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Trip Report Time w/Pics! PLEASE HELP me get to Disneyland!


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  • 1 month later...

Hey everyone! Thanks again for your help with my contest! So long story short, the lady at Mix sent our paperwork out a MONTH after I filled it out when she was supposed to send it that day/week. Really really really annoying because we finally got the letter from Disney a few days ago and found out we have to schedule the trip at least 30 days before we leave, so we can't use our free trip for New Years like we were going to. If she had sent the papers out on time, we would possibly be going on the free trip in 17 days...

 

(sorry for the small rant... As you can tell I'm quite annoyed but getting better)

 

BUT, I did some checking and found some excellent rates for a hotel and we shortened the trip to three nights and two park days, so we can afford to go for New Years!!! It's my first Disneyland New Year's since about 1991 when I was almost 4 years old, so this time I'll remember it much better.

 

We're planning to take our free trip right after Andrew and I graduate from ASU in May. I can't believe college is over already... We'll let everyone know when we decide on dates so we can meet some of you guys!

 

The main point of the post is:

 

WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND!!!!!!

 

We'll be in the parks on December 30th and December 31st, please let us know if you'll be there so we can say hi! We're getting there on the 29th and hanging out around Downtown Disney for the evening as well if that works for anyone

 

As promised, I will post a FANTASTIC trip report as soon as we get back from both trips, it's the least I owe everyone for helping us win! Thanks again and I hope to see you at Disneyland in 19 days!

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BLACKOUT DATES SUCK!!! (lol) i wish I could come see you guys at Disneyland, but I am cheap and only have a socal pass, so I cant go during winter break. My personal advice to you is to go to disneyland on new years day as early as possible because I heard( this could be false) that the park sold out last year. I didn't even know that was possible, so fast pass and get what you want to do early,because there will be long lines. Have a great time and hopefully you will meet some awesome members from this site not including me.

 

 

 

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Congrats! I must suggest if your looking for a great bartender got to Espn zone and find Guillermo. Usually works the day shift in the main bar not too sure on the days he works but an awesome bartender nonetheless.

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Ooh! This is awesome! Now we'll have a chance of meeting up with you in May!

 

Congrats again!

 

--Robb

 

Thanks We really wanna meet you guys too! Andrew was interested in meeting you too because if I read it right you worked on Call of Duty 1 & 2, correct? Andrew's a computer/programming guy along with a big video game player (he especially loves the Call of Duty games) so he always likes to meet people who work in the field.

 

Thanks again everyone and have a wonderful holiday!

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Awesome. I may be able to hang out in may. My pass expires in April, but I think a Disneyland pass would be an awesome early birthday present( my birthdays in july) so hopefully we can hang out or at least meet, especially if Robb is going since I have never met any of the Alveys(I seem to be the only resident of so cal who hasn't)

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  • 2 weeks later...

So our tree is not yet decorated.... we've been a little slow getting it done. So seeing that we actually get our tree done by Christmas we'll get a picture with Yeti Ball. If it doesn't get decorated, we'll take one anyways I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas (or any holiday you celebrate) and you'll be hearing/seeing from me soon with DISNEYLAND PICTURES!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

 

I hope everyone had a happy and safe New Year's celebration, I know we did

 

PART 1!!!

 

We left for California at about 9am (AZ time) on the 29th and had a pleasant and quick drive. Thankfully, there was not too much traffic so my yelling at other drivers was kept to a minimum Near Palm Springs we noticed the mountains had a LOT of snow on them, something we don't see too much of near home. We pulled into Anaheim at about 2pm (CA time) and checked into our beautiful hotel, the Anaheim Marriott. Mom was especially pleased to be staying here, it was the first place I crawled a long long time ago. We took the exciting tram ride to Downtown Disney and spent some time shopping and pin trading (yes, we're nerds ) Dinner was AWESOME and we were way too full for a while after. We ate at Tortilla Jo's which has officially become our favorite Downtown Disney meal spot. Since Andrew and I both recently joined the 21 club, I had a Strawberry Daqueri with dinner and it was amazing! I seriously could keep drinking those things all night they're so good. We made time to stop past the Grand Californian to see their beautiful tree and decorations. To end the night, we wandered over to see the candy cane California letters and the snowflake covered Disneyland entrance. For once in my life I actually got to bed early since we had a long day at Disneyland planned for the next day.

 

Ok, now here come the pictures! I'll have the second part up hopefully tomorrow night with the pictures from the first day at Disneyland!!

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These look much better than those dream clouds.... They even twinkle :)

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Mommy and Me :)

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C is for Christmas!!! or California...

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The Grand Californian tree. I love the gold decoration!

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I love the trees in Downtown Disney! I see pretty lights.... :)

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Welcome to the 21 club :) Drink up me hearties, yo ho! The bad part about this is we paid the same price for his tiny drink that we did for my bigger one...

