Trip Report Let’s Hit It Outta The Park!!!

It’s been about 3.5 years since my last Disney trip report and I’m really rusty. While not truly live, I want to try and do sort of a day by day as we go. Of course, I’m already behind as today is day 3!

So, where are we? At a Holiday Inn about .5 miles from here…
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This isn’t exactly a Disney trip. In fact, it’s going to be nearly a week and a half until we set foot in a Disney park. Sam…the kid who had just turned 2 in my very first trip report, is now almost 16 and playing travel softball. We’re in town for PGF nationals to cap off our summer season. Between our crazy summer tournament schedule, college stuff for Kendall, and recent hurricane related lodging, I feel like we’ve been living in hotels for nearly 2 months. Most of the team opted for beach adjacent/front rentals when we bought out of the stay to play requirement, but Disneyland was our priority. Imagine that!?!

Speaking of Kendall…she stayed home to organize things for dorm move in next month and give the dog a break from boarding after her storm experience. So, this is how she’s getting to experience much of this trip…

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(Yeah, that’s me up there too)
It’s too bad because the fun stuff planned towards the end was supposed to be for her. I was going to head to Yosemite, but she insisted on Disney. She gave me this whole heartfelt speech about it being her childhood. Kids!

So, we decided to drive to California. It’s been drama trying to get my vehicle back for this (damaged in the May derecho that went through Houston) and it’s probably going to have to go back in. We were hoping we’d have it before Sam’s two tournaments in Colorado, but they ordered some incorrect parts. Oh well…I have it now even though it’s still got issues. We set out around 4:45am CT on the 17th with a goal of Tucson by dinner time. I was driving, so not much in the way of photos aside from this Texas Spiny Lizard at a gas station west of San Antonio.

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The most surprising drama of the day was just west of El Paso. All traffic was being individually inspected by Border Patrol. So that was fun. We also had to keep an eye out for dust storms and dodge the dust devils in NM and AZ.

We got to Tucson around dinner. We checked into the hotel, but I was so road weary that we just opted for a nearby Denny’s and hoped the severe storm over the mountains didn’t hit us.

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Thankfully, the storm lost its steam and we were all able to get some sleep. Well, sort of. I was up around 4:30am, which is probably good because I noticed an alert for one of Kendall’s prime day packages being delivered and saw this on the local Houston radar.

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I have some serious PTSD from the derecho and Hurricane Beryl, so I woke Kendall up and had her move to a safer spot downstairs. Oh, and said a few prayers for the power to stay on. Thankfully all was good, but she’s going to Oklahoma, so I need her to be more weather aware.

I used sunrise to try and keep myself from freaking out.

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It’s a really boring video, but I got tired of peaking, so I just put my phone in the window.

 

HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We hit up the complimentary breakfast at the hotel before hitting the road. Part of me wanted to set a course directly for Anaheim, but Kendall and I were in Phoenix and Tucson back in February to see UofA and ASU. I took her to Saguaro NP, so I thought David and Sam deserved the same experience. We weren’t there much more than 20 minutes, but we got some pics and a video.

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HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After Saguaro, it was full steam ahead to California. After getting turned around a few times trying to get to the hotel entrance, we were able to check in and discuss dinner. I don’t know why, but we all decided we wanted to try and get inside Trader Sam’s.

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As you can probably imagine, there was a wait. We could be seated immediately if we were ok with a high table in the sun, 45 minutes for a low table outside, and we had to go out of our way to ask for inside. It was not offered, but it was 75 minutes and Sam could stay as long as we were seated before 8pm. It was a little after 6, so we settled in an waited for inside.

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Our music was also themed to the nearest tower.



I sat pretty well for the first 30 minutes, but decided I needed to take a little walk during the wait.

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HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I had to peak into Goofy’s Kitchen because seeing characters made it feel more real.

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I’m doing this with a hurt heel. I opened our metal driveway gate into it back in mid June. I had my stitches removed about 2 weeks ago, but it’s still on the mend and I needed to sit back down for a bit. I gazed off into the sky/umbrellas as we continued to wait.

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Which reminds me…anyone have any good suggestions on backless mule/slide style shoes for walking the parks? I wore my Oofos flip flops yesterday and they’re pretty comfy, but the front tends to catch on things. I wore Birkenstocks today and they were miserable after a couple of miles. My crocs make my feet too sweaty to the point of sliding around.

