Newlyweds Escape Alaska in December 2015--a Disneymoon PTR!

The cast!

Me:


Welcome to my PTR, my name is Kelsey, I am 23 years old, and am *almost* graduated from college (I will get my BA in Psychology Spring 2016). I have been to Disneyland 6 times, Disney World twice, and a Disney Cruise once. My favorite Disneyland treat is a mickey pretzel w/ cheese paired with coke w/ a splash of cherry syrup from Coke Corner, and my favorite rides are Splash Mountain and Star Tours. This past November, my family went to Disneyland for 5 days and what was really special about the trip was that my now husband came along. He hadn’t been since he was in the 4th grade, and thankfully he loved it! What was even more special about this trip was that he surprised me by proposing in front of the castle—we had reservations to Blue Bayou, so we were all dressed up and fancy therefore I suggested that we take some pictures in front of the castle (we had PhotoPass+ package so I wanted to get my money’s worth, haha). We took some photos, and next thing I knew it he was on one knee with a ring—he totally surprised me! I am so happy that he decided to propose at this moment because it all happened so fast so I am very grateful to have photos from the event <3 Which speaking of, here they are:





DH:



Meet DH! His name is Taylor, he is 24, and he does IT/Networking. He has been to Disneyland twice now, going on the third. I am so happy that he went in November, and that he loved every second of it! He is excited to go back this December, and there are still a few things that I want him to see that he didn’t see last time, like Fantasmic! and the Aladdin show (Aladdin is one of his favorite movies). Last November, he fell in love with Disney classic treats, Dole whips and churros, and his favorite rides were Splash Mountain, POTC, and Matterhorn.

So now that you know a little bit about us, you can see why we would choose Disneyland for part of our honeymoon. We actually aren’t doing Disney for our whole honeymoon—we are going on a Carnival cruise to Mexico (Disney cruises were too spendy haha) from December 13-19. We chose to do a cruise because we liked the “all-inclusive-ness” of it. For the most part, you pay a flat fee and everything is included. Also, as much as we LOVE Disneyland, going there is not a relaxing vacation. Or at least it isn’t the way we do Disney, which typically is like this: be at the gate first thing in the morning, take a brief midday nap, then stay until the bitter end. We averaged 30,000 steps a day last November. We go hard at Disney lol. But despite wanting a relaxing honeymoon, I literally can't stay away. We sail out of Long Beach and there is just NO way that I am going to be that close to Disneyland and not go. Hence the squeezed in 3 days . This is a general breakdown of our vacation:

¨ December 10, 2015-Travel day

¨ December 11, 2015-California Adventure for most of the day

¨ December 12, 2015—MM in Disneyland, where we will spend most of our day

¨ December 13-19, 2015—Carnival cruise to Mexico

¨ December 19, 2015—Our last day in the parks. Our cruise ship gets back to Long Beach around 9am so we will not have a full day in the parks, but we will stay until the very end since we don’t fly out until the next morning. Based on last years operating hours, it looks like DL is open until midnight and CA is open until 11 so woohoo!

¨ December 20, 2015—Back home we go

Stay tuned for more! This will be a picture heavy PTR since I will be posting lots of pics from our trip last year--I am so excited to see Disneyland during the holidays again

Day 0—Thursday December 10, 2015: Traveling Day

¨ Arrive at Anchorage Airport by 11:00am. I will most likely have a final for one of my classes that goes from 8:30am-9:45am, so it will feel great to get on a plane to Disneyland after all the school stress is over! Our flight takes off at 1:30pm, and we arrive in Seattle at 5:55pm. We have a short-ish layover, taking off from Seattle at 7:50pm, but we should have enough time for dinner at the airport. We will land in Orange County at 10:18pm. I will have to secure some sort of shuttle service, or perhaps we will just take a taxi to our hotel (recommendations or advice anyone? I’ve only ever landed to SNA in the morning, I’ve never landed this late), the Anaheim Islander Inn & Suites. Also, if anyone has any input on this hotel that would be nifty. It is very good value (around $100 a night) and it has excellent TripAdvisor ratings, however I have searched for it here on the Dis and haven’t really seen people talk about it. I will provide pictures and my thoughts on the place when I write my TR when we get back! It seems like a great option for anyone on a budget. We actually were going to stay here when we went last November, but I ended up cancelling the reservation because HoJo had their 50% off coupon, which we couldn’t say no to that deal. We will probably (hopefully) be beat from traveling all day so we will go to sleep as soon as we arrive at the hotel because we will have an early morning wakeup for our day 1, which we will spend in CA!

