PTR: And now for something completely different - a WDW Family does DLR *(new October 9th)*

Hoping for a quick remodel of the kitchen so you can return to normal life! Meal time must get really creative with 3 kids and no kitchen!

The safari park sounds like fun - there is one near my parents house and the boys have a great time when we go. And I'm sure the beach day will be great if you make it there! California beaches are so different from those over here!

Great dancing clip. We are all excited to see the new Star Wars trailer here. Nate hasn't seen any of the movies yet but we've shown him clips and he has lots of books with stills from the movies. His first question was "Mommy, why does Han Solo have all those wrinkles on his face?" :rotfl:

Yeah, definitely some creativity - and going out to eat a bit and picking places we know we will get leftovers from

Definitely want to at least check out the beach there - I generally don't need a ton of time at the beach (after an hour or so I am good to go) but would like to see how they are.

Definitely excited about the star wars clip - the kids really aren't into it though so mostly the excitement is just from me ;)


Glad you guys picked out something that you're really going to like! Remodeling a kitchen is so not fun (Even by choice it's not fun!) but it will be so worth it in the end.
Awesome glad that this deal worked out for you! :cool1: I actually can't wait to hear about it. We're thinking of a San Diego trip and if this turns out to be a hit with you and your fam, we'll have this as an option.

:worship: YES!
ETA: I put 'lick' instead of 'like' :rotfl::rotfl2::lmao: I mean, if you like your new cabinets that much you could lick them I suppose! I won't judge :laughing:

Definitely hoping it is worth it in the end! I mean, we don't really have a choice but would be nice if at the end we are happy with everything

Thanks again for pointing out that deal on the Safari Park. Definitely helped make the decision for us - and will happily answer any questions about it for you.

well, yeah, I guess licking the cabinets is an option - I am sure at some points one or more of the kids/dogs will do that :rotfl2:


Glad to hear that the insurance will cover most of the kitchen repairs. What a mess, I'm sure you'll be very VERY happy to have your kitchen back in full working order!
The safari park sounds really fun! I don't know much about the other items you mentioned, but it does still sound like a lot of good plans.

Mess is definitely the word as the kitchen is pretty torn apart at the moment - hopefully things will work out at the end.

Hopefully the plans work out - and if they don't at least it should be a nice place to spend a couple of days.


What the heck? I leave for a couple a days and come back to find you had a major catastrophe!!! I can feel your pain. Bill and I have been thinking of remolding our kitchen. Now mind you Bill use to build house for living about 20 years ago. When we got the estimate of how much our new kitchen would cost even he was not prepared for how expensive it has become. He and I nearly passed out. We tried to tell them that we just wanted to re do our kitchen not buy another house!!! With that being said I am glad things have worked out for you guys. I actually like your idea about going with colored cabinets. Since Bill and I have been looking at a lot of kitchen pictures, I have noticed how amazing the glazed colored cabinets look with quartz. Can not wait to see the pictures!!
as far as your trip the parade sounds AWESOME!!! I wish California was closer. Reading your trip report is really making me want to go there some time. I being the planner of the family have already gone to work planning our 2016 Disney trip. We decided to take a side trip to the Dark Side as well and will be doing a split stay. Four days at Disney and 3 at Universal. Now I am thinking at some point I may have to add Disney Land to our future at some point. Looking forward to seeing how this story unfolds.

Thanks - definitely everything adds up and we are somewhat handy so trying to balance doing some of the work with having professionals do it. I lean more towards hiring people (they just do it a lot faster than we would) but Judi likes getting her hands dirty.

Yeah, definitely is a bit of a further trip out west (with higher priced flights for sure!) but definitely something I wanted to do at least once and with the extra stuff for the 60th anniversary seemed like a good year. Already thinking about 2016 though and figure we will probably do our standard October week during F&WF down to Orlando. Maybe do what we did last time and get at least one annual pass with an eye towards end of August 2017, but we shall see. Hope you have fun with all your planning!
 
