Our Crazy Holiday Trip (late November 2016) - update 8/16

[Jaina]

We are staying at the Stanford Inn and Suites from November 13-19! We have 4 boys (13,10,2,6 months currently), and it is hard to find affordable lodging for 6+ people!

We are doing ART for the first time, too. We bought 5 day passes for it through getawaytoday, though, so we are committed. I laughed when I saw your comment about your husband dropping you off because I said the same thing to mine!
I've never done a trip report before, but yours is so fun that I might have to start one myself.

Mamato4boys, did you ever do any kind of trip report? (hopefully you see this!) I am still wondering about the Stanford Inn and Suites, since I see it as a good option for our next trip, whenever that is!

 

[AuntieKels]

Bless you for making this trip happen! It was nice to see your honesty with how things actually went (I feel you!) and how you wish you would have handled it in hindsight.

I started reading your report because we are in the beginning phase of planning a holiday trip for our kids birthdays. They will turn 4 and 1. Our 3.5yo is DLR obsessed and this will be her 3rd trip but it will be the first for DS and for us parents with 2 littles with no family help. We just got back from a large family trip to Hawaii and it was great but very hard.

Wish us luck and feel free to offer any additional tips!

 

[Jaina]

Bless you for making this trip happen! It was nice to see your honesty with how things actually went (I feel you!) and how you wish you would have handled it in hindsight.

I started reading your report because we are in the beginning phase of planning a holiday trip for our kids birthdays. They will turn 4 and 1. Our 3.5yo is DLR obsessed and this will be her 3rd trip but it will be the first for DS and for us parents with 2 littles with no family help. We just got back from a large family trip to Hawaii and it was great but very hard.

Wish us luck and feel free to offer any additional tips!

How fun! I honestly think you will have a much easier time of it than we did, because you are still 2-on-2 with your little ones, and you won't have big kids you're trying to run around with and do the things they want. I would really recommend mostly concentrating on stuff the little ones can ride and will enjoy, and if there are a few "big kid" the adults want to ride, (or a few you think your 4-year-old is tall enough for and would actually enjoy - we traumatized more than one 4-year-old with Space Mountain when my family used to go! ) you can easily work that in here and there. Be aware of how rider switch works, though, (they just changed it a little bit from what I read) and see if it's something that will help you. I think you can have a great trip as long as you keep your expectations realistic and be very flexible depending on the little ones' needs!

 

[Jaina]

I'm thinking that DH must have gotten Hyperspace Mountain fastpasses when they went to do Buzz, because that's what he and the three older kids did next. He was going to send me again, and wasn't that excited to ride it (he's not the biggest Space Mountain fan, or coasters in general) but I talked him into at least checking it out, since he likes Star Wars, and since it might not be like that anymore whenever we make it back. Spoiler alert: he actually enjoyed himself.

While they were gone, I tried to figure out something that we could eat for dinner, since we were pretty hungry. Lines weren't too bad over at the Galactic Grill, so I got some food there, after texting back and forth with DH trying to make sure I was ordering something he could eat. He was very happy that their fries could be gluten-free, because he needs like 3000+ calories a day just to maintain his tall slimness (crazy inherited metabolism coupled with probably some gut issues we haven't been able to figure out) and was really ready for a high-calorie carb hit. Haha. I don't remember what else we got. Probably a mix of burgers, fries, and chicken nuggets, but it's all good. I just had such a hard time buying enough food for everyone while we were at Disney. Those prices x 6 people that eat = $$$! Our idea of a a good, quick meal for all is In-N-Out for under $25 for the whole car...

I love Disneyland at night. Being there during the holidays was even more beautiful. One thing I was a little sad about during this trip was how we were so wiped out by 6 or 7 each night, and how our kids really needed to get to bed about then. I look forward to going with just my husband sometime in the next year or two, if we can swing it, and enjoying more nighttime stuff.

We asked the kids what else they wanted to do one more time, and they voted unanimously for the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. (I almost typed the "Runaway Railroad," which is what my family usually called it growing up. ) We headed that direction, by way of Small World (to see it's fun holiday lights) and the castle (to appreciate it's beautiful decor) and I took the oldest 3 on BTMR while DH took DS2 and the baby over to Winnie the Pooh so he could do one more ride he loved too.

As we tried to meet back up (how did people used to do this without phones? ) I asked DH if there was something else he'd like to do, and he said Pirates. I like POTC, but more because history, and air conditioning, and a nice place to sit for 15 minutes. To be honest, it kinda creeps me out just a touch, like the Haunted Mansion. It was not my idea of a perfect last ride. (I'm more of a carousel/teacups/pretty lights and music girl. Or even the Jingle Cruise!) But DH had been SUCH a trooper through all of this, that there was no way I was going to deny his request, so Pirates it was! (And I survived!) The kids weren't that excited either, but I persuaded/guilted (just a bit) them into it, and we had fun. I do enjoy the drops at the beginning, even though one of my only memories from my first trip at 3 1/2 was being scared going through that first drop, and burying my head in my dad and refusing to look up the rest of the ride...

