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Old 27 Sep 18, 02:33 PM  
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xxSmileyKyliexx
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:) **Kylie & Carley’s California Adventure-Pre Trippie!**

Oh Hello again everyone! Not long after finishing my Solo Trip report which is here if you somehow missed it I’m back already with a pre-trippie. If you’ve read my ‘final thoughts’ post then you’ll know that I’m going to Disneyland California this year… in 34 days to be exact! I don’t usually bother with pre-trippies as I find them a lot of effort and ain’t nobody got time for that! So I’ve decided to do one post only, detailing all of our plans in it, it’ll probably end up being quite long as you all know how insanely detailed I have to be! Then I’ll treat you all to another trip report when I come back! Sound good? Fab let’s get on with it.

A bit about us

Us? I hear you ask, yesss I’m not going alone this time, I’ll be joined by my partner in crime Carley. You’ve most probably heard of her before through my trip reports and my attempted pre-trippie of our 2014 trip (which I didn’t persevere with oops!) Carley is my cousin and my favourite girl in this whole world, you might see me referring to her as Scoobs or Scooby throughout. Any other names we call each other aren’t appropriate for this forum Carley is 31 and will be turning 32 a few days after we are back.



This will be Carley’s first trip to Disneyland California. She’s done Florida with me 3 times and Paris once, she never thought she’d ever get the chance to go back to Florida after her first 2011 trip so has definitely caught the Disney bug and here we are 7 years later going to California! I’ll describe Carley as best I can so you guys get a good idea of her character and personality. She is your typical ditzy blonde girl who loves all things pink and girly. She has so many blonde moments it’s unreal and nothing she comes out with ever surprises me. This is why I love her though, plus she paints my toenails and gives me back tickles Carley has recently changed her job from working in HSBC as a reconciliations administrator to now working as a finance officer. It’s hilarious how she does these jobs because she’s always said that she’s crap at maths ha! She’s a right little boffin really Carley is an absolute film buff and would happily sit all day watching them, unlike me who will fidget and ask questions the whole way through! Although I watched Patch Adams recently and didn’t talk at all, it did however get me right in the feels and I was a complete mess! Anyway, Carley has pretty much every single Disney film on dvd which is impressive! Her favourite Disney film is Beauty and the beast & favourite character is Belle. Personality wise, Carley is more self contained and reserved than me, she’s the sweet one out of us and always sees the best in people. Although I think I’ve been a bad influence on her over the years as she’s not backward in coming forward now (ask her neighbours ) Jokes aside, she is the kindest most loving and caring person who would do anything for most people, she’d give you her last tenner if you needed it. She’s such an animal lover too and would stop in the street to stroke a cat or be aww’n at how cute a dog is etc. Not like me who usually runs a mile from dogs and didn’t even notice when my mum got rid of our family cat. She’s a right little gem and I’m pretty glad to have her in my life!



Then you have me, Kylie! I don’t have to tell you much about me as you would have gathered the type of character I am through my solo trippie. I’m more of a ladette than a lady #dyingforapoo, I’m opinionated, feisty, don’t sugar coat anything, not really bothered about what people think of me and I don’t sit on the fence with anything. I’d say I’m good humoured in general, all about the jokes and banter, being silly and saying things how they are. Some people love me for this, some people hate me, some people want to be my friend, some people don’t. As you will know my writing style is very honest, I include the good, bad and ugly of my trips so if you are easily offended then I’d advise you not to read along. Aside from the ‘ladette’ side of me, you’ll be surprised to hear that I am a sensitive soul! It’s why I do the job I do, I work in a psychiatric hospital so can be empathetic with my patients but can also be boundaried and not take any crap from them. Perfect balance of personality to do my job. So yes I can be sensitive and I’m a soppy mare too, I cry at most films I watch sometimes even adverts ha. It’s known on here that I’ve been to Florida a few times, 8 to be exact and I’ve also been to Paris. This will be my first time going to Disney in California and I am ridiculously excited about it! Also I’ll be turning 30 whilst there, which I’m having regular meltdowns about. For those who don’t know, this is what I look like



That sums us both up as individuals but what are we like when we are together? Complete nightmares! Honestly hasn’t changed since we were kids, always getting into mischief, laughing at things that nobody else would find funny, quoting things from films, doing silly accents, trespassing on property trying to catch Pokemon, people must think we are right weirdos. If you have ever seen the simple life with Nicole Ritchie and Paris Hilton, then yes that would be me and Scoobs down to a T (just without the dosh). A big chunk of our holidays have been spent together so we know that we can be with each other 24/7 and not want to kill each other. We have no kids between us, no mortgage to pay or have any real big responsibilities so are lucky enough to be able to go on holidays and live a fun and care free life. Not that it’s care free for me, I’ve been fretting about what the future holds knowing I’m going into my 30’s soon! Anyway that’s more than enough about us! Let’s move on.



How did this trip come about?