Part 9 - More plans booked/tickets bought

First off, to those that celebrate:


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.... back to the trip report. We generally are a family that likes to have things planned in advance - just makes it less stressful for me to know tickets are purchased, etc. So with that said, even though I know this is further out that we need to get them, over the weekend we bought our plane tickets out to San Diego. We are flying out of Washington DC (we will first drive to Judi's family to drop the dogs off and then will then drive us to the airport and D.C. is the closest major airport to them), and were able to find direct flights from there to San Diego for the dates we were looking at on United and the rate we got was lower than pretty much anything else I had been seeing - even if we had a stop or two. So seeing the direct flight at that rate we decided to just go for it. Maybe cheaper options will come up but for flying the whole family cross country it seemed ok - and like I said, we just like having things set.

There weren't a ton of options for times, so we do arrive in San Diego a little later than we would have liked, but the good news is that we don't leave until a little after 1pm so we should have time to do breakfast at Steakhouse 55 that morning which I was really hoping to do as I want to check that out but not "eat" into a park day. Plus, if we hadn't gotten there yet, will give me a chance to check out the Disneyland Hotel and some of the historic pictures they have


Second, we booked a hotel for the time we will be in San Diego. We wound up going with the Embassy Suites up on La Jolla Village Dr. It seems to have some food right there and is also located a bit north of Downtown San Diego which puts it closer to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and also that much closer to Disneyland for when we drive up on Tuesday.

Hotel map.jpg
We also had enough points to fully cover the stay here and it is all suites so will have a separate living room and bedroom so we a) have more space and b) if need to put Emma and/or other kids to sleep while others are still awake. It also comes with included cooked-to-order breakfast so thought that was good to at least have as an option

Might not be perfect but definitely seemed the best for what we could cover with points.

In completely different news, Olivia lost her first tooth over the weekend and was very excited about the whole thing! She received a nice gift from the tooth fairy (who even used glitter decoupage to make the bill fancy). She is also done up in a nod to Princess Leia for today (May the 4th and all) but also as her class is going to local Legoland today for a field trip (definitely better than field trips when I was a kid)

note: she is trying to smile and show off the missing tooth in the bottom row at the same time

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Congrats on getting the flights! Love getting them out of the way too. Direct will be so nice with three kids. And your plans for the points covered suite sounds perfect!

Loved that pic on FB. And love the glitter covered $5 bill. I've seen a few cute ideas for the tooth fairy ones Aria gets to that stage.

Legoland will be such a fun field trip - jealous! Haha.
 
Yay on flights! And a direct flight, too--that's even better!

How cute is Olivia with her buns and missing tooth?!? Love it! Hope she has tons of fun on what sounds like an amazing field trip!

The girls and I aren't the worlds biggest Star Wars fans (DH is working on the girls...), but we spent the better part of an hour watching YouTube videos of darth vader Having dance offs at Disney. He's got the moves! :darth:
 


That picture is adorable!

Yay for having your flights and hotel booked. I approve of the map! I love seeing maps. They really help me with spatial relationships. And how awesome that you have enough points to cover the stay. That's awesome!
 
I'm with you Phil. It drives me nuts not getting everything done when you know for sure you're going and what the dates are. I still haven't bought plane tickets for September even though I have the resort booked (at the very least I usually do the opposite) and it's driving me mad. But the prices and/or flight options are just horrendous. Hopefully soon, or I my head may expload.

I think you will appreciate the direct flight more than anything else, so good choice.!

and also that much closer to Disneyland for when we drive up on Tuesday.

I like your thinking!

n completely different news, Olivia lost her first tooth over the weekend

Awww, congratulations Olivia (and Phil and Judi). That is a big deal in any child's life. And it also makes me consider some tooth extractions. $5 now? I was lucky to get a quarter. :laughing:
 
Awww, congratulations Olivia (and Phil and Judi). That is a big deal in any child's life. And it also makes me consider some tooth extractions. $5 now? I was lucky to get a quarter. :laughing:

Peter's response has been that he wants to stop brushing his teeth so he will start losing teeth as well
:lmao:
 


Tagging along! We are leaving for our Caliofornia adventure in 45 days... And now you have me nervous. We only have two ADR's planned. The PCH Grill for arrival day and Blue Bayou for our third full day. We too have three full days in the parks.