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Tortilla Jo's is amazing... AND they decorate for Christmas!

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Waiting for dinner :)

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Hello Downtown Disney Trash Can! Don't mind those people acting like they don't know me.

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TRAM PICTURE!!! Remember kids, this tram travels at a maximum of 14 miles per hour :) Anyone know why, because I have no idea...

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I have some sick obsession with themed trash cans. In the words of Rhino, they are SO TOTALLY AWESOME!!! Mom and Andrew acted like they didn't know me anytime I started taking pictures of them.

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The Anaheim Marriott :) Their decorations were so pretty!

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SNOW!! This is right outside Palm Springs. For us Arizona people, seeing snow is literally a Christmas miracle.

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You guys look like you had an awesome time. I am stupid and for some reason the Christmas thing came and went before I had a chance to go. Oh well, I LOVE having a pass, and am asking for the deluxe upgrade for my birthday. My friends uncle owns the Howard Johnson's near Disneyland so hopefully we can do what we did last year and get some early morning awesome intamin coaster action.

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Looks like you guys had a great time. Glad you made it out to Disneyland for the holiday season, even if it wasn't due to the contest. Maybe I'll actually be able to meet you when you come out in May.

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PART 2!!!!

 

We woke up bright and early on Tuesday morning the 30th to get to Disneyland. We were there just as the park opened and headed straight for It’s A Small World Holiday. I had never ridden it before so I was really excited to experience something new. Ever since I was young, Small World has been a favorite of my Mom and I, so we were really excited to see the Christmas version. This was the first time Mom and I had been on Small World together since 2001! I must say, I was very impressed with Small World Holiday! The song was adorable and the Christmas lights and decorations looked great. Mom and I had smiles on our faces the whole way through and even Andrew enjoyed himself. The whole ride really does convey the meaning of peace on earth and leaves you with a warm feeling inside. The refreshed paint on everything looked wonderful and it is great to see an old classic getting the attention it deserves. Also, I was very pleased to see some of the rainforest still there! That was one of my favorite parts when I was little and I’m happy it did not disappear. I will be interested to see in May what is lurking behind the black curtains in the Americana section… Personally, the idea of an America section in America is a little odd, but hey, we’ll see it when it’s here and hopefully it won’t subtract from the experience.

 

After Small World we headed over to Haunted Mansion Holiday!!! The Nightmare Before Christmas is an awesome movie and I was excited to see it brought to life (or would that be death… ). Before this trip I had never been on this attraction either, so it was another treat to see this. Haunted Mansion is one of my personal favorites and it was awesome to see it this way! Like Small World, I was extremely impressed by Haunted Mansion Holiday! I had seen videos and pictures of it before, so I had high expectations, but even these were blown away. The level of attention and detail was AMAZING! The outside looked great (I’d love to see some of the decorations stay all year round like the pumpkins and skulls) and the inside was even better. I loved how the ballroom smelled like gingerbread, too! The man-eating wreath and Jack Skellington were much bigger than I thought they were, something that was both surprising and pleasing. The imagineers did a wonderful job on this and I can’t wait till I get to see it again sometime!

 

After seeing both of these rides, we ran over to California Adventure to ride Toy Story Mania. We were there on the opening day and week of Toy Story Mania but due to huge lines and it breaking down and having to be evacuated when we were about an hour into the line, we never got to go on it. Before we went on we got fastpasses for Screamin’ so we could go on this before we left the park. We FINALLY got on Toy Story Mania and it was a blast! It really was much more fun than I thought it would be and it left us wanting to go again. I do take pride in that I beat Andrew by about 10,000 points !

 

Before heading back to Disneyland we went on Screamin’ and it was great as always. Right before the big drop, the music oddly cut out… My reaction and cynical comment was pretty funny though, and probably left a few people worrying if they heard it. Right after it cut out I looked at my Mom and said, “Well, I hope the brakes work!”

 

We then headed back to Disneyland because we didn’t want the gates to close before we got back in. They DID close later that night but we were safely inside so no worries! If anyone knows the number of guests Disneyland can hold before they shut the gates, I’d be interested to find out. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Disneyland riding as much as we could given the crowds and saw the Christmas parade. Before the parade the marching bands from Penn State and USC marched down Main Street. Since Andrew’s Dad is a UCLA fan, we had to take pictures of the USC band for him . The parade was wonderful and we had great seats! I really did enjoy seeing this again and it just added to the holiday experience in the parks. The rest of the day was fun and we won dream seats for Fantasmic later in the evening! This is Andrew’s favorite show so we were happy to get them! We waited about an hour and got front row seats for Believe in Holiday Magic. Unfortunately there was absolutely NO wind so the smoke hung around blocking our view of many of the fireworks. Even through the smoke, the fireworks were beautiful (this gives me another reason to go back for Christmastime, I gotta see the fireworks!). We loved seeing Fantasmic with the new projectors, they really do make the images much clearer! Between the time Fantasmic started and ended, really thick fog rolled in. This made for some interesting pictures of Main Street with all the lights glowing in the fog. We had a wonderful day filled with holiday magic (cheesy, I know ) and really enjoyed getting to see all the special things for the holiday!

