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Etsy finds Tuesday: The Perfect Disney bag

One question that comes up time and time again on Disney trip planning message boards is the question, "What bag do you take to the parks?"

The answer to this question involves a lot of personal choice, but one bag that is often recommend is the baggallini messenger bag. I have one, in orange, but it was too big for me. When I'm walking around the parks, I don't want to carry a bag that is any bigger than what I need. I want it as small as possible, but big enough to carry my cell phone, room key, park tickets, some form of payment, and possibly an autograph book for Chesney. That's it. I don't need to carry anything else, and I don't want to carry anything else. I've found that should I be carrying a larger bag, I somehow end up carrying all kinds of miscellaneous junk that my family gives me.

This trip, I decided I should have a bag that gave me exactly what I needed and no more. In the end, I got two bags -- one for the parks, and one as my carry-on. Here's a peek:

Once I knew I wanted something custom made, I searched Etsy for the perfect seller. I found Gypsy Rose Handbags. Seriously, this chick rocks the handbags. I'd love to have an every day bag from her. They are a little pricey, but they were very worth it. The construction is amazing. She worked with me throughout the process to make sure I had the fabrics I wanted, and the extras I wanted.

My "parks" bag was the mini messenger that is on the bottom (and that I'm modeling). I added a cell phone attachment. This was perfect.... no searching for my cell phone somewhere in my bag. I also had a small cosmetic pouch made to match, and used it for media cards and extra batteries for my cameras. The bag comes with 4 interior pockets and 2 exterior. I used the interior pockets to hold park passes, room key and photopass cards, as well as Brady and Mykiah's cell phones. In the center, I could fit Chesney's book, some pens, and my wallet. It was perfection. I never had to fumble for something.

The other bag pictured was a bag I had made that would hold both of my cameras plus my laptop. We didn't end up putting the laptop in this bag, but it would definitely fit. Since we often take weekend trips where I want to take those 3 things, I will definitely be getting a lot of use out of this bag. I also love the colors of it. I was thinking about using it as a regular purse, but it's very big. Still...

I was so happy with my bags, I just had to share. It's kind of sad that I'm looking forward to our next trip just so I can use my bags, no?

watch out... he's on the road

Last week Brady started Driver's Ed. It was a scary, scary day, folks.

He really didn't show a lot of interest in driving. In fact, in the past we've had to force him to drive a go-kart in Branson. This is a child who realizes the responsibility involved in driving and isn't sure he's ready for it. However, he's old enough (actually he had to wait a year to take it due to his summer birthday) and it's time we all took that leap.

I took him out on Friday for some practice. I was mostly OK with it. We drove around the neighborhood working on turning because that seems to be his problem area. I also needed to drop a Netflix into the mail, so I had Brady drive me down a mile to the nearest mail box. It was a wee bit scary when he turned onto the four lane street that would take us there.

It didn't really hit me until we were on a fairly isolated road on our way back home, though. My son, the same one who forgets to brush his teeth and hides pop cans under his bed causing a major ant infestation, was driving. Not only did he have my expensive vehicle in his hands, he had my life in his hands.

It was about this time I decided I probably have an ulcer.

He let me take a photo when we got his learner's permit, but he refused to pose for it. So I took a photo of the back of his head.


And just for giggles, here's a video of Brady driving the Autotopia at Disneyland. It's crooked, but hilarious.

Howard Johnson Anaheim

What to say about our hotel? We loved it. On our arrival day, we were at the hotel just before 11 am, but our room was not ready. That was OK with us... we had them store our luggage in their locked luggage room, went to lunch at Mimi's Cafe, just across the street, and then walked over to Disneyland for a bit. We arrived back at the hotel at 2:30 pm and our room still wasn't ready, even after I had called from Disneyland and been told it would be maybe a half hour. Seriously, this was the worst thing that happened to us, and not really annoying because check-in wasn't until 4 pm. Wasn't the HoJo's fault that we were tired and ready to unpack. We got into our room about 3:20, and when I walked in, I gasped. Just gasped.