Day 1—Friday December 11, 2015: California Adventure

¨ Based on last year’s operating hours, CA was open 8am-11pm. Now I am still deciding on whether we are going to do Park Hopper or not. It only adds $80, and it would be nice to have the option to switch parks if one feels too congested or for whatever reason, but at the same time we are trying to cut costs whenever possible. I am kind of leaning towards getting Park Hopper, especially since DL is open an hour later than CA and we are so desperate for more Disney time, that the extra hour will be important to us. Plus Main St is open an hour after the park closes and my favorite late night DL activity is getting a Mickey pretzel w/ cheese & coke w/ a splash of cherry syrup from Coke Corner, then wandering through the shops and the Penny Arcade. Anyway, back to our day 1: we will rise around 6:00am, grab some quick breakfast. The Anaheim Islander provides a small breakfast—coffee, juice, doughnuts, fruit, and muffins, but I think I will want to bring some protein bars too because otherwise I’ll just get hungry again in an hour. I want to aim to be at the CA main gate by 7am. Once in the parks, our first goal will be to grab some RSR FP’s. Next, I want to ride TSMM. My family has this tradition of riding Soarin’ first but I am going to choose TSMM for our first ride since it has no FP’s and the line is always at least 30 min. DH & I love to get competitive on this ride. He has a natural knack for video games, but I have been on this ride way more times than him, so we are pretty evenly matched (For now. Sadly, he will probably best me on this trip, he got pretty dang good last trip) Then we will ride Soarin’. After getting those main things done I want to go purchase bride and groom mouse ears for us J .One of my other main goals is to see Aladdin on this day since DH loves Aladdin and we didn’t get a chance to see the show last time. Other “must-do’s” for the day include going to Animation Academy, Monster’s Inc Ride (we didn’t do it last time), California Screamin’ (only got to ride it once last time!), Mickey’s Wheel of Death (just to do it haha, I’ve been saying I’m going to ride this for years & I still haven’t), ToT, Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, and RSR single rider after doing our FP of course. For food, I think we will have an early lunch/snack at Cozy Cone or Flo’s Café. Later in the day for an afternoon snack/late lunch I would like to go to the Carthay lounge for cocktails and appetizers. My family ate at Carthay last year as part of our WoC package, but I have never ate in the lounge before. It sounds like a classy escape from the craziness of the park hah. I think I will get Primm’s Punch and some of those famous biscuits that I’ve never tried. Here’s are some photos of my family dining at Carthay last year + other photos from our DCA adventures:

Primm's Punch

Fooooood




Cozy Cone Pretzels and Ramone's Pair-a-Dice soda

In line for RSR:

DH on the no longer existing Luigi's:

I just really like food

I love this shot! It was so empty that morning.

I've got to ride this more this time! I want to try Single Rider.

So me & DH synchronized poses, and didn't realize that my dad & brother synchronized their poses too

I think I *am* going to do PP+ again, even if we are only going 3 days. Any thoughts?

Hahahaha so cheesy

Prepare for a lot of goofy photos

You'll notice a theme with my brothers expression in these


The levels of excitement progress from left to right hahahaha

I'll end on some normal ones

Now that you’ve been sufficiently photo-spammed, I will get back to the plans. For dinner, I think I want to head over to the DLH and eat at Trader Sam’s. Last year was my first time going and it was awesome. Okay, I lied. I have more pictures. Trader Sam's! :
Piranha Pool drink...yum

Ahi Poke was delicious--I may have to order this again this time around.

Fish tacos:



After Trader Sams, we will head back to either DCA or go into DL. Now, I kind of want to save going to DL until the next morning. For sentimental reasons, I like to walk under the "Here you leave today" sign first thing in the morning and just see my favorite place when it first opens. But, because it'll likely be open an hour later than DCA we may just say screw it and go in anyway. I know I will want to stay until midnight, despite the fact that we will be up bright and early the next morning for our MM!

