Pre Trip Report

[VallCopen]

OK so this is my first attempt at a trip report / pre trip report so please bear with me. I don't even know how to download the pictures to this site so I am hoping that with 4 months to go until the trip I can figure it out. And I hope people start TR this early, if they don't then I am sorry for starting so early, but if you subscribe I promise I will return. So here it goes.....

We are a family of 4...

My DH - Age 42 and a workaholic, although he is making an attempt to change I am sure he will always be a workaholic to some degree.

Myself - Age 39 and mother of two girls (ofcourse I think they are beautiful and great but really lets face it what mom doesn't think their kids are the best) I also take care of the books for my workaholic husbands company and do all the other motherly chores there are to do.

My DD - Age 12 and oh so 12 right now.....

My DD - Age 2 and a bundle of energy , a bundle that my 12 year old never had and thankfully didn't because we wouldn't have our 2 year old bundle now if she had. But what a incredible blessing she is and how thankful we were blessed with her after so many years.

And as the song states ... That's my story and I'm sticken to it.

So we will be leaving for 12 days starting with a TOT party at the end of October and staying in our very first DVC 2 bedroom villa at the Grand Californian. We are hoping to get a Pier view but they can not make any promises so we will have to wait and see. We just bought into the DVC program and are very excited to see if we were stupid and wasteful with our money or right on with our decision with a bit of an itch for add-on-itis. (sounds like it could be a horrible disease )
We went to Disney in April for 7 days and decided we would get annual passes since we usually make it down about twice a year and usually stay for about 5-10 days, I think it actually might pay off with this visit.

We are planning on doing a few extra things while in Southern Cal but we are still looking and planning so at this time I don't think I can give anymore detail on where? We are looking into Catalina, A limo tour of the hollywood area, beaches (our usual), Universal Studios (never done) or the San Diego Zoo. We probably will do 2 different things but again not sure yet - any opinions on these will be greatly considered. (so much for "I don't think I can give anymore detail on where?"
We are planning on golfing one day with some relatives but that is more so the men can have a bit of bonding time, you know the way real men bond. (It would be nice if just once in awhile they could just cry, hug, laugh uncontrollably and maybe even pee themselves but I guess then they wouldn't be guys - so unfair).

Well other than that I don't know if there is much to say about the trip until we return. I will take many pictures of everything and especially the new villas for everyone to see, but again I need to figure out how to download the pics first. Just to let everyone know I like some detail but I don't how much detail I will have. Well we can't wait for our trip and if any of you are staying at the Villas first please let me know what you think.

[Sherry E]

Yay! I am so glad you are still considering Catalina! I hope you ordered the free Visitors Guide I linked you to! It is not that Universal, San Diego, Hollywood, etc., are not fun, but there is something extra special about Catalina and its charm and beauty, so I think you all would like it if you went there. And if you return to DLR a couple of times a year, you can always squeeze in San Diego or Universal, etc. on another trip. One of our other DIS-ers, Lulubelle, is heading to Catalina on July 31st, and I asked her to make sure to report back somewhere (maybe a Trip Report in the California Trip Reports section) on how it goes.

Oh, about posting pictures (even though you aren't ready to post yet, in case you want to practice), this is the easiest way to do it. I have seen other explanations that were more complicated but this is the easiest one: First, if you do not have an existing Photobucket account, start with that. It is FREE, and Photobucket seems to be the best image-hosting site for posting pictures to public forums. Other image hosting sites are a little more complicated.

So once you have created your free Photobucket account, you will see the button to load your photos. It is very easy - pretty self-explanatory, actually. And you can choose the size in which you want the pictures to appear (tiny, small, large, medium, large and some other super-duper large size). Once all of your pictures are loaded to Photobucket, you will see a series of 4 'codes' either underneath each picture or to the right of it. Each photo has its own codes. The code you want (for posting pictures on the DIS) is called the "IMG" code. This will be the 4th one down - or the very last one - in the series of codes. What you do is highlight the code by clicking on it, and when it is highlighted, you copy (Ctrl C) the ENTIRE code - do not leave out any part of it or your photos will not appear - and then simply paste - Ctrl V - the code right here into your post, and voila! Pictures magically appear! It is really simple. Just make sure you highlight the full code - don't try to re-type it - then copy & paste.

Give it a try for practice!!!

You are so lucky to be staying so many nights at the GCH villas! I hope you get the view you want, but I would be thrilled just to be there for so long. I am dying to get back to that hotel again, so the villas must be great!

[VallCopen]

Thanks Sherry E I will go try the photo bucket thing tonight and then see if I can post a picture from our last trip. We are still very interested in the Catalina trip. We live in Washington State and see lots of wild creatures quite often, Mountain Lion, Bear, Deer, Elk, Moose and even Longhorn Sheep (they are in our yard atleast once a week) so the buffalo thing is less appealing but the views, flying fish and a great seafood lunch sounds blissful. Thanks again for all your help. By the way is 4 months early for a Pre Trip Report? I kinda felt silly posting it but I need something to fill my time until we leave. Oh yeah right now, today and tomorrow Southwest is running a special for flights everywhere - $30 oneway anywhere less than 400 miles away, $60 oneway anywhere 400-750 miles, and $90 oneway anywhere for 750 miles or more. I just changed my flights and got a 686.00 credit for future use. Maybe I should post that somewhere but I don't know where?

