GlitteryOtters
Michigander Disneylander
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2015
I've been meaning to do trip reports for a while (have even written notes on each of my last several Disneyland trips!), but just never got around to writing them out. I've decided that will change this time, though. I have a 13 month AP I will be activating in August and I want to keep a full record of my upcoming year+ of Disneyland trips, including a few milestone trips, like my 40th birthday, my husband's first ever Disney trip, my best friend's first ever Disney trip, my first Christmastime trip since the 80s, etc. As I love reading the trip reports on this board, I thought "what better place to record my PTRs and TRs?"
First of all, the cast of the trips will vary each time, so I'll detail the specifics when writing PTRs for each trip, but there is one person who will be on all the trips, so here she is:
This is me...Meg AKA GlitteryOtters here and around the Internet. I'm 39, turning 40 on my next Disneyland trip. I'm a Californian who moved to Michigan 18 years ago. I grew up going to Disneyland a few times each year as a kid. I love dogs, reading, writing fiction, gardening, ice hockey, cooking vegan food, travel, walking, photography, pretty much anything from the 1920s & 30s (especially films!) and, of course, Disneyland.
Disney details: Favorite ride is Mr Toad's Wild Ride, but I also adore Indiana Jones Adventure, Pirates, Haunted Mansion (and the holiday overlay!), RSR, Luigi's Rollickin Roadsters, Little Mermaid, and Heimlich's Chew Chew Train. Alice, Small World, and Disneyland Railroad also rank pretty highly on my list of favorites. Ariel is my favorite princess. I live for Dole Whip (and Dole Whip Floats). Halloween is my favorite holiday, and I hit the park each of the past two Octobers, but am skipping it this year in favor of a longer Christmastime trip. Favorite bits of personal Disneyland trivia: my family used to own some of the orange groves which Walt bought to make up the Disneyland parking lot (now DCA), and I have somehow, strangely, never managed to see the Main Street Electrical Parade despite visiting the park on and off since 1981 (including several years where I lived a mile away in the mid 1980s). I thought I was going to remedy that this year when I booked my August trip...only to have the announcement go out that the parade was going to close the day before we had planned to arrive. Oh well!
Relevant info which may make these trip reports helpful to some: I am vegan, am also on a low sodium diet (which I mostly try to follow when I travel; exceptions being the occasional Blue Bayou visit & the vegetarian (AKA vegan) gumbo at Royal Street Veranda). The low sodium diet is due to advanced heart failure (congenital heart problems, which have worsened to the point where I cannot work and need a heart tranplant. Will probably be on the list by the end of this 13 month trip report). I am also disabled, although not visibly so (meaning I am one of those lucky folk who gets snapped at once or twice per trip for walking too slowly--always fun!) and am pretty good at managing to balance my inner child's desire to ride alllll the rides and do allll the things with my body's needs for enough rest and down time. I hope my experiences recorded here may be of help for those who are curious about the personal experiences of how a vegan navigates the park, how I hit the parks while on a special diet and/or how a relatively mobile, but still disabled person with heat tolerance issues & stamina issues handles trips to the park. I am happy to answer any/all questions about any of these issues, too, so if you have similar issues, or are traveling with someone who does and want to pick my brain, feel free to ask away.
Here are my upcoming planned trips during this 13 month Annual Pass:
August 21st--28th, 2017: my 40th birthday trip & my husband's 1st Disney trip. I am flying into LAX for this trip, but we are driving back to Michigan together (assuming my husband gets the car's air conditioning repaired in time!)
December 2--14th, 2017: mother/daughter trip with my mom, my 1st Christmastime trip since the mid 1980s, her 1st ever Christmastime trip, her 1st trip to DCA and her 1st ever multi-day trip!
Spring Dapper Day 2018 (exact dates not yet set): Dapper Day with my fellow dapper loving best friend, plus her 1st ever Disney trip. Most likely will also be staying at the Grand Californian for a couple of days, as I've never stayed there & we are both enchanted with the hotel.
Other upcoming trips, not yet planned: possibly a short trip in June 2018 after the grad nights are over & hopefully September 2018 (before the AP expires). Possibly more, depending on health, money and airfare specials on Southwest/hotel deals. Fingers crossed. Will edit this post to add info if/when 2018 trips are booked.