Our view was magnificent. We were on the top floor of their tallest building, and framed through our windows was the Matterhorn. It seriously was wonderful to wake up in the morning, grab a doughnut and a pop, and sit in front of the window thinking about all the magic to come.

We stayed in a premium room, which had 2 queen beds with premium bedding. We had a rollaway for Brady and there was still plenty of room for us to move around the room. There was a closet for hanging clothes and storing empty suitcases, and plenty of drawer space (and believe me, I used every inch of drawer space). Our room also had a mini-fridge and small microwave. I had groceries delivered from Vons, and we had breakfast and snacks in the room every day, as well as picking up subs/pizza and taking it back to the room a few times.

One of my favorite amenities at the hotel was the pools. We spent a lot of time at the "quiet" pool. It was here that Chesney made good friends with the family staying 2 rooms from us, and they would play for hours. If you remember, it wasn't that warm while we were in CA, but the pool was mildly heated and good enough for Chesney (the rest of the family, except me, all got in this pool once or twice, too). There was also a small water park where we'd often go after our hour or so at the quiet pool. Chesney really enjoyed riding the slides and getting under the dump bucket with her friends. I really enjoyed the plentiful shade, the small tables, and the clean towels.
We walked everywhere. In addition to the Mimi's Cafe across the street, there was also a McDonald's, a Millie's Family Restaurant and a Quizno's between the HoJo and the Disneyland parks. I won't lie... our feet didn't particularly like all that walking, and we walk a lot normally. It wasn't so bad going to the parks the first time in a day, but going back for the evening... and even worse, walking back to the hotel for that second time... was not always fun.

The HoJo also has a little gift shop where you can find almost everything (except digital media cards, apparently) and a small arcade where my kids spent a ton of money playing air hockey. There was internet view ethernet cord, and an in-room safe.

The best thing about Howard Johnson Anaheim is that they honor the Entertainment Card rate for a limited number of rooms. We were lucky enough to snag it for our entire stay and only paid $79/night. I love this place so much that we'd stay again for full price. :)

Disney report, day 9, Saturday/6.13.09

Not much to say about our last day at the Disneyland resort. We were tired, we'd done almost everything at least once, and I just didn't take that many photos. In the afternoon, I packed to go home. It was semi-sad, but we were ready to come home, too. We did sleep a bit late after our very late night on Friday, and we had to get up at 4:45 am to catch our shuttle back to the airport, so we just ate dinner at Mimi's and went to bed early. We still had smiles on our faces, though.

Disney report, day 8, Friday/6.12.09

Our eigth day was a very special day... it was Brady's 15th birthday! The Disney parks are having a special promotion this year. Everyone gets free admission on their birthday! We, however, already had multi-day passes, so Brady chose the alternate of a gift card in the amount of a one day ticket. We really made this day all about Brady -- riding his favorite rides, eating at the ESPN Zone (sports and food... his 2 favorite things), and making sure he got to spend his gift card on exactly what he wanted. He ended up getting a very cool commenmorative pin set of all the "mountains" at Disneyland, a Lakers/Disneyland T-shirt, a leather football and some Vinylmation. Not all of that was paid for with his gift card, but they were all perfect things for him.

In our hotel room, I had arranged for a couple of birthday surprises as well. The hotel gift shop had arranged balloons, a cake and partyware for our family. From Disney Vacation Planning, I had ordered an Un-birthday cake made of chocolate bars, which also include birthday Mickey Ears. It was a cute little surprise to have on his special day when we were far from home.

That evening was the premiere night for Disneyland's Nighttastic offerings. I had been a bit disappointed to learn that Fantasmic and the Electrical Parade would not start until the end of our trip. However, I decided that I really wanted to see the Electrical Parade, so we went over to California Adventure about 2 hours before parade time. I claimed a bench along the parade route and the rest of the family was off to ride Mulholland Madness. I think 4 or 5 times. We had perfect seats for the Electrical Parade, and it enjoyed it very, very much.

