Virtual Disneyland Trip - Part 1 - Day Before

I woke up this morning and was thinking about what I wanted to write about first in this blog today. I've got all kinds of topics jotted down so stay tuned, this will be a busy place. Anyway, while I was thinking about what to write about, my brain drifted somewhere else as it has a tendency to do. The brain was saying "Crap, it's July, the weather isn't all that blasted hot, all the SoCal passholders have been vanquished from the park, wouldn't it be great to actually be going to Disneyland instead of just sitting around writing about it?". So then the blogger part of me says "That's it! (the blogger sounds a lot like Charlie Brown) why not write a day by day account of an imaginary trip to Disneyland". Sounds like a winner.

Well assumptions need to be made. Me and Mrs. DisneylandTraveler live 434 miles away from Disneyland. We've flown. We've driven. The assumption is that we'll drive this trip. Flying is so much quicker but there is just something about driving that takes away some of the stress (until you hit the L.A. traffic). With driving, you are not limited. Pack a suitcase, if you run out of room, pack another one. Throw some stuff in Wal-Mart bags if you want. If you drive, you can bring a cooler full of water, soda, (beer), your own creamer for coffee, all kinds of items you can use during your trip and pack into that tiny hotel room refrigerator. You'll save some money too. Bring snacks, chips, cookies, things that will tide you over until you hit the Disneyland Park food machine that will suck cash out of your pocket faster than our vacuum sucks the cat hair off the carpet.

Yeah, this is the day to shop for food and beverage items, hit the ATM machine for the real cash you want to bring along, wash clothes, and pack them into a suitcase. We generally begin to pile items for our trip near the door that leads out to the garage. Come tomorrow morning, I'll just chuck them into the back of the Explorer.

Oh, I forgot to mention Mrs. DisneylandTraveler prefers to bring many or her clothes on hangers and instead of in a suitcase, they just lay flat in the back of the SUV (of course, we bring so much stuff, that the second row seats have to be folded down). She also needs to bring detergent and fabric softener because she'll do laundry at least once. Doesn't matter if it's a 4, 5, or 6 day trip, there will be a trip to the hotel laundry facility. Now the thought of wasting valuable park time to do laundry absolutely drives me nuts but I also know, after going through this ritual so many times, that there will be a time mid-week of this trip that we'll both want a break from the park back at the hotel so using this time for laundry isn't the worst thing. Forgot to mention in this imaginary virtual trip, we leave tomorrow (Sunday) and coming back next Saturday.

On the topic of electronics, we have laptops, digital cameras, video camera, cell phones, iPods, and they all come with assorted wires, cables, chargers, etc. Sometimes its hard to figure out what goes with what. On the last trip I got to where a put everything into labeled plastic freezer bags for each device to keep things straight, then everything goes into one backpack. Worked out great. We also take an extension cord and power strip because a hotel room just doesn't seem to have enough outlets. We also take a portable desk fan and a full size coffee maker. Yep, we go prepared (usually).

Another assumption we'll make on this trip is where we'll be staying at - a Disney property hotel or our favorite little hotel out on Harbor Blvd, the Candy Cane Inn. Every trip has to have some kind of budget so over the years Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and me have come to the conclusion that we'd much rather spend our budget money in the parks with nice dining options and money for shopping rather than a high priced room that we generally spend little time in. So for this trip we're opting for the Candy Cane Inn. We usually leave Disney hotels for special occasions or when we travel with groups and the expense can be shared a bit more.

Well, I need to start getting ready. It's almost time to leave even if it is only in my imagination.