9/17 through 9/23 - PP and HoJo - and two mini-trip reports (now with photopass pix)

[bumbershoot]

I started this report before the trip, then started doing the trippie while on vacation, but that got clunky and weird, so I've edited. Perhaps I should have just started a new one, but I didn't, so there we are.


****************************

I have started this pre-trip report 8 million times, and then back out of it, because I don't know what to call it, or how to start.

The other day someone mentioned how indecisive I was about hotels, and I had the start.

So indecisive, I can't even just start with the planned trip, but I have to go back and talk about our previous two trips. Maybe more trips, if I can remember enough to be worth it.

I'm Molly, Dh is Robert, and DS is Boy, or E, or Boy-o, or whatever I feel like calling him (sometimes I might even mention his name). The Boy is 3, and this is his third trip!

I shall talk about those previous two trips, well, tomorrow. Too sleepy right now (I started this hours ago when I wasn't tired). (OK, so it refused to post at 1am when I tried, so I'm posting it now, but the tired thing still applies, thanks to a rotten night's sleep)

 

[bumbershoot]

OK...

As a kid I think I went to DL twice. Once with my dad, once with my mom. Only recollection of trip with Dad is that I got a neat hat with a red plastic visor on it. I felt quite quite cool in it.

Trip with my mom was a surprise. I might have been, hmm, 9 or so. There seem to be NO pictures of this trip, or at least the DL portion. It was at the end of a Thanksgiving trip to Grand Canyon, and just when my brother and I thought our pleas were totally useless (instead of "are we there yet" our phrase was "can we go to DL please can we go"), since they had told us NO NO NO the entire time...we tried once more as we saw the sign on the highway...and suddenly my stepdad was turning the car onto the exit. Had a stay at DLH, room service, the whole thing. It was planned. Stinkers.

DH has been there with his parents, and I guess at one point in his early 20s, while working in Long Beach, he went for a day by himself.

I have no pictures of any of this.

 

[bumbershoot]

So back in September of '05, my brother, who lives in San Diego, invited us for a visit. He and his wife are joyously childFREE, and my brother is actually not one who likes little kids at all, so we were just thrilled that they both liked our son. My brother is blunt, and doesn't let unpleasant things into his life, so if Boy hadn't been liked, he wouldn't have been invited down.

Since we were going, so sort of *had to* include a day at DL. Which I thought was sufficient.

I like to plan things, and since I had been bereft of planning since our wedding and honeymoon (we're hippie types with a family bed (DH would say we are like his Korean family, he doesn't like how I put it, since he's just following tradition for his main culture), so I didn't even need to plan a nursery), I threw myself into planning this one day.

Not sure what I read...I think I joined a yahoo group at that time, I might have read a guidebook? I had a pretty good handle on things, and despite getting there well after the gates opened, we had a good time! Little silliness with our first child swap, in that I just sat there with our 1 year old, waiting for the family to come off of Indiana Jones...hum dee dum. If I had known how long that queue is, and known how long it would be, I would have gone and had some food, or looked around, or done *something*. But I just sat.

Once they were done, I forced my SIL to go on it with me, even though she protested (her back isn't all that strong, and neither is my brother's, and Indy bugs them), and I LOVED LOVED LOVED it. And it was possibly my first half hour away from DS since he arrived. Freedom!

The rest of the day was great. As we finished with Jungle Cruise and Indy, it started to POUR. Suddenly, the park was ours, we were nearly alone! Sure, we had to fork out around $30 for a poncho and umbrella, but the quietness of the park that day was priceless.

Tarzan was closed b/c of the rain, but we went on everything else we wanted to. DS nursed and fell asleep on POTC, and was asleep halfway through our lunch of veggie gumbo in bread bowl up at Royal Veranda (I think).

By the time we got over towards Space Mountain, brother and SIL were used to DS enough that they watched him while Dh and I rode the coaster! Wow! While in line outside on the upper level, we kept looking down and watching the three of them interact, it was cute.

The in between stuff is really fuzzy.

My avatar is from that trip. We're damp, our hair is extra-curly, but it was warming up (and of course carrying my baby koala like that keeps me warm). We took a break at the...ugh, the restaurant over near Pooh, overlooking the canoes? That's where that picture was taken. My brother LOVES his camera, and takes pictures all day long. Which is pretty cool, b/c usually that's MY job!

Sure, this is an older trip, but here are some pix.

