buzzrelly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2005
Hello! It's been a while since I've posted here on the TR page, but this trip was too good not to share, even if nobody reads it!
I've been around these boards for a while, and I've met some amazing friends here on the TR page!
But for so many of you that don't know me allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Kelly, I'm a Disney-holic DVC Member NICU nurse who loves to travel to WDW a few times a year
but has been dreaming of visiting Disneyland for YEARS!
(Please excuse me and my awkwardness in pictures...
I never know what to do with my hands and you'll notice there will be disappearing and reappearing glasses because I literally hate them but I can't see without them!
But whatever, I'm getting old and trying to accept it so it is what it is!
)
Anyway, I cannot stress that "YEARS" enough. I believe my obsession started around 2015 or 2016 because I listened to Michael Bowling on the Connecting With Walt podcast talking about the history of Disneyland. Since then I've read so many books about the history of DL and I've been dreaming of going. But being from CT, it just never worked out and it's obviously easier to travel to WDW for us.
This trip was probably 5 years in the making. DD Allie (I'll get to her next) was graduating High School in 2021 and I know we started talking about this trip at least two years before that. We would make lists all the time, I bought The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland and we talked about what we wanted to do and see and eat, and then 2020 happened and whomp, whomp...
While waiting for DL to reopen, we decided that even if it did reopen by the time Allie graduated in 2021 (which it did),
we wanted the real deal...we wanted the tours and the shows and all the food, so we had already decided to push this trip to 2022.
2022, you say?? But this is 2023!
Yup, so we had this exact trip booked for May 2022, we'd go right after Allie's first year of college.
But alas, the week before we were to leave Allie had an emergency appendectomy and whomp, whomp...no flying for her.
It was a scramble but we were able to push the reservation out with maybe some minor increased costs,
but for the most part, we were made whole and had the hotel, airline tickets and (most importantly) the DVC points saved for this year...phew!
Of course, those of you with older "adult" kids know how hard it is to plan anything with them and maybe the timing of this trip wasn't perfect,
but we did the best we could while having to plan wayyyy in advance so I didn't lose the DVC points.
You see, Allie had just come back from spending a full semester in Seville, Spain
and had literally been back in CT and our time zone for 5 days before heading out West and then more West!
By the time we got to Aulani, she was a full 12 hours behind where she had been a couple weeks prior.
That was a little rough.
Well, I've talked enough about Allie but haven't introduced her, so here she is, my Allie...
She just finished her Sophomore year of college which, as I said earlier, was in Seville Spain.
She absolutely loved it and was able to travel all around Europe while there,
including Portugal, Morocco, Rome, Budapest, Germany, and I don't even know where else!
It seemed like she went somewhere new every weekend! It was such an amazing opportunity for her!
She's back in the swing of summer now, including Nannying for three little cuties, Life-guarding, and teaching private swim lessons on the side.
In her free time she is alternating driving back and forth to New Jersey to visit her boyfriend.
I don't know how she does it all, but she's always liked to stay busy, busy, busy!
Our Itinerary for this trip was as follows:
May 17-May 21
Disneyland Resort, staying at the Disneyland Hotel
May 21-May 23
LA/Hollywood, staying at Loews Hollywood Hotel
May 23-May 30
Honolulu, staying at Aulani
We had so many fun experiences since this was all so new to us, but for me,
the highlight was doing the Walt's Main Street tour and getting to go up in his apartment.
I was so overwhelmed with emotion when we walked in and immediately started to cry, along with a few others in our group.
Truly a once in a lifetime experience.
I'll be writing more about that, as well as attending the World of Color Dessert Party (where we were visited by a very special guest
),
the Warner Brothers Studio tour in LA...where are my fellow Gilmore Girls Stans??
So cool to see Lorelei's house and the exterior of Luke's Diner!
And then visiting the absolute paradise that is Aulani
If you're interested in reading about any of these, stick around!
I love talking about our trip and I'm sure people at work are sick of hearing about it!
And if you'd like to be a little more interactive, I'd love to hear your comments and thoughts!
And since this was my dream trip, I'd love to hear about yours! Has it happened yet or are you making plans for it in the future?
Disclaimer: It's been a very long time since I've written one of these and I'm totally out of practice, so please bear with me!
