Amy and F1gment's return to Disneyland 2013

[jlpeaches255]

Have a great time Amy!!!

[Amy]

Have a great time Amy!!!

We are so far . Sadly my brother just isn't a Disney person
He is excited about the attractions and such but we actually walked past the second showing of World of Color because he really wanted to go back to the hotel he did get up at 4 so he could do his workouts before we left, so I suppose he is tireder than I am...not looking forward to Cali traffic now myself either...sigh...next time Figment and I are coming by ourselves

[cy1229]

You were at Disneyland the same time as our band kids! My neighbor went along with her two kids and she kept posting all kinds of fun photos. Hope you had a great time yesterday, in spite of your brother's less than thrilled perspective.

[Amy]

You were at Disneyland the same time as our band kids! My neighbor went along with her two kids and she kept posting all kinds of fun photos. Hope you had a great time yesterday, in spite of your brother's less than thrilled perspective.

Well, I wouldn't even say that he isn't thrilled. He was up for any sort of attraction, and is even excited about Goofy's Flying school which makes my back and neck cringe at the very thought, but we just didn't have much time with our lengthy lunch, which was fine. I just asked him in the car if he "got" Disney after having been there and he said "no" That's ok, Mom and I are probably "Disney"-enough to make up for both of my brothers
I haven't had much of a chance to look at the photos I've taken yet. They certainly aren't of my normal caliber as I am snapping them mostly as we are walking. I did put one in the Disney by Day thread if you want to see the tiny castle
I wonder if I can also see your friends' photos on FB? Love seeing pictures of anything Disney!

[Amy]

Know it is super late planning, but if anyone is around the DL/DCA area either today or Friday 12/4, we would love to meet up with you and take in a show or a ride or a drink or dare I say....a beloved rice krispie brick??

[Amy]

We started our Grand Californian adventure on November 30, 2013. Figment said she never wants to go on vacation right after a holiday again. It was simply too much stress for her. It actually worked out pretty well for me as a lot of my students were off for the holidays so I didn’t feel like I was losing too much income. Anyhow, we got a very late start out to Chicago, just before 5 pm. I ended up forgetting my coat because it was sunny and in the 50’s during the day we left, and I was just in a hurry to get out and on our way. Luckily traffic wasn’t too bad and we arrived at our hotel about 7:30 our time. There were free drinks and snacks at the happy hour in the hotel, but we mostly stuck with our Jimmy John’s sandwiches that we picked up when we got close.
We got to bed fairly early, a little after 10, as we knew we had to be up early in the morning to catch our flight. Here are a few photos...nothing exciting, but just to set the mood

After the blinding sun went down behind the horizon, it was a beautiful night


Sorry for the dirty windshield, but you can just make out the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) in the middle of this photo


The Embassy Suites were pretty fancy ~ I loved the glass elevators!

[GeoffS]

Chicago traffic looks like every other city's traffic. Must have been ugly driving right after Thanksgiving.

[Amy]

Chicago traffic looks like every other city's traffic. Must have been ugly driving right after Thanksgiving.

Surprisingly it was not too bad. We hit the city a little after 6, and it was a Saturday night so I can't complain as we drove through without incident.

[Amy]

Day 1 ~ December 1, 2013

I'll take a page from wewantsdaredhead's trip reports and introduce you to the major players for this trip:

Figment: aka Linda and one super excited Mom to have her three children back together for the first time in about 5 or 6 years
Dirk: My oldest brother, the triathlete who devoted a good portion of his one and only piece of luggage, a carry-on no less, to his wetsuit so he could swim in the Pacific
Ward: My other brother (also older), the engineer who lives in Northern Cali who was kind enough to fly down to Southern Cali to have a mini-reunion. I lured him with the promise of lunch at Club 33! Which wasn't really a draw for him as he is my bah-Disney brother, but he was a good sport anyhow and managed to somehow get time off from his job that he only started a few months ago.
Amy: Me!

