PTR - The Last 5th Birthday (June 2022) - Updated 6/2

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Edited 6/2: Had to remove the plans for BF & her family as they have to cancel their trip.
Edited 6/1: Updated Heading Home to add a stop in Tucson and take out the stop in Austin.
Edited 5/30: Updated DCA day for RSR being down
Edited 5/20: Added flight info for BF's family
Edited 5/13: Added a stopover in Austin on our return trip, added detailed itinerary for Day 7.
Edited 5/5: Updated F! Package info in The Plan
Edited 4/28: Added a packing list section
Edited: I now DO have specifics (10 months later)! Plus added a link to my 2019 TR, and a table of contents. Check the contents below

I have nearly no specific plans and it'll likely be at least 6 months before I can even attempt a rough plan, BUT! I did it. I booked the rental house for my youngest daughter's 5th birthday trip. We have celebrated the 5th birthday of every kiddo with a trip to DLR, although only one of them actually included the birthday itself. This will be the end of an era for us, that started in 2010 when I started planning our first trip (which was 2012). With the parks reopening for out-of-state guests this week, and my anxiety over missing out on our first choice house (which happened last trip), I pulled the trigger. June 7-15 we will be in Anaheim, tentatively planning 5 days in park+1 Malibu/DTD day, 1 stadium tour/rest day 1 day at universal, and a day or 2 at the beach.

I never did properly finish my 2019 4th 5th birthday report, so I might just jump back into that to really get the spirit going! Meanwhile I will go back to stalking other trips for ideas and to share in the joy

The Overview
The Plan
The Packing List (Edited 5/5)
Day 1-3 Getting There (Edited 5/20)
Day 4 Disneyland (Edited 4/28)
Day 5 Stadium Tour/Rest Day/Date Night
Day 6 DCA & World of Color (Edited 5/30)
Day 7 BF's Last DL Day & Fantasmic!
Day 8 DCA & Goofy's
Day 9 Beach Day! (Edited 5/20)
Day 10 Last DL Day (Edited 6/1)
Day 11-15 Heading Home

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

I finally have a plan in place for our trip!

Who:

• My family: Me (44 F - the Disney planner in the family), DH (44), DD#1 who started it all (15), DD#2 (12), DS (10), DD#3 (8), and the guest of honor DD#4 (5);
• My best friend's family! BF, BFH, BFS#1 (16), BFD#1 (6), BFD#2 (4), BFS#2 (2).

I'll use the ages of the kids in the rest of the report to avoid confusing myself!

When: June 5-18 2022

What: Celebrating our last 5th birthday! DD5 turned 5 in March, and she is our youngest. We have done a trip in honor of each 5th birthday, starting in 2012 with DD15. Her trip was also in June, so in a way this is our 10th anniversary of that trip!

Why: I wrote up a nice detailed 'why' in my trip report for our 2019 trip, so you can check it out there: https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...-break-2019-trip-report.3744270/post-60495010

Where: Staying at a VRBO near Disneyland, called Castle House 1. We have stayed with the same owners before at different properties, and are looking forward to this stay as well!

How: We are driving a 12-seat passenger van from the Dallas, TX area with a daytime stop in El Paso (grandparents live there), and then spending 8 nights at a VRBO house within walking distance of DLR, and driving back with 2 day stop in El Paso.

Budget:
Initial budget is $15k, which gives me $700 of wiggle room if we stick to the following:

• 5000: lodging (6 bedroom rental house)
• 4000: tickets (5 day hoppers + genie at the $20 rate purchased online)
• 3700: food (this includes all the foods from travel snacks to character meals to dining/show packages)
• 1000: souvenirs
• 600: fuel & DEF (this is a wild card this year; DEF is diesel exhaust fluid, and we discovered on the last trip that we'll need to add more at least once during the drive)

This budget is a bit crazy to me, because I'm pretty sure for our first trip our entire spend was $5500, and that included airfare!

Next up the Plan!

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

The Plan:
Two travel days (Sunday night, Monday), a day to settle in and maybe explore Malibu (Tuesday), 5 day park hopper with a rest day/stadium tour day and a beach day/rest day thrown in there, a farewell morning and five more travel days to get home, with a stop at grandparents’ house and an over night in Austin (DH has a work function there, and added bonuses we can expense that segment of the trip for mileage!).

I have paid for the rental, bought tickets, made our park reservations and got a few ADRs. BF has booked the stadium tour. We did 4 day hoppers w/ MP last trip and felt it was worth it. This time, I went with 5-day hoppers with G+ added. Originally I planned on simply adding G+ to at least one reservation per day for the Photopass benefit, and maybe add it for everyone else if we felt like we needed it. But because at DLR you can only add it after scanning in, I decided that it would be worth it to simply budget for the expense and pay for it now and save those precious first few moments in the park enjoying my surroundings instead of clicking through my phone. I tend to be very high-strung first thing into the park as it is!