Believe it or not I knew nothing about this trip at first! It’s all down to Carley that we are even going! She had informed me that for my 30th birthday we were going away somewhere but was adamant not to tell me until the day before we went! This clearly did not work She did well at first, I would ask for clues or hints and she kept her mouth zipped not saying a word. This went on for a few months and then one day Scoobs confirmed after I’d asked her, that we’d need dollars and then she asked me when my ESTA expired! Huuge giveaway, however I had whittled it down to 3 places. New York, Las Vegas or Disneyland. I was thinking that it was deffo Vegas at one point as this is where we went for my 21st so thought maybe Carley had planned it for my 30th too! Imagine knowing you were going to America somewhere but had no idea where! It was driving me mad not knowing and I was probably driving Carley mad with questions like: ‘what will the weather be like?’ Or ‘what do I need to pack?’ Or ‘how long is the journey?’ Etc. I’ll hand over to her now so that she can give you her account of everything...

Just after Christmas in December 2017, I was sitting on the sofa drinking a glass of wine before going to a friend’s birthday party. I was thinking about the new year and that my cousin will soon be turning 30 in the following November. Kylie had treated me to a weekend away to DLP for my 30th birthday in November 2016 and I wanted to treat her and plan a trip away for her special birthday too.
I instantly thought of DLC. We had been to WDW and DLP together, so to visit DLC and go back to where it all started would be amazing and complete our Disney Parks bucket list for America. A few days into the new year I started looking into flights and accommodation and how long we should visit for. I messaged her parents to make sure it was okay to take her away on her actual birthday and they said this would be ok. I then booked the flights a month or so later with Virgin as we have always flown with them before on previous trips. I told Kylie that I would be taking her away on a trip for her birthday but I didn’t tell her where, just the dates and that we would be going on a plane!
I can’t remember the exact date (it was 23/04/18) but I was at my cousins one evening around April/May time and Kylie was quizzing me about the trip. She was asking what currency she needed to take and what clothes she needed to pack. At the time I was debating whether to hire a car or just use a shuttle bus and uber’s as we had both never been to DLC before and I was feeling a bit nervous as I had driven in Florida before but not LA. I was also eager for her advice as she is amazing at planning Disney holidays and I knew it would be a struggle for me to plan the whole trip by myself so I decided to tell her. I was going to keep the trip a surprise but I knew that was never going to happen!
I sat her down and told her and she was so excited! She was so overwhelmed and I knew we were going to have an amazing time! She encouraged me to drive and reassured me that I would be fine and soon after I added the car hire onto the booking. She also helped me with the hotel as I had booked accommodation nearby but it didn’t have the best reviews so we changed it a better one which was also closer to Disneyland! She has been a little star helping me with all the planning and I can’t wait to spend 8 days with her making the best memories and celebrating her 30th birthday in the original Disneyland where Walt made it all happen.


So there you have it, how amazing is she! I honestly did not expect her to actually take me to California! It had crossed my mind but I’d thought it was too far, too expensive etc and did not expect it at all! I can’t believe she had booked the flights and had been researching it all by herself, she’d even messaged my parents too! Usually I’m the planner out of us both so I was so proud of her and absolutely delighted that she was even doing this for me, for my birthday, so kind and selfless. What Carley failed to mention was that she actually decided to tell me the surprise when I was sat on the toilet ha! There I was doing my business with the door open (told you I’m not a lady) and she came to the door and was like ‘shall I just tell you’. We’d been going around in circles with this for about an hour beforehand with Scoobs saying ‘I will just tell you’ and me going ‘oh but I don’t know if I want it to just be a surprise’ and then her going ‘ok I’m going to tell you now’ and then saying ‘oh but I cant’. She’s such a tease ha! So she chose the moment I was sat on the bog to tell me 😂 Her exact words were ‘we are going to’… pause… ‘DLC’. Me being the thick idiot I am (whilst wiping) was like ‘DLC? Where’s that?’ Ha! Then I clocked on and went through the whole ‘I don’t believe you’ chat. But when it finally set in that she’d actually booked us to go, I flung my arms around her and there we stood hugging in the hallway and I obviously welled up. We then proceeded to watch Disneyland videos on YouTube and just became very excited about it all. So that’s the full account (with toilet details you probably didn’t need to know about) of how this trip came about! Now fast forward to 157 days later and our trip is like a month away pretty much!



We both can’t believe how quickly it has gone. Luckily Scoobs had already messaged me in advance telling me what dates to book off work (this was before I knew where we was going) and my dates off were accepted thank god. We have spent months trying to research, making plans, deciding what we definitely want to do whilst there, where we want to eat, booking reservations etc. It has been a mind boggle if I’m honest. Disney world I can plan with my eyes shut but Disneyland is a whole other story. Whilst there, we plan on visiting other places in Los Angeles too so trying to pick and choose what to do has been tricky! Especially not having a clue about anything, literally. No idea what attractions there were at DLC, how many parks, dining, fastpasses etc. It’s all very different from Disney world! It has been exciting but stressful planning it all. We both have busy lives with work too, that it’s hard to find times where we are both free to sit down and plan! However, we recently found a couple of days when Carley stayed at mine and we managed to complete the itinerary. It was a fun night, we ordered pizza, watched god knows how many Disney films, had my iPad, Carley’s laptop, notebooks and pens out, it was hard work but successful! I shall share these plans with you now.

