February 2015 - Our Son's First Visit

[ClaraOswald]

Reading through that blog post....

I hope the crowds let up before we arrive. Looks crowded.

I am really excited for the re-theme of Condor Flats. I always thought that area looked crappy anyway.

That Garden Grill menu is just depressing.

That giant snowflake...I saw it on Twitter last week. So hilariously bad. Need to get a photo with it, for sure! Ha!

If there's little/no wait for the snow fest, we'll definitely check that out. Kind of funny that Henry's first sledding experience could be in southern California.

We are definitely skipping that sing-along though.

I don't typically care for year-specific merch. But I am thinking I may need to find something with 2015 on it since it's Henry's first trip.

I am also so excited to get him some mouse ears!

 

[ClaraOswald]

Saw this list today....

http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/awesome-hidden-gems-you-must-experience-at-disneyland#.qyLm7XK7r

I really want a picture of the bench from #3!

Was hoping to ride the Lilly Belle. Maybe next time.

Not sure how true the purple tea cup thing is. I won't be testing that out. Ha!

I wouldn't really call the things in the Indiana Jones queue hidden...but I do love them.

I wonder if you can still get the Haunted Mansion certificate and the Jungle Cruise map.

 

[ClaraOswald]

So we're ordering a brand new pack n play on amazon and having it shipped to our hotel a few days before. It's about half the price of renting a (probably crappy) hotel crib. We had basically just planned to leave it in the hotel when we go home (we already own 2 pack n plays at home.)

Well, as luck would have it...a friend of a friend is coming into Orange County on the 12th (we leave on the 11th) and needs a pack n play! So my husband's friend is stopping by the hotel to get it on the 11th. Woohoo! Now it won't go to waste.

 

[ClaraOswald]

19 days to go! I can't believe my countdown is in the teens!!!! EEK!

 

[minneylovesmicky]

19 days to go! I can't believe my countdown is in the teens!!!! EEK!

We are only a few days ahead of you, is both exciting and scary at the same time.

 

[AZMermaid]

22 days for us!

 

[ClaraOswald]

I keep looking at the 10-day forecast even though our dates aren't that close yet. I am sad because the highs recently were upper 60's and 70's. But now it looks like they are jumping up to 80's. YUCK. I swear, we always bring high temps with us to California. I know that's what most people like...but not us!

Our last trip was late September/early October 2010 and they had record high temps over 110 degrees.

Thankfully, it shouldn't be THAT hot. But I was really hoping for jeans weather instead of shorts weather. Actually, that reminds me...I need to try on my shorts and see what I've got.

We went through Henry's clothes. We found a lot of t-shirts and shorts that fit him. He also has plenty of pants and sweatshirts, if we luck out and weather is cooler. The only thing left we need to buy for him = socks. I do laundry constantly at home so he actually doesn't have that many socks right now. I am hoping to not do laundry on vacation so I need to get more socks. He currently doesn't even own any shorter socks to wear with shorts.

We are going to start setting various things aside, in our guest room, so in a couple weeks we'll have a head start on packing.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Purchased our 5-day hoppers today. We went through Orbitz so we got the 5th day free. Not a great deal, but better than nothing. We paid $578 instead of $610.

I was told by other DIS members that we would get cash back through ebates but so far, I haven't gotten any confirmation on that.

 

[AZMermaid]

Purchased our 5-day hoppers today. We went through Orbitz so we got the 5th day free. Not a great deal, but better than nothing. We paid $578 instead of $610.

I was told by other DIS members that we would get cash back through ebates but so far, I haven't gotten any confirmation on that.

That's what we are going to do too. But, 4 days for the price of 3. I am hoping for weather in the 70's. I guess one of us will be happy- ha ha! Maybe not the 80's. That is borderline pants weather for us and I would rather not be borderline.

Just FYI, I emailed about the side walkways around the castle. I was told the Wishing Well side is under refub as well for an undetermined ammount of time, but the Fantasy Faire/old Carnation stage side (I hope that makes sense, we haven't been there since they moved FF) was a day to day decision based on the castle refurb. It might be open, it might not. Helpful She said the best, most consistent way into Fantasyland is going to be by Alice.

 

[ClaraOswald]

We haven't been since the Fantasy Faire stuff was added either. I'm curious to see how it all looks.

I think my nervousness is decreasing. At least a little. I mean, there are still plenty of things I am nervous about. But my excitement is increasing, so that helps.

