Well, the trip started out early Sunday morning....we waited to gas up in Lodi where it's a bit cheaper. The weather was dry & mild. There was a bit of tule fog as we approached Lodi, but nothing too bad.

We adveraged 28.9 mpg on the way down & with a wind cutting across the front we got 28.5 on the way back.

This was the first trip for the grand niece & nephew. This was the baby born last year & was in the NICU for a couple of weeks & barely survived. She's fine now. She does have servere allergies to all dairy products & she's a tiny thing!

Here's Noah with Mickey. He was weird...he was afraid on the "baby" rides, like Peter Pan's Flight, Mr. Toad, etc.....but LOVED Thunder Mt.!!

Anna was kissed by Cinderella!! Shane litterally ran into her as she was going into the cast member area & kiss paused to say hello.....

Anna seemed to enjoyed the ides she could go on.

When we first met up on Sunday night we got to see Anna for the first time since she was born!!

When we take kids that have the first letter of their name in the word CALIFORNIA, we take a picture....

A is for Anna.....

N is for Noah.....

The weather there was record breaking heat!!! It was the hottest spot in the whole nation the days we were there! We handled it fine, but those people from Idaho were melting!!! :lmao: It was near 100!!


On the way home it wasn't quite as uneventful!

We had a late lunch....again in Button Willow.... we'd planned on stopping at Carl's Jr. but they were closed due a broken water line. So we went to MacDonalds. I drank WAY too much flavored water. I was feeling a bit dehydrated. Well, the next roadside rest was 59 miles away & I barely made it!! My leather was in dire jepordy!! :lmao:

So those last few miles we were moving out...um, REALLY moving out!!! :paranoid:

Ahh, made it!

Back on the road....but first we put in the new Cars DVD we bought... we had picture but no sound. So we were merely puttering in the right lane, going with the flow.....oh yeah, it's gotta be on FM....... :D Got it!!

I commented on the highway patrol watching...there was one of their planes zigzagging ahead.

Next thing we know there's a CHP car with lights on behind us.... they passes us...whew & pulled the Ody over in front of us. But wait..... now there's one pulling US over!! Did they see the movie somehow? We weren't speeding!!

QUICK!! Get the Nav screen back up!! Get the sound to music....... :paranoid:

She said the plane clocked us at 86. Us & the Ody.

There's no way....we'd not been on the road very long & we were fighting with the movie for the time we were...but we couldn't explain THAT to her. We can prove we'd just got on the road....we snapped a shot of the Nav screenwhich shows us less than 4 miles into the adventure since the last stop.

The CHP officer seemed like she believed us, but the one in the plane is the real officer, the ones on the ground are just for the paperwork. She did tell us who to contact to fight it.

So he did get a ticket..... :thumbsdow

We even told her that whole story about the lunch & needing to pee & that if we were clocked BEFORE the stop, we'd deserve it...but it must have been a mistake after. We couldn't tell her that we were messing with the DVD, but I did tell her I saw the plane up ahead as we got on & commented on it...

Oh yeah, the ones here that kinda have that feeling that I may just not admit when there's a problem with my car being pro-Honda.... we also discovered that the reclining feature of the passenger seat has quit!! I can hear the motor going, but it doesn't move! So he needs to see if there's something jamming it...which I doubt 'cuz there's nothing under the seats.... then I'll be fighting about getting it repaired on a goodwill since my warranty was up in August! I now have 21.5K on her!!

...hey princess, we're actually planning a trip down to Disneyland in December. We'll take the Accord, the plan is to leave the day after Christmas and head down as far as Ashland the first day and get to Anaheim the following day. Staying at the HoJo Plaza just across the street from D-land. 3 day park-hopper passes and we'll be there for new years eve, evidently there's one heck of a fireworks display to bring in 2007...
...what kind of weather can we expect for that part of the world in late December/early January?

thanks.

cheers,

Lorne Miller
05 EX-L deep green pearl with ivory
96 Odyssey taffeta white with sage

LOL. Anaheim is pretty close to my house :p
go to the Brea Mall around there. It is pretty nice place.
If you have time, I suggest you to The Grove in Downtown LA, that mall is pretty.

The HoJo is not quite across the street from the entrance....it's across from a fenced edge of the park.... they have a shuttle to the park's entrance. The light where the entrance is would be pretty much where Desert Inn & suites is, then Park Vue (icky), then Park Plaza (best western), Tropicana, Carousol, Camelot (where we stay) then Fairfeild Inn...then HoJo.... there's a few places to eat inbetween. It's walking distance, but not really across the street. I'd say a 10-15 minute walk.

On News Years Eve it will be REALLY crowded that night. I'm talkin' standing room only at midnight on Main Street. We did it once. To get out we litterally held hands to shuffle in tiny baby steps all the way down Main Street to get out. So watch the fireworks at a edge, like by the Matterhorn or pick a spot early at La Plaza dining on the corner, outside. Pay for a special dinner, if you have to to be a VIP. You won't see or hear much of the fireworks over in the New Orleans area. Each land will have it's own type of band going. It's a full party atmoshere!! :yes: The fireworks are shot over the castle for the mostpart, so if you can see the top of it, you should be good. The Matterhorn is to one side.