Pre-Travel Day (Halloween)



I love that our pre-travel day is the same date as mine from last year! We will be travelling up to Heathrow from Southampton (which is where we are from if you didn’t already know!). Neither of us have flown from Heathrow in ages so we don’t know that airport or the surrounding area very well at all! We had looked into getting a train there however this was proving expensive and we’d have to make changes which we really couldn’t be bothered with doing. Carley suggested that we get a coach as it would take us directly there and it was cheap as chips. However I had flashbacks of us on the coach going to Gatwick before and I had hated it! There was no space, it took an absolute age and I had just gotten so impatient. So I had a look online at return taxi prices and they weren’t coming out as expensive as I’d thought so I mentioned this to Carley, said I’d cover the cost (it’s the least I could do, as she was paying for the whole holiday!) and she was game with the idea. So that’s us sorted for getting to and from the airport. Carley has booked us in to stay at the Premier Inn on Bath Road, which I believe is not far from the airport at all. We plan on having a girly pamper night watching Halloween films and eating crap. We will grab some dinner at the hotel restaurant too and maybe a few wines :P

Travel day (Thursday 1st November)

We have travelled on this date so many times over the years and it’s our Nan’s birthday too, so there is always an element of sadness to it as she is no longer with us, but she’d be chuffed to bits to see that we are still close, acting like we did when we were kids and enjoying life.



We start our day today having a champagne breakfast at the No.1 lounge which we are really looking forward to! Our flights are with Virgin Atlantic flying directly to LAX. Carley wouldn’t have booked with anyone else, we have always been big fans of Virgin and they’re our go to for long haul flights. We have a car booked too, after lots of umming and ahhing about it and words of encouragement from me, Carley decided she would be brave and do the driving. We’ve heard horror stories with regards to LA traffic but feel like we’d have more freedom with a car! Let’s hope we don’t crash before leaving the rental place this time #florida2011 The car is booked through Alamo and I believe we have to use a shuttle to get to the rental location at LAX? Please correct us if we are wrong! Hotel wise, we are staying at the Candy Cane Inn which is one of the Disney recommended neighbourhood hotels. Originally Carley had booked to stay at the Eden Roc, which isn’t a bad hotel at all but obviously I had to meddle in her plans didn’t I and after seeing some bad reviews we made the decision to cancel that booking and stay at the Candy Cane instead! Luckily Scoobs hadn’t paid for anything yet so didn’t lose out! We are mega excited to be staying at the Candy Cane Inn, we’ve read nothing but good reviews and what swung it most for us was it’s proximity to the Disney parks, it’s literally a 10 minute walk and they provide free shuttles too in case we are feeling lazy! It looks like a cute cosy place too. For the evening (depending on how tired we are) we have a dinner reservation booked for Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen which is in Downtown Disney. We plan on having pre-birthday cocktails, beignets for dessert and then later on collapsing in bed!



My birthday! (Friday 2nd November)

Lets pretend today that I am 29 and not turning 30 without having achieved anything in my life apart from countless Disney holidays! Today we are spending the whole day in Disneyland! For breakfast we will be dining with Minnie and friends at the plaza restaurant which I’ve read fantastic reviews about, apparently you meet a load of different characters which aren’t always out and about in the parks, and we are looking forward to tucking in to our first American buffet of the holiday, roll on the weight gain! We will be purchasing the MaxPass through the Disney app which allows us to book fastpasses and includes photopass too, at $10 each this is a no brainer! Might take some getting used to without magic bands! My birthday dinner today will be at the Blue Bayou restaurant which we are so excited for, the food sounds amazing and the restaurant itself looks so cosy. Afterwards we will be watching the fireworks and then heading to see the second showing of fantasmic! We are lucky that my birthday falls on a Friday as we have learnt that Disneyland doesn’t show the fireworks every night! Also does anyone know if there is a day time parade in Disneyland? Today will be a long day as the park is open from 8am until midnight! If we feel tired at any point we can pop back to our hotel for a nap (we are lucky it’s so close by!)



Saturday 3rd November

Hopefully we won’t feel too tired today as we plan on spending the whole day at California Adventure. We have read that the weekends are busy at the Disney Parks especially tomorrow as it will be dapper day, however we are just going to brave the crowds and embrace it (she says!) We are both so excited for this park, it looks like so much fun here with all the attractions and the new Pixar pier bit. We will have our breakfast at the hotel (it’s included with our stay) and then will aim to be in the park for opening! Again we will purchase the MaxPass to take advantage of fastpasses. We have a reservation booked for lunch at the new Lamplight Lounge which is probably the one restaurant I am looking forward to the most. The theming and menu look so good, especially the cocktails! Tonight we will watch the nighttime entertainment which I’m not sure what it is just yet! Unfortunately, the world of colour show is currently down for refurbishment and the only news we are reading is that it plans on being reopened by the end of the year, so we are not holding onto our hopes too much for it! Fingers crossed we will be able to see the paint the night parade though! The clocks go back during the night tonight so we will be grateful for the extra hour in bed I’m sure!