Here's the day 2 plans

Day 2—Saturday, December 12, 2015: Disneyland

Today is the day for our MM, which if park operating hours are as they were last year, MM would start at 7am. Therefore, we should be at the gates around 6:15am ish. It’ll be another quick breakfast this morning, some mix of what’s provided from our hotel and protein bars. And coffee, looots of coffee. Once the gates are open, we will beeline for Peter Pan just like everyone else haha. When I do MM in Fantasyland, I usually go on rides in this order: Peter Pan, Dumbo, then Alice in Wonderland—these are my Fantasyland “priorities”. After those, we will probably go on Storybook Canal and Casey Jr’s. The other rides in Fantasyland I typically skip (which is pretty much the dark rides excluding Peter Pan & Alice). This is because they never have long lines and I like to go on them at night--I reeeally enjoy Fantasyland at night. Well, Disneyland in general at night is my favorite, which is why I am so pumped that the parks will likely stay open until midnight this time around! Historically, my family has gone to Disneyland in late May-early June so last year in November it was a bit sad to leave the parks at 9 or 10 pm. However, I am prepared for there to be more crowds this time around since December is close to Christmas. I think the 11th and 12th could go either way—it could be super crowded because it’s weekend but then again it’s not quite Christmas break for the school children yet. Also, there’s all of that El Nino buzz I keep hearing about, which could make it really rainy which I have heard decreases crowds. If anyone’s been to DL around these dates, I’d love to hear your input!

After the MM madness, we will get an FP for whatever ride we feel like doing that day. On this day I definitely know that I want us to do the Fantasmic dinner package--we didn't get to see Fantasmic last trip and I would really like DH to see it, not to mention it's an excuse for us to eat at Blue Bayou. We had lunch at BB right after the proposal last year and it was a great experience. I do like the food at BB quite a bit, but I mostly love it for the atmosphere--the smell of the restaurant (food mixed with the Disney water rides smell), the sounds of the crickets chirping, and the dim lighting of the lanterns that makes you feel like you're outside. I'm still undecided as to what time we should eat at BB, and what time Fantasmic showing to see (DL website says they do them at 9pm and 10:45pm).

Either way, I also still need to figure out what food we want to eat in between breakfast and dinner. I know I want to eat at Bengal Barbecue this time around, and since it might be chilly the Beef Stew from French Market sounds delicious. Whatever we end up eating, I plan on sharing a lot of meals. Not that we have small appetites (we don't), but that way we can eat more of a variety of food! Which speaking of food, here's some of my favorites that I hope to eat again this December:
Yup, definitely getting this chicken dinner from Plaza Inn again. Comfort food around the holidays=

I think this was from Cocina Cucamonga in CA. .

Monte Cristo from our lunch at BB. I would totally get it again at BB this time but since we have to go for dinner instead of lunch for the Fantasmic dinner package, they won't be serving it. Oh well. It's sooo rich that I have to share it anyway, and I don't think DH loves it as much as I do.

Beef Stew from French Market. As mentioned above, definitely having this one again.

This photo was taken on the last day of our vacation. I was relaxing on the bench around the Hub just people watching while I enjoyed my Dole Whip float in the hot sun. Definition of happiness in my opinion (other than the fact that it was our last day)

FAVORITE DISNEY SNACK OF ALL TIME <3

Egg's Benny from Steakhouse 55. Someday I'd like to eat dinner there, but we probably won't get to this time. When I eat there for dinner it will likely be someday when I can afford to stay on property. Dreams lol.

Lemon Bumblebee cupcake from Hungry Bear! I had the Fried Green Tomato Sandwich too (another favorite) but I ate it before I remembered to snap a pic. Whoops.

I highly recommend the Holiday Tour at Disneyland, especially if you've never been to Disney during the holidays. One of the main perks is getting to sit in actual chairs for the parade, and they give you the most delicious hot chocolate and gingerbread cookie. You get to keep the mug too. I use it all the time for coffee and it makes me happy to remember the awesome tour every time I use it!

Mickey red velvet cake pops for life.

That's all I've got for now. Until next time, where I will discuss the plans for our final day in the parks, which won't occur until the following weekend, Saturday December 19th! This is because we will be on a Carnival Cruise to Mexico from the 13th-19th (we get back early morning so we actually won't have a complete full day at Disney). Stay tuned!