We started off for the airport very early and had a beautiful day for traveling. The pilot warned of turbulence but evidently was able to fly around it fairly well. We touched down in California and landed late-morning due to the time change. Ward had flown into LAX and was early enough to drive to John Wayne Airport and meet us there at the baggage claim.





After we checked into our inn at Dana Point we headed out in search of some lunch as it was getting on toward 2 pm. MmeLeota had messaged me about Ruby's as a good place for a meal and a shake. Since we were all tired and hungry, we didn't get to the exact location she mentioned that was out on the pier. Instead we opted for the location that was only about 15 minutes away from the inn. My brothers shared a shake and said it was delicious. The rest of the food was fairly good, but I think if we went again we would try the location on the pier for the views. I thought some people might like the old cars out in front of the diner. These will probably remind Jacca of his first cars



The views from the patio at the inn we stayed at all week



We headed down to a beach overlook to see the sunset


That is Catalina Island off to the right in these photos ~ what I wouldn't give to live in one of these beach houses!



Bird of Paradise flowers were growing EVERYWHERE in Cali. They are one of my favorite flowers and to see them everywhere was just amazing!


The inn had a shiny elevator door and I must admit I took a lot of pictures there It was just too inviting not to! Here I am rockin' the vintage Subsonic wear


Ok, enough silliness, back to the pretty nighttime views from the patio at the inn ~ there were two tall ships docked here. The same ones that come on tour up to our neck of the woods lakes sometime!



That pretty much wraps up our first day and evening together. It was so nice being together and just being able to sit and chat

But I know why y'all are here...and that is to see Disneyland! So here is a teaser from the first Disney day...Day 2

[Wizzard419]

Too bad you couldn't be here this week, it has been in the 80's.

[mindflipper]

How I remember that kind of sundown/twilight shots from a trip to San Diego! Great photos!

See I was wise to have my faith in you getting you're trip report done. Good Start, Amy!

[Wizzard419]

Forgot to add, that tall ship is the Pilgrim, it is used in movies from time to time whenever they do period movies. I remember Amistad was one of them.

[Amy]

Too bad you couldn't be here this week, it has been in the 80's.

Forgot to add, that tall ship is the Pilgrim, it is used in movies from time to time whenever they do period movies. I remember Amistad was one of them.

Yes, we were consistently blamed for the cooler and rainy weather while we were in Southern Cali and we did notice the temperatures were supposed to return to "normal" once we departed...sigh.
We didn't have time to go to the Oceanarium while we were there. And no one was by the tall ships when we strolled down there so I didn't know much more than what Figment had found out about them before we left. She is the one who has toured them while they were up our way.

How I remember that kind of sundown/twilight shots from a trip to San Diego! Great photos!
See I was wise to have my faith in you getting you're trip report done. Good Start, Amy!

Thanks mindflipper I'm trying. It is weird how as soon as you return from vacation you start to feel like you need one as nothing changes while you are gone!
(And so far I am two days ahead of b-babe!)

[MmeLeota]

Fantastic start, Amy!

Is that a pic of F1gment and one of your bros at the airport? I really like that pic of them wandering off into the "sunset".

Glad to see you made it to Ruby's...even if it wasn't the one in Newport Beach. There's something about being out on the pier. The shakes are definitely the best part though!

The views from your room were fantastic! (and I love the hidden Mickey cacti...I miss seeing that back home)

One thing I always loved about our many trips to SoCal was the walkways to Disneyland always had birds of paradise growing along the paths. They are among my favorite flowers too!

[cy1229]

I humbly ask your forgiveness for the lack of faith in getting this trip report started in a timely manner.

I. Love. Those. Sunsets. And the view from your patio! Wow!

Ok, laugh at me, and I know your mom was doing a "Mickey ears" thing, but it kind of looks like she's doing the hand motions to the Unicorn Song.

More? Please?