Sunday 4th November

This morning will be a chilled one, waking up when we feel like it and heading to Denny’s or ihop for breakfast. We will spend some time just relaxing, maybe taking a dip in the pool depending on the weather. Around lunchtime we are planning to drive to somewhere called ‘The Loop’ to grab ourselves one of their amazing churros, I have my eye on the birthday one! I saw it on DisneyKate’s Instagram and immediately jotted it down to visit, looks yummy (why are Disney trips revolved around food so much! ) After here we will drop the car back to the hotel (which has free parking, yay!) and then head to do some shopping in Downtown Disney. We plan on hitting Pandora for some charms and checking out the Disney shop here. Then we will head into Disneyland for some quick service dinner somewhere and to watch the fireworks again. No doubt the place will be heaving with people due to dapper day, which I’m obviously not dressing up for, I’d look like a massive whale in a dress, too much effort for me!



Monday 5th November

Today is going to be a long ass day and we must be mad heading to LA on a Monday when the locals are back to work! It will be an early start and Carley won’t be driving. We figured it would be a pain with parking as we want to visit different places and be able to have cocktails during the day too. So Uber will be our friend today! We will book it and leave no later than 6am to try and avoid as much traffic as possible! We plan on having breakfast at a café in Santa Monica called ‘Blue Daisy’. We looked at some reviews and the food looks delicious, I’m wanting the breakfast burrito! We will spend some time in Santa Monica, exploring the area, going on the pier, maybe have a ride in the Ferris wheel and have a wander along the beach. We did this in 2009 when we did Vegas, did a day trip to LA and loved it! Will be nice to re visit it again!



We will Uber to Hollywood Boulevard from here which is around a 30 minute journey. Here we plan on exploring the walk of fame and will look for the Mickey and Walt stars! There’s the Hollywood & Highland shopping mall here too with a forever 21, Sephora and Victoria’s Secret which we might have a mooch around, apparently you can see the Hollywood sign from here which we will keep an eye out for. There’s a Ghirardelli Disney store somewhere too which I might buy my weight in chocolate at For lunch we plan on eating somewhere on Hollywood Boulevard, not sure where but we have explored the option of going to the 25 degrees bar/restaurant in the Roosevelt Hotel, apparently they welcome walk ins so we shall see! How cool would that be! (I plan on taking out a mortgage to pay for it mind!)



Once we’ve done exploring here we will Uber to the one and only rodeo drive for some window shopping and people watching We went here on our Vegas trip but didn’t get to explore too much being on a booked tour so we are looking forward to having the freedom to do what we want. Maybe I’ll bump into a famous rich man to hook up with (Sorry about ittt Stanly) One of our absolute musts whilst here is to visit the Beverly Wilshere Hotel to grab ourselves a ‘pretty woman’ cocktail, how very touristy of us! We will stick out like sore thumbs in here but ≈≈≈≈ it, you only live once! #cinder≈≈≈≈inrella. Depending on the time we will decide on what we’d like to do next. Options include: sunset boulevard, checking out Beverly Hills or maybe jumping on a hop on hop off bus. It really depends on how we are feeling and the time as we don’t particularly want to be travelling back to Anaheim any time before 7pm due to rush hour traffic. Although we don’t want to stay too late, I remember it last time feeling quite unsafe!



We will Uber back to the Candy Cane in the evening and then again, depending on the time, we’d quite like to have some grub at Olive Garden which is about 10 mins away in the car. I can’t resist the salad and breadsticks! I’m sure after this we will be dead on our feet so will doss in the room and relax.



Tuesday 6th November

Today I have a surprise for Carley which she isn’t even aware of, she will be after reading this but I’m not saying a word You will all have to stay tuned during my trip report to find out! We will be spending the day in Universal Studios which is a must do whilst in California! I’m hoping we won’t be feeling too tired! We will be driving straight there to arrive for opening which is at 10:00am, however we have early entry with our tickets so will be aiming to be there for 9:30am so again trying to avoid the rush hour traffic! We plan on heading straight to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to grab some brekkie at the Three Broomsticks Restaurant. I’m hoping we can spend some time exploring the shops and stopping for any Harry Potter entertainment, usually it’s so busy in Florida that it’s hard to do these things. We will spend the day doing all the attractions and are particularly looking forward to the studio tour, the views from this park look amazing, didn’t realise it was so hilly! For dinner we plan on heading to City walk and eating at the Hard Rock Café, bubba gumps, Tony’s Rama or somewhere. Afterwards we will head back to the Candy Cane Inn which should only take an hour or so hopefully.



Wednesday 7th November

Breakfast this morning will be at Denny’s or ihop or wherever we fancy. Then we will be heading to Burbank to the Warner Bros Studios for our 11am tour. Being the film buff that she is, Carley is really looking forward to this day, I probably won’t have heard of or seen half the films but I am excited to see the Friends sets and getting some awesome photos. We should be finished here by about 2pm. Our original plan was to go to the griffiths observatory place for the views of the city and the Hollywood sign. However we have since discovered that we can get a closer look at the sign so plan on exploring this option and just going with the flow. If you don’t hear from me after this trip it’ll be because I’ve been jailed for trespassing on private property just so I could get up and close to the Hollywood sign Providing we don’t get arrested, we will be heading to the Outlets At Orange for some shopping later on, they have a Bath & Bodyworks which we can’t wait for! We might stop off at a Walmart afterwards to pick up the usual candy and useless crap and then dinner will be at Blaze Pizza which is near our hotel. None of us have tried it before but have heard amazing things and we love pizza so looking forward to trying it! We did think about visiting one of the Disney parks this evening but depending on the time we don’t think we will manage it.