As if that wasn't enough for our busy family, I decided that we should try to make the 2nd showing of Fantasmic. On its premiere night.

Yeah, pretty stupid.

Then again, we got to see the show. We stood for the entire 30 minute wait and 20 minute show, but we had an unblocked view.

Somehow, we dragged ourselves out of the park at long past 11 pm, stopped to get a Photopass photo to remember just how insane we were, and managed to walk back to the hotel. It was quite the night.

And before I close, I just have to share this photo I took while we were sitting in Downtown Disney, waiting for ESPN Zone to open. I just found this whole thing strange...

Disney report, day 7, Thursday/6.11.09

Today was all about fireworks. The first thing we did when the park opened was run straight to the Finding Nemo submarines. The line for this was always huge, and we waited until a morning when we thought we could get there as the park opened. It paid off, and the ride was cute. We then spent the morning re-riding our favorites, and went over to California Adventure to catch the 12:10 performance of Aladdin with the whole family. We were in the front row of the Mezzanine level and the show was just as magical as the first time the girls and I saw it.

In the evening, we went back over to Disneyland to catch the last "rehearsal" of the new Magical fireworks. We found a bench by the Plaza Pavilion and staked our spot. While Dan and I sat and enjoyed the atmosphere, my children were incredibly distracted by the fact that there were a bunch of Disney celebrities in the area. The kids got to see the entire cast of Wizards of Waverly place (including Selena Gomez) and while Mykiah and I were waiting for the rest of the family to ride Big Thunder Mountain, we got to see Mitchel Musso (i.e. Oliver from Hannah Montana) coming off the ride. To say I was a very cool mom would be an understatement.

[For those not quite Disney channel savvy, Dan and I also saw Slash from Guns and Roses with his family by the Matterhorn. We knew that the group had someone famous in it, and Dan's like, "Who is that woman?" I hit him in the ribs and said, "I think the famous one is the guy with the black curly hair." Oh yeah, he says.]

Unfortunately, after holding our spots for over an hour, we were told we had to move so VIPs could sit in our spot. Which, you know, is just not very Disney-ish. Then we went to my second choice of viewing spots and were told it was closed for VIPs, too. I finally just asked a cast member where she would sit to watch them. She suggested the area between Dumbo and the carousel, so that's where we headed. It turned out to be very uncrowded, and a good spot if you don't mind missing seeing the castle stuff. We stood in between them and swiveled to watch the fireworks that were surrounding us.

Quite a fun way to end an evening.

Thought you might also enjoy this little video clip from the fireworks show:

Disney report, day 6, Wednesday/6.10.09

Today was scheduled to be our day "off" but as the day grew closer, it was apparent to me that my family would not be happy laying by the pool or seeing a movie. I decided we should take a Gray Line tour, and because I am such a generous person, I let the family outvote me.

Our destination for today was Sea World. We arrived on our bus just before 11 am, and the first thing we did was get in line for the 11:30 Shamu show. While we waited, we looked at our map/times guide and made a plan for the day. During our approximately seven hours at Sea World, we managed to see 3 shows and all the animal exhibits we wanted to see, and added in a ride on the water ride.

It was a chilly day (probably upper 50s/lower 60s), so before we left Mykiah and I bought hoodies and blankets for the bus ride home. We got back to our hotel somewhere between 8:30 and 9 pm and hit McDonald's on the way back to the room. While I found Sea World charming and loved being able to look out to the ocean, the food was not good (actually, this was a theme on this trip). We were hungry when we got home, and McD's hit the spot. We went to bed as soon as we were done eating -- it's unusal for us to spend 7 straight hours in a theme park and we were pooped.

