Our “California Adventure” a Road Trip to the West (Update: Day 17 - There and back again)

Just found your TR and loved all of it! I think my DH is on the jealous side. LOL. He has always wanted to drive across the country however with both DD and I prone to car sickness I doubt it would be that fun of a trip. LOL.
 
Just found your TR and loved all of it! I think my DH is on the jealous side. LOL. He has always wanted to drive across the country however with both DD and I prone to car sickness I doubt it would be that fun of a trip. LOL.

Thanks for reading along! Yeah, I can imagine with two of you being prone to car sickness, that it might be a little less enjoyable :crazy2:
 
OK... I know that this trip report is technically finished, but I have to share my excitement with somebody!

Last summer, I read Lee Cockerell's book, "Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney." If you aren't familiar with Lee, he was Executive Vice President of Operations at WDW throughout the 90's and into the mid-2000's. Pretty much in charge of all 4 parks, all 20 resorts, waterparks, shopping, etc. He built a tremendous reputation within the company and is responsible for so many of the programs that we as guests love today. The book is pretty much about what you'd expect from the title. But it's awesome. Seriously awesome, and worth a read even if you aren't currently in a position of influence where you work. I've since drank the kool-aid and also read his time management book and listen to his weekly podcast too. Really. Good. Stuff!!!



Anyway, while he was at Disney, he had a huge influence on the "Disney Institute", which aims to teach Disney's leadership strategies to people like you and me...


https://disneyinstitute.com/

They have courses that teach many of the same principles (as well as others) in classroom environments.

After reading the book, I thought, how cool would it be to actually attend onsite leadership training?!?!? I shared the book with my boss last year, and he loved it too. We've since shared it with a few others at our office... and they liked it too. Anyway, I floated the idea of attending the leadership course last fall, and we penciled it into the budget. (Just me as the guinea pig this year.) I recently found out that our training budget was approved and I have the green light to move forward!!!!

So while not a traditional WDW trip, looks like Stephanie and I will be hitting Orlando this year after all (May 23-27 or so). For me, I'm stoked to experience these leadership lessons first hand, and then share what I've learned with the rest of my team. But also, it's at the Boardwalk Resort, which I've never stayed at (just an evening stroll on the Boardwalk itself), and as part of the training, they apparently take you behind the scenes (and into the parks) to interact with actual cast members. Cool!!

Stephanie is going to tag along too. (Leaving the kids our parents for the week.) We are saving our "fun money" for our Hawaii trip in June, so she probably won't buy park tickets. Instead, while I'm in training, she plans to spend the three or four days just exploring the various resorts, having good meals, chilling at the pool, etc. (It's likely that we'll barely see each other.) I think that could make an awesome trip report in itself!

Not sure how it'll play out, but this might make for a really fun combined trip report. So stay tuned! Send me a PM if you'd like for me to keep you in the loop, if/when we get a report thread going :-)

Happy Friday! :hippie:
 
How awesome for you! And what a unique experience you'll have. Even though what you're going to be doing sounds so interesting, I kind of have to admit I'm a little jealous of the trip Stephanie is going to have.
 


Yeah, I think what Stephanie plans to do will be a lot of fun too! On our WDW trips, we usually eat a meal at least one or two other resorts, and also spend a little time exploring that resort before/after dinner. But we usually don't take more than 45 minutes or so to just walk around and check things out. The idea of spending a couple hours at each resort sounds pretty cool to me. Especially if she goes and explores Fort Wilderness. I think she mentioned that she might try horseback riding over there. It'll be interesting to find out what interesting things she learns/sees. I don't know if she'll be willing to do a full trip report, but I can imagine it would make for an interesting one, because it would be off the beaten path a little bit :-)
 
Tell her Fort Wilderness is a must do! We used to stay there before we bought DVC. She can explore the stables, rent a bike, even take a Segway tour. You truly feel a million miles away from the action there. Trails End has a pretty good buffet, also.
 
I just found and read your TR...what an amazing trip. I'd love to do that one day...though from Toronto we'd probably add another 12 hours or so of driving onto that...but someday!!!
 


Cool! I'm glad that you enjoyed the TR. Thanks for checking it out.
Yeah, as epic as our trip was, driving from Toronto would be even more epic, with even more opportunities to see cool stuff!!!!! :hippie:
 
For me, I'm stoked to experience these leadership lessons first hand, and then share what I've learned with the rest of my team. But also, it's at the Boardwalk Resort, which I've never stayed at (just an evening stroll on the Boardwalk itself), and as part of the training, they apparently take you behind the scenes (and into the parks) to interact with actual cast members. Cool!!
Sounds fascinating!

Stephanie is going to tag along too. (Leaving the kids our parents for the week.) We are saving our "fun money" for our Hawaii trip in June, so she probably won't buy park tickets. Instead, while I'm in training, she plans to spend the three or four days just exploring the various resorts, having good meals, chilling at the pool, etc. (It's likely that we'll barely see each other.) I think that could make an awesome trip report in itself!
Yeah we leave soon for Orlando for a wedding and will only be getting 1 day of park time but will be doing something similar. (Resort exploring and non park stuff.)
 
So, yeah, I'm a little late to the party, bit I just stumbled upon your trip report when reading Phil's TR. I just read Day 1 and can't wait to read the rest! Great start so far!
 