How I hate to leave Disneyland on the last night! I could have stayed for a long time and just absorbed all the lights, and decorations, and people, and music. But we were so tired! It was about 8 PM local time as we made our way slowly down Main Street, trying to get a few pictures in. Also, a quick bathroom stop at Town Hall. I love these pics of our little family, and wish they were better quality. But at least they ARE. (Sweet baby Bridge was out at this point, thanks to Daddy's finger. The little darling wouldn't taken any kind of pacifier until she was 8 months old...)

I was almost literally dragging my feet as we exited.

My oldest two had been troopers, too, but their little feet were fairly draggy by the end of these four days too! They finally got their turn to ride for a few minutes. (Man, I could have used one of those strollers when I was 6/8/10 at the end of a long Disney trip! Sometimes as an adult, too...) DD6 had plenty of energy, since she was excited about her bubble wand, and since she had been riding for the last two days. DH put DS2 on his back, and I wore the baby girl as we headed for the big blue busses.

Well, that's it! I will do one more post wrapping things up and touching on our trip home probably. Here is a link to the video of our last day. You guys realize I have cut these down quite a bit, right? I took so much more video, but I try to make them as un-boring as I can, so people actually want to watch them with me!

 

[MkaMouse]

LOVED your trip report! You are giving your children such fantastic memories. Really heart-warming to see. And a special "Yay Mom!!!" to you for staying committed to nursing your little one while in the parks. Nursing your baby can be inconvenient, time consuming, and just plain hard sometimes. But it is SO worth it, and it's great to see Moms who stick with it.

 

[Glynis4]

Loved reading your trip report, you are an amazing mom (your DH is pretty awesome too, all that babywearing!). Makes me so excited to take my two young kids in November!

 

[Jaina]

LOVED your trip report! You are giving your children such fantastic memories. Really heart-warming to see. And a special "Yay Mom!!!" to you for staying committed to nursing your little one while in the parks. Nursing your baby can be inconvenient, time consuming, and just plain hard sometimes. But it is SO worth it, and it's great to see Moms who stick with it.

Loved reading your trip report, you are an amazing mom (your DH is pretty awesome too, all that babywearing!). Makes me so excited to take my two young kids in November!

Thanks for your kind words, both of you! Yes, he is an amazing dad and partner, and I appreciate him so much! In all honesty, if this baby would have taken a bottle, I would have been offering them, because I was that worried about how much she wasn't nursing! (for her - my babies tend to nurse every 1-2 hours during the day, and every 2-4 at night until they're at least 6 months old. I don't store a lot of milk at once, and struggle with chronic under supply! We are huge breastfeeding supporters though, and I always give it my best shot!!) She finally started taking a bottle, too at about 7.5 months, and it was a huge sigh of relief for me. At a year she was only 18 lbs.

 

[Jaina]

So this is kind of an update. Kind of just exciting news. I just booked my flight into LAX the third weekend of October for a girls' weekend with two of my college roommates. (The same ones I have been to Disney twice with) We are going to hang out Friday/Saturday/Sunday and have an adults-only trip to Disney on the following Monday!! At least that's the plan. I'm so very excited!!!! I might have to try my hand at decorating some ears... I just ordered a 5-pack of blank ones on eBay...

 

[Jaina]

Can anyone remind me how to link to a specific post in my trip report, so I can make a table of contents? I'm struggling for some reason...

 

[whoever]

Can anyone remind me how to link to a specific post in my trip report, so I can make a table of contents? I'm struggling for some reason...

There is a number in the lower right of every post. That is a direct link to that specific post.

 

[Jaina]

Ha. You win. I saw the number, but never tried hovering over it to realize it was a link!

 

[RedHotMama]

I finished reading your report! I can see some foreshadowing for us for our trip in 6 weeks. Although, our first two are older so they are a ton of help, and our youngest isn't breastfeeding anymore. But it was fun to sympathize with the big family challenges. Now I'm even more glad you and your DH went on your own trip alone this month. You deserve it!

 

[Jaina]

I finished reading your report! I can see some foreshadowing for us for our trip in 6 weeks. Although, our first two are older so they are a ton of help, and our youngest isn't breastfeeding anymore. But it was fun to sympathize with the big family challenges. Now I'm even more glad you and your DH went on your own trip alone this month. You deserve it!

I'm glad you enjoyed it! It really would have been simpler without trying to get the baby to nurse without so much going on, and her needing sleep at certain times. But I'm glad we went, and I'm convinced that all trips from here on out will be less exhausting than that one!