I'm hiding in the Dog Kennels - Our May 2017 Trip Report - Updated 5/12

cinderelly828

Mouseketeer
Joined
Apr 12, 2014
Hi there folks! I'm officially starting my first Trip Report! I've done 2 PTRs (links in my signature) and thought it'd be fun to do an official TR this trip! Some of the intro stuff may be familiar if you read my PTR for this trip. Thanks for following along and I hope you enjoy!

Cast of Characters:

Me! (Candice)

Favorite Disney Rides: Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Storybook Land Canal Boats
Favorite Disney Characters: Minnie Mouse, Stitch, Haunted Mansion Tightrope Walker, Heihei, Marie, Tink (how can I choose...?!)
Favorite Princesses (this one's hard...I <3 them all): Cinderella, Rapunzel, Moana (she's new, so we'll see if it's a forever thing...but I love her!)
Favorite Disney Foods: Bengal BBQ skewers, Gumbo, Churros, Mickey Pretzels, Pommes Frites from Cafe Orleans
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DH (Christopher)

Favorite Disney Rides: Soarin', California Screamin', Space Mountain, Star Tours
Favorite Disney Characters: Donald Duck, Chewbacca (anything Star Wars really), Baymax
Favorite Princesses: Not sure that he cares...lol. I'd say Cinderella cuz I love her. :)
Favorite Disney Foods: Bengal BBQ skewers, Gumbo, Churros (the "old school ones"...he's convinced they're different now), Chimichangas
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DSIL (Misti)

Favorite Disney Rides: Haunted Mansion, Soarin', It's a Small World, Ariel's Undersea Adventure
Favorite Disney Characters: Minnie, Stitch
Favorite Princesses: Ariel and Cinderella
Favorite Disney Foods: Turkey leg, Bengal BBQ skewers, Gumbo
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DBIL (Ryan)
Favorite Disney Rides: Star Tours, Soarin', Splash Mountain
Favorite Disney Characters: Anything Star Wars
Favorite Princesses: Moana
Favorite Disney Foods: Popcorn, Bengal BBQ skewers, Monte Cristo
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DN - Little Princess (Maddi)
Favorite Disney Rides: Haunted Mansion, Ariel's Undersea Adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean
Favorite Disney Characters: Stitch, Sully, Mickey Mouse
Favorite Princesses: Rapunzel, Merida, Moana, Tiana
Favorite Disney Foods: Churros, Gumbo, Frozen Lemonade
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Trip Details:
May 3rd - DH & I fly into SNA from Seattle at about 12:30 pm. Misti, Ryan, and Maddi fly into LAX later in the evening from Portland and arrive about 5:30 pm or so.
May 4th - All of us in the parks!
May 5th - All of us in the parks!
May 6th - Misti, Ryan, and Maddi fly home. Christopher and I stay in Disneyland for an adults only day.
May 7th - Christopher and I head up to Burbank and go to Universal Studios Hollywood.
May 8th - Christopher and I fly home to Seattle at about 8:30 pm.

Lodging:
Anaheim - Christopher and I stayed at the Holiday Inn Anaheim Resort-Area. Ryan, Misti, and Maddi stayed at the Grand Legacy by the Park
Burbank - Christopher and I stayed at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport

Stay tuned to hear all about it! :)
 
Day 1 - Flight cancelled?!?!
Although I started packing about 2 weeks before, somehow the night before early morning flights I'm always up making triple sure that everything is packed and ready to go. I can't seem to sleep because I'm scared of the alarm not going off or something (which happened on my last flight! :scared:) so I finally took a little cat nap at about 1:00 am and was up at about 3:30 am to shower, get dressed, and call an Uber to the airport at about 4:10 am. We made it to the airport in plenty of time and were able to get coffee and a little breakfast sandwich from Starbuck's. :coffee: Christopher always laughs at me for wanting to be so early for flights, but I'm just able to relax so much more when we're not rushing!
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We boarded the flight at about 6:45 or so. Christopher's good friend is a flight attendant and we had been talking to her prior to our trip because we were flying United and were just discussing the recent drama with airlines. She sparked an idea as we were thinking about how the flight crews on United flights were probably getting a hard time from passengers, so we decided we wanted to spread a little pixie dust and kindness to our flight crews. We bagged up some little chocolates (5 bags per flight) and put them in little gift bags with a thank you note that just said we appreciate the crew getting us to our destination safely and comfortably. It was so amazing to see the smiles on their faces. On the first flight they brought us out some champagne to say thank you (and then just kept bringing it...lol) so I was definitely relaxed by the time we landed in San Francisco at 10:30 for our plane change. We got off the plane in SFO, made a quick restroom stop (I hate plane bathrooms), and headed to our next flight. We finally landed at John Wayne at about 12:30 pm, grabbed our bags from baggage claim, and headed out to grab our pre-reserved SuperShuttle to the hotel. We lucked out and were the only ones on our shuttle (!!) so we got dropped off really quickly.