 

Now, here come the pictures!

 

Part 3 is coming tomorrow night with Castle Walkthrough pictures, Inside Haunted Mansion Holiday pictures (our Doombuggy stopped!!!), and New Year’s Eve!!!

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The last picture of the night :) Merry Christmas, one and all!

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No, it's not blurry, that's just all that fog... Kinda gives the castle a cool glow

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LOTS of fog

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Awwww family photo

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I need to learn how to do that to my house

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My favorite castle picture :)

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BRING BACK THE COUNTRY BEARS!

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Gotta love the reindeer

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DANCING RODENTS!!!

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For all those rodent lovers out there :)

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Can you tell who my two favorite Princesses are?

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And thank you Ariel :)

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Thank you for waving right at my camera Aurora :)

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Such a pretty dress!

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Making more friends from the parade

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Hi Mickey!!

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This Snowperson was my friend :) She stopped so I could get a good picture!

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These outfits are so pretty!

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I love the Toy Soldiers :)

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I want one. Now.

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CHRISTMAS PARADE!!!!!

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Donny Osmond was the grand marshall for our parade... Can't you see my excitement.......

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We have UCLA fans in the family so we took photos of the USC band just for them :)

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Andrew decided it was necessary to take pictures of the Penn State cheerleaders on MY camera...

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Back in Disneyland! Mom and I miss the old Rockets :(

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WooHoo! We finally made it on!!! Please note that mine was the green side and I beat Andrew by over 10,000 points :)

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Almost there....

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Goofy glasses :) Almost made it and it hasn't broken down!!!!!

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~~You have saved our lives, we are eternally grateful~~

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Wheesy is awesome :)

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Noted!

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Welcome to the Themed Trash Can family :)

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The smile on my face is hiding a thought of: "I swear to god if this thing breaks down again I'm gonna go completely insane"

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IT'S A DANCING AND TALKING TATER!

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This looks a little nicer :)

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California Adventure: we have no water in our lagoon, no face on our sun, and a ton of seagulls sitting in the empty lagoon wondering what the heck happened :)

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Smile pretty for the camera :) See, Andrew, this is the pretty castle!

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Sharing a quiet moment looking at the flowers and castle :) I gotta give my Mom credit, she snaps these great pictures of us when we don't know it

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Merry Christmas Disneyland castle!

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Pretty shot not so often seen

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Mommy and Me :)

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And here's us two feet over with the tree

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In the Court of Angels. This is a family favorite spot in the park. One of those few quiet corners left.

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More New Orleans Square. Walt would be happy with how beautiful it looks :)

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Wandering around New Orleans Square. These are so beautiful!

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I love how every one has a different expression

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These are great :)

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Gotta love the pumpkins! They really should leave these year round

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Jack Skellington literally crashed into the mansion and "wrecked" the halls :)

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I love the detail! Little snow/pumpkin man :)

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I was so excited at this point, you have no idea :)

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Gotta love the morning light, makes for great pictures!

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On the way to Haunted Mansion Holiday. A guy standing there said he would taste really good deep-fried and stuffed... Poor turkey

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Had to stop past and visit another member of Yeti Ball's family :)

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One of my favorite pictures I took the whole trip!

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We got out and it was doing its 9:00 character parade!

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Me: happy about Small World Andrew: happy to be alive after riding Small World :)

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Peace on Earth :) I love how they brought that sun back, too

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Pretty, pretty, pretty!

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I see a rainforest!!!! :) IT LIVES!!!!

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Jingle Shells, Jingle Shells, Jingle All the Way! Oh what fun it is to swim beneath the salty spray-ay! :)

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I've always loved these :) Kinda kooky but still pretty cool

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I love this light arch! Makes me want to sing the song...

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Neato ice/light sculpture dragon!

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I love these fireworks! The way they shimmered was great! p.s.: I didn't use flash on any of these so forgive me if they are a little blurry. I can't let myself use a flash, it's too annoying to everyone.

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Happy 2009! May everyone's New Year be happy and healthy!

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Happy Holidays! :) (now including a deeper flume so people don't get stuck) ;)

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The wreaths and garlands are pretty! I need to get some for my house...

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I love these close-up detail shots of Small World! Absolutely lovely!

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It's A Small World Holiday!!! :) Let the singing begin!

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