I've been around these boards for a while, and I've met some amazing friends here on the TR page!
But for so many of you that don't know me allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Kelly, I'm a Disney-holic DVC Member NICU nurse who loves to travel to WDW a few times a year
but has been dreaming of visiting Disneyland for YEARS!
(Please excuse me and my awkwardness in pictures...
I never know what to do with my hands and you'll notice there will be disappearing and reappearing glasses because I literally hate them but I can't see without them!
But whatever, I'm getting old and trying to accept it so it is what it is!
)Anyway, I cannot stress that "YEARS" enough. I believe my obsession started around 2015 or 2016 because I listened to Michael Bowling on the Connecting With Walt podcast talking about the history of Disneyland. Since then I've read so many books about the history of DL and I've been dreaming of going. But being from CT, it just never worked out and it's obviously easier to travel to WDW for us.
This trip was probably 5 years in the making. DD Allie (I'll get to her next) was graduating High School in 2021 and I know we started talking about this trip at least two years before that. We would make lists all the time, I bought The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland and we talked about what we wanted to do and see and eat, and then 2020 happened and whomp, whomp...
While waiting for DL to reopen, we decided that even if it did reopen by the time Allie graduated in 2021 (which it did),
we wanted the real deal...we wanted the tours and the shows and all the food, so we had already decided to push this trip to 2022.
2022, you say?? But this is 2023!
Yup, so we had this exact trip booked for May 2022, we'd go right after Allie's first year of college.
But alas, the week before we were to leave Allie had an emergency appendectomy and whomp, whomp...no flying for her.
It was a scramble but we were able to push the reservation out with maybe some minor increased costs,
but for the most part, we were made whole and had the hotel, airline tickets and (most importantly) the DVC points saved for this year...phew!
Of course, those of you with older "adult" kids know how hard it is to plan anything with them and maybe the timing of this trip wasn't perfect,
but we did the best we could while having to plan wayyyy in advance so I didn't lose the DVC points.
You see, Allie had just come back from spending a full semester in Seville, Spain
and had literally been back in CT and our time zone for 5 days before heading out West and then more West!
By the time we got to Aulani, she was a full 12 hours behind where she had been a couple weeks prior.
That was a little rough.
Well, I've talked enough about Allie but haven't introduced her, so here she is, my Allie...
She just finished her Sophomore year of college which, as I said earlier, was in Seville Spain.
She absolutely loved it and was able to travel all around Europe while there,
including Portugal, Morocco, Rome, Budapest, Germany, and I don't even know where else!
It seemed like she went somewhere new every weekend! It was such an amazing opportunity for her!
She's back in the swing of summer now, including Nannying for three little cuties, Life-guarding, and teaching private swim lessons on the side.
In her free time she is alternating driving back and forth to New Jersey to visit her boyfriend.
I don't know how she does it all, but she's always liked to stay busy, busy, busy!
Our Itinerary for this trip was as follows:
May 17-May 21
Disneyland Resort, staying at the Disneyland Hotel
May 21-May 23
LA/Hollywood, staying at Loews Hollywood Hotel
May 23-May 30
Honolulu, staying at Aulani
We had so many fun experiences since this was all so new to us, but for me,
the highlight was doing the Walt's Main Street tour and getting to go up in his apartment.
I was so overwhelmed with emotion when we walked in and immediately started to cry, along with a few others in our group.
Truly a once in a lifetime experience.
I'll be writing more about that, as well as attending the World of Color Dessert Party (where we were visited by a very special guest
), the Warner Brothers Studio tour in LA...where are my fellow Gilmore Girls Stans??
So cool to see Lorelei's house and the exterior of Luke's Diner!
And then visiting the absolute paradise that is Aulani
If you're interested in reading about any of these, stick around!
I love talking about our trip and I'm sure people at work are sick of hearing about it!
And if you'd like to be a little more interactive, I'd love to hear your comments and thoughts!
And since this was my dream trip, I'd love to hear about yours! Has it happened yet or are you making plans for it in the future?
Disclaimer: It's been a very long time since I've written one of these and I'm totally out of practice, so please bear with me!
She’s starting her second year of school so I’m aiming for college graduation. 
