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

[TheMaxRebo]

Sounds like such a nice weekend (and even better that Judi's family is nearby so you were able to spend a little time w/o kids). I can't believe how big the kids have gotten, even Olivia looks like she has grown up so much since we met you guys.

Definitely works out with her family so close. Kids love it as they get time with their grandparents too ... I am sure that was a lot more fun for them than an auction and watching a podcast

Definitely looking back on her first day of kindergarten to her last day pictures Olivia has grown quite a bit this year ... sometimes feels like too fast!

Phil, I always enjoy these inclusions in your TR or PTR, and it sounds as if it was yet again another successful event for Give Kids the World. I already mentioned it on FB, but I do love those glasses you got (especially Judy's "Mine Mine" glass).

I'm glad you got to hook up with some freinds you met at the previous event. Love those DIS meets.

Oh, and you can NEVER have too much chocolate.

Thank you - glad you enjoyed the update! We first spotted the "anger" one but then the "mine, mine, mine" one and there were only one each of those so we knew we had to act fast ... then we felt like we could just get one wine glass and one pint glass, so wound up with the 4. But most of the cost for each was going towards the charity so that made it even better.

Fully agree about never having too much chocolate - just takes you aback at first how often it is presented to you!

I very rarely post on here, mostly lurk, but some of your trip reports have helped me with planning of my own Disney stuff so I figured I'd chime in with some San Diego advice.

Snooze is amazing for breakfast or brunch. Definitely eat there for sure. I don't have a lot of experience with the restaurants up near LaJolla but if you are downtown at all also check out The Broken Yolk for breakfast or brunch and there is an AMAZING pizza place in Seaport Village called Assagios. (you can also sit outside with an awesome view of the harbor)

I am a native Floridian temporarily transplanted to San Diego and I'm going to say that FL's SeaWorld is better. Way better. We've been to this one twice and won't be going again while we are here.

The Zoo itself is awesome and the Safari Park is neat with the caveat that almost all of the "experiences" cost a lot in addition to your base ticket. Between the two I would choose the actual zoo hands down any day. (If you are going to go to either I have noticed that the animals are way more active after 1PM)

If you are staying up in LaJolla also look into checking out LaJolla cove and Seal Beach. Sea Lions will be at the top of the hill (you can smell them from a mile away) and the Harbor Seals will be in the Childrens Pool down the road a little at the other end of the park. You can go down on the beach with the Sea Lions and the views are spectacular. There is also a cute little area to wander around with shops and restaurants (try out The Living Room, really good food).

I don't know if I was any help but I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents. If you have any specific questions about the area let me know.

thank you so much for adding you thoughts! Really appreciate all the input on San Diego, especially the thoughts on restaurants! I had read up a bit on the LaJolla cove and definitely think we will check that out - I think the kids would get a kick out of seeing the seals. Good to know about the area around there being nice too - maybe do that whole area Sunday evening.

 

[momtohms]

What a fun place for a meet up! Chocolate and Disney are a pretty winning combination I wonder if they ever happen up in Alaska, or maybe around Seattle since we are there visiting family often. I'll have to look into more info! The Barbershop quartet and trivia look like a blast, and it looks like your kids all had a great time too!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

What a fun place for a meet up! Chocolate and Disney are a pretty winning combination I wonder if they ever happen up in Alaska, or maybe around Seattle since we are there visiting family often. I'll have to look into more info! The Barbershop quartet and trivia look like a blast, and it looks like your kids all had a great time too!

Definitely not a bad place to have a meet up with all the chocolate! As far as I can tell all the current meets are in the Eastern part of the country - I think the furthest west is Indianapolis. You could always start one!

There is D23 out at Disneyland, and a good sized contingent from the Podcast will be there but it isn't a meet

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like such a fun weekend!! Love those hand painted glasses. And glad you were able to walk away with some prizes!

 

[amazingact21]

I just watched that episode of the DIS and was telling my husband, "That's a Trip Reporter!" (He knows that's how I reference the people I know through the DIS.) It was very cool seeing you on the podcast, and it was really fun reading about the meet through your perspective.

Emma has gotten so big! Oh my goodness I can't believe it's almost been a year since she went to Disney as a newborn.


Checks that come with complimentary chocolate is my kind of restaurant!


Sounds like some fun setups. That's great that you got to reconnect with people you met last year. It's fun to be able to talk about a passion with people who share in those views, and I bet it was cool to listen to another podcast about said passion live.


And a Princess Bride show and Q & A? Sounds like you both had an awesome weekend!