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When we were on the shuttle we got a text message from Ryan and Misti saying their flight out of PDX had been cancelled!!!!!! :scared1: We were trying to figure out what was going on and what we could do and trying not to completely freak out! Spirit Airlines was telling them that the flight was cancelled due to "air traffic control issues" and there wasn't anything they could do. (We found out later that there was some sort of pilot's strike or something...all very odd). Eventually, after poor little princess crying on the floor of the airport, they were able to get on an Alaska flight that got in about the same time. They had to pay about $100 each more or something, which seems ridiculous, but they made it to DL, so that's all that matters!

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While they were figuring out their flight situation, Christopher and I headed to the hotel to check in. We were at the Holiday Inn Anaheim Resort-Area and it was quite nice! It's a bit further from the parks than we usually stay, but it was very clean, comfortable and affordable (we booked a package through CostcoTravel and got a night free plus a bunch of Disney perks!) and it had a Mickey shaped pool! Our room wasn't ready yet (it was about 1 pm), so we changed into shorts really quickly and had them hold our bags for us while we went out in search of lunch. We took a few photos of the super cute lobby with lots of Disney touches!
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We decided to walk over to the Anaheim Garden Walk as it seemed to have quite a few choices. We were rather underwhelmed when we got there, but then decided on PF Chang's, which is one of my favorites. I bartended at a PF Chang's in college and always get a little nostalgic. :goodvibes We just ate at the bar and the bartender was super friendly. After learning that I was a former "Chang-er" he hooked me up with a delicious margarita on the house. At this point I was pleasantly warm and fuzzy (DH doesn't drink, so he was just warm - it was hot!) and we decided to go find some ice cream. We ended up at the Creamistry on Harbor Blvd and it was super tasty! They do some crazy dry ice smoke thing to make the ice cream and make it right in front of you! We got a cup of strawberry (DH was oddly weirded out and overwhelmed by the whole process :laughing:) and enjoyed it sitting in the little courtyard area in front of the shop.

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We realized that the Creamistry was in the same building as the Grand Legacy at the Park which is where the rest of our group would be staying when they arrived. We went in to see if there was any pixie dust we could sprinkle and they were super sweet and said they would put some Minnie ears and little Disney photos and stuff in the room for us so Maddi would be surprised when they arrived. They ended up throwing in a really cool 3-D type photo of the castle from the 60th anniversary. It was super sweet. After dropping by there, we grabbed an Uber back to our hotel as they'd texted us that it was ready. I think it was about 4 pm. We checked into the room and I took a quick cat nap while Christopher went to the store to get some provisions (water, beer, snacks). When he got back I put my suit on, grabbed a Coors Light and headed down to the pool while DH took a nap.

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continued in next post...
 


Day 1 continued - Captain Kidd's! Captain Kidd's!!
Ryan, Misti, and Maddi finally made it onto their flight and landed safe and sound! They went to check in and relax a little. I think they may have hit up the pool too.

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I relaxed by the pool for a little less than an hour as the sun went behind the trees and it was a little chilly. I headed back up to the room to wake up DH and get us ready to meet up with everyone for dinner.

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My plan was to have us all meet at Downtown Disney at have a bite at Tangaroa Terrace and/or Trader Sam's so Misti and I could have some tiki drinks and we could all check out the fun theming. We were all running a bit behind, and I don't think we got to Downtown Disney until about 8:40 pm. Maddi was having some fun at the Lego Store so we met them there and gave BIG hugs! It was SO GOOD to see everyone as it had been a few years for me and almost a year for Christopher. :lovestruc:lovestruc:lovestruc

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We chatted about where to go to dinner and Maddi was SET on going to Captain Kidd's! I don't know why, but she was really into the whole buffet idea. First auntie mistake - I said, "Sure, whatever you want to do!", and we headed towards Captain Kidd's and away from lovely Trader Sam's. The restaurant was not to anyone's liking except for Princess, so we changed plans and decided to do a little breakfast for dinner at IHOP. It was fine, but I wish I would have stuck to our original plan and done something in DTD or at the hotels. It would have just been more fun and Disney feeling. However, Maddi and I did get an epic bacon selfie, so there's that. ;)

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After dinner we gave Maddi a few of the little souvenirs we'd brought with us (autograph books, Sophia the First backpack and a Moana doll) and walked them about a block over to their hotel to say goodnight. We'd brought along two princess dresses for Maddi to wear the next day if she wanted (out of Elsa and Tiana she picked Tiana - less itchy) and we kissed them goodnight, hopped in an Uber and went back to our hotel to crash. We got into bed around 11:30 or so and set our alarms for a bright and early Magic Morning wakeup! Christopher and I had a Magic Morning with our 3 day park hoppers, whereas Ryan, Misti and Maddi just had 2 day park hoppers, so we were planning to hit Magic Morning at DL at 8 am and meet them outside DCA at 9 for rope drop.

Stay tuned, because that is not at all how the morning went.... :sad2:
 



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