One main source of stress = my in-laws. They live in Irvine. (Hope none of them find this thread.) They have Disneyland APs but we do NOT want them spending every day with us. We want a lot of the time to just be the three of us. Especially the 1st day in the parks and our last day in the parks. But I am worried they will just show up.

Also, historically, it's been a pain trying to meet up with them. When we set a time and a place, they are never there at that time. It was frustrating before. But now, with a toddler, it just isn't acceptable. We want to keep a decent routine with him. So I will not be waiting around for my in-laws to show up on their time. They can just deal with it. We are paying thousands of dollars for this vacation and I refuse to let them ruin it.

Example of how things typically go - Last time, we set a time and place...12:30 by the castle...to meet up. So we go to the castle and we wait and wait and wait. My husband called their phones...no answer. We waited and waited. We should have known better. He finally got ahold of them and all they said was that they were running late. So we went and rode Jungle Cruise. It was about 1:45 at this point and I was starving so I got some grapes to hold me over. We had planned to eat lunch when his family arrived. Well...when they arrived...they told us they were late because they decided to stop and get lunch! Seriously. So we waited around over and hour while they were off getting lunch outside the parks.

Okay, so they finally get there and we go watch Captain EO and ride Buzz and it's 3pm and I'm dying for lunch. So is my husband. But obviously the in-laws aren't. So the two of us went to lunch while they went off on their own. We met back up for a few rides. Then they were hungry for dinner, but obviously we weren't.

So yeah...that's how our day went. It was kind of a mess. And I can definitely see this happening again in some way or another. We're just going to have to do our thing and if it doesn't match up with them, so be it.

We only have 2 non-park days and we want to try to go to lunch with his Grandpa on one of them. I feel this may be a bust but we'll just have to wait and see, I guess.

Anyway...I'm babbling now.

 

[AZMermaid]

Sounds like my inlaws! We went to San Diego last summer. Guess who decided to go visit their friend's beach condo at the same time. They paid for our Disney cruise to Alaska the previous summer so we felt like we couldn't complain. They wanted to go to Sea World with us but oh man, we scheduled that for their travel day . We did get these passes that were the same cost to go back again in case they wanted to join us, but they didn't.

We were proactive and found what we thought was a nice place to meet up and walk around and have dinner. It wasn't as great as the pictures (Seaport Village) and was about 20 min from Mission Beach (where we were both at, but about a mile apart). Well, they decided they didn't want to walk around- just meet for dinner, which we could have done at any of the million restaurants on Mission Beach. So, we say fine. Then they got horribly lost and were about an hour late and complained about the restaurant (which wasn't anything awesome- but we were supposed to hang out together!).

Then they wanted to play at the beach with us. We were on the Bay side and we said we would come get them and bring them back because parking was tight. No. They want us to come to them and there was no convincing otherwise. My FIL's wife can really dig in her heels. So, we drag two kids and all our junk down to them, pay to park, drag everything to their condo. The beach right in front of them is a surf beach so we have to walk another quarter mile. The wife isn't coming down although we can see her on the balcony. So we walk to the beach and set up shop. A half hour goes by and they finally come. They walk on the beach for like 10 minutes but can't sit on the ground. So they sit on a bench on the boardwalk and watch them play for about 10 minutes. On the Bay side, 3 houses from our rental house is a bench that we could have parked all our stuff in front of and you know, talked to them while everyone played. The wife left and FIL stayed. Then we all had lunch which was fine. The whole thing was so annoying!

 

[ClaraOswald]

Wow! That is super annoying! Though...it's nice to know I'm not alone. Ha!

It's tough because if it was my parents, I'd just flat out say "no, you can't come on these days because we want it just the three of us." But I feel like my husband doesn't want to say that to his mom. I mean, I feel bad because we almost never see her. She's only met Henry once when he was 1 month old.

But still...it's our vacation and we're going to do things on our time.

We are trying to plan things to invite them to. But I'm worried that our plans will be too rigid and specific for them to want to come along.

Family days....
Thursday 5th - We are inviting them to join us at Disneyland all day, if they'd like.
Friday 6th or Saturday 7th - We are going to set up a time to meet for lunch with them and my husband's Grandpa.
Friday 6th or Saturday 7th - We may do some non-park stuff like the beach and if his mom wants to come along, she can.
Monday 9th - At the very least, we'd like them to meet us for an early dinner at Downtown Disney. And then if they want to hang out for the rest of the evening in the parks with us, they can.