 

[wsssup]

Awesome, I'm following along for sure. Love your little animations haha, you will have a blast.

 

[Li Li]

Hi!!! Sorry, I have been a bad DIS'er lately and haven't been on the boards too much. But when I popped in, I made sure to come here first! It was so great to see you and the family again! The kids were adorable and I loved playing with Peter. Such a cutie!

Hopefully, we'll get to meet up again next year!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Sounds like such a fun weekend!! Love those hand painted glasses. And glad you were able to walk away with some prizes!

Thanks Alexis! It definitely was a fun time and just something different to do which is nice. We are glad we saw those glasses when we did so we got our pick of them (other then the 4 Figment ones Kathy Werling bought ) Definitely nice to win at least one or two things.

I just watched that episode of the DIS and was telling my husband, "That's a Trip Reporter!" (He knows that's how I reference the people I know through the DIS.) It was very cool seeing you on the podcast, and it was really fun reading about the meet through your perspective.

Emma has gotten so big! Oh my goodness I can't believe it's almost been a year since she went to Disney as a newborn.

Checks that come with complimentary chocolate is my kind of restaurant!

Sounds like some fun setups. That's great that you got to reconnect with people you met last year. It's fun to be able to talk about a passion with people who share in those views, and I bet it was cool to listen to another podcast about said passion live.

And a Princess Bride show and Q & A? Sounds like you both had an awesome weekend!

Thanks Alicia! Good to know I came across as myself on the podcast. It is kinda funny how to refer to people from here to others. Even to Judi I am like "one of my Disney friends said this" or something. ... I mean, that at least sounds better than "this woman I met on the internet"

Emma turns 1 one week from today and has started walking and stuff - crazy how fast time goes. Hopefully by the time we get to Disneyland she will be able to communicate to the characters some.

Definitely is nice to be in a group where you don't have to explain what Disney means to you and why you spend so much time thinking about it, talking about it, posting about it, etc. Cool to see the podcast equipment set up too.

I was glad the Princess Bride thing was the same weekend and we did the baptism the same weekend too so timing wise it definitely worked out.

Awesome, I'm following along for sure. Love your little animations haha, you will have a blast.

thanks for joining Adam! Been learning a lot from your TR already, glad to have you here!

Hi!!! Sorry, I have been a bad DIS'er lately and haven't been on the boards too much. But when I popped in, I made sure to come here first! It was so great to see you and the family again! The kids were adorable and I loved playing with Peter. Such a cutie!

Hopefully, we'll get to meet up again next year!

Thanks so much for all the effort you put into the meet and all the running around you did during it! Glad things seemed to go off well and everyone had a good time. Thanks again for entertaining Peter!

We definitely expect to be there next year - hopefully it all works out!

 

[kaoden39]

I think that Princess Bride GIFs are always appropriate! The Dismeet looks great and like a lot of fun for all ages!

 

[Volunteer]

Following ...

Your trip plans look great. I'm really eager to get back to San Diego soon - only was there about 1.5 days last time and I didn't even make it to the gas lamp district.

How cool you had a family member at the 39 worlds fair, along with souvenirs!

 

[heycitygirl]

You have such an adorable family, and I really love all the GIFS. I just found your report (thanks for stopping by mine!) and am looking forward to getting caught up now!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I think that Princess Bride GIFs are always appropriate! The Dismeet looks great and like a lot of fun for all ages!

Certain movies / shows are always appropriate to fit in quotes or gifs and the Princess Bride is definitely one of them

The DISmeet was a lot of fun - it worked out well having the kids on Friday as there was more going on and more other kids there. Saturday may have been a bit long/boring for them but there were some kids there as well and they did fine

Following ...

Your trip plans look great. I'm really eager to get back to San Diego soon - only was there about 1.5 days last time and I didn't even make it to the gas lamp district.

How cool you had a family member at the 39 worlds fair, along with souvenirs!

thanks for joining!

Definitely afraid that we will feel like we wish we had more time in San Diego, but hopefully just having a few days there will be good... I'll just be anxious to get up to Disneyland the whole time anyway

You have such an adorable family, and I really love all the GIFS. I just found your report (thanks for stopping by mine!) and am looking forward to getting caught up now!

thanks for joing and thanks for the compliment. Not sure exactly how it happened (certainly wasn't from me) but does seem like we make cute kids

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Part 14 - Happy Birthday Emma ... and a few questions​

Hi Everyone, it's been a little while so wanted to provide a bit of an update and also as we are getting close to when I can make ADRs it is feeling like the trip is getting closer ... also, with just passing the actually 60th anniversary of Disneyland I definitely have it on the brain. I watched the ceremony via periscope at work, so that was a pretty cool use of technology I thought. I thought it was a fun little ceremony and very cool to get to see Richard Sherman perform was extra cool.