Current itinerary with park reservations is as follows:

• Day 1-2: Travel
• Day 3: Arrival/Malibu/Settling in/DTD
• Day 4: DL start
• Day 5: Stadium Tour/Rest Day
• Day 6: DCA start
• Day 7: DL start
• Day 8: Friends depart, DCA start for us
• Day 9: Beach Day/Rest Day
• Day 10: DL start
• Day 11: Farewell brunch/Travel to El Paso Tucson
• Day 12-13: El Paso
• Day 14: El Paso Farewell/Travel to Austin home
• Day 15: Austin to Relax at home!

I have the following reservations:

• Minnie Mouse & Friends @ Plaza Inn
• WoC Dessert Party
• Goofy’s Character Dinner
• Storytellers Character Breakfast
• Dinner at WCT
• Brunch at LL

I want to add these:

• Fantasmic! Grab & Go @ Hungry Bear/River Belle Terrace package ***Booked HB for 1st show on 6/11***
• Lunch at Carnation Cafe or Cafe Orleans

Thinking about River Belle Terrace in case they don't bring back the Hungry Bear package, as we have never been there, and unlike previous trips I have no clear idea when we will be back. ***Edited to add: Riverbelle didn't have guaranteed viewing section unless you did the premier package, plus the price point for HB is so attractive for our large group with so many small children.

Last time, I experimented with DIY vacation journals, autograph books, matching shirts, decorating the van, stockpiling current year pennies for all the penny press stands, Disney jammies, outfits to go with their BBB makeovers, an instant camera to create immediate souvenirs, rain boots or covers, slickers, sunglasses, and activity books for the drive. My ambition always surpasses my ability but I got 5 of those things done. This time, I plan on the following

• Journals (HUGE hit last time!)
• Outfits, jammies & new swim suits
• Decorated van (still done since last time and makes me happy every time I see the stickers)
• Pennies for penny press
• Instant camera & lots of film & extra batteries, plus a photo album to keep the pictures save and organized as we go
• Sunglasses
• Activity books for the drive

Next up, the Details! Or, skip to The Packing List because I posted them out of order!

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Itinerary Day 1-3 Getting There

Day 1: Sunday June 5

• DD5 and DD8 have a dance recital during the day, and DD8 and DS have a Cub Scout meeting.
• Our family will be all packed up and loaded and kids in jammies and ready to leave town by 5.
• Travel activities, possibly including vacation journals will be given to kids.
• First stop: dinner. We want to be back on the road by 7:30pm.
• Next stop: El Paso!

Day 2: Monday June 6

• Arrive in El Paso in the morning and do brunch with MIL/FIL. Drivers hopefully can nap while kiddos hang out and work off some energy.
• Dinner as a big family, and then back on the road by 8pm to drive through the night to Anaheim.

Day 3: Tuesday June 7

• Arrive in Malibu area and eat at the same place as 2019 (Malibu Farm Cafe).
• Check out the ocean! Play on the beach (Malibu is the leading option)! Do touristy things!
• Grocery shopping (Costco and/or Target)
• Maybe meet up with other family in the general SoCal area - TBD.
• Check-in to rental house around 4pm.
• Send kids immediately to swim so I can unpack their things in an orderly fashion, including any surprises I manage to put together!
• EDITED TO ADD: Send DH to pickup BF's family at SNA
• Hangout in DTD for the evening - still no idea what I want to do for dinner.
• Possibly see fireworks from the rental house!

Does this look like it'll work? Seem too crazy? I think we can make the drive - we've done it before, but we are 3 years older, so who knows; we might need more trips and to spend the night in El Paso and just leave early the next morning.

Anyone have thoughts on Malibu? It looked so lovely last trip, but we didn't spend much time there, and instead did a drive-through of Beverly Hills.

Next up, Disneyland!

 

[cndkanga]

I'd love to hear about the journals you make. Does everyone get one? I'd love to do something like this for our trip, we usually do a memory photobook upon return with our digital pictures but I like the idea of the kids journaling the trip from their perspective!

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Welcome to the PTR!

Yes, I make one for each kid going and one for myself. The first half are itinerary pages, and based on how literate the kiddo is, either things to circle (like how are you feeling today - with some mickey emojis with different expressions), and rate the day 1-10, plus some wide lines or narrow lines. Lots of coloring pages - I found a lot of good resources online, and lots of blank pages as well. The second half includes maps of the parks, and each land broken down with a list of attractions to circle, and places to note what character were met, and what they ate there (if anything). I got a microsoft publisher file and I print it at home (printing places like FedEx won't touch a project that has Disney IP in it, even if you say it is for personal use), but then you can take the printed journals to the place and they will cut and bind them. The main cost is the ink for the printer, but you could get away with all black ink.

I spent WAY too much time learning publisher and playing with the journals for that trip - probably over 100 hours . I'd be happy to share my publisher file with anyone who is interested

 

[cndkanga]

Love all the ideas! Thank you! If you'd be open to sharing your file I'd love that! I can see this as being a great activity when we take some downtime during the day.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

@cndkanga Sent you a DM!

