PTR: Van Isle to DLR: Birthdays and Halloween 4-9 Oct 15 *Now with Photos!* Update 03/10/15

We're going to make a slight change I think. Based on our preferences and such, we're going to have breakfast with the princesses on the Wednesday and that night eat at PPH's new buffet in the Grill before hitting WOC. I think it'll work out well as we're going to see Anna and Elsa that morning too, so the girls will hit the A&E Boutique first, then breakfast if the FP is too long for the A&E M&G. I'll try to find out what the current wait times are for the M&G before I book the breakfast reservation.

Monday's dinner is at Carnation Cafe and Thursday's dinner is at Plaza Inn.

Not-Mickey ate a hole in the elbow of the discharge line of the dishwasher. DH is fixing it this week as we're camping on the weekend. I'm ready to use a shotgun on the friggin' thing!

He's in the Navy... and there's a parade he has to be a colour party member for on the Sunday... and I'm auditioning on Sunday afternoon... GAH! So we're leaving Friday afternoon and taking the car AND the truck camping. He's taking the car home on Saturday night so he can drive down early on Sunday for the parade. I'm leaving my kids with my sister while I audition for a local musical (taking the truck) and then we'll all meet back at the campground that afternoon. On our return home on Monday, the car goes to the shop for a recall and DH and the kids go home to unpack until I get home.

Honestly, it feels like I have to come to work to relax sometimes.

A little frustrated with the whole Canadian-exchange thing right now.

Called Disney to book our MHP tix but seeing as how we live SOOOOOO far away, I'd be charged $25USD for 'international shipping' of our PAPER tix. No, that's ok. I'll order online at home this evening.

Then called my travel agent step-sister. On MONDAY we owed an extra $204.50 due to the spiraling dollar (should have paid the whole g-d thing back in February). Today, it's popped up to $247!! Holy smokes! Naturally, neither she nor the agency accepts e-transfers and depositing money in their account will cost me an EXTRA $20 (uh... no). Mailing a cheque today won't get there til maybe next Friday... <sidebar> Imagine this - you live on an Island that has multiple ferry and flights to and from said Island each day and has a population from tip to tip of about... oh... let's go with 775,000 people. Where does your mail go? Nope. It gets sent OFF Island, sorted in Vancouver, and then sent BACK to the Island for distribution. And this is supposed to be a cost-saving measure by the federal mail system. Uh huh. It's quicker for mail to come to me from England or Australia than it is for a letter to come to me from a location less than 100KM away from my home. <end sidebar>... and by then goodness knows how much the exchange will be then!

SO, I've sent my DH to town to do a manual deposit to my step-sister's account and with luck she'll be able to pay off our vacation TODAY so I can start making dining reservations on Wednesday/Friday of next week.

DH is in the doghouse right now for spending money at the car dealership when I told him specifically NOT to, so he's going back into town without a peep.

I'm lock-up this week and have to stay here til 4 while everyone else leaves in an hour for their long weekend. My joy compounds though - I get to pick up my Mother In Law and bring her along with me for a couple of errands before we get home because we're ALL going to the wedding this weekend and we get to bring Grandma with us because our neice couldn't get time off from work, even though her prior request had been approved (hospital. New manager. Urg) and she was going to bring Grandma.

BUT... I WILL make the best of it - I will take photos and keep track of the kids and see my out-laws for the weekend. Not really a vacation - still have to cook and worry about money and run after the kids and wear clothes (not pj's) and do my hair. But I will do my best.

YAYAYYAY! I have completed my payments and I'm confirmed and everything!! So far, I have:

1. bought and printed our MHP e-tix for the 5th of October party
2. made reservations for dinner at PPH Grill - WITH birthday cake for DD1
3. made reservations for breakfast at Ariel's - WITH personal sized cake in a jewelry box for DD2
4. made reservations for anniversary dinner at Steakhouse 55
5. made reservations for Anna and Elsa boutique for the girls on DD2's birthday
6. made reservations at WCT for a WOC lunch package (I'm pretty sure, but I'll confirm that next time I call)
7. made reservations for the girls at Pinocchio's Workshop - 2 hours of freedom people - 2 HOURS!

Somethings I couldn't do because DLR doesn't have dates released yet (even though it's less than 60 days out... srsly?):

1. make reservations for breakfast at Minnie's for DD1's birthday
2. make reservations for the BBB on DD1's birthday
3. make reservations for a F! dinner at RBT

I'm so excited - it's FINALLY coming together. With luck, the rest of the reservations can be made within the next week or so. I hope DD1 likes the cake I chose for her.