We had another celebration yesterday as Emma officially turned 1 ... and apparently felt that now she is 1 she will fully be a walker and is walking all over the place - so that has been fun to keep up with. We are going to see family on Saturday so we didn't do anything big yesterday but had some other kids over, did "Ice Cream for Dinner" and Judi made a "smash cake" for Emma to enjoy - and enjoy she did! (at least the icing)





ADRs

As mentioned, we are getting close to being only 60 days away from our trip at which point I can start making ADRs. I know this isn't as big of a thing at Disneland as at Disney World but there are a few we want to make and I want to be sure we get them. As a reminder, from the planing, we are looking to book:

Wednesday, October 14th:
- Dinner at Blue Bayou as part of Fantasmic! package

Friday, October 15th:
- Breakfast at the Plaza Inn with Minnie and Friends
- Lunch at Ariel's Grotto
- Dinner at Carthay Circle as part of WOC package

Saturday, October 16th:
- Breakfast at Steakhouse 55 before heading to the airport

So looking at the above, it is making me think I should shift the Plaza Breakfast to being a later breakfast Thursday rather than having 3 table service meals in one day

Also, and suggestions on times I should look to book these at? Especially the dinners, is there a good time to book them for when they are part of the package? Also, do you suggest just booking on the website or is calling better?


Shirts

The other thing I was thinking about was shirts, etc. for our trip. I normally make a few shirts for everyone to wear and am trying to think of ideas for this trip. Much of what I have made in the past is kinda WDW specific so open to suggestions.

I definitely want to make at least one related to the 60th Anniversary - we are thinking of doing Mickey Head tie dye shirts but using the 60th anniversary colors (blue and silver).

Other idea was a series of "Thank You Walt" shirts that would have a picture of Walt on them and then what each person said they were thankful for.

I also was looking at 60th anniversary Mickey/Minnie ears and saw some cute one out there.

Any other suggestions? Do people wear Disney World shirts to Disneyland?

TTFN

 

[STLMickeyMom]

I LOVE the picture of Emma with her face right in the cake! Adorable (and the way cake should be eaten, really!)!!

I think the tie dye shirts sound really cool and fun to make!

 

[Imagineer5]

I wore my Disneyland sweatshirt to Disney world, does that count??

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA!! How is she 1??!! Wasn't she just 1 month!?! She is such a cutie, and I love the smash cake.

For booking restaurants, I don't remember what we did, but know I had no problem making them. I think I called, because the fantasmic dessert party wasn't available to book online or something.

For the shirts, I'm no help there either though you could peruse Etsy for ideas...It would be sad to miss Ariel's grotto though if you end up skipping that - esp if Olivia is still into Princesses. 3 TS meals/day isn't the best but it is doable.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I LOVE the picture of Emma with her face right in the cake! Adorable (and the way cake should be eaten, really!)!!

I think the tie dye shirts sound really cool and fun to make!

It was pretty funny watching her go back and forth between bringing the cake to her mouth or her mouth to the cake. She definitely loved the icing and I think had a good time!

We've never done tie dyed shirts but Judi is the one who brought up the idea and I think it could be fun - worth a try I figure

I wore my Disneyland sweatshirt to Disney world, does that count??

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA!! How is she 1??!! Wasn't she just 1 month!?! She is such a cutie, and I love the smash cake.

For booking restaurants, I don't remember what we did, but know I had no problem making them. I think I called, because the fantasmic dessert party wasn't available to book online or something.

For the shirts, I'm no help there either though you could peruse Etsy for ideas...It would be sad to miss Ariel's grotto though if you end up skipping that - esp if Olivia is still into Princesses. 3 TS meals/day isn't the best but it is doable.

Sure! That counts! Actually, that reminds me that at the Disney Store outlet near us they always seem to have a lot of Disneyland merchandise in the discount area and we generally skip it since we always go to Disney World, but now it might make sense to pick up some stuff there. I can probably talk Judi into a trip to the Outlets

I know, I can't believe she is 1 and she has really started walking a bunch now and loves to sit on the couch like a big kid and stuff - definitely not a baby anymore.