Hi! I'm in!

I LOVE it so far, and am soooo in!! I'm so happy you and Taylor get to go again, but sad that we won't be there this time. Can't wait until your next update! Sweet Magical Dreams!!

*BUMP*

Hey! I’m graduating in Spring 2016 with a BA in Psychology too! I love your skirt in the engagement pictures! I’m sure your DH will LOVE Aladdin, it’s my absolute favorite show in the parks.

Following along! Congrats on getting married!! We were at DLR last year about that time in December and are going again while you are there (Dec 8-16). A couple thoughts for you- transport- I'm pretty sure that's too late for the shuttles but there have been a bunch of threads lately about car service, taxis and some use Uber but I'm not familiar with any. Might be worth doing a quick search on the boards though. Last Dec we were SO lucky and it was dry during our park days- this year I doubt we will be so lucky... I see you read the thread but extra shoes, rain gear and realistic expectations (hopefully lower crowds too!) are probably in both our cards this year. Last year the weekend you are going was SO packed that even a couple of vets mentioned it on here- I thought it was just me.... By the Monday following it was almost to capacity according to CM's and with this year being the 60th it'll be busy... We still had a blast and I know you will too, but especially your final day after the cruise hit it early and hard lol final thought- it'll be late but if you are looking for bride/groom Mickey ears World of Disney is open late in DTD. looking forward to the rest of your PTR since we are going at the same time (yay for the holidays!)

kaoden39 said:

Hi! I'm in!

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Hello and welcome!

yupikgal said:

I LOVE it so far, and am soooo in!! I'm so happy you and Taylor get to go again, but sad that we won't be there this time. Can't wait until your next update! Sweet Magical Dreams!!

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Hi Mom! I'll keep you posted as I update

magicallyDisney001 said:

Hey! I’m graduating in Spring 2016 with a BA in Psychology too! I love your skirt in the engagement pictures! I’m sure your DH will LOVE Aladdin, it’s my absolute favorite show in the parks.

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Nice, congratulations! Doesn't it feel great to be almost done?

Thank you, I got it from Pinup Girl Clothing--they actually have an entire collection that is Disney inspired, and another collection that they made in collaboration with Mary Blair's estate! Here they are if you want to gaze at their beauty:
http://www.pinupgirlclothing.com/collections/fairytale-fantasy.html
http://www.pinupgirlclothing.com/collections/maryblair.html

Yes, I love the Aladdin show! I'm not usually super into shows but this one is amazing --I'm bummed we missed it last time but we definitely won't be missing it this time

millie0312 said:

Following along! Congrats on getting married!! We were at DLR last year about that time in December and are going again while you are there (Dec 8-16). A couple thoughts for you- transport- I'm pretty sure that's too late for the shuttles but there have been a bunch of threads lately about car service, taxis and some use Uber but I'm not familiar with any. Might be worth doing a quick search on the boards though. Last Dec we were SO lucky and it was dry during our park days- this year I doubt we will be so lucky... I see you read the thread but extra shoes, rain gear and realistic expectations (hopefully lower crowds too!) are probably in both our cards this year. Last year the weekend you are going was SO packed that even a couple of vets mentioned it on here- I thought it was just me.... By the Monday following it was almost to capacity according to CM's and with this year being the 60th it'll be busy... We still had a blast and I know you will too, but especially your final day after the cruise hit it early and hard lol final thought- it'll be late but if you are looking for bride/groom Mickey ears World of Disney is open late in DTD. looking forward to the rest of your PTR since we are going at the same time (yay for the holidays!)

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Welcome and thank you!

Good to know about the shuttles, and I will look into the car services, taxis, and Uber. I've heard a lot about Uber lately, I don't think it's in Alaska (yet), but it may be the service we end up using. I think it's less expensive? I'm not sure, again I'll have to research it!