Disney report, day 5, Tuesday/6.9.09

Tuesday...hmmm, what did we do Tuesday? Mostly we explored. Dan and the girls went up in the Tarzan Treehouse, everyone went over to the Pirate's Lair (which will always be Tom Sawyer's Island to my family), and I had a lot of fun taking photos of the whole adventure. By this time, Chesney had made some good friends who were staying in the room 2 down from us, and I spent my afternoon laying by the pool keeping an eye on her while she played with her friends. I should add here that the weather in California was pretty much my definition of gorgeous (although I'm sure some native CA people would disagree with me). It was in the 60s and low 70s every day, and there were several times we took hoodies with us for after dark. I like warm, with a hint of a chill, especially in the evenings. I do not like hot. It really wasn't swimming weather, but Chesney swam anyway. She was the only one that consistently swam, and I only got in the hot tub once and never in the pool. I'm not stupid. I did greatly enjoy the hours we spent by the pool, me in my coverup with a pop at one side and a book on my lap. I finished 3 books during the trip and made my way through 2/3 of a fourth.

Anyway, here's a sample of Tuesday's pictures:

Disney report, day 4, Monday/6.8.09

We decided to wear our matching Mickey/Minnie shirts on this day. We woke up a little late due to our late night on Sunday, so we decided we'd just go to California Adventure. I took my fisheye camera, and we had fun posing in the big letters in the esplanade.

After that, we went over to Disneyland just to get our group photos taken by the Photopass photographers. We were over at California Adventure in time to be first in line at the entrance gates, and we were quite happy and surprised when we were asked if we'd like to open the park. We were let through the gates early, did a big countdown, and when the rest of the crowd was just coming into the park, we were already on our way over to Soarin' Over California, one of our favorite rides.

We spent our day exploring California Adventure -- the carnival-type rides of Paradise Pier, the fun themed rides at Bugs Land. Chesney finally -- finally! -- got to see Turtle Talk with Crush and we were all saying "cha" the rest of the week. That evening we took our 10% coupon and hit the World of Disney and did the bulk of our souvenir shopping.

All in all, a very fun day.

Disney report, day 3, Sunday/6.7.09

Sunday was one of our favorite days of the trip. We started our day at Disneyland. Dan and the big kids were hyped to ride rides, so they went off to do Indiana Jones (which we all loved, just some more than others) while Chesney and I hung out on Main Street to meet characters. She had great fun playing with Pluto, and then we went to meet Alice and the Mad Hatter. I have to say that the Mad Hatter is probably my favorite character ever. He was so fun. He took Chesney's autograph book and had a lot of fun writing her messages in it. The final autograph said, "I will always remember when I met the Mad Hatter and fell in a mud puddle." Ches laughed about that the rest of the day.

About 9:30, we met at the monorail to ride to Downtown Disney. From there we walked over to the Paradise Pier hotel and had a yummy breakfast with Lilo and Stitch. Made to order omelettes, Mickey waffles and pancakes, muffins, hashbrowns, breakfast meats... and while we were eating, we met Lilo, Max, Daisy and Minnie. Stitch took quite awhile to come out, but our waitress knew we were waiting for him and told him he was Chesney's favorite and we'd been waiting awhile, so when he did come back from break, he spent a bunch of time, particularly with Chesney. It was one of the most magical experiences of our trips.

On the way back to the parks, we walked through Downtown Disney, and of course I had to browse the new Little Miss Matched shop. Mykiah fell in love with their lines, just as I have, and we both bought a few trinkets. Or a lot of trinkets. Whatever.

We ran back to California Adventure, hoping to catch seats to the Aladdin show. We were late, and all that was left were single seats scattered through the audience. The girls and I decided to stay, and the boys went off to explore CA some more. After the show, we girls decided we definitely needed to bring the boys back to see it. I've always said that the Lion King show at Animal Kingdom is the best live action Disney show, but I was wrong. I hadn't seen Aladdin yet. Just amazing.

Went back to the pool, then back to Disneyland that night. We were sort of hoping to catch a rehearsal of the fireworks, but I hadn't paid much attention to the rehearsal schedule, and they didn't have any that night. We enjoyed some hot chocolate and riding our favorite rides in the dark. By the time we got back to the hotel (which wasn't too late, maybe 9:30 pm), the kids declared this their favorite Disney day ever.