Weather is usually mild. We've had light rain in the daytime during that time, but not cold. If it rains the lines shrink on nearly all the rides. I'd say in the 60's in the day & 50's at night. But they were 20 degrees above their norm this weekend....so who knows!! When it's close to the time, check this out for the weather reports:

http://www.wunderground.com/US/CA/Anaheim.html

I LOVE the fireworks!! It's worth the crowds!!

When it's closer to the time, you can get the schedules here:

http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/parks/overview?name=DisneylandResortParksOverviewPage

If you haven't been there in a while, make sure you go on Space Mt. it's faster, darker & has better music than it used to have. At night they pump up the bass. I also highly recommend Indy, Buzz Lightyear & Star Tours. Soaring in DCA, plus Tower of Terror. Of course, all the classics. Small World & Haunted Mansion will be all decked out for the holidays.

Even crowded it's fun.....it's just takes more time to do things. There's wonderful shows too, so make sure you check the schedule!! :yes:

...thanks princess. We were actually down there a year and a half ago, stayed at the Desert Inn & Suites, we were there in 2000 and stayed at the HoJo, the HoJo is a better deal so thats why we're staying there again. I know its not across the street from the main entrance, we'll use the shuttle.
So you've been there for New Years Eve, cool. When we were there last time it was during spring break, and they announced that the attendance on that day had broken all previous records, so I know how crowded and busy it can get in that place...
...so go ahead and ask why we would possibly want to go there on one of the busiest times of the year. Its our Christmas present to our kids, we asked them what they wanted for Christmas or what they wanted to do, and this trip is what they wanted. My daughter is getting married in August, so we have a future son in law involved with everything now. We're doing this trip together with he and his mom, they're helping out with the overall costs of the trip so it won't be that bad. Its still a lot cheaper to drive down from up here and stay along the way than it is to fly. For all of us to fly round trip it was over 5 grand, whereas our entire budget to drive, gas, food, motels, and park hopper passes is only going to be 2800 bucks...
...we'll definitely do all the main attractions, Space Mountain was closed for the upgrades last time we were there so everyone is looking forward to going on that. My personal favorite is 'Soaring over California' with Grizzly River Run being next. We haven't been on 'Its a Small World' for years, is it really that much different at Christmas?
...we'll probably start making our way toward the main entrance/exit close to 11:30 and try to watch the New Years fireworks display from that location, that way it won't be such a crush after midnight, at least thats the idea we have right now. We'll bring along some light rain gear in case it does try to rain, I've only ever had it rain on me once in all the times I've been there...
Thanks for all your info.

cheers,

Lorne Miller
05 EX-L deep green pearl with ivory
96 Odyssey taffeta white with sage

<<We're doing this trip together with he and his mom, they're helping out with the overall costs of the trip so it won't be that bad. Its still a lot cheaper to drive down from up here and stay along the way than it is to fly. For all of us to fly round trip it was over 5 grand, whereas our entire budget to drive, gas, food, motels, and park hopper passes is only going to be 2800 bucks...>>

wow, now i don't feel so crazy..... driving everywhere i go, if i have time..... :lmao:

Just trying to help....I'm glad it's not a first trip, I fear the crowds would scare you away from going again!! :D

Small World had a Xmas theme..even the songs!! They add decorations inside & out. I love the colors & lights during the holidays. They usually have different colors for each land.

Most of the time we take our nylon-fold-in-their-own-pocket ponchos with us if we think it might rain. They have clips so if we don't have a backpack they're still easy to take along.

Many of the Disney fans on "the laughing place" love HoJo. None of the hotels on that area a really 5 star, so it's about price & location. Even the Hilton & Marriott near the Convention Center aren't all that wonderful. They are bigger & have some shopping & dining on their property. One of the trips I'd like to try the California Grand. It's supposed to be very nice. It's the only one that's actually close to everything....having entrances to DCA & Downtown Disney & close to the other monorail station.

I finally got all the bugs off my car today!! :thmsup: It seems no matter what time of year you drive down I-5 there's a bizillion bugs!!

This Summer the submarines will be back in business....they will now be "finding Nemo". Having to change our cruise to August, I don't think we'll be going to DL this Summer. We may only do one more trip this Spring, then wail till after the cruise for any more.

Now that it's driving season again & the elections are done, gas prices are going up again. But driving is still more fun than flying.

We've been going down there for the Dec. birthdays for a few years now & we won't be this year... we'll be in Monterey finishing up our scuba stuff. So I'm a bit jealous of someone else seeing the parks during the holidays!! :lmao:

LOL. Anaheim is pretty close to my house :p
go to the Brea Mall around there. It is pretty nice place.
If you have time, I suggest you to The Grove in Downtown LA, that mall is pretty.

Dont forget south coast plaza, the spectrum in irvine, or the block. those are nice places to relax!