Thursday 8th November

Today is our last day! This was another of Carley’s dilemmas when booking this trip. She was worried that we’d be going a long way just for a week and wasn’t sure if we’d be able to fit anything in. We’ve managed to fit in what we’d like to do though and know that the Disney parks aren’t as big in California so it doesn’t require a whole lot of time to do everything, not like the Walt Disney world parks. Today we will be splitting our time between both Disneyland and California Adventure, doings attractions we haven’t managed to do yet. We have our last breakfast booked at the Storytellers Café in Disney’s Californian Resort for 7am which we can’t wait for, it’s another buffet and character affair so should be fun! We will probably grab snacks for lunch. We have lots of snacks on our snack list but are only visiting the parks for like 4 days in total so god knows how we think we are going to try them all We will end the trip at Disneyland saying goodbye to the castle like we have done on our previous Disney trips. Our flight this evening isn’t until 8:35pm and we’ve been struggling knowing what would be a good time to leave. We eventually decided that we’d leave our hotel no later than 3pm and drive straight to the airport. It’s hard to judge as we don’t know what the traffic will be like etc so we could end up waiting around ages in the airport! Or we could miss our flight. Brilliant.



Friday 9th November

We arrive back at Heathrow at 2:50pm, seems so late compared to the usual early arrival from Florida! Our taxi driver should be waiting in the arrivals hall for us to take us home. Luckily I managed to get a few extra days off as annual leave so have time to adjust back to normal.



So that covers our plans for the week. It’s quite a lot to cram in for just 1 week! We will probably be knackered, with trying to adjust to the times as well. We had thought about extending our trip but it will be a pain changing the flights and the Candy Cane Inn is fully booked so this was a no go really. We are really unlucky with the fact that the holiday season returns to Disneyland on the 9th (the day we go home!). We would have loved to have been there for this and to see the Christmas fireworks, parades etc. We are hoping to see some of the holiday decorations though!



Since we’ve been researching we have found out that some of the attractions we were looking forward to the most are being refurbished when we are there! Things like ‘it’s a small world’, the haunted mansion, the Matterhorn bobsleds, some of the cars attractions in California Adventure and the World Of Colour Show won’t be open which we are so so gutted about! We will still have the best time though and we are actually just looking forward to being in the original park where Walt Disney walked, it’s going to feel so surreal! Our tickets are 5 day hopper ones which we would have used for 4 of the days, so we have a 5th day spare if we fancy mooching in for a couple of hours (if time allows!) on one of the days. This trip has been difficult to plan as we’ve had to factor in the L.A. traffic too! I’m really hoping it’s not as bad as they say it is and that we don’t get stuck in any major traffic due to accidents etc! Otherwise I feel like we have a good plan in place!

Snack list



Below is a list of the snacks we have came across which we love the look of! We definitely won’t be able to try all these snacks due to time, however we will try I’m wondering if some of the sweet snacks could be purchased on the last day and then wrapped up to bring home. We shall see! Why do Disney snacks look so pretty!

Cream cheese pretzel



Dole whip


Tigger Tail


Pb & Jelly Éclair


Tomato soup and grilled cheese combo


Macaroons and treats from The Jolly Holiday Bakery


Stuffed jacket potato


Mac n Cheese filled bread bowl


Grey stuff gateaux


Iridescent cupcake


Jungle Julep Drink


Loaded tots


Bacon Mac n Cheese cone


Pixar Lemon-Raspberry cake


Pixar parfait


Layered milkshake at Flo’s Café


Treats and drinks from bing bongs sweet stuff


Mickey Mouse Beighnets


Corn Dog Bites


Churro


Shopping list

Bath & Bodyworks- We love the foaming soaps, the 3 wicked candles and the hand sanitizers. I expect we will spend a fortune in here!

Victoria’s Secret- nothing in this gaff fits our big baps or jeers so we spend ages looking for different sprays, lotions etc.

Disney character warehouse- we will be looking for bargains here, maybe some Xmas tree decorations.

Pandora- Disney charms for our bracelets and for my locket.

Disney shops- we both want to buy the millennial pink jumpers and ears!

Other places we want to visit are: calvin kleins, ollivanders, Walmart, forever 21, sephora, converse, Adidas and MAC.

I’m sure we will come across plenty of other places, we are undecided as to wether to pay for an extra luggage allowance to bring back yet.