Rainy day shortly after getting there.

I'm sure Boy is looking at those Winnie the Pooh statues here.

Here's the hoosband.

I love It's a Small World...I really do. I think it's sad that this and some topiaries are the only pictures we got of it.

However, on this trip in '05, I was in too much of an adult frame of mind, and could only see the "underpinnings" of IASW. Noticed the ceiling tiles, the backdrops, and such. Real bummer.

But I still love the song. As a kid I almost drove my then-new stepmom out of her mind, playing the album over and over and over. And over.

The only bummer of that day was Autopia. We got fastpasses earlier, and waited quite awhile for it to be time. While we went to Autopia, my brother and SIL went off to do Space Mountain again. The FP line was an utter joke, b/c it mixed with the regular line almost as soon as we got in. VERY disappointing. And the line was LONG. long long long.

When it was at long last our turn, Dh got into his car, and DS and I got into ours. But it had been a long day, and he was velcro-baby, and refused to sit on the seat. Well, he was over 1 year old, and the CMs refused to let us go unless he was on his seat. He's a strong, tall kid, and unless I go to drastic measures, if he physically refuses something, it's nearly impossible for me to force it. There have been times where getting him into his carseat has taken an HOUR, because he is so strong, limber, and tall.

So we got up and left, and watched for DH from the bridge on the way out.


The cool thing, however, was that although the pizza restaurant had *just* closed as we walked up, a family saw us and saw our disappointment. They had ordered one too many pizzas, and GAVE us their extra. Full, untouched, veggie pizza. Refused money! It was amazing. Magical, some might say. Touched by pixie dust, others might say.

I said none of that, as I was simply having fun, not realizing how stinkin' addicted to the place I was about to become...


We accidentally caught part of the parade on our way out, which was cool. DH hadn't seen any Disney movies by that point, so Simba on a float was a big lion to him, not a character. (is it Simba as the full grown lion, or is it his father? hmm) It was fun watching him watch it, as we walked slowly out of the park.

Long drive home to San Diego, and a bit scary (Southern CA driving + my brother's Miami-taught brand of defensive driving = actually quite safe, but covering my eyes makes it feel better), but it let me reflect on the fabulous day we had just had.

 

[bumbershoot]

The next year we were invited again! This time we chose October, so I could celebrate my b'day on our trip. The September of the last year was chosen so my brother and I could be together over our late mom's birthday, and that was nice, but really SAD, and we decided that having a HAPPY birthday was a better idea for that trip.

We weren't so lucky with the weather on this trip, and the crowds were a bit bigger. But we missed both Gay Days and Columbus Day, so it was as light as it could be for that time, really.

I think that was the trip where I lurked around the corners of the Dis. I'm not 100% if there was even a DL board at that time. If there was, I never found it! I just looked around the WDW boards, I read glendamax, I read some utahmama, I had some fun, but never joined and never participated.

This time I read Unofficial Guide, I read birnbaum, I read some other guide, I took notes, I checked them out again...I was going to do something with LGMHs, but then realized that everyone was talking about WDW not DL, so scrapped that idea.

As we prepared for our trip, my FIL was having some problems. He had some kidney procedures done that were never really explained to us. He agreed to watch our cat for us while we were gone (come by every day and interact with her along with food, water, and litter), but the day we left, he was going in for another kidney thing. I was worried, but no one else was, so I pushed it out of my head.

We went to San Diego, and decided to go to DL early in the trip. Decided on a day.

We got there even later than the year before. I was being a bit of a freak about it, but I finally worked on reigning it in. I couldn't control my brother and SIL, we all wanted to have a good time, so I had to say "ohm" and drop my touring agenda. After all, the last trip went great, despite having less of a clue!

Look how much DS had grown! Ugh, and how much I had grown. We had moved to a house that was supposed to be great, but it was dark and cold, with no fence so I couldn't relax outside, there were spiders everywhere, I popped two innertubes on the jogging stroller just trying to GET to the sidewalk for healthy walks...it was a bad, bad house, and all I did for a year there was EAT. Ugh.

I think I skipped Jungle Cruise on this trip, I'm not totally sure why, though Indy might have had something to do with it. Both times now I've been the second to go with the child swap, so I've never seen the whole queue! Next time I'm just going to stand in the entire line, I don't care how long it takes (no no I don't mean that).

Still love Indy.

