What a busy week! Last Saturday night started our CHA preview parties, then the tradeshow was Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (1/2 day). Wednesday we moved hotels from the Anaheim Hilton to around the corne and then went to Downtown Disney. We woke up early on Thursday to get ready and then pack all of our stuff up again. I'd realized Thursday morning I'd left some clothes back in the closet of our Hilton room. This was a bummer because my jeans and hoodie I'd pack to wear to Disneyland were amongst the things I'd left behind. :( I called the Hilton to check to see if they'd found them, and they called back a couple of hours later to say they did find everything.
We did have some good luck... on Wednesday, after checking at the Hilton Disney kiosk to buy our tickets (we didn't buy them because they didn't sell one-day tickets), a guy came up and asked if we were going to Disneyland. He had a Park Hopper that still had two days on it and he was going home, so he gave us the ticket! What a nice guy! So on Thursday, we just had to buy one ticket! So we got into Disneyland for only $33 each!
After a cold and damp Thursday morning, plus Disneyland's disorganization of letting people in with reservations for "Minnie's Breakfast at the Park", we were ready for breakfast and for some fun. It eventually warmed up and the sun came out around 1pm. Although Disneyland has eight 'lands' (two more than Disneyworld), it still seemed so much smaller than Disneyworld. Plus, Sleeping Beauty's castle seemed so small. Disneyworld is definately greater than Disneyland. My favorite part of Disneyland was the Finding Nemo submarine ride. We waited in line about 45 minutes and it was worth it- it was the old 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea converted to Finding Nemo. It was awesome.
After the 7pm parade was over, we walked our tired and exhausted selves back to our hotel. I kept on walking back to the Hilton to pick up my left-behind clothes. I walked back and met up with Stephanne and all of our luggage to get our 8:45pm shuttle van back to LAX. Now, I truly believe one of my nine lives was used on this van ride to LAX. It was about a 35 minute ride and the driver weaved in and out of lanes, plus the ride was incredibly bumpy- we were constantly riding with at least one tire on the reflectors and over into another lane. Maybe this is how everyone drives in LA, but I let out a huge sigh of relief when we pulled up to the check-in curb at LAX.
After reorganizing and repacking my two suitcases at the curbside check-in, I had to find room in my carry-ons for 22 pounds of stuff. I finally got my two suitcases to 50 pounds on the dot (they were 60 and 62 pounds before). Our flight left at 11:55pm and was completely full. We never would've guessed a redeye from LAX to Atlanta would've been packed full. There was another Delta flight going to Cincinnati leaving 20 minutes before ours in the next terminal and it was completely full too. Anyway, our two rolling totes we had as carry-ons were so packed full, they wouldn't hardly fit in the overheads. After some frustration, we finally crammed them in the overhead bins. Stephanne and I were both in middle seats, with Stephanne sitting in the row in front of me. Plus, the plane was so hot and stuffy. I was able to sleep the entire way to Atlanta, all four hours and fifteen minutes (thanks Zanax!). I'm not sure if I would've made it otherwise- I couldn't even get to my book or anything in my other carry-on.
Our flight got into Atlanta around 7:20am and then our second flight to Columbus left around 8:20am. Stephanne and I were able to sit in our own rows on this flight and we both slept the entire way. We got into Columbus around 10am, got our heavy luggage and then caught the FastTrack shuttle bus to get my car. Whew- what an exhausting twelve hours!
After I dropped Stephanne off, hauled all of my luggage upstairs, I was finally home! The cats were glad to see me and after smelling and sniffing everything, they went back to sleep. I ended up sleeping too for almost six hours. So Friday was pretty much shot! But, I'm glad to be home and looking forward to things getting back to normal.
For our day at disney: with the first part of the day being gray and cloudy, half of my pics aren't too great. Plus, my camera battery was almost dead by the time the parade came around, so I didn't take as many parade pictures as I wanted. One of the coolest things about this trip to Disney was seeing Minnie dressed for the Chinese New Year (The Year of the Mouse!).


































































































