Things left to do



To be honest we’ve managed to do most things it’s just little bits now that we need to do. It is ridiculous how much there is to do before a holiday! Although I don’t make it easy on myself, I’m always writing lists of some sort and probably making it more stressful than it needs to be! One thing we both have been trying to do (Carley more than me) is to lose weight. I find it so so difficult, my problem is working a mixture of shifts and doing nights too! I never know when to eat and then end up just snacking on crap. It doesn’t help that I have PCOS too which makes it twice as hard to shift the weight off me. Carley has done well with slimming world but I think we are both in a place where we aren’t satisfied with our weight at the moment and with only a month left until we go there’s not much we can do about it. We shall breath in for photos and embrace our ‘curves’



This brings me on to packing! Where both of our weights have fluctuated over the years we have clothes which are too tight or clothes which hang off of us, fantastic. Weather wise we think it’ll be warm in the day and chilly in the evenings, we will have to pack based on this but I know that currently both of us are struggling with what we feel comfortable in and what looks nice. Plus all the summer clothes have been put away in the shops now so it’s going to have to be an online jobby!



Money wise the holiday and tickets etc have all been paid off thanks to Scoobs! We just have to get some spending money together and then we are sorted. We have planned to do what we usually do and have a shared kitty. This will be used for our meals, drinks, snacks, tips, parking, fuel and Uber costs etc, we have actually estimated the bill from each of the restaurants we plan on going to so we know roughly how much to put in the kitty, how organised of us! We’ve basically estimated everything, rounded it up, will go halves and then load it onto a fairfx currency card. Anything else we save will be our own money for shopping, will probably have some on our own currency cards and some in cash. One thing we both agree on this trip is that money isn’t going to be an issue. We will make sure we have enough to ‘splash the cash’ if you like. If we see things we would like to buy then we will have the option to do so, the last thing we want to be doing is scrimping whilst in LA.



I need to get a move on and finish typing up our plans and printing them out for the itinerary too, this is something I do every trip and have got a good collection from my previous trips! I make sure to print out any confirmations, ESTA documents, passport photocopies etc. It’s like my bible for any trip! This is why Carley had to tell me the surprise, we’d have none of it otherwise!



Other things we need to do: sort out our holiday insurance, buy some pamper bits for our Heathrow pamper night (we looked at the princess range at boots which looks good!), download stuff to watch on my iPad for the flight (as I never like the films available on the plane), book our pedicure and get my nails shellacked! Trying to grow my nails is hard work mind as I’ve always been a nail biter/picker but I’ve discovered some sally henson nail growth stuff which is working wonders at the moment! We also need to find out about phone data whilst over there. We are both with EE and have read about some max plan which enables us to use our data as normal when in the states, I’m not sure on the details so need to ring them to find out. I need to buy a new suitcase too as the one I have is massive and my luggage will be ridiculously heavy if I take that! I must remember that we are only going for a week and I don’t need to pack the whole house! I need to remember to print out a hard copy of the directions from LAX to the Candy Cane Inn. We do have a sat Nav included with our car rental but last time they just gave it to us at the booth on the way out and we had to figure out how to set it up etc whilst trying to drive and cutting several people up! So at least this time we will have a print out to avoid such dramas this time round!



I think that pretty much sums up our trip! I’ve never done a pre-trippie, well a proper one anyway! So not sure if I’ve missed anything out, put too much in or whatever but this will have to do, plus it’s my pre-trippie so I’ll do what I want I always like to have at least a guideline in place of what we will be doing, it doesn’t necessarily mean this is set in stone. Some of these plans may change and some might not even happen at all! There have been plenty of times in Disney World where my/our plans have changed wether it be because I/we just didn’t fancy doing something, or the wether didn’t suit etc. This trip is going to be a busy one but we will power through and make the most of it! I’m always so grateful that I get the opportunity to visit new places and I’m more than grateful this time especially where it’s a ‘surprise’ for my 30th, I honestly can’t thank Carley enough! I will end this report with some photos of our previous trips (whilst stealing Wizzo’s pre-trippie tradition), I’m making it a habit stealing other dibbers ideas If you made it this far then thank you all for reading along! ≈≈≈≈≈ about to get real… god help us.

We will climb into bushes for necessary photos


I most definitely won’t be wearing this!


We will take better photos of the amazing views


We will act posh and like we earn loads of dosh whilst eating here.


We will avoid Hollywood boulevards most craziest!


We probably shouldn’t take photos of the homeless


We will redo this photo 9 years later


We will enjoy mooching in the sand


Hopefully we won’t get stuck on the Forgidden Journey Ride


I will enjoy ice cream like never before


The room will not be this messy


We will be care free (we are so much thinner here!)


Carley won’t crash the car


I will continue to act like a big kid


We will smile a lot


I’ll celebrate a birthday


We will try not to take inappropriate photos (but we probably will)


Food photos will be a must


We will try on silly hats no doubt


We will try to look happier on rides


We will have lots of hugs


We will ride tower of terror (whatever it’s called now) and Carley will face forward!


We will smile some more


We will hold our hands up


We will be matching


We will have a photo wearing 3d glasses


We will laugh lots


We will enjoy cocktails


We will find time to relax!


I will add another birthday badge to my collection


We will remain alive on the roads


We will take countless castle selfies


We will buy pointless stuff from walmart


We won’t pack like this


We will get wet on splash mountain


And most of all, we will make more magical memories together.