My PTR is piddly compared to yours and we have 15 days. Lol.

We too are a WDW family and the non-planning that seems to go on at DL is kinda killing me. Finding a good touring plan without paying for one seems to be impossible! Have you had any luck? Or anyone of the people who call DL "home" have suggestions?
 
Tagging along! We are leaving for our Caliofornia adventure in 45 days... And now you have me nervous. We only have two ADR's planned. The PCH Grill for arrival day and Blue Bayou for our third full day. We too have three full days in the parks.

My PTR is piddly compared to yours and we have 15 days. Lol.

We too are a WDW family and the non-planning that seems to go on at DL is kinda killing me. Finding a good touring plan without paying for one seems to be impossible! Have you had any luck? Or anyone of the people who call DL "home" have suggestions?

Honestly, I never make any ADR's with the exception of Blue Bayou. Our last trip was very busy at the beginning of the trip and somewhat use the rest. My kids went to Cafe Orleans on an ADR made the morning of eating there. I think that it is a bit more laid back at Disneyland,but I have friends that make ADR's for every place they can. Another must for ADR's would be character meals.
 
I fully agree that I am ready to book as soon as plans are set. I need everything set as soon as possible - planning just makes things run smoother.

A nonstop flight will make life easier, especially when transporting 3 kids cross country! When we fly to California, we usually fly out of Dulles as well for the same reason.

The San Diego hotel sounds like a great option - plenty of room and close to everything.

Congratulations to Olivia - very exciting news!! And a Legoland field trip sounds amazing - I'm jealous!
 
We are planners, too! I hated that when we went in January this year, I couldn't book my WDW stay until July. Really threw off my advanced planning!

Legoland is a really nice field trip, but glad I wouldn't have to chaperone that. :)

$5.00 for the first tooth is pretty standard for us, but it drops to $1.00 for every tooth after that....
 
I completely understand wanting to have everything planned, I'm like that as well! Glad you got your flight and hotel in SD all sorted.

Olivia looks so cute! And that does sound like a pretty awesome field trip!
 
Congrats on getting the flights! Love getting them out of the way too. Direct will be so nice with three kids. And your plans for the points covered suite sounds perfect!

Loved that pic on FB. And love the glitter covered $5 bill. I've seen a few cute ideas for the tooth fairy ones Aria gets to that stage.

Legoland will be such a fun field trip - jealous! Haha.

Yeah, we debated doing flights with stops if it would save money but this direct flight was actually the cheapest option as well (just limited time options) so it worked out.

There are definitely a lot of options for tooth fairy stuff. We found these need little pillows that have a little pocket for the tooth and then a diagram of all the teeth in your mouth and you mark off the date each tooth is lost to track it, etc.

She had a lot of fun at Legoland - plus just to go with all your friends is cool. Her favorite part though was some movie they watched


Yay on flights! And a direct flight, too--that's even better!

How cute is Olivia with her buns and missing tooth?!? Love it! Hope she has tons of fun on what sounds like an amazing field trip!

The girls and I aren't the worlds biggest Star Wars fans (DH is working on the girls...), but we spent the better part of an hour watching YouTube videos of darth vader Having dance offs at Disney. He's got the moves! :darth:

definitely glad to have the flights booked. I bet if we waited there might become some cheaper options - but for what we wanted and a direct flight I really don't think they would ever be that much better so we just jumped on it

Olivia isn't really into Star Wars at all (when we went on Star Tours she had to ask me if the Ewoks were good guys or bad guys :rotfl2:) so she didn't really get the buns ... gotta start getting them into it more - maybe watch some Star Wars Rebels with them to break them into it.


That picture is adorable!