Looking back and I think I worded it pretty unclearly - definitely would still have Ariel's Grotto on Friday, just would move Minnie's Breakfast to Thurs. Just mentioned later on that day since that is the day we have access to early hours, so figure we could do park stuff for a bit and then do a later breakfast for a break. This would still leave up 2 TS on Friday - which is currently the only afternoon we have planned in DCA (though obviously extremely easy to go hop if that worked out easier.

 

[missangelalexis]

Happy Birthday, Emma! Great pics

I actually just booked some ADRs using the site and it was super easy! I think what times you book the packages for should be dependent on what show time you want. For example if there's 2 Fantasmics or WOC, book an earlier dinner if you want to see the 1st one or book a later dinner if you want to see the 2nd one. One thing you should check though is the Halloween party dates...I believe there is a party that Wednesday so you might not to change your schedule around a little :-/

I love your shirt ideas!!

 

[schmass]

Happy Birthday, Emma! I remember I found your first PTR right after she had been born, and was thinking how I couldn't wait to have another of my own. Funny that now I'm days (hours?) away from having my own baby girl.

I think if you can shift your Plaza breakfast to a different day, that would be ideal. 3 TS on one day might be a bit much. Exciting that you are getting close to 60 days away!

Your shirt ideas sound good, and I bet tons of people wear WDW shirts to Disneyland. I know that I've worn my DL sweatshirt to WDW.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Happy Birthday, Emma! Great pics

I actually just booked some ADRs using the site and it was super easy! I think what times you book the packages for should be dependent on what show time you want. For example if there's 2 Fantasmics or WOC, book an earlier dinner if you want to see the 1st one or book a later dinner if you want to see the 2nd one. One thing you should check though is the Halloween party dates...I believe there is a party that Wednesday so you might not to change your schedule around a little :-/

I love your shirt ideas!!

This is the problem with October hours not being listed yet as not sure what times the shows will be and if there will be 2 shows ... guess I will have to discuss with Judi what time shows we want to do - afraid the late one might be late for us especially if still on East Coast time a bit

ACK!!!! you are right! When I first put this together the dates for 2015 weren't out and I was basing it on when there were parties in 2014 which was Tues that week not Wed. Given this, we will only have opportunities for one evening in DLR unless we do a party as there are parties on Wed and Friday, so would only be Thurs. Now have to decide if we can/want to do Fantasmic! and rush to see Pain the Night, or do Paint the night then later Fantasmic! or just skip Fantasmic .... doeth!!!

Happy Birthday, Emma! I remember I found your first PTR right after she had been born, and was thinking how I couldn't wait to have another of my own. Funny that now I'm days (hours?) away from having my own baby girl.

I think if you can shift your Plaza breakfast to a different day, that would be ideal. 3 TS on one day might be a bit much. Exciting that you are getting close to 60 days away!

Your shirt ideas sound good, and I bet tons of people wear WDW shirts to Disneyland. I know that I've worn my DL sweatshirt to WDW.

and I am looking forward to seeing pictures of your new daughter ... and then commenting a year from now that there is no way she can be a year old

Yeah, i think we will move that, though now I have larger things to move based on the new info that Alexis just informed me of!

 

[missangelalexis]

This is the problem with October hours not being listed yet as not sure what times the shows will be and if there will be 2 shows ... guess I will have to discuss with Judi what time shows we want to do - afraid the late one might be late for us especially if still on East Coast time a bit

ACK!!!! you are right! When I first put this together the dates for 2015 weren't out and I was basing it on when there were parties in 2014 which was Tues that week not Wed. Given this, we will only have opportunities for one evening in DLR unless we do a party as there are parties on Wed and Friday, so would only be Thurs. Now have to decide if we can/want to do Fantasmic! and rush to see Pain the Night, or do Paint the night then later Fantasmic! or just skip Fantasmic .... doeth!!!

It's such a struggle planning without park hours! I honestly don't know what happens to the Fantasmic schedule once the parties begin. The good thing is, once your ADR window opens, it will only let you book the Fantasmic package for days that they plan on having it. So perhaps in a few weeks you can gauge what days Fantasmic will be once ADR windows open for dates surrounding the party season. I hope that made sense

If you DO have to choose between Fantasmic and Paint the Night, I'd probably opt for Paint the Night just because it's so unique (and new). But you may be able to swing seeing both in one night if you go to an early Fantasmic and a late parade. Your other option would be to see Fantasmic on Thursday if they have it, and purchase party tickets for Wednesday in order to see PTN, even though I know that's not part of the plan or budget! So stressful this Disneyland planning can be!