Disneyland trip, Part 1 -- Thursday
May. 23rd, 2005 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sugarplumkittyMy checklist helped me be somewhat organized with my packing. I decided to take my Minnie Mouse sun hat from five years ago. It seemed silly to buy a new hat when I had a perfectly good one already. I had to wear/carry it because it's a straw hat and won't pack well.
Getting to the airport worked out exactly as planned. Mike got to the dealership a couple of minutes before I did. The drop off of my rental car was quick and easy. Karen and Joyce were waiting at Karen's house to be picked up. We arrived at the airport early. Gena, the one person in our suite from the other half of the slumber party group took light rail to the airport and checked in a few minutes before we did. The person helping her said we didn't need to check in separately because we were all on the itinerary. She didn't print our boarding passes until she could check our IDs. So easy! The plane was a small one and we all had to "valet check" our suitcases at the gate.
When we got to Orange County, our suitcases were in our hands in minutes and after only a small amount of worry we found our friend Carlene who had flown in from Portland, Oregon. The five of us hopped on the shuttle and went directly to the Disneyland hotel. As we started to check in, the organizers, Terri and Beth M found us and promptly gave us 50th anniversary mouse ears with our names embroidered on the back! Both Gena and I had trouble keeping them on our small heads, but my ears fit over my sun hat just fine.
We expected Elaine to arrive from LAX within minutes of our arrival. It took us about 30 minutes to check in for some odd reason and still we didn't see Elaine. Terri was part of the reason it took so long. She was trying to get the room assignment for the two people arriving that evening, but the clerk refused to assign them a room on our floor. We did have our two bedroom suite attached to Terri and Beth's room by an access door. We were on the top floor of the Bonita tower, on the side farthest from the park.
We decided to head up to our rooms to unload everything. I called Elaine's cell phone and left her a message with our room numbers and instructions to call us when she arrived. We'd come to get her. She apparently didn't have her phone turned on and didn't check her messages, because about 45 minutes later she called my cell phone extremely upset saying the front desk said she wasn't staying in the hotel. Terri left to get her while I tried to calm her down. The shuttle from LAX had several people to deliver to other places around LA and left her for last. It took her two hours in the shuttle to get to the hotel. When she walked in, she explained everything that happened and wanted to know when the care-free vacation started. I told her it was starting "Right Now." And it did.
Beth and Terri had piles of food and beverages in their room plus bags full of decorations. We spent the next hour organizing the beverages into the two mini-refrigerators we had and putting up decorations.
Then the eight of us headed for Disneyland on the Monorail and split into two groups; the "Wild Babes" and the "Mild Babes." We Wild Babes headed directly for Star Tours, followed by dinner then Indiana Jones - twice separated by a Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Carribean and the Haunted Mansion. Thursdays are good days to hit the big rides. We did all of that in about 6 hours. No need for fast passes that day! The park closed at 9PM. I already had a little blister from my running shoes. Not good!
We got settled into the hotel for the night. Joyce and I shared a room because she can handle my snoring. Elaine and Carlene shared the master bedroom king bed and Karen and Gena shared the hide-a-bed in the living room. We had a single hide-a-bed in our room, but it was horribly uncomfortable so nobody used it.
Beth N and Donna, the two late arrivals showed up and came up to our suite. We all visited and decorated our purple hats and mouse ears until the early birds said they needed to get some sleep. I think that's how it was decided that Elaine and Carlene were sharing the master bedroom. They both got tired first. Gena got the idea of tying her mouse ears on with purple ribbons. I copied her. Terri made a pretty purple bow for the top of her ears. I took the idea and elaborated on it for mine.
I didn't take any pictures the first day.
Getting to the airport worked out exactly as planned. Mike got to the dealership a couple of minutes before I did. The drop off of my rental car was quick and easy. Karen and Joyce were waiting at Karen's house to be picked up. We arrived at the airport early. Gena, the one person in our suite from the other half of the slumber party group took light rail to the airport and checked in a few minutes before we did. The person helping her said we didn't need to check in separately because we were all on the itinerary. She didn't print our boarding passes until she could check our IDs. So easy! The plane was a small one and we all had to "valet check" our suitcases at the gate.
When we got to Orange County, our suitcases were in our hands in minutes and after only a small amount of worry we found our friend Carlene who had flown in from Portland, Oregon. The five of us hopped on the shuttle and went directly to the Disneyland hotel. As we started to check in, the organizers, Terri and Beth M found us and promptly gave us 50th anniversary mouse ears with our names embroidered on the back! Both Gena and I had trouble keeping them on our small heads, but my ears fit over my sun hat just fine.
We expected Elaine to arrive from LAX within minutes of our arrival. It took us about 30 minutes to check in for some odd reason and still we didn't see Elaine. Terri was part of the reason it took so long. She was trying to get the room assignment for the two people arriving that evening, but the clerk refused to assign them a room on our floor. We did have our two bedroom suite attached to Terri and Beth's room by an access door. We were on the top floor of the Bonita tower, on the side farthest from the park.
We decided to head up to our rooms to unload everything. I called Elaine's cell phone and left her a message with our room numbers and instructions to call us when she arrived. We'd come to get her. She apparently didn't have her phone turned on and didn't check her messages, because about 45 minutes later she called my cell phone extremely upset saying the front desk said she wasn't staying in the hotel. Terri left to get her while I tried to calm her down. The shuttle from LAX had several people to deliver to other places around LA and left her for last. It took her two hours in the shuttle to get to the hotel. When she walked in, she explained everything that happened and wanted to know when the care-free vacation started. I told her it was starting "Right Now." And it did.
Beth and Terri had piles of food and beverages in their room plus bags full of decorations. We spent the next hour organizing the beverages into the two mini-refrigerators we had and putting up decorations.
Then the eight of us headed for Disneyland on the Monorail and split into two groups; the "Wild Babes" and the "Mild Babes." We Wild Babes headed directly for Star Tours, followed by dinner then Indiana Jones - twice separated by a Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Carribean and the Haunted Mansion. Thursdays are good days to hit the big rides. We did all of that in about 6 hours. No need for fast passes that day! The park closed at 9PM. I already had a little blister from my running shoes. Not good!
We got settled into the hotel for the night. Joyce and I shared a room because she can handle my snoring. Elaine and Carlene shared the master bedroom king bed and Karen and Gena shared the hide-a-bed in the living room. We had a single hide-a-bed in our room, but it was horribly uncomfortable so nobody used it.
Beth N and Donna, the two late arrivals showed up and came up to our suite. We all visited and decorated our purple hats and mouse ears until the early birds said they needed to get some sleep. I think that's how it was decided that Elaine and Carlene were sharing the master bedroom. They both got tired first. Gena got the idea of tying her mouse ears on with purple ribbons. I copied her. Terri made a pretty purple bow for the top of her ears. I took the idea and elaborated on it for mine.
I didn't take any pictures the first day.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-05-24 06:01 am (UTC)It is teh cuteness!
I'm so glad you had a wonderful time, and it's good to have you back safe and sound. :)
no subject
Date: 2005-05-24 06:32 am (UTC)It cracked me up!!
That's so neat!!! You look great there!
oke, gotto run now, i'm reading the entry later today.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-24 09:18 am (UTC)Sounds like you had a BLAST! Thanks for posting all those neat pictures too. (^_^)
no subject
Date: 2005-05-24 11:08 am (UTC)I LOVE the icon! And the idea of you and your girls hanging up decorations in a hotel room delights me to no end. :D
no subject
Date: 2005-05-24 11:28 am (UTC)