Went to the restaurant right in there for b'fast, and had Mickey pancakes.

This is what Mickey looks like when all cut up.

We went on Tarzan, which is a bit weird with a 2 year old on your back.

 

[bumbershoot]

The middle, again, is hazy. POTC was great, and DS was so brave. He sat between us, and didn't suck his thumb (a rare behaviour from him anyway), but took part of my shirt and sucked on that. Hey, whatever makes him feel safe, right?

More veggie gumbo in a bread bowl, yummo.

Wandered around NO a bit, didn't see anywhere near everything. I don't know if TS Island was closed by that time, but I know we didn't go on it either trip. The paddleboat was closed, I think.

While I went on Space Mtn with brother and SIL, DH took boy over to the Astro Orbiters (or whatever they are called). Well, that was his intention at least, b/c those are his favorite. Instead, he got into the Buzz queue, and didn't realize it for quite some time! Now the weird part is that he didn't tell me they went on the wrong ride for something like 6 months! Silly. So from MY perspective, they went on Astro while I was on SM, and then we swapped the kid, and SIL and I watched him play while brother and DH went on SM. So we were watching Boy play with that big rotating ball.

Which is kind of one of the coolest things ever. So many parents refused to let their kids touch it, but DS really explored it. He was just over 2, and I think he interacted "with" it for almost an hour. Serious attention getter.

So suddenly, we see Buzz go walking by. DH sees him, and shouts a 2 year old version of "astronaut". We didn't go over there for some reason (I myself am shy with characters, and I think I didn't even realize he WAS a character? I don't know what was wrong with me. ), but DS loved seeing him.

And then months later, I finally found out that they went on Buzz instead of AO, and it all made sense. He had just been on the ride, and then he saw Buzz. Whew. I was thinking he was some sort of space-related savant, having never to my knowledge heard the word astronaut before, but it was more easily explained.

We went on rides, we wandered around, we ate part of the birthday cake that came in my b'day princess bucket (soooo not worth $20 unless you are a 4 year old girl, and even then, the comb and brush are too babyish for your hair, and the cake was awful IMO) and finally DS fell asleep in the stroller.

Brother and SIL were hurting, their backs I think (they run marathons and are fit and trim always, while DH and I were quite heavy and out of shape on this trip, but WE were running around like happy little campers while the others sat down), so they sat with sleeping Kiddo while we went on BTMRR. Ooh, our second date in over 2 years.

Just as we were leaving the ride, DS woke up. Good timing!

I think there was a Mickey bar at some point during that day. I have never had a Dole Whip, because our first trip I never saw the stand, and this trip it was closed each time we went by.

This time we skipped the scary dark rides. Haven't yet been on Toad or Peter Pan, b/c they have been closed each visit, and I didn't even KNOW there was an Alice until it was far too late (queue out to there) on the last trip.

I don't think SIL would object to this anonymous picture with her nephew...they were looking at the tiny little mice at the NO trainstation (just like the tiny little mice near Matterhorn).

We tried to go on Haunted Mansion, which had recently opened with the overlay. But it was late in the day, we were all tired. I personally don't like the Nightmare before xmas stuff, and probably didn't hide my discomfort from DS. We FP'd it, as you can do during that time, and although the FP got us very close very fast, once we got in the stretch room and the lights went out...everyone screamed at the top of their lungs, and that was IT for my Boy. Had to find the exit with him, which of course is right where you get on...the exit has black walls and goes on forEVER, it is nearly spookier than the mansion itself, and he was FREAKING out by the time we got outside. In retrospect, if it's ride vs that exit again, I'm taking him on the ride.

The year before, it was closed to have the overlay put on it, so I still have not gone on HM since I was a kid.

I made it my mission to do the mountains (and I count Indy b/c I think the ride is set inside a mountain), but couldn't do Matterhorn b/c it was closed for refurbs. Splash was my last ride of the day. Brother sat, SIL went to get a Skellington thing for my hubby, DH and Boy-o went on Pooh 3 or 4 times in a row (didn't even have to get out of the beehive or whatever it is), while I went and got soaked (despite a poncho!) on Splash.

Didn't catch the parade (avoided it, actually), and left.


Had a good time in San Diego the rest of the trip, but actually quite wanted to go back to DL, but brother had to work (from home) and couldn't drive us, DH had to go back up home b/c his dad was very very VERY ill, and I refused to drive a massive Durango on those highways.