I hope to get a detailed PTR for the August trip up soon, but as we are in the midst of preparing for a visit from my mom and are in the middle of a kitchen remodel (we have most items purchased, start demolition after my mom leaves to return home to Sacramento), I can't make any exact guarantees on the timing! Why I thought it was smart to start a kitchen remodel the same month as a Disneyland trip is beyond me. I think I must like a challenge too much. Or possibly I am just plain crazy.
~Meg
First of all, the cast of the trips will vary each time, so I'll detail the specifics when writing PTRs for each trip, but there is one person who will be on all the trips, so here she is:
This is me...Meg AKA GlitteryOtters here and around the Internet. I'm 39, turning 40 on my next Disneyland trip. I'm a Californian who moved to Michigan 18 years ago. I grew up going to Disneyland a few times each year as a kid. I love dogs, reading, writing fiction, gardening, ice hockey, cooking vegan food, travel, walking, photography, pretty much anything from the 1920s & 30s (especially films!) and, of course, Disneyland.
Disney details: Favorite ride is Mr Toad's Wild Ride, but I also adore Indiana Jones Adventure, Pirates, Haunted Mansion (and the holiday overlay!), RSR, Luigi's Rollickin Roadsters, Little Mermaid, and Heimlich's Chew Chew Train. Alice, Small World, and Disneyland Railroad also rank pretty highly on my list of favorites. Ariel is my favorite princess. I live for Dole Whip (and Dole Whip Floats). Halloween is my favorite holiday, and I hit the park each of the past two Octobers, but am skipping it this year in favor of a longer Christmastime trip. Favorite bits of personal Disneyland trivia: my family used to own some of the orange groves which Walt bought to make up the Disneyland parking lot (now DCA), and I have somehow, strangely, never managed to see the Main Street Electrical Parade despite visiting the park on and off since 1981 (including several years where I lived a mile away in the mid 1980s). I thought I was going to remedy that this year when I booked my August trip...only to have the announcement go out that the parade was going to close the day before we had planned to arrive. Oh well!
Relevant info which may make these trip reports helpful to some: I am vegan, am also on a low sodium diet (which I mostly try to follow when I travel; exceptions being the occasional Blue Bayou visit & the vegetarian (AKA vegan) gumbo at Royal Street Veranda). The low sodium diet is due to advanced heart failure (congenital heart problems, which have worsened to the point where I cannot work and need a heart tranplant. Will probably be on the list by the end of this 13 month trip report). I am also disabled, although not visibly so (meaning I am one of those lucky folk who gets snapped at once or twice per trip for walking too slowly--always fun!) and am pretty good at managing to balance my inner child's desire to ride alllll the rides and do allll the things with my body's needs for enough rest and down time. I hope my experiences recorded here may be of help for those who are curious about the personal experiences of how a vegan navigates the park, how I hit the parks while on a special diet and/or how a relatively mobile, but still disabled person with heat tolerance issues & stamina issues handles trips to the park. I am happy to answer any/all questions about any of these issues, too, so if you have similar issues, or are traveling with someone who does and want to pick my brain, feel free to ask away.
Here are my upcoming planned trips during this 13 month Annual Pass:
August 21st--28th, 2017: my 40th birthday trip & my husband's 1st Disney trip. I am flying into LAX for this trip, but we are driving back to Michigan together (assuming my husband gets the car's air conditioning repaired in time!)
December 2--14th, 2017: mother/daughter trip with my mom, my 1st Christmastime trip since the mid 1980s, her 1st ever Christmastime trip, her 1st trip to DCA and her 1st ever multi-day trip!
Spring Dapper Day 2018 (exact dates not yet set): Dapper Day with my fellow dapper loving best friend, plus her 1st ever Disney trip. Most likely will also be staying at the Grand Californian for a couple of days, as I've never stayed there & we are both enchanted with the hotel.
Other upcoming trips, not yet planned: possibly a short trip in June 2018 after the grad nights are over & hopefully September 2018 (before the AP expires). Possibly more, depending on health, money and airfare specials on Southwest/hotel deals. Fingers crossed. Will edit this post to add info if/when 2018 trips are booked.
I hope to get a detailed PTR for the August trip up soon, but as we are in the midst of preparing for a visit from my mom and are in the middle of a kitchen remodel (we have most items purchased, start demolition after my mom leaves to return home to Sacramento), I can't make any exact guarantees on the timing! Why I thought it was smart to start a kitchen remodel the same month as a Disneyland trip is beyond me. I think I must like a challenge too much. Or possibly I am just plain crazy.
~Meg