Vacation 2014

This begins the first of many posts of our recent vacation to Southern California.....yes to Disneyland!  It has been fun for me to take pictures and hear Ella say, "Mom.....be sure to blog about this".  Pretty soon she will be the one blogging about things.

This trip has been in the works for several years.  Byron and Ella have never been to Disneyland, CA.  I have been wanting to take Ella for awhile.  I wanted to go in January of 2013 and Byron talked me out of it. I told him that he better get ready because we were definitely going in 2014 with or without him.  He told me if I took care of all of the arrangements, then he would go.  Byron is someone who is completely content to stay at home (Ella is too).  I think that comes from....1.) Working hard all week and then just wanting to unwind at home; 2.) He dislikes the traveling portion of going anywhere and the stress involved with said travel and 3.) He doesn't like crowds of people......so this poses a problem for the travel agent/event organizer who is planning a trip to a potentially very crowded place!

I am someone who really wants to get all of my money's worth.  The first thing I found out was that Disneyland tickets are expensive.  I got the "Unoffical Guide to Disneyland" 2014 edition and studied it like I was in college and going to take an exam on it.  I talked to ANYONE who would talk to me about Disneyland and took notes about the tips they had to give me.  It paid off because truly after having returned home, I really don't have many, "Lisa Original" tips to give anyone.

We decided to fly, rent a car (could be stressful), do the Disney parks for 4 days (Byron's idea actually...if you are going to do it, you better stay there and do it), and then relax at Newport Beach for 3 days before returning home.  Our trip was a wonderful success!!  We did wish we had planned 2 more days at Newport Beach.  We will know better next time.

We flew with JetBlue (1st time) and it went very smoothly.  Ella took a "travel journal" to write about our trip.  She kept up with it for the first day.  This is what she wrote...original spelling kept.

Jan, 20 2014; Its 10:52; We are haning out at the airport.  We are going to Dinsyland.

She was excited!!  I decided against posting the photo she took of Byron and I....it did not do us any favors.  JetBlue gives you lots of snacks and they have lots of TV stations to enjoy during your flight.  Our flights and rental car were some of the $$ bargains of our trip. 

 

This is Ella's photo en route to Long Beach, California. 

We were welcomed to the "Mayberry of airports"....the rental car company employee told us this.  We drove to Anaheim.  We stayed at the Residence Inn at Maingate.  We figured out where we were in relation to Disneyland.....15 minute walk, and checked out our surroundings.  All Ella wanted to do the first day was check out the hotel, swim and watch TV--things we just don't have at home.  Our hotel had a very nice, hot breakfast buffet every day.  We were able to take some snacks from the buffet with us for the day.  It had a nice swimming pool.  The room had a full kitchen....which was nice.  They served 2 dinners while we there as well and this all went toward our rewards with Marriott.  I think Byron and Ella might have preferred a closer hotel, but I was just fine.

From Ella's journal at the end of vacation day 1:

jan, 20, 2014; 85* F Oh my!  swimming in jan.  swimming outside haveing fun!