Our trip we just finished was fun. We took the new truck up to the interior with Gramma in the front and me in the back. LOTS of room back there, and I did more sleeping than the kids did, heh. Now, maybe I'm a little unfair, but I like to think I'm just, equitable... fair... in my reviews. I mean, I don't ask for much - if I pay for a campsite, I expect it to be a 'campsite', not a spot in the trees. If I pay $200+ a night for a 1 bedroom condo, I expect certain things, right? Right? Well, here's what we got:

1. Couldn't check in where we were staying, had to go 500 yards away to the main hotel. So why bother having a reception desk there then? And then had to walk back to get into our room (once we parked underground that is - for $13/night). ONE elevator. Main hotel: 3 elevators.
2. No wifi (only in main hotel). Had to use a cable to hook up the laptop to the wall. Wha?
3. No coffee filters (housekeeping fixed it right away).
4. In-suite washer might have worked, dryer didn't. The control panel was coming off the front so they weren't working. Great.
5. I reserved for a family. Their reservation said me and DH only. Once I reminded them, though, they found the reservation as I had made it.
6. Didn't comp me even 1 night's parking for the inconvenience of having an unworkable washer/dryer. Not that I asked for it, but really, would it have killed them to offer me free parking ($26) once I told them about the appliances not working?

The majority of the visit was great, even though I sound ungrateful. The wedding was lovely and once I figured out how to pull down the safety bar, the trip up the mountain on the ski lift was fun. The down-ride was fun too. The reception was a hoot - the bride danced on the head table. Twice!

Then we left and went to visit my friend in Vancouver. In hindsight, should have spent 2 days, not 3. Her husband is a jack*ss and it stretched DH's and mine courtesy to the limit to put up with him. I tolerate him for her. DH tolerates her for me. We had a good time visiting though - saw the fish in the aquarium along with a Beluga show and a new False Killer Whale they have there who was rescued. We went to Science World and the kids loved it. DH was a little disappointed in it, but I really enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit. Then the last day was Ikea. We live away from Ikea - it costs about $200 to get things delivered to us from them - so when we do go (once every 10 years or so), it's a big occasion. This time we were looking for desks and sturdy organizers for the kids. We got those and more - new lamps for them and our living room, cushion covers, a bath mat, and office chairs for the kids too. If we'd had room in the truck bed, I would have gotten a new office desk too, but alas...

Home at last, we have spend the last three days sorting the house out, finishing laundry, all the little things that need to be done before heading back to work tomorrow.

Here's a few photos - I haven't finished uploading or editing them all - but I managed to find a few I liked.


The Ski Lift up takes mountain bikes too (taken by DD2)


Science World. Inside the dome is the IMAX theatre (taken by DD1)


DD1 being silly with the dinosaur at Science World


DD2 climbing the movable climbing wall at Science World. Taken by DD2

YAY!! FINALLY I have ALL my meal reservations finished! We now have F! reservations on the 4th for dinner at RBT, Breakfast at the Plaza Inn for Minnie's breakfast for DD1's birthday, and BBB reservations for the girls that afternoon on the 5th. Our WOC reservations were confirmed for lunch on the 7th as well.

The ONLY thing I need to do on Saturday is book our Welcome to DLR Tour as it's a 30 day window for reserving.

Oh... and put even MORE money onto the prepaid card because our dollar is going down faster than the Conservative's polling numbers (little election humour there for us Canadians).

So my DD#1 has anxiety and it's difficult for her to make decisions. She has very, VERY specific ideas as to what she wants for her birthday thought. So far, I've picked everything wrong:

- Minnie's breakfast - she wants Goofy because she wants a PB&J pizza. I've told her there's more characters AND PB&J Pizza everywhere at DLR. Not good enough.
- A chocolate cake with vanilla custard, whipped cream icing and Minnie on top - nope. Everything's wrong with that apparently.
- Welcome to DL tour - why?
- Dinner celebrations at the PPH Grill buffet - too many choices.

Usually she's very grateful and accomodating. I think her 'tween' is showing.

DH wants to go with the flow and not have every day scheduled. Yeah... sure. That'll happen. We'll just MAGICALLY have stuff appear and be there for us without any preparation at all. I'm in Supply Chain Management, a Logistician. NOTHING happens without planning, buddy. NOTHING! So now I'll have the schedule and just guide us to places where things will just magically happen.

So far, DD#2 isn't complaining, but I know she loves Princesses and will enjoy her birthday breakfast at Ariel's. I'm sure she will complain about not getting enough - of anything. She's just that way.