So, back to waiting…I think we were called about 5-10 minutes early. Time to head in for some fun…

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Now, I was already missing Kendall and had texted her at least once that she should be here. Even Sam said it! But going in and sitting facing the table we sat at for our last visit nearly started the water works…tears, not the CM spray bottle drink effects. I guess I’ll have to get used to having just one around.

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About to go grab some dinner and drinks, but hopefully I can finish up yesterday later on. We have to be in Yorba Linda to start pool play around 8:30 tomorrow morning, so we’ll see how I feel. I truly despise driving here!
 

meggo819

Well-Known Member
Good to see you back! Looking forward to this
Agreed! Actually coach’s current report with road trip made me think of you with your national park trips, @HouCuseChickie

Glad y’all made it through the crazy Houston weather. I live here too, but didn’t have many issues. We lost power for about 24 hours after the derecho but surprisingly didn’t lose it during Beryl!
 

HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So, Trader Sam’s…

David and I started with the Sea Monster Embrace as a shareable and Sam had the Schweitzer Falls under the no-booze options.

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The menu has changed a lot in 8.5 years. Last time we were here, it was all more snack sized. This time, the dishes had plenty of food. I had the pulled pork poutine with sweet potato fries, David had the pu pu platter, and Sam had ramen.

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The aioli that came with the platter was awesome! I stole some of the string beans to test!

It also wouldn’t be Trader Sam’s without all of the fun drink effects.



It wasn’t until our second round that we got something to set things off. The vid above was for someone else’s Uh-Oa!, but I think David’s Krakatoa punch was this pic sequence.

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HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Agreed! Actually coach’s current report with road trip made me think of you with your national park trips, @HouCuseChickie

Glad y’all made it through the crazy Houston weather. I live here too, but didn’t have many issues. We lost power for about 24 hours after the derecho but surprisingly didn’t lose it during Beryl!

I’ve been trying to go through his as well. They always have really great trips!

We lost power for about 17 hours with the derecho, but a tree sized limb from a neighbor’s oak caused our real issues. It totaled David’s truck, caused about $8k in damages to my SUV, went through parts of the garage, and required professional removal to avoid further damage. With Beryl, we lost power for about 4.5 days. We went to Lake Charles (closest hotel room) for ac and power to work. We know people just a couple of blocks away that got it restored 2 days ago. While the sounds of the gusts and big things coming down scared the daylights out of me, I feel really fortunate with our damage. A neighbor’s tree took out the fence, but that’s nothing when you see all of the ones that fell on homes. Glad it wasn’t bad for you and you didn’t have to follow that ridiculous Centerpoint map.
 

HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It's always fun to follow your family's adventures. Too bad K decided to stay home.

How was the Sea Monster's Embrace? We haven't had that one because I think it has gin in it and we aren't big gin fans.

I know! She really should be here, but I give her credit for wanting to get her things in order.

It was ok, but not something I’d order again. Surprisingly, it was the brandy that stood out in the alcohol flavors that felt out of place. I was really hoping to be able to taste the passion fruit, but it got lost in everything else. The lime and the orange were the strongest fruity notes. Even the pineapple didn’t jump out.
 

HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After Trader Sam’s, we decided to wander the Disneyland Hotel for a bit.

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While Sam was young the last time she was here, I expected David to remember more. It’s all brand new to both of them!

The goal is to spend a few nights here next year …assuming we qualify for this tournament next year AND we don’t have issues on the scale that we faced this year. There is a Showstoppers national dance competition going on here right now and there are dancers everywhere, but it’s not too crazy.
 

HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It also wouldn’t be Disney if we didn’t check out some merch…

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I might NEED that Donald ornament.

While I usually adapt pretty well to Pacific time, my body started telling me it was bed time at home. So, we started walking…
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It’s really not a bad walk…even with my injury.

We got back and FaceTimed with Kendall. Some loud booms that started in the middle of it scared the living daylights out of me. It took a few moments to click that it was fireworks. I wasn’t rushing outside at this point, but I made a mental note to see if they were visible from the parking lot in the future.
 

HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We’re now at July 19th…so yesterday. It starts with a lot of words.