Yay for having your flights and hotel booked. I approve of the map! I love seeing maps. They really help me with spatial relationships. And how awesome that you have enough points to cover the stay. That's awesome!

Thank you! She loves getting her picture taken - I just thought the attempt to smile while also showing off the missing tooth spot was kinda funny


I'm with you Phil. It drives me nuts not getting everything done when you know for sure you're going and what the dates are. I still haven't bought plane tickets for September even though I have the resort booked (at the very least I usually do the opposite) and it's driving me mad. But the prices and/or flight options are just horrendous. Hopefully soon, or I my head may expload.

I think you will appreciate the direct flight more than anything else, so good choice.!

I like your thinking!

Awww, congratulations Olivia (and Phil and Judi). That is a big deal in any child's life. And it also makes me consider some tooth extractions. $5 now? I was lucky to get a quarter. :laughing:

Hope those flight prices come down for you - kind of annoying how much they fluctuate. I mean, I know why but still, it would make life a lot easier if they would just set it and that was it

In trying to be cost conscious we were prepared to not be able to do direct flights so when that came up as basically the cheapest option we just jumped on it

Definitely a lot of options for hotels in / near San Diego - but just thinking I don't think with the kids we were going to do a ton in downtown so this just seemed easier, was that much closer to Disneyland and the Safari Park and we had enough points so even if not the greatest hotel I think it will work :thumbsup2

Yeah, I was kinda surprised to see how much teeth go for nowadays (some people said they give $20 :scared1:) we figure we will do the $5 for the first one and then $1 after that
 
Tagging along! We are leaving for our Caliofornia adventure in 45 days... And now you have me nervous. We only have two ADR's planned. The PCH Grill for arrival day and Blue Bayou for our third full day. We too have three full days in the parks.

My PTR is piddly compared to yours and we have 15 days. Lol.

We too are a WDW family and the non-planning that seems to go on at DL is kinda killing me. Finding a good touring plan without paying for one seems to be impossible! Have you had any luck? Or anyone of the people who call DL "home" have suggestions?

Oh wow - glad to have you here .... but didn't mean to make you nervous! From what I am gathering we are likely over-planning and that is great that you got the ADR for Blue Bayou as that seems to be the toughest to get.

I just took a look at your PTR (and posted there) and you have so much planned over your entire trip though! Sounds like it will be a lot of fun - though probably slightly more fun if your upgrade for a larger car works out ;)

I haven't looked at any formal touring plan yet - really just been reading others trip reports and that sort of thing. Hoping to use this thread for more ideas on how to tour as we get closer. Also, Imagineer5 who posts here in her TR over on the WDW TR that covered a whole year of trips included one out to DLR and she seemed to have a lot of smart ways to tour so I am leveraging that as well. Good luck! :thumbsup2


Honestly, I never make any ADR's with the exception of Blue Bayou. Our last trip was very busy at the beginning of the trip and somewhat use the rest. My kids went to Cafe Orleans on an ADR made the morning of eating there. I think that it is a bit more laid back at Disneyland,but I have friends that make ADR's for every place they can. Another must for ADR's would be character meals.

Thank you for posting your thoughts - I think most of our ADRs are Blue Bayou, charcter meals, and/or connected to WOC/Fantasmic! packages - and then if we have others will just book as it helps plan out the days ... but yeah, most of the tips I have been reading is that you don't need to go crazy with the meal planning like you do at WDW (other than Blue Bayou at least)


I fully agree that I am ready to book as soon as plans are set. I need everything set as soon as possible - planning just makes things run smoother.

A nonstop flight will make life easier, especially when transporting 3 kids cross country! When we fly to California, we usually fly out of Dulles as well for the same reason.

The San Diego hotel sounds like a great option - plenty of room and close to everything.

Congratulations to Olivia - very exciting news!! And a Legoland field trip sounds amazing - I'm jealous!