Good trip anyway!

 

[bumbershoot]

So there are two one-day trip reports, not very comprehensive, but DS got into my scrapbooking stuff and ripped up my notes that I took at the end of each evening (which were scrawled in the dark car anyway).


***************************************

The trip we're about to embark on came about while trying to figure out our trip for my 20th HS reunion. When I went to college, my mom left my home state too, moving to Miami and then VA. My dad's place was never *home*, so I've been bereft ever since.

I don't see my dad nearly enough, along with my half-sibs. I have some other family in the area as well that I would love to see. I have ancient friends, and some family friends who would like to catch up.

My full brother (from Disney trips) does NOT speak to our father, doesn't even think about him. So combining the two at the same time was not a possibility. But we were sad we wouldn't see my brother at the same time this year as the last two, it has become almost a tradition!

And we really wanted to stay at DL, but my brother and SIL have little interest in that for some reason.

So it has become...go to hometown for reunion, stay with dad, toodle around. Have the reunion events, then go to Anaheim. Then go back up to northern CA, visit some more, and go home.

Visit brother in early December, to see the pretty lights for one day at DL, and do whatever brother/SIL want to do the rest of the shorter visit.

Obviously it will be financially responsible to get Annual Passes. Especially because we can see going again in Jan or Feb, and then again in perhaps May, and maybe another time in early September of next year? Would be ridiculous, wasteful, to get tickets for each visit. AP is much more $$ sound.

Which is true, but still sounds like a big ol' justification to my ears...



So now I'll show you what the Indecisive part of the title is all about.

Without a SOLID date in mind, I started researching packages. DL dot com itself, AAA, Costco. Back and forth. Could have booked, but was still a little sketchy, wanted to wait. Checked the prices (did my rounds, as I call it) one afternoon. Still the same. Decided to book. That night, went back around...ALL the prices had gone up. Dayum. Had to hold off while we processed that.

Finally decided to book. Costco.

Started off, 3 nights. Paradise Pier, dining plan. Thought it was similar to what I had read about WDW's dining plan.

Booked it online, excellent.

Read some more, saw that Bret's lodging map and noticed how far away PP was, found ot that the DL dining plan was not a bargain...

Maybe a month later I switched it to Carousel and no dining plan. They were sweet and didn't charge for the change.



OK I gotta cut this pre-trip part short, b/c DS is having a little melt-down.

 

[bumbershoot]

Phew, OK, everyone's asleep.


So I went from PP with dining plan to Carousel without the dining plan.

Through Costco, we get a "free" (AKA "included in the price") character breakfast, so for months I've been going back and forth on which one we want. We're vegetarian, and even though we have problems with our weights, we can't just gorge at buffets. We can't even eat enough to feel we've paid for what we get at Zoopa, and that's only $9 for dinner. mmm, Zoopa... So we want the characters to be good, and perhaps even unique (hard to find in the parks), and for the food to be focused on what we want, not going off into arenas we won't be eating. (i.e. meat carving stations and the like)

I was never really happy about Carousel. Cute website, interesting looking b'fast/fireworks-watching room (though our package stay doesn't include even Friday, let alone Saturday for those fireworks), simple pool. But it just didn't make me happy. I had seen this one room at a different hotel I liked, but it never showed up on Costco's website, and that was the ONLY style of room I would have wanted there. So I figure, next time.

See, I figure we'll do the package thing maybe once for DL. Get the lanyard, get the pin, get the little gift card. Get the experience of looking at all these hotels, get the AP...and in the future, just book where we want to stay without dealing with a package.

I kept reading and reading, asking some questions, etc etc etc (in case you, the reader, have noticed, I talk quite a bit around here).

And then....dun dun DUN...the 4th night free offer came out. NOT for Carousel, darn them!

By that time, we had realized we really did need an extra day. This 3 night thing just was NOT cutting it for us. So the 4th night offer was great!

After going back and forth, swinging this way and that, with the hubster not really caring as long as we could afford it...I chose Paradise Pier for 4 nights! It's the same price as it was before adding the dining plan, from when I booked it to begin with, BUT with an extra night. Nice!

So I switched us. And again, the lovely WDTC/Costco-specific reps in Anaheim were incredibly nice, and didn't charge me a change-fee as they certainly could have done.