I’m rushing to get this in because things will inevitably get more crazy with games starting and while I have plenty of phone storage right now, I have to take videos of Sam during games. So, pardon the early rush so I can clear lots of space.

Yesterday started with a bunch of work texts about the global outages and our impacts. My mind went to how much of the team was traveling yesterday. I think we only have one girl whose flight was canceled, but we’re already down two and were about to get a sad shock about one of them. I guess at least we have a deep roster, but you don’t want to see the benefit under these kinds of circumstances.

So, one girl let everyone know on Wednesday that the extent of their storm damage was too much for them to be able to travel. Another messaged the group on Thursday afternoon about an unexpected family issue and she wouldn’t be able to make it. I was literally driving down Disneyland Drive yesterday morning, Lego Maleficent dragon in view and Mickey monorail passing in front of me when David said that the girl’s mom had unexpectedly died. She was found unresponsive at some point on the 18th. In a split second it was an initial pop of Disney joy and blast of shock and disbelief. As many sports/activities parents know, there’s a pretty tight bond among your travel team families, so we’re all really feeling this. I mean, when the club manager posted to Facebook a message of strength and power about the girl, I knew it was big, but I was still shocked.

We were on our way to get donuts when all of this occurred. So we motored on and got donuts from Granny’s. She was so amused.

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After that, we hit Costco to get some provisions like water and Gatorade. We got there about 15 minutes before opening and there were easily 50-75 people waiting to get into the store at opening. This is not normal near us. By the time we got out, there was zero parking left in the lot. No giveaways, so I guess this is a normal day at Costco in CA.

After Costco, we drove to Yorba Linda to check out the fields for our pool games. Zero shade. We’re spoiled when we play regionally because covered bleachers are the norm. Next stop…Walmart for cheap umbrellas and “disposable” chairs. After a last stop at Ralph’s we headed back to the hotel. While we were unloading the vehicle, a big semi truck with the Showstoppers dance organization logo pulled up. The driver waved, opened his door and gave Sam this medal…

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I feel kind of bad because there are girls walking all over the Disneyland area proudly wearing these for earning them in competition. Sam got it for unloading the wagon from my vehicle. It’s so odd and out of nowhere that she’s decided to see if it’s lucky. It’s now tucked away in her bag. Hey, if MLB players can wear lucky pearls, she could find luck in a dance medal. We don’t do walk up songs on her travel team, but she had an idea to make her high school one Dancing Queen before this whole medal thing happened, so if it works, it could be fitting.

Enough of the mundane…it was time to have a little fun and head to DTD. I checked out some of the Disney touches in the hotel lobby before leaving.

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And now for the walk…

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After some fun at security, we were in. Stars Wars merch was up first.

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HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Well, the fields are behind about an hour due to a delay with officials. So, I’m sitting in the shade, a gorgeous 82 degrees, and western bluebirds flitting around. Can’t complain.

So back to DTD….

We had some fun with bubbles.



We hit the LEGO Store next.

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It’s tempting to get Kendall the Van Gogh for her dorm room. She loves the more artsy Legos. She’s especially fond of the flowers.

Why are Disney balloons so tempting?

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I’ve also been really good about no new Disney bags, but this also was calling to me.

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We stopped to sit for a bit. We debated about going into the Grand Californian but I wasn’t in the mood to go through security again.

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HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
1 game break. At least I found a real parking spot before the threatened ticketing was supposed to start.

So back to DTD- we went into Wonderground. I was in awe of this place in 2015, but the newer location doesn’t have as much wow. The art is still great, but just not as much pop. I think David wanted to buy this one villain piece, but no idea where we’d put it.
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Some more walking and sitting and observing.

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I was also hoping to find some new shoes for walking that wouldn’t hurt my heel. Saw this in one of the shops but I didn’t love them. Price wasn’t bad, but couldn’t pull the trigger.

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Next up was World of Disney. We were getting hungry, so no pictures inside. In fact, we lost David for a bit because he forgot how big it was.

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So, we’re going to have to come back.

We ended up at Black Tap for food. We really liked the one in Vegas, but this one is a little awkward with the counter service approach and reserved seating taking up most of the facility.

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The shakes were good, although we didn’t notice that the guy keyed in the wrong shake for Sam until we were being served. The mozz and David’s fries were good, but radishes on nachos will be a hard no in the future. At least it had good queso.
 

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