up with the ride, and then came over to join us for the Fantasmic show. Once that was over, I was pretty much pooped and as much as I didn't want the day to end, I was ready to call it a night. I said good-bye to all the wonderful ladies I'd met. I hope they know what a great time I had and it was all due to them being so welcoming and fun to hang out with.

Thanks ladies for adding that day to my list of one of the most memorable days I've had at Disneyland.

 

[mommaU4]

Whew! That was a lot of talking! If you made it through all that, thank you for reading.

I wish I had more pics to add, but these are a few that were taken by different ladies and have already been posted on our thread.

Shelly and Capri

Shelley, and ?, and ? (I didn't get to meet the last two)

Several of the ladies on the Lilly Belle

Chris in the red poncho, Dangy, and Stacie's DD

Steph with Guy!

House of Blues dinner

Lorealle and Michelle

Callie, Maynard, Stacie and Ellen

At the Food and Wine reception Saturday night

Cristabel, Steph, Stacie, Capri, and sitting: Shelly and ? (didn't meet the other one)

Group shot at Goofy's Kitchen

I'm missing some of the names of the ones I didn't meet so I'm not sure who's who. Sorry 'bout that.

 

[mommaU4]

I had so much fun and I was only there for one day. I cannot wait to do it again. There will definitely be a Girls Only Trip Part 2, so if you missed this first one keep an eye out for that.

If anyone has any questions about this trip or the next trip, feel free to PM me. I hope we can get more fun ladies to join us.

 

[daisy_77]

Great TR, Beth! It was nice reading all about your mini-adventure with the DL ladies! It sounds like you had a great time!

 

[MotoXPrincess99]

Beth! Hi! Great TR! You need a link in your siggy, my mom actually found it and told me to read it. She's like, "You should read it, she mentions you."

It was great meeting you!

 

[mommaU4]

Beth! Hi! Great TR! You need a link in your siggy, my mom actually found it and told me to read it. She's like, "You should read it, she mentions you."

It was great meeting you!

Maybe I will. It was only one day so I wasn't sure if too many would be interested in reading it. LOL

Oh, and I just had to mention you! You and your mom were the very first ones I ran into. Thank goodness!