[Sherry E]

Originally Posted by VallCopen

Thanks Sherry E I will go try the photo bucket thing tonight and then see if I can post a picture from our last trip. We are still very interested in the Catalina trip. We live in Washington State and see lots of wild creatures quite often, Mountain Lion, Bear, Deer, Elk, Moose and even Longhorn Sheep (they are in our yard atleast once a week) so the buffalo thing is less appealing but the views, flying fish and a great seafood lunch sounds blissful. Thanks again for all your help. By the way is 4 months early for a Pre Trip Report? I kinda felt silly posting it but I need something to fill my time until we leave. Oh yeah right now, today and tomorrow Southwest is running a special for flights everywhere - $30 oneway anywhere less than 400 miles away, $60 oneway anywhere 400-750 miles, and $90 oneway anywhere for 750 miles or more. I just changed my flights and got a 686.00 credit for future use. Maybe I should post that somewhere but I don't know where?

Armstrongs on Catalina supposedly has the best seafood! So does the place on the green pier, from what I hear. Giada De Laurentis did a little piece about Catalina in a Los Angeles special she did last year for Food Network, and she ate at the place on the Green Pier. And they have other good places to eat as well. The Flying Fish tour is so fun, as is the Semi-Sub and the Seal Rock tour! It is really a great place to do a day trip!

No, 4 months out is not too early to start a TR. There is no real strict guideline for TR's right now - people do Pre-TRs, Pre-TRs that turn into TR's, Post-trip Reports, ongoing mega-reports, etc. (like, for example, my TR, Prettyprincessbelle's TR , Belle Ella's TR and WazowskiLOVER's TR are all a few of the mega Trip Reports!! We have all just mushed up the Pre-TRs and the TRs and the Post-TRS together, as well as adding in all kinds of photos of our older DLR trips and other things non-Disney, which people really enjoy, and then we update them when we are planning new trips). So if you have any photos from previous trips, post them on your TR to let everyone get to know you and see what your previous DLR trips have been like.

I remember being in a Washington State park when I was little, and a random deer just walked up out of nowhere as we were sitting on a bench. It was used to people. I love Washington and Oregon - both beautiful places in different ways.

[VallCopen]

Well thanks to Sherry E that was a piece of cake!!!! I now know how to download the pics and will be ready for the trip report when we get home. Below are a few pics from our April trip so that I can make sure I am doing this right



Boo, Bitty & Mike


Bitty with Goofy on a little journey



We sure will miss Jack




Well that is it for now, I am off to see if I can find anymore pics from our April trip and I promise I will come home with many many from the Nov trip.........

[Sherry E]

Yay! You did it! There are other image hosting sites, but for some reason, Photobucket seems to be more conducive to posting on public forums and they make their IMG codes easy to find. Other sites seem to almost hide the IMG codes, or the process is more complicated. This is the easiest way!

Those pictures are adorable - and I love the one in front of Mike and Boo!! Bitty couldn't be any cuter!!!

[VallCopen]

Sherry I saw another post of yours and in it you mentioned the flying fish only until September, do they not have that tour in November?

[Sherry E]

Originally Posted by VallCopen

Sherry I saw another post of yours and in it you mentioned the flying fish only until September, do they not have that tour in November?

Yes, I think so. The fish themselves can be seen here and there in the water, but the actual nighttime tour that takes you over to where hundreds of them are (and they sometimes land in the boat!), goes from May to either late September or early October - or at least it used to. But I think the Semi-Sub runs year round, and of course, you can get the golf cart year round. The Casino tour is year round. In fact, one poster on my TR - Casiland - was just saying she is going to visit her cousin and his family - who live on Catalina - in November.

By the way, since you are also looking into San Diego, have you checked out Pmama's Trip Report? Her TR includes not only a DLR trip but also a couple of days in San Diego, at the zoo and Sea World and on Coronado - she went with her two young daughters. You may want to look at it to see some nice San Diego pictures!

[VallCopen]

Sherry I had a few questions about my TR and people subscribing so I hope you don't mind but I sent you a PM. Thanks

[Sherry E]

Originally Posted by VallCopen

Sherry I had a few questions about my TR and people subscribing so I hope you don't mind but I sent you a PM. Thanks

I don't mind at all...except it hasn't come through! I checked and double checked the PMs and there is nothing! Maybe it got caught up in cyberspace? I didn't even get an email alert that I had a PM, and there is no PM for you in the box! I wonder where it went?

Oh wait - ETA...I think it may have just come through now, but that took a long time!

[VallCopen]

I just sent it to you. Sorry.