I am right there with you - I like to plan like crazy before the trip, but then during the actual trip I try to be more relaxed and go with the flow as needed. Just at least knowing where we will be for the main meals and what parks on what days and any other "big" things helps reduce the stress for me once the trip starts. I hate to be in the park and everyone saying "I don't know, what do you want to do?" :rotfl:

Yeah, very glad things worked out and there was one direct flight with prices that were basically the cheapest option ... one reason we jumped on them without overthinking it too much (hopefully we at least did enough thinking :rotfl2:)

Olivia was very excited - had to call her Nana and Grandpa to tell them about the tooth. She had lots of fun at Legoland too!


We are planners, too! I hated that when we went in January this year, I couldn't book my WDW stay until July. Really threw off my advanced planning!

Legoland is a really nice field trip, but glad I wouldn't have to chaperone that. :)

$5.00 for the first tooth is pretty standard for us, but it drops to $1.00 for every tooth after that....

I think I also just enjoy the planning at it almost becomes part of the trip itself (and this way the trip can kinda last for months rather than just the week). Yeah, we didn't chaperone the trip ... I think Judi might have gone but they were clear you couldn't bring any siblings so with having Emma it really wasn't an option for her to go.

That is what we are planning with the rest of the teeth, just $1. We are thinking of getting some of those $1 gold coins - I think Olivia would like that!
 
I completely understand wanting to have everything planned, I'm like that as well! Glad you got your flight and hotel in SD all sorted.

Olivia looks so cute! And that does sound like a pretty awesome field trip!

I think I also just like to see progress made and just waiting around not seeing anything get set drives me a little crazy :rotfl2:

It is safe to say Olivia had fun on the trip!


Love the picture!!!! Too CUTE!!!!
Thank you! She loves taking pictures like that. If she was older and had her own phone I am sure there would be a million selfies in it :rotfl:
 
I didn't think about the Fantasmic and the WOC. Those are definitely ones you want to make. Unless you have a large group it's usually easy to get in.
 
I was reading above and about to suggest either the Embassy Suites downtown or the one in LaJolla and low and behold, you have booked the ES in LaJolla! We love LaJolla Cove for snorkeling and swimming (although the water will be too cold in October) there is a fun park and grassy area right at the LaColla cove beach. It is a very easy drive to the San Diego attractions and will, like you said, make for an easy drive north to DLR.
 
Well how funny that i started reading your PTR and thought your name looked familiar!! It will be fun for me to keep adding to my TR while following along on your PTR.

I am going to be happily following along but i'm not going to lie i will be a bit jealous. I really wish we could have taken in the Halloween stuff along with the 60th. We will miss the big celebration kickoff by 2 days :(
 
I didn't think about the Fantasmic and the WOC. Those are definitely ones you want to make. Unless you have a large group it's usually easy to get in.

Cool! Yeah, I think between character meals, WOC/Fantasmic! packages and Blue Bayou, that is a lot of our meals so why I want to get them set and booked. Figure the rest we can be more flexible with :thumbsup2


I was reading above and about to suggest either the Embassy Suites downtown or the one in LaJolla and low and behold, you have booked the ES in LaJolla! We love LaJolla Cove for snorkeling and swimming (although the water will be too cold in October) there is a fun park and grassy area right at the LaColla cove beach. It is a very easy drive to the San Diego attractions and will, like you said, make for an easy drive north to DLR.

I was very glad to read this post! That is great to hear that you would have suggested this hotel and that you like the LaJolla area .... definitely will want to check out that LaJolla Cove area - and as someone from the Northeast the water might not be too cold for us (we often find the water in Florida way to warm :rotfl:)


Well how funny that i started reading your PTR and thought your name looked familiar!! It will be fun for me to keep adding to my TR while following along on your PTR.

I am going to be happily following along but i'm not going to lie i will be a bit jealous. I really wish we could have taken in the Halloween stuff along with the 60th. We will miss the big celebration kickoff by 2 days :(

Hopefully we can help each other! That is a bit of a bummer you are missing the kickoff by just 2 days! Maybe they will have "soft openings" of a few things (fireworks, etc.)
 

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