3 girls + 3 Boys = CRAZY Birthday FUN! 11-2-06

[dohgusgus]

So this is only my second trip report, first for Disneyland although I have been many times.

I guess I'll start off with a cast.

yeah. that sounds good.

Cast:
Me- Now 18yrs old, love Disney, overplanner and freakoutter if we don't make it on schedule.

Diana, 20 - Sister, we get along so much better now that we are older. Isn't a disney fanatic but has a good time.

Catlin, 19 - Mutual friend of the family, Diana's best friend. The avid photographer who uses to many big words that I sometimes don't understand. He is a great friend, funny, and walks really fast (it could be because he's 6'2)

Sergio, 19 - Oldest cousin. Like a brother to Diana and me. Doesn't get excited (or show much emotion at all) for anything. He was genuinely excited for Disneyland though . He is very quiet, so he can creep up on you any time and scare the daylights out of you.

Adam, 15 - younger cousin. Immature, sometimes too immature. Can be funny at times but doesn't really know when to stop.

Angela, 16 - Adams gf and my somewhat friend. Just as immature, which is sad b/c she's a year older & she's a girl for crying out loud! Not the brightest crayon in the box but a cute girl.


Okay, so back in July I started to ponder what I would do for my 18th birthday because it's a big one so you have to do something special. I didn't want a party because we usually had them at our house and it'd be really boring. I was having a Disney withdrawal at the time and thus a birthday plan was schemed.... MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. BWAHAHAHAHAHAH! Anywho, back to the story.

I talked to Diana about it and she thought it would be good to have six people so no one would have to ride alone. It was a good idea and I started to rummage people through my mind, thinking about some mutual friends of ours. I decided not to invite Gabriel because if I did I know I would have to invite our other two friends (who are brothers) and I simply could not afford it.

Yes, that is correct. At-that-time 17yo me was going to pay for 5 tickets to Disneyland. I know I couldn't ask my dad for those $300 because he just took our family on a trip to WDW in June. So I decided I was going to show responsibility and maturity and pay for it myself.

After falling to my cheapskate-self, I decided against a sixth person. Knowing us five and how close we were, it would be just fine. So began searching for tickets. This was before Disneyland tickets rose to $63. So it was roughly $300 for all of us. That was just too much money for my little piggy bank, it nearly died of fright. So I searched Ebay. *GASP* Yes, I just uttered the *E* word. Now I know some people are real by-the-law people and think I jipped Disney out of a precious $300 smackers but in reality, I saved them from losing money because if I did pay for the tickets at regular price, I would not have been able to afford the food or souvenirs. So I made it up to them

I made two transactions. The first was for 4 one-day Disneyland tickets and the second was for 1 one-day Disneyland ticket. After adding the two prices together and dividing it by five, I spent $51 per ticket. When I figured this out, the prices had already increased. So I saved $12/ per ticket. GO ME!

I personally made my own invitations out of construction paper, cutting them into the shape of an old-fashioned movie ticket with the printed words in Mickey font "Admit One". I mailed them out 3 months in advance! Just goes to show you how excited I was!

That's all for this post.
Next installment: Add a person and the whole plan goes screwy!

 

[dohgusgus]

I started to think about adding another person to our group again. I asked Adam who I thought would get along with our entire group and of course he mentioned his girlfriend. I said I would think about it but ended up telling Adam that if Angela wanted to come that would be cool but I just couldn't afford another person (slightly the truth). He asked me if it was the money or if I just didn't want Angela to come...... I didn't really answer it. I just left it open.

So I began to worry that the tickets may not work and then I would have to fork out another $300 dollars so that ate at me for awhile before I just decided to forget about it and it should happen I have those seller's addresses and phone numbers.

So time went by and I asked Adam if Angela would be coming or not and he did not respond. He said it was "up in the air". No it's not. It's either she's coming or NOT going! For awhile it seemed like he wasn't going to come which I thought was ridiculous.

Not until 2 days before we left did he finally answer me. It was Friday morning when Angela texted me and wanted to ask me if it was okay that I was coming and not just because Adam wanted her to come. At that time I was glad for her to come so I just told her we were cool with each other and not to worry.

On my actual birthday my dad gave me a VERY generous sum of money into my savings account and now I could afford Angela's ticket so I texted Adam and told him I could pay for it. He told me it was okay but he had everything under control but Adam doesn't have a job and if Angela was to come he would have to pay for her. I wanted to help him so we met half way and decided I would pay for half of her ticket and he would pay the other half. Good it was settled.

It had been set with my aunt that we would all sleep over her house the night before so we could be closer to Disneyland (she lives 20 minutes closer than we do). Me, sergio, Catlin left our friends' apartment and headed to Sergio's around 10:00pm. Angela and Adam were already home when we arrived. We hung out for a bit before we headed to the living room to start watching Mission Impossible 3 while waiting for Diana to arrive. She got to Sergio's nearly at midnight. We watched only 30 minutes of MI:3 before she left to sleep in Adam's bed, Sergio to his bed, Catlin to Sergio's floor. Adam, Angela and I slept on the floor in the living room. I set my alarm clock for 5:45am so we could leave at 6:15am. Everyone agreed to this but ONLY if we hit starbucks on the way to Disneyland. Coffeeholics, I tell ya!

I had the worst time trying to fall asleep. I tried to sleep but I kept waking up every few hours. I was excited, I know that but also the floor was REALLY uncomfortable. I ended up getting up before my alarm at 5:30. I started to wake everyone up but they moved at a snail's pace!

We did not end up leaving Granada Hills until 7:30am! But the 5 freeway cooperated, no traffic! We made it to Disneyland in 40 minutes. As we approached the turnstiles, a flame of worry was reignited but we all made it through! HURRAY THE TICKETS WORKED!

First thing we did was hit City Hall for my birthday button and phone call from Goofy. The park was practically ours! We first hit Indiana Jones which had less than a 10 minute wait! Then off to POTC because none of us had seen the changes so we were all excited to see it. Capt. Jack sparrow looks so life life its crazy! We enjoyed the Haunted Mansion holiday but like the regular version better. By the time we were done with those three it was 10 am and the park was busy now. We went to eat breakfast at Tomorrowland Terrace and on our way there we picked up fast passes for Buzz Lightyear. Breakfast was good (an pretty affordable) and we were able to see the Jedi show, which was just too funny!

Riding astro blasters, I beat everyone! Once we got off we headed over to get FP to Space mountain. Well except me, I chickened out again. I hate rollercoasters and haven't ridden Space mountain for many many years.

Since everything else in Tomorrowland was super busy we made our way to Fantasyland.


Thats all for now...more coming soon!

 

[Minniespal]

Looking forward to reading more.