 

[bumbershoot]

So now I'm looking into more EE days, I'm starting to work on my schedule (EE and MTTMM days). I've at long last booked our lunchtime PS at Blue Bayou, where we might just get a cookie boat, or maybe share the portobello dish I've read about (with the split plate fee, of course). We also decided on a character breakfast, and we'll be staying right in the hotel for the Lilo and Stitch meal. I just keep hearing the words pineapple scones and it's just driving me to the edge! I want a pineapple scone NOW! So we're looking forward to all of that.


In the midst of all this planning, I've been feverishly doing Sunshine Rewards to earn gift cards for our trip. I only started in March, and I never thought I'd get any sort of benefit from it (kinda thought the SR people were making it up, LOL), but I have in my house $200 worth of Disney gift cards for our trip! From SR, for pretty much doing the shopping I would have done (I love shopping online), and some extra things like surveys and whatnot (and a few trial offers that involved a dollar or so in outlay), oh and movie rental sites, as well as a kid's book club and recently a book club for me. And the disney movie club.

Along with those cards, I just redeemed for another gift card for giftcertificates.com that I converted to new Tevas for DH. And I have already spent a bit from the Disney giftcards already received, on disneyshopping, to buy myself a bathing suit and some dresses from their outlet part of the site. So I'm outfitting us with the rewards, which is SO cool!

And I'll be getting another $50 in Disney giftcard soon...it's just truly astonishing. I never EVER thought I'd do that much.

Also through Disboards I found MyPoints, which I don't do nearly as much on as SR, but I did get a $25 gift card for a hotel we'll be staying at before my HS reunion, before Disneyland! I'm about 2/3 of the way to another, but there's just not enough time at this point.


Since we recently moved from townhouse to apartment, turned in my leased car, realized DH's old car is just terrible, and bought a new-to-us car, plus we're still dealing with the utility company (they bill VERY late, we just now got the last bill and we moved out in mid-May) from the townhouse (the electricity there was astonishingly high, which is a big reason why we left...$700 over the winter, including some blackout days, and we were NEVER warm?), and so on and so forth, having this extra money is really great. And I don't mind the offers I have done, like the book clubs, because they are providing us with good reading material!


Since I already bought disney-themed clothes for myself, I figure I'll just need a keychain as a souvenir. I love keychains. We've got the potential souvies for DS and DH picked out too (the latter will get anything with Jack Skellington on it...the former, probably some plush animals, and perhaps a pirate thing or two or five or eight). I'm working on food that we might want, so we know where to go if we want a certain food, and we know how much it's going to cost.

I figure we'll either stock up at a store before we leave my dad's city, or we'll have a delivery on our first day at PP. Have some basic, more grounded, foods, or at least foods with an ingredient list. Also, I'm not the biggest fan of Nestle, so it will do my heart good to know I've got non-Nestle treats, at least for ME, back at the room or in my bag.

That said, I'm definitely looking forward to trying a Dole Whip, to another veggie gumbo in a bread bowl, and oh YES, a beignet. Though I'm concerned with the quality of the coffee I'll want to drink with said beignet. I highly doubt DL has chicory coffee? Perhaps I'll make sure the beignet portion of the day is in the morning, and I'll try to bring a coffee in from DTD or the DLH coffee place I've heard about? Can that be done?

We've recently, and painfully, figured out that DS just has to stay away from corn syrup. He becomes evil within half hour of eating it. He can eat things like organic, corn syrup free, chocolate covered ice cream bars, or cookies, basically he can eat sugar-bombs with NO ill effects. But if that thing has corn syrup in it, BAM our nice day is done. It took far too many instances of this for us to finally admit it. He can eat eggs, dairy (ice cream and cheese, he drink soymilk for a drink), he can eat peanut butter all day long...no problems. Guess if it's made in a lab, though, he reacts! So known snacks are important...

That and finding out what things are made with. Anyone know what's in the chocolate covering on a Mickey Bar? Did they go cheap and use the corn syrup, or are they made with care and quality and drop the gloopy stuff?

Anyway, we're looking forward to the food.

 

[bumbershoot]

Now we move on to how many days! Thought we'd already figured that out, eh? I refer you back to my title.

I was looking on the DL Picture of the Day thread, and there were some fireworks pictures. Oh. My. Buddha. (hubby is Buddhist, I'm close to it, we get tired of saying the G word when we're not so sure about that whole thing) Amazing! Because of those pictures, we've added MORE days.

