Disneyland Trip Planning
Topic: Favorite rituals for upcoming DLR Trips!

#	Author	Message
71	MerryMouseWife Sun 5/18/2008 7:22a	SoThisIsLove, I remember that column and loved Erma Bombeck. She always hit the nail on the head and was so poignant. I have her books around somewhere. We have great memories of going to DL for all those years. Now that the girls are older, they still love going to DL with us, their parents! What a great feeling to know that they actually want to spend time with us. Sigh. Another tradition is to watch the old, and dated, Sing-A-Long Disneyland Fun. We have almost entirely worn out that old VHS recording. I know the box is taped together within an inch of it's life.
72	BoyStory Sun 5/18/2008 2:32p	Sothisislove, I am officially a mess; all choked up thanks to your Erma Bombeck post (I've loved her writing since I was a teen but don't recall that one). That was exactly what I needed to read today. It's hard to be the perfectionist I strive to be when I have five little boys running around. Someday my "house" will finally be perfect and my "home" will be missing; uggh, depressing! Merrymousewife, that SAL Disneyland Fun video still makes it's way out and to the only VHS player in the house. Now my fifth son (ds3) SCREAMS and jumps up and down in delight when I put it on. Viewing that movie in anticipation of a Disneyland vacation has been a tradition in our family since my oldest (ds13) was about a year old, :)! When I think about it, I am a VERY ritualistic person when it comes to planning my family's Disneyland vacations. My hubby wants nothing to do with the planning so I am the one who's in charge of the planning; from top to bottom and it's my job to make certain everything goes along without a hitch; including the building of anticipation. When we get to 50 days, I suck the kids into the anticipation with our famous family "refrigerator post-it" countdown that I create. From then on, the kids take turns each morning taking one number down from the countdown on the fridge. It is at this point that I really crank up the Disneyland Park music in the car and at home. I also encourage my kids to dust off those old less popular Disney movies on VHS and build up to the more popular Pixar/Disney DVD's as we approach our date of departure. Six weeks prior to the trip I update the our "Things to Pack on Our Disneyland Vacation" list to fit our weather-type, etc. About 1 month prior to departure , if there are any Disney Wherehouses in the area, I usually check it out and get the kids a few things. A few trips to the Disney Store at the Mall (often with my cousin/bff, DyGDisney) is MUST. About 10 days prior to our trip our house becomes that "staging area" for the trip. Clothing that we will be wearing on the vacation goes straight from the laundry and is folded and placed directly on each child's dresser. One week prior, the duffle bags (with name-tags) come out and clothes start going into those as I check each item off "the list"..which will be checked twice before the bag is finally zipped up for the LAST time. About 1-2 days prior to departure I clean out the van and wash it so there will be a nice clean surface for all the I-5 bugs to spill their guts upon. When I was a little girl/teen, no trip down I-5 to Disneyland would be complete without my dad's famous line, "it took a lot of GUT for those bugs to ride down with us" (:P) The McD's in Westly off I-5 has been our breakfast for as long as I can remember. Another tradition I started about 4 years ago is stopping at the Buttonwillow (Bakersfield 58 exit) Starbucks before going over the Grapevine. Oh and re: the tunnel.. ever since I was a small child, we used to ALWAYS enter through the rt side of the tunnel on the 1st day- until a few years ago my hubby insisted we enter through the left- just to make a new tradition. I swear I start off the whole vacation a little thrown off course when we do that, :)!
73	BoyStory Sun 5/18/2008 2:38p	uggh, I messed up my dad's famous line," It took alot of GUTS"...
74	ShivaThDestroyer Sun 5/18/2008 6:10p	>>Another tradition I started about 4 years ago is stopping at the Buttonwillow (Bakersfield 58 exit) Starbucks before going over the Grapevine.<< we usually stop at the Buttonwillow rest area. Tinkeroon and I always look at each other and say, "Buttonwillow" just because it sounds so cute. >>Oh and re: the tunnel.. ever since I was a small child, we used to ALWAYS enter through the rt side of the tunnel on the 1st day- until a few years ago my hubby insisted we enter through the left- just to make a new tradition. I swear I start off the whole vacation a little thrown off course when we do that, :)!<< Although Tinkeroon and I started our 1st day/right tunnel tradition because of the proximity of the potties, I also like the fact that you get that incredible, first impression, front-on view of City Hall, the Fire Station and Walt's apartment the moment you pass through the tunnel. For me, it's not quite the same from the left.
75	Pollyana Sun 5/18/2008 7:32p	When our boys were little, years ago, I would prepare breakfast right before our trip to Disneyland. Mickey pancakes, Donald Duck Orange Juice, and Goofy Logs (sausage) while playing Disney music. We all loved those days. Such good, warm memories. Family traditions are made to carry on. Soon, I will be re-creating the same breakfast for Drew, the new grandson. I cannot wait to take him and share that Disney Magic!
76	MerryMouseWife Mon 5/19/2008 10:32a	Speaking of stopping off at required places to eat, we stop at a dive diner in Blythe for breakfast. It is like something out of a time capsule. The decor is right out of the 60s and has not changed in the least since then. Probably just new vinyl on the boothes. However, the breakfast is really good, the coffee tasty, and the price is quite reasonable. We generally leave at 5 am and along the way discuss what the first ride should be, who gets to pick it, play Disney Who Am I, a guessing game in which the person who is It thinks of a Disney character and gives 3 clues. The rest of us have to guess. If no one guesses in 5 trys, then another clue may be given. The one who guesses correctly gets to be It next, and so on and so forth. We still play that game even now that the kids are teens. This is cruel. I so want to go to Disneyland. Maybe I will win the lottery by fall. Do you have to play to win the lottery?
77	BoyStory Mon 5/19/2008 11:29a	^^^Hmmmm, maybe that's why I never win the Lotto either, I never play:). It's also our tradition on every Disneyland to go to "Po' Folks" in Buena Park (accross from Midevil Times). We either go there for dinner one night during our stay or it's our breakfast the morning we depart for home (to soften the blow;)Merrymousewife, I thought of that when you mentioned a place being in a time capsule; except their decor is stuck in the early 80's:) Shiva, prior to my conforming our Buttonwillow stop into a Starbucks stop (when mom's happy, everybody's happy:) we always stopped at that rest area as well. Now we just use the Starbucks restrooms, :)In fact our vacations when I was a child always included Buttonwillow as a stop. What kind of "time" we were making on the road was always determined by how much travel time it was from home to Buttonwillow, LOL. For example, I can still hear my mom saying "it's only taken us 3 1/2 hours to get to Buttonwillow; we're making really good time!" Or conversly, "It's been 4 1/2 hours and we're only to Buttonwillow, we're not making very good time" LOL! One of the reasons my hubby had changed our entrance to the left tunnel was b/c he really liked those [courtyard]restrooms on the left, LOL. Then they closed them down for a while (don't know if they are still closed).
78	BoyStory Mon 5/19/2008 11:31a	Midevil s/b Midieval
79	SoThisIsLove Mon 5/19/2008 11:35a	This is such a fun topic. I'm really enjoying everything you guys are talking about. Keep it up....
80	sdlovesmickey Mon 5/19/2008 11:53a	I agree Shiva...entering the park on the right is a must and we always do! I am officially making a new tradition as well; never being away from the park for more than a few months at a time :) I am getting ready to start our countdown chain-maybe we will make it today and I agree that it is time to dust off all the Disney Movies we have in abundance and begin family movie night. I have been sitting here today making lists of what I need to be sure to buy before we go, what to bring, etc. I have a million word documents to that effect, but it is always fun to tweak them.

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