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      Monday, January 05, 2015


disneystuff
02:27 PM - 01/05/2015

The topic: Using the annual passports

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Our annual passes from 2013 ran out in October of last year. We got renewal notices in the mail and we thought long and hard about renewing. For the first time, we went with the monthly payment option. We figured we would renew because the passes we had were no longer available to the general public. One step up from the cheapest pass, we could go on most Sundays. If we didn't renew at this time, we wouldn't be able to get them again. One of the things we wanted to do was to go up at least once a month as our passes allowed (lots of blackout dates). Well, we didn't go in October, we didn't go in November and we were supposed to go in December before the blockouts began, but Brian's work wasn't at a point where we could take a day off. 

But we really wanted to go this month. Friends of ours who used to have passes told us what they did (although they lived much closer to Anaheim than us).  They'd go early Sunday morning, be there when the parks opened. As the parks filled up and lines got longer, they'd leave. We decided to try our luck. And if we got home early enough, we could open up the house and just kick back. 

Saturday night we went to bed fairly early. But for some reason, neither of us slept well ("too excited to sleep!" we kept telling one another). At 4:44 we got up. I opened the door to let the cats out, Brian jumped in the shower. I checked email, turned on the catcams, got everything I wanted to take with (camera, cellphone, Disney pass) together, made the bed, then he was out of the shower and I waited a little for the water to heat up (when we got the new water heater, we got one smaller than the previous and this one isn't set so hot to save energy) and took mine. 

Shut the doors for the cats (it was cold), took a picture of the moon (actually took three, they were pretty crappy, not share worthy), opened blinds, set the garage door to in only and blocked it (Miss Elizabeth goes out regularly now and we don't want her walking the yard if we aren't home). I shut my bathroom door (again, to keep Miss safe, don't want her falling off of the counter). And we were off!

There are more photos (fifty-four) over in the gallery. And as is usually the case, once in the gallery clicking on a picture will take you to a bigger photo in my family album; clicking on that picture will open a larger photo.

The first stop was the gas station. Brian filled up the car and checked the air in the tires. I got out of the car and watched for meteors. There was a big meteor shower Sunday morning around six. I only saw one meteor, but I saw two satellites. It was cold!

Second stop, the bank  (crunched numbers beforehand to see how much we could afford to take).

I took this picture while I waited for Brian to get money. Sure, 37° is nothing to a lot of folks, but it's cold here in Southern California. And don't forget, I'm a delicate flower.

I like this picture. We were driving through Camp Pendleton and I took a picture of the sun's reflection in the rear view mirror. It was just coming up.

Breakfast at Del Taco in Anaheim. It was cold inside, I had to get my jacket and the food was slow to arrive. Brian said next time we come up, we'll stop at a sit down restaurant on the way instead of Del Taco. He figures at that time of the morning we should get served pretty quickly and it won't be cold. 

Walking right into Disneyland, no line, no crowds.

The Disneyland Christmas tree.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle, all decked out for the holidays.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad tracks. Another walk on ride.

Next up, Matterhorn Mountain. Maybe a five minute wait, no longer.

On our way to check out the refurbished Finding Nemo ride. Another five minute wait.

From the line for Space Mountain, looking over Tomorrowland. We probably waited around twenty minutes. By the time we got to the entrance, the line was all the way back to the entry to this plaza.

Yeah, see? Space Mountain. We rode it. Yes, we did.

And I used the Disney Gift Card I had from my birthday to get this digitally downloaded photo of me having a blast. 

We were starting to get hungry and ended up at Taste Pilot's Grill in Disney's California Adventure. After we ate, we went on Soarin' over California. There was a thirty-five minute wait there. The lines were definitely getting longer. And we were getting tired. This was our last ride of the day.

Disney's California Adventure Christmas tree.

And the price board. If you go to the bigger photo and do the math, a one day park hopper pass (where you can go to both parks on the same day) is now $150.00. We used to sit and figure out how many trips we'd need to make to make our passes pay for themselves. It used to be eight or nine, if I remember correctly. The passes we have now are the So. California passes, the ones "Currently Not Available". Doing the math now isn't so tough. Three day trips up, hitting both parks, and the passes pay for themselves.

 We were on the freeway at 1:19pm. We were home before three. It was a good day, we were tired, lots of walking (we've been remiss on our local morning walks the past few months). The cats were glad we were home, opened up the house as soon as we walked in. Did a little on the interwebs, shut down the computers and watched some television. It was an early night for the both of us.

We figure the next trip, we'll try to keep our food purchases at Disney to a minimum. That meal at Taste Pilot's was the biggest expense of the day. I was willing to make food, but Brian thinks that would be too much of a hassle. So, next time when we start to get hungry? We'll leave and eat somewhere on the way home.

 


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lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

In her spare time, she makes pretty things to sell in her store.

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