Just to add, a few of you have asked me what my social media is so you can follow me. I’ve added them below



See you on Pre-Travel Day!

Edited at 08:04 PM. Reason: Please do not use *'s to bypass the filter
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Old 27 Sep 18, 03:40 PM  
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Beth_Disney
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What a fantastic trip you have planned and we share a birthday (although I've got a few years on you and didn't spend my 30th in Disney !)

I've been to LA twice and done similar trips. We stayed in Anaheim for 3 nights and then moved to Burbank for 4 nights. Traffic in LA is awful and those Uber's are going to cost you the deposit for your house (slight exaggeration). I've just done a quote on the Uber app and Candy Cane Inn to Santa Monica is nearly $200! Could you consider doing a twin stay? A few nights in Anaheim and then a few nights closer to the tourist sights in LA?
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Old 27 Sep 18, 09:49 PM  
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DisneyMadAng
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Sounds like a great plan.

Take a look at Mimi's for breakfast. I practically inhaled the pumpkin pancakes 😂 a couple of weeks ago. It's just a bit further up the road than the IHOP. We recently at both and the Dennys. I'd put Mimi's first, Dennys 2nd and IHOP 3rd.

We didn't visit LA this time but the drive to Alamo was OK. Didn't really encounter traffic which was probably down to us leaving late morning.

You mentioned Alamo. You're right. It's off site but not a problem. When you come out of the airport there are shuttle busses practically one after the other. The drivers are really friendly and helpful. Picking up and dropping off the car were a breeze. Filling up the tank before you drop the car off is easy. There are lots of stations really close and prices were the same as elsewhere.

I have spare park maps. If you want one of each drop me a pm with your address and they are yours.

Edit... Splash Mountain. I was at the front. I have never ever been so wet after a ride 😂 wasn't even down to the big drop outside. It was one of the first ones in the dark. OMG I was dripping water for blumming ages lol I was SO glad that I'd taken the time to wash my hair that morning. We did the ride in the morning and my underwear was still we at 5 in the afternoon. It was over 30 degrees. I was wet wet wet 😂🤣

Edited at 09:53 PM.
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Old 27 Sep 18, 09:59 PM  
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pinkstargirl
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Location: West London
I’m looking forward to reading your trip report when you come back! Hope you both have an amazing time!

I’m going to echo the poster above - the Uber’s between Anaheim and L.A. are going to cost you a fortune - is there any way Carley will consider driving it? The traffic can be a nightmare but I think you’ll save yourself a lot of money.

Bath Road Premier in is indeed close to the airport and will only cost you £1.50 each (cashless, it’s contactless/oyster cars only) on a local bus to get to T3 in the morning - there is a bus stop immediately outside the PI, and if you catch the 105 or the 111, they go directly to the Central Bus Station and it’s a 5-10 minute walk to Terminal 3!

I did Anaheim and L.A. on the same dates as you in 2016 and I was surprised that the early mornings and the evenings were chilly, I was used to Florida where it’s warm all the time!
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Old 29 Sep 18, 08:21 AM  
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Rockycat
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I really enjoyed your last trip report so looking forward to reading this one. I can't believe how organised you are!
I'm sure you both will have an amazing time!
I'm in Las Vegas the same week you are in L.A.You have inspired me to attempt a trip report too 😀.
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Old 29 Sep 18, 01:37 PM  
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kev007
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Hi ladies

Hope you are both well and it was great to read your pre-trip report, that looks like an awesome holiday coming up We've not been to the west coast of the USA since 2005 but have always really enjoyed our holidays there in the past so will have to arrange to go back there soon

Any guesses where we are now... ?!

Yes, we are back in Florida we arrived on Thursday and have a two week stay at the Yacht Club

When we were at Gatwick, we remembered meeting you both back in 2016 and that was the last time we were in Florida, we had a holiday in Seattle last year which was excellent but decided we wanted to go back and see the Mouse! We are not doing Universal at all this time so able to stay at the YC which is amazing!

I'm going to do a trip report this time ((promise so look out for it!

Looking forward to reading your report as well!

Have fun

Kev
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Old 29 Sep 18, 04:40 PM  
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clubhouse
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Loved your last trippie - can’t wait to read along!
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Old 4 Oct 18, 10:02 AM  
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xxSmileyKyliexx
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Originally Posted by Beth_Disney View Post
What a fantastic trip you have planned and we share a birthday (although I've got a few years on you and didn't spend my 30th in Disney !)

I've been to LA twice and done similar trips. We stayed in Anaheim for 3 nights and then moved to Burbank for 4 nights. Traffic in LA is awful and those Uber's are going to cost you the deposit for your house (slight exaggeration). I've just done a quote on the Uber app and Candy Cane Inn to Santa Monica is nearly $200! Could you consider doing a twin stay? A few nights in Anaheim and then a few nights closer to the tourist sights in LA?
Aw do we, Scorpio girls Yeah we’ve read about L.A. traffic and have been putting in quotes too for each of our Uber journeys so we are expecting the price to be quite high and we’ve kept money separately aside for this. We are hoping that leaving so early in the morning we will miss some of the traffic you’ll get to read about it in the trip report afterwards, god help us thank you for reading!