Not to PP, that would be crazy. For us. For our current pocketbook.

Noooo. But thanks to other people mentioning a way to look up the HoJo Entertainment Book cheapie rate (got the ent. book through SR, excellent to get rewards back for that, and by the way, no matter how you order an Ent book, it has serious VALUE...get the one for your own city is the rule of thumb that normally works), without having to contact their in-house reservation people! Nice! So I looked up the Friday and Saturday nights, and they are available, and available at the Entertainment $54 rate.... I booked each night separately, so we can cancel one and not the other, without messing up the other night. If necessary.

So we've gone from 3 nights to 4 nights, and now to possibly 6 nights! How on earth will I explain those extra 2 nights/3 days to my dad, who is expecting us back up there some time on Thursday? OK that's rhetorical. He'll probably delight in the fact that I'm doing something fun for myself. He thinks I'm too much of a rule-follower, and need to break out from the pack. He has an interesting view of me that's not entirely true, but I'm sure he'll be fine with us staying more days, lowering the days he can visit with us.


The main thing left in the plans, along with finalizing what day for MTTMM, is Southwest. After we got the car, the car which is only an '05 and could easily, and in luxurious comfort, get us to our destinations with better gas mileage and almost NO chance of breaking down like DH's old car, we realized we simply had to drive down. And that's fine and great, super-dandy.

But we'd already made SW reservations. Dings, to be exact. None-refundable fares... Now this won't make or break us. And in fact if we did just leave it on account, it would pay, or pay towards, our December trip to visit my brother! We'd just RATHER it be in our pockets to pay for gas and such.

I noticed on the SW site that there's a place to contact for exceptions to their non-refundable policy. Guess who I'll be talking to tomorrow?

We didn't make these reservations with the thought to canceling them...we fully accepted that our plans were our plans! But then the situation changed in a way we NEVER expected (just back in May DH was absolutely ga-ga over his car, we talked for three months about getting another car while turning in the leased car, and we never once thought we'd be getting a car to replace his POJ (piece of junk) ), so I figure that I'll explain, and see what they say. Can't hurt, and might work.


I think that is all of our plans!

And now I just have to wait 28 days (27 and 22 hours and x minutes) to start experiencing the place, so I can write about it here!

Ok that just warped the time-space thing for me, and I can't think about it in that way. Otherwise I'll be depressed about leaving before I ever get there (like happened on our honeymoon cruise), and that is not fun!

 

[lulubelle]

Geez Molly, are you a little anxious and excited for your trip?
I am sure it will all work out and you will have a fabulous time. And your DS is darling, er, I mean Handsome

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm mainly anxious about the reunion, but am trying to ignore it with planning.

And I've BEEN anxiously wanting to write this all out, but hadn't gotten a good start until the other night, so I'm blabbing 7 months of thoughts into a couple days

 

[bumbershoot]

I figured out when our two PS meals will be. I lost the paper that I wrote it on, so had to call Disney Dining to find out.

Also looked through the menus on allears, YUM is all I have to say. There is so much good-sounding food on there. Then again, I'm on day 4 of a pretty intensive cleansing fast, so any food is going to sound good, right?

Since we're vegetarian, I wanted to know what restaurants had anything worth going for, and also to figure out the prices of things.

Paid the package off, and just got the paper proof of having done that...now am just waiting for the packet!

Weird, I can barely even think about DCA. I know it's there, but I've never been, so it's almost as though it doesn't exist. If I weren't sleeping so soundly I might have nightmares about being on our way home and realizing we never actually went to DCA! ha ha, now I've probably forced that dream to happen.

At some point here I'm going to have to start packing, and I'm not looking forward to that.

 

[m&j'smommy]

I am really excited to keep reading your trip report...I usually just lurke around here but I felt that I needed to comment on yours because you are from WA. DH is from Fall City, and we lived in Redmond for a few years, until we couldn't afford it anymore. Also, becuase my DD who is 4 is named Molly and we are going to be at DL the same time as you.

 

[bumbershoot]

Hi, fellow Washington-resident! Wow, there's a bunch of us who are going to be there at the same time. I feel like we should arrange something. Are you going to get a "lime green Mickey head" (actually Alien Green) paint chip from Home Depot, to wear somehow and identify yourself as a Disboard member? I need to go to HD today, pick up a few more.