So, yeah, I'm a little late to the party, bit I just stumbled upon your trip report when reading Phil's TR. I just read Day 1 and can't wait to read the rest! Great start so far!

Awesome!!!! :cool1: I'm glad that you found this TR. It's hard to believe that is was over a year ago now!!! I hope you enjoy reading through it! :hippie:
 
I absolutely loved your report! Thanks to you we visited Henry Cowell State Park so my family could see redwoods on our recent trip. Thanks for sharing!
 
I absolutely loved your report! Thanks to you we visited Henry Cowell State Park so my family could see redwoods on our recent trip. Thanks for sharing!

How cool!!!! Henry Cowell State Park was awesome!!!

I saw your TR link in your signature. We were in Hawaii for a couple weeks in June too. (Maui and Oahu.) I look forward to reading through your TR and comparing notes! (From a quick skim, it looks like we visited a lot of the same sites. Looking forward to seeing it from your perspective.) I'm currently finishing up a TR for our WDW trip this past May and then I plan to do our Hawaii one next. :hippie:
 
Super late to the party but I loved this TR...I've been on a tear reading various TRs and your report is by far my favorite.

I love Henry Cowell, don't live far from it and we love camping nearby and then walking over to the view the train. Happy you enjoyed the beautiful state of CA - it's a truly amazing state (except the traffic and some of the people, they're not so amazing).
 
Super late to the party but I loved this TR...I've been on a tear reading various TRs and your report is by far my favorite.

I love Henry Cowell, don't live far from it and we love camping nearby and then walking over to the view the train. Happy you enjoyed the beautiful state of CA - it's a truly amazing state (except the traffic and some of the people, they're not so amazing).

Cool! I'm glad you found this TR and that you enjoyed reading it!!!

That's awesome that you live close to Henry Cowell. And camping in that area, how cool is that!!!! Yes, we truly enjoyed our visit to CA and can't wait to make a return visit!!!!!
 
We are just back from a similar, but yet very different, trip out West. I wish I had seen this trip report before we went! I'm only on Day 1, but I can't wait to be able to read the whole thing.

I wish that I had taken more photos and notes along the way so that I could put together a trip report. But maybe I'll try anyway. Once I live vicariously through your report, I know that I'm going to want to relive mine again and again. (It's still a little difficult being back home...)

Thanks for sharing!
 
I don't know if you're still checking this thread... If you ever go to the Grand Canyon again, I think Buddy (and the rest of you) would love taking The Train (thetrain.com) from Williams, AZ up and back. We stayed one night at the Railway Hotel, took the train up, had a night at Maswik lodge, and then took the train back down. You can make different packages, though. It's not inexpensive, but it was such a wonderful experience.
 
Just found your TR last week some time. I really enjoyed it. We used to take road trips through some of that country as a kid. Made me nostalgic. Of course DLR was our "home" resort being from Oregon, so I love seeing that part of your trip!
 
It's really cool to see that people are still benefiting from this TR!

We are just back from a similar, but yet very different, trip out West. I wish I had seen this trip report before we went! I'm only on Day 1, but I can't wait to be able to read the whole thing.

I wish that I had taken more photos and notes along the way so that I could put together a trip report. But maybe I'll try anyway. Once I live vicariously through your report, I know that I'm going to want to relive mine again and again. (It's still a little difficult being back home...)

Thanks for sharing!

How cool! If you decide to put a trip report together, let me know, I'd be interested in seeing how your trip out West went :hippie:

I don't know if you're still checking this thread... If you ever go to the Grand Canyon again, I think Buddy (and the rest of you) would love taking The Train (thetrain.com) from Williams, AZ up and back. We stayed one night at the Railway Hotel, took the train up, had a night at Maswik lodge, and then took the train back down. You can make different packages, though. It's not inexpensive, but it was such a wonderful experience.

We actually looked at that train as an option, but unfortunately, we really didn't have enough time to squeeze it in on the drive back home. What you did with the Railway HOtel and the Maswik lodge sounds amazing! Maybe next time for us!

Just found your TR last week some time. I really enjoyed it. We used to take road trips through some of that country as a kid. Made me nostalgic. Of course DLR was our "home" resort being from Oregon, so I love seeing that part of your trip!

Thanks for reading the TR. I'm glad you enjoyed it!!! :goodvibes I've never been to Oregon, but I want to visit it someday. Maybe we can squeeze it into a future Northwest road trip. :idea:
 
It's really cool to see that people are still benefiting from this TR!



How cool! If you decide to put a trip report together, let me know, I'd be interested in seeing how your trip out West went :hippie:



We actually looked at that train as an option, but unfortunately, we really didn't have enough time to squeeze it in on the drive back home. What you did with the Railway HOtel and the Maswik lodge sounds amazing! Maybe next time for us!



Thanks for reading the TR. I'm glad you enjoyed it!!! :goodvibes I've never been to Oregon, but I want to visit it someday. Maybe we can squeeze it into a future Northwest road trip. :idea:

Oh, you must visit someday! We just returned to Texas from the Oregon Coast. So much beauty and the power of the ocean on the rocks is amazing and reminds you how small we are. Of course there is the "Keep Oregon WIERD" crowd :hippie:
 

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