OUR days...
Tuesday 3rd - Travel day
Wednesday 4th - Parks, just the 3 of us.
Sunday 9th - Parks, just the 3 of us. However, if any of our friends who have DLR APs want to meet up with us, we'll tell them to on this day.
Tuesday 10th - Last day in the parks
Wednesday 11th - Travel day

 

[AZMermaid]

I think that sounds totally good and reasonable.

http://micechat.com/92286-disneyland-gets-ready-for-60/

 

[VandVsmama]

subscribing to your PTR! Our family is full of Dr Who fans...love your Disboards name!

I empathize with your IL situation. My children are now 6 and 8, but your post could have been mine when they were your son's age. I used to drive myself batty about my ILs showing up late or way past the mealtime that we had agreed upon. Here is my philosophy about young children and inconsiderate relatives ...YOU are the parent...NOT them. This is YOUR vacation. Give them 15 min and if they don't show up, then proceed without them. They likely have cell phones just like you do and they can pick up the phone and tell you that they are running late. To not call is very rude of them. It has also been several years since they had little ones and they probably have totally forgotten how quickly a toddler can go from a joyous child to a very grumpy one when he is tired, cranky, and hungry...recipe for disaster.

My ILs never understood. But we drew the line and continued on and figured that they would eventually discover how to use the modern invention known as the telephone. They will be the ones who are missing out. Don't let it spoil your vacation! ;-)

 

[ClaraOswald]

Yeah, my husband and I have talked about it and we both think we should only wait briefly and then just go about our day. Hopefully my husband will stick to it. We likely won't be back to Disneyland for a few years so I really want to make the most of the trip.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Saw the tarp over It's a Small World and I know it sounds weird...but I was kind of disappointed that it was no longer the plain, ugly white one. Haha! I was hoping for some funny photos. I mean, the one that's up now is still fairly ugly but not nearly as ugly as the plain white.

IASW tarp now = http://instagram.com/p/yF8oMGEPo-/?modal=true

IASW tarp a couple days ago = http://instagram.com/p/x7NpNIEPvd/?modal=true

 

[MommyJKM]

One main source of stress = my in-laws. They live in Irvine. (Hope none of them find this thread.) They have Disneyland APs but we do NOT want them spending every day with us. We want a lot of the time to just be the three of us. Especially the 1st day in the parks and our last day in the parks. But I am worried they will just show up.

My cousin has the same issue with her In-Laws and she has a pretty genius way of avoiding it now. She emails them then gives them a WRITTEN itinerary of their trip that highlights the "Free Time for Grandparents". Then has a printed one ready for them when they arrive.
She lets them know what times they are welcome to come join THEIR trip. That way it sets up that she is in charge of her immediate family's trip and schedule and keeps the kids on eating/napping/sleeping schedules. The Grandparents are welcome to join in but only at the pre-scheduled times.

It sounded too structured to me initially but after their last trip I was impressed. The over-bearing Grandparents came on-time, were happy and prepared and even got to take her kids on rides alone for 2 hours in DCA while my cousin and her husband had a margarita at Paradise Pier.

And I think THEY (IL) appreciated being informed of when their time was with the kids and felt included but were given boundaries and seemingly happily followed them.

Just a suggestion

 

[VandVsmama]

Saw the tarp over It's a Small World and I know it sounds weird...but I was kind of disappointed that it was no longer the plain, ugly white one. Haha! I was hoping for some funny photos. I mean, the one that's up now is still fairly ugly but not nearly as ugly as the plain white.

IASW tarp now = http://instagram.com/p/yF8oMGEPo-/?modal=true

IASW tarp a couple days ago = http://instagram.com/p/x7NpNIEPvd/?modal=true

I much prefer the decorated tarp over the plain white one. How are the other details of your trip planning going?

 

[ClaraOswald]

Well, I can't really do a printed itinerary since we won't really know exactly what we're doing/what time. We won't know a lot of that until the day of. I cannot imagine planning things THAT much. Especially with an unpredictable toddler.

I think the white tarp is uglier...which is why I wanted the photo. Haha! So hideous.

Not much else planning going on at this point.

 

[AZMermaid]

If they get flakey though, maybe you could say "we plan to be at Pizza Port sometime between 11-11:30 (or whatever). Meet us there and we would love to hang out after lunch." Or "we are leaving to get Henry a nap. I'll text you when he wakes up. It will probably be around 3/3:30 so be watching your phone. I'll text again when we hit the gates to see where you are at." Then if they say they are at small world or wherever and they leave that spot, that's on them. By giving them a time range, they know when to check and can't say they missed it.

I suspect the Castle tarp will be similar, so not too awful which is why I wasn't up in arms! I do hope the small world tarp is down by the time we get there though!