***************

We got our documents yesterday! Very cute, in a pretty blue "million dreams" packet. DS tried to make off with the tickets, 3 five-day parkhoppers. He has a talent at making cards like that disappear, so that was absolutely forbidden immediately. He was a bit surprised, but we did a switch-o presto change-o and gave him an old Costo giftcard in the tickets' place and he was fine.

UPS called and left a message with the tracking number and the estimate of 8am and 7pm. They left this message around 1. And showed up not half an hour later. Nice to have the head's up, I suppose, but maybe longer than 30 minutes would have been good for a different family.

 

[jordansmomma]

I can't wait for more.
From the Desert of WA

 

[bumbershoot]

I've started the 8000 packing lists. That many b/c I lose them.

Am trying to figure out how many times I'll have to run to upload pix to the computer, to empty our one-and-only memory card. Really should run to Costco, see if they have one in the store with as good a price as they do online...or hmm, maybe see how long that Costco one could take. After all, my 256 memory card takes us almost through a day at the zoo, I can't even imagine how many pictures I'd take with a 2GB!

Got hooked up with a photopass share, so that's good.

On Tuesday I get a haircut! This is important for the photopass thing (want to look decent, unlike now, since I've been growing out my hair without a stylist's periodic help for about a year now, ew), but also for the HS reunion 2 days before Disney.

Found the portable DVD player for the car trip, but DH thinks he lost the car charger for it. And the battery is old, and doesn't hold a bit of a charge, so right now we're tracking down a car charger for it.

 

[DisDancerina]

Your little boy is so cute! He could win a cuteness award! ​

 

[m&j'smommy]

We went to Home Depot this week to get some Mickey Heads to attach to the stroller and backpack!!! I also had to get some extras in different colors to make a countdown on DDs bedroom door. She is asking "How many sleeps until I go see my sister?"-she thinks Ariel is her sister!!
I love reading your pre-trip report, I am just the same with a million different lists, getting a haircut, etc. I think DH is getting annyoed becuase I keep talking about it. I keep buying things-travel size goodies, new cheap movies for the car ride, coloring books, I have a whole bag of stuff. Two weeks!!!

 

[BearsBabe]

That is an absolutely stunning idea to use the mickey heads for a countdown! Of course I am not taking my kids on my trip to DL this month, but I might use it for myself... lol. Thread hijack over, sorry.

 

[bumbershoot]

Your little boy is so cute! He could win a cuteness award! ​

Aw, he'd say thank you, but he's busy eating oranges and pizza. Odd combo.


m&j'smommy, I can definitely see a Mickey countdown in the future... I got my haircut, it's cuter than it was before, so that's good. Now I just have to finish DS's haircut (he hates them, so I have to do them in stages, LOL) or buck up the change to have someone else do it. And then take the clippers to DH's hair, b/c I do a better job than the people he pays, and I'm quicker to find if he notices I missed a spot.


BearsBabe, no worries with thread take-overs.

**********

As I mentioned, I got the haircut. And it looks like I have more clothes to take with me, b/c I lost enough weight recently (so I fit into older clothes). Whew! Now I need to get some good inserts for my athletic shoes, b/c really I should just get new shoes, but that's not in the cards, so I want to just "renew" them a bit.

DH needs a new swimsuit. Man I hope they are still at Target this close to Fall. They were last week, but this week is a new, you know, week!


We updated our WA-CA travel plans. We were going to leave Monday afternoon, get to Troutdale, OR, and stay the night at a McMenamins place. But then I realized that outside-of-Portland to Bay Area is still going to be a rather long one-day trip, especially with Boy-o.

So we discussed at great lengths, and have canceled that reservation, and found a Super8 that looks semi-decent (and has an indoor pool + continental breakfast) in Roseburg. We will deal with the McMenamins deficiency by having lunch or dinner at the McMenamins pub in Roseburg (that's how we chose Roseburg, b/c it was far enough down the state (aka close enough relatively to the Bay Area for the next day's drive) AND had a McMenamins).

Could I have written McMenamins any more times there?


Today we went shopping for travel-food, as well as some staples for the days we're at my dad's place. Since we recently came to the conclusion that DS just can't have high fructose corn syrup, today's snack-shopping involved quite a bit of reading of labels. Man oh man do they put that junk in everything.


OK I nearly went on a tangent on that, but I want to keep this as the pre-trippie, not my own personal journal, so I'll shush now.