At this point, I'm ready to just go without any of them.

Ok so far I've had to pay an EXTRA $96 on the trip because of the dumb exchange rate. Waiting for it to improve cost me an extra $350!! Expensive lesson to learn.

Then DD1 b*tched so much about Goofy's that while I was changing her cake (vanilla with custard and chocolate whipped cream with Jasmine on top now), I cancelled the PPH Grill reservation and booked us in to Goofy's that night.

Our first full day is going to be go-go-go:

Morning - quick breakfast at hotel, EA at DCA and hopefully meet Anna & Elsa right at open. Breakfast at Minnie's at 8:40, the Welcome to DLR tour at 10 (for 10:30), and then we're taking a break around 1. Lunch at EoS with DD's coupon and I'll be signing me, DD2 and DH up for EoS too so we can get free stuff.
After break - the afternoon will be REALLY busy: BBB at 3:20, then meeting the princesses etc, Goofy's at 5:25, and then the MHP for 6:30ish.

But at least our food is taken care of as I pre-bought vouchers off Orbitz for the character meals. Their price includes tax and tip and is the same price as paying at the location.

Now it's just pile money on the pre-paid card and my last thing to do before we go is to get US money from the bank. The exchange is going to kill me!

Following along! I just found the trip reports section. This Disney planning is new to me and as a surprise paid trip we have only been planning since July! You have it all figured out! Happy planning!

We just got our tickets and flight information today from my step-sister. She had a Minnie and a Sophia gift bag for the girls (one each) and put our info in a Rapunzel file folder.

The girls are freak.ing.out!

Soooo.... on my way to the Paul Brandt/Dean Brody concert (two awesome Canadian country musicians), I tripped and landed HARD on my left knee. Fortunately it was on grass. Unfortunately, I'm heavier than I was and my knees aren't too happy with me. The joint is not affected, but now... I'm a rainbow! I can walk, just not well and not fast. I'm slathering the arnica on, and using all the ice packs in the house on a rotation. I'm not letting this stand in my way (heh) of this trip!

This is the outside of my left knee


And this is the inside view


*sigh* I'm such a goof.

My knee is MUCH worse now. Urg. I've asked a friend for their cane, so I'm going to bring it with me and see how far that gets me all over SeaTac and DLR.

I exchanged some money yesterday. $763CAD netted me a whopping $550USD at #1.36 to buy. When we come back it'll be $1.31 to sell. If there's any left that is. Looks like we're going to be $200 short or so, just because of tax and tip and exchange. Not to mention, it's $25/bag for checked baggage, so that's $50 each way too.

I will cancel our dinner at Steakhouse55 and the kids' reservation at Pinocchio's. We'll do something together at Trader Sam's or Rainforest Cafe. I read that the concierge breakfast is carbs and sugar, so we're going to need to find money for inexpensive breakfasts too.

Ugh.

I'm bringing my Shakeology, so I won't need breakfast at least, but DH can easily eat two breakfasts.

The girls are so excited. The wanted to start packing last night but I'm getting them to wait til Saturday, just because we have laundry to do. I have started with a carry-on though - cameras and associated equipment, penny bags and batteries, stuff like that.

Well I just finished checking us in via Alaska's online check in. Took me three tries, but I did it! And we're only paying for 1 checked bag for me and DH. I nearly upgraded to first class for another $200 but... first, it was $200... and second, none of the seats were really together, so it was easier to just move our seating around. Since i have this knee, I am in a right-hand aisle seat so I can stretch my leg out a bit.

We're going to not spend as much per day for souvies and we should be just fine for spending and eating money. I have the prepaid card, so with luck I can just buy the correct amount of gift cards with the funds on it and not have to worry, and still have a bit left over for emergencies.

The girls are so excited. SO excited - we're packing and getting things ready today. I should sign off the computer and go do stuff before time runs out.

I called DDining and asked about rain and F!. She said if it's only a sprinkle, they won't cancel. She did say if I wanted to change my reservation from a F! meal to a regular one within 2 hours of the meal, they'd waive the fee, which is pretty nice. Now we just see if it's a Hawaii rain, a BC rain, or a SoCal sprinkle rain.

We're going to take the bus from DLR up Harbour to In N Out and Walmart, grab some lunch, ponchos, water and flip flops for the pool deck, then bus it back. Check in at 3, go to the front stiles to get our tickets and photos done, hit a photopass place to get that started and then off we go!

DD1 is so excited. She said she doesn't know what she's going to do first. I think she'll just run around in circles with a big grin on her face.