Yeah, I've never been to Disneyland when it's been raining, so it will certainly be a new experience. I definitely think you've hit the nail on the head when you mention realistic expectations--I think that crazy crowds are a lot easier to deal with if you know that they're a possibility, and plan effectively. Originally, we weren't even going to do Disneyland for the honeymoon, but as I mentioned earlier in the PTR we (okay, me ) can't stay away. So I'm kind of thinking of it as I wasn't even coming here anyway so I can't have too many expectations about what I want to get done...but it's fun for me to list what I want to do and plan anyway-I just have to realize that we may not get to do all of it, and be okay with that

So wait are you saying last year the 11th and 12th (or I guess last year's Friday and Saturday) were almost at capacity or the weekend after was almost at capacity? Or both lol? Yikes, I'm a little worried about the 19th as far as going early because the ship gets back to Long Beach at 9am so I don't know if we will realistically get into the parks until 12-1pm. Hopefully they won't be at capacity .

Oh what a great idea for the bride/groom ears! I think we may do that on the night we get in, take a little stroll down DTD to the World of Disney store.

Thank you so much for your input, it was very helpful to hear from someone who went last year. And how exciting that we are going at the same time!

ishbit92 said:

Welcome and thank you!

Good to know about the shuttles, and I will look into the car services, taxis, and Uber. I've heard a lot about Uber lately, I don't think it's in Alaska (yet), but it may be the service we end up using. I think it's less expensive? I'm not sure, again I'll have to research it!

Yeah, I've never been to Disneyland when it's been raining, so it will certainly be a new experience. I definitely think you've hit the nail on the head when you mention realistic expectations--I think that crazy crowds are a lot easier to deal with if you know that they're a possibility, and plan effectively. Originally, we weren't even going to do Disneyland for the honeymoon, but as I mentioned earlier in the PTR we (okay, me ) can't stay away. So I'm kind of thinking of it as I wasn't even coming here anyway so I can't have too many expectations about what I want to get done...but it's fun for me to list what I want to do and plan anyway-I just have to realize that we may not get to do all of it, and be okay with that

So wait are you saying last year the 11th and 12th (or I guess last year's Friday and Saturday) were almost at capacity or the weekend after was almost at capacity? Or both lol? Yikes, I'm a little worried about the 19th as far as going early because the ship gets back to Long Beach at 9am so I don't know if we will realistically get into the parks until 12-1pm. Hopefully they won't be at capacity .

Oh what a great idea for the bride/groom ears! I think we may do that on the night we get in, take a little stroll down DTD to the World of Disney store.

Thank you so much for your input, it was very helpful to hear from someone who went last year. And how exciting that we are going at the same time!

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Last year the first Fri/Sat you will be there (well whatever the dates were last year- but same amount of weeks before the holidays) it was BUSY. The Monday directly after it was so busy by the afternoon it was hard to walk and staff we talked to said it was close to starting the capacity drill- I know they do it in stages so it wouldn't have been completely closed. It was very busy!! We weren't there the following weekend but since school will let out that weekend and it's holiday decor at the park... Lol I hate to think about it! We will be having our last park day 12/14 and I'm expecting it to be packed since last year it was bad and now it's the 60th. We loosely use a touring plan to make sure we don't miss any must do shows/rides and to minimize waits so it may be worthwhile to have one even if you don't use it much or at all- at least you have your must do list and a game plan in case you need it. Not sure how busy it will be for us then or how the weather will hold out but we are preparing for crowds and rain daily and if it's not- we will be pleased and if it is- were ready haha

ishbit92 said:

Nice, congratulations! Doesn't it feel great to be almost done?

Thank you, I got it from Pinup Girl Clothing--they actually have an entire collection that is Disney inspired, and another collection that they made in collaboration with Mary Blair's estate! Here they are if you want to gaze at their beauty:
http://www.pinupgirlclothing.com/collections/fairytale-fantasy.html
http://www.pinupgirlclothing.com/collections/maryblair.html

Yes, I love the Aladdin show! I'm not usually super into shows but this one is amazing --I'm bummed we missed it last time but we definitely won't be missing it this time

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Thanks, you too! I'm looking forward to it, especially since I'm hoping to get an Annual Pass during my year off

Oooh, thanks for the links! I've browsed Pinup Girl Clothing a little bit before but never knew they had a Disney line. Time to go window shopping.

With a lot of planning (which we are both good at) and a good attitude, large crowds or not, you will have a great time! I can't wait to read more, get back to pre-planning!

Congrats! We had nearly the same idea. We are taking a family honeymoon to Disney also!