Originally Posted by DisneyMadAng View Post
Sounds like a great plan.

Take a look at Mimi's for breakfast. I practically inhaled the pumpkin pancakes 😂 a couple of weeks ago. It's just a bit further up the road than the IHOP. We recently at both and the Dennys. I'd put Mimi's first, Dennys 2nd and IHOP 3rd.

We didn't visit LA this time but the drive to Alamo was OK. Didn't really encounter traffic which was probably down to us leaving late morning.

You mentioned Alamo. You're right. It's off site but not a problem. When you come out of the airport there are shuttle busses practically one after the other. The drivers are really friendly and helpful. Picking up and dropping off the car were a breeze. Filling up the tank before you drop the car off is easy. There are lots of stations really close and prices were the same as elsewhere.

I have spare park maps. If you want one of each drop me a pm with your address and they are yours.

Edit... Splash Mountain. I was at the front. I have never ever been so wet after a ride 😂 wasn't even down to the big drop outside. It was one of the first ones in the dark. OMG I was dripping water for blumming ages lol I was SO glad that I'd taken the time to wash my hair that morning. We did the ride in the morning and my underwear was still we at 5 in the afternoon. It was over 30 degrees. I was wet wet wet 😂🤣
Oh we did see about Mimi’s but I don’t think I can go to the states and not get ihop if I have the opportunity! I’m glad to hear you didn’t encounter too much traffic, I think it’s a bit hit and miss so we will just have to persevere! Thank you for the Alamo info, it sounds really easy and stress free! Your splash mountain experience made me laugh, the most met I’ve been after a ride was after the popeye one in universal! Sounds fun though I would really love those park maps if you are sure! That’s so kind of you, I will dm you my address

Originally Posted by pinkstargirl View Post
I’m looking forward to reading your trip report when you come back! Hope you both have an amazing time!

I’m going to echo the poster above - the Uber’s between Anaheim and L.A. are going to cost you a fortune - is there any way Carley will consider driving it? The traffic can be a nightmare but I think you’ll save yourself a lot of money.

Bath Road Premier in is indeed close to the airport and will only cost you £1.50 each (cashless, it’s contactless/oyster cars only) on a local bus to get to T3 in the morning - there is a bus stop immediately outside the PI, and if you catch the 105 or the 111, they go directly to the Central Bus Station and it’s a 5-10 minute walk to Terminal 3!

I did Anaheim and L.A. on the same dates as you in 2016 and I was surprised that the early mornings and the evenings were chilly, I was used to Florida where it’s warm all the time!
We have spoke about it at length but are still going to spend a fortune on Uber’s I know what we are like, we will spend ages trying to park which will take time away from our day, we do it here in England! Plus Carley wants to be able to have cocktails throughout the day too, priorities eh thank you for the info about the Premier Inn, that’s good to know about the buses as we don’t have a clue! Yeah we are still struggling with what to pack! I’ll take some jeans and cardies though for the chilly mornings/evenings. Thank you for reading along
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Old 4 Oct 18, 10:14 AM  
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xxSmileyKyliexx
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Originally Posted by Rockycat View Post
I really enjoyed your last trip report so looking forward to reading this one. I can't believe how organised you are!
I'm sure you both will have an amazing time!
I'm in Las Vegas the same week you are in L.A.You have inspired me to attempt a trip report too 😀.
Aw thank you, it amazes me how people love reading about my holidays We do try with the organisation, I feel like I get the most out of a trip if I make sure I’m organised. Ah wow! I loved Vegas so much, hope you have an amazing time, not long left now I will look forward to reading your trippie, take notes each evening when you are there or you’ll forget like me

Originally Posted by kev007 View Post
Hi ladies

Hope you are both well and it was great to read your pre-trip report, that looks like an awesome holiday coming up We've not been to the west coast of the USA since 2005 but have always really enjoyed our holidays there in the past so will have to arrange to go back there soon

Any guesses where we are now... ?!

Yes, we are back in Florida we arrived on Thursday and have a two week stay at the Yacht Club

When we were at Gatwick, we remembered meeting you both back in 2016 and that was the last time we were in Florida, we had a holiday in Seattle last year which was excellent but decided we wanted to go back and see the Mouse! We are not doing Universal at all this time so able to stay at the YC which is amazing!

I'm going to do a trip report this time ((promise so look out for it!

Looking forward to reading your report as well!

Have fun

Kev
Hi Kev lovely to hear from you! I am so jealous of your Florida trip, staying at the yacht club sounds amazing, I bet you are having a fantastic time! I will definitely keep an eye out for your trippie! Aw thank you, my last one was so time consuming but I do love to read back on them! Thank you kev, you guys enjoy the rest of your holiday!

Originally Posted by clubhouse View Post
Loved your last trippie - can’t wait to read along!
Thank you for joining along with this one too!
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Old 27 Oct 18, 07:04 PM  
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Rhoose
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Really enjoyed your last trip report. Looking forward to reading along
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