 

[cndkanga]

@cndkanga Sent you a DM!

Thank you so much!!

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

One of the complicating factors this trip is coordinating with another family. While I am super excited to spend the time together, I am also anxious about planning a magical trip for them. This is likely a one and done trip for their family, and I am the main planner. My approach is to plan the trip like I would normally for my fam, and share the itinerary with them so they can decide which things they want to do together and when they'd rather do their own thing. We have a few group meals planned, but in between I am sure we will separate, especially since my fam has hoppers and they are single park tickets. The problem is, I'm the one with all the Disney experience and know-how, so they might be looking to me to tell them what to do and where to be. It will be interesting to see how things play out Either way, we are great friends and very good at being open and honest with each other, so I am confident we will work things out and have a great time.

My only real concern now for us is about WoC. I got dessert party reservations for my fam, but the other fam decided not to do it, thinking there would be an easily accessible free option. With how quickly the virtual queue is running out, I am worried they won't get to see it. On the other hand, they very well might not make it that late into the night (their youngest is 2, while my youngest is 5 now), so they didn't want to commit to the price tag of the dessert party. One possible fall back is that we already have group reservation for WCT that same night, so if they do in fact bring back the dinner package and it is something you can upgrade to day-of as it had been noted, that is a great option for them.

 

[fivelittles]

Welcome to the PTR!

Yes, I make one for each kid going and one for myself. The first half are itinerary pages, and based on how literate the kiddo is, either things to circle (like how are you feeling today - with some mickey emojis with different expressions), and rate the day 1-10, plus some wide lines or narrow lines. Lots of coloring pages - I found a lot of good resources online, and lots of blank pages as well. The second half includes maps of the parks, and each land broken down with a list of attractions to circle, and places to note what character were met, and what they ate there (if anything). I got a microsoft publisher file and I print it at home (printing places like FedEx won't touch a project that has Disney IP in it, even if you say it is for personal use), but then you can take the printed journals to the place and they will cut and bind them. The main cost is the ink for the printer, but you could get away with all black ink.

I spent WAY too much time learning publisher and playing with the journals for that trip - probably over 100 hours . I'd be happy to share my publisher file with anyone who is interested

I would love to see the file as well! It sounds amazing.

 

[fivelittles]

I love your trip report so far, planning is always half the fun for me! Looking forward to more. I love the things you have planned, it sounds very fun and cozy to be your kiddo. Have a wonderful trip!

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

My DD5 the guest of honor just had her official well child visit and is over 42"! I was a little surprised as she is smaller than her sisters were at the same age and I just had assumed she'd be too small for most of the mountain rides, but she's made it. This is exciting for her, because she really wants to try Splash Mountain, but it is a little intimidating for me, because I don't really like Splash (the drop really freaks me out, and you get too wet these days) but I've promised we can all go together. Anyone know if we can fit 7 people into one log? I am pretty sure it'll work because you can get more than one in the back row, but I didn't go on it last trip so I can't remember.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Itinerary: Day 4 - DISNEYLAND FINALLY! (and maybe DCA?)

Day 4: Wednesday June 8
Park hours: DL: 8am-midnight, DCA: 8am-9pm

General plan: Hit DL early and stay late!

Morning:

• Rouse the troops - this might be easier for my family because of our 2 hr time difference, but the family we are meeting is in the same timezone. I’m really not sure how their mornings usually go. We might have to divide and conquer to avoid stressing us out and meet up at the park.
• Feed light breakfast snacks to avoid any hangry issues.
• Walk to the park & maybe get Starbucks in DTD need ideas on where to get coffee instead of DTD Starbucks, preferably somewhere with mobile order!
• Explore Main Street & Fantasyland & book LLs using G+.
• DD5 (guest of honor) will pick our first priority ride, and currently wants the Tea Cups, but I’ll be encouraging her to pick Alice in Wonderland.
• Minnie & Friends Plaza Inn breakfast buffet 10:20am

Midday:

• Pixie Hollow & iasw if we missed it in the morning
• Maybe the princesses meet & greet, depending on lines
• Since I got G+, I’ll be doing LL for something; Space Mountain is my first choice, but DD5 really wants to try Splash Mountain so we might head to Critter Country. We can also stack some DCA rides and put those hoppers to use later.
• QS lunch/snack around 1
• We may end up going back to the house for naps/downtime. We never have before, but there is always a first time for everything!

Afternoon:

• Afternoon in Critter Country & Frontier land catching LLs. The kids would love to meet Tiana and do the Riverboat.
• Tom Sawyer’s Island (which we’ve never done),
• Hop to DCA if we feel like it; the family with us has single park tickets, so this could be a chance to have some separate time
• Pixar Pal Around is a priority for DD5, so we will likely explore Pixar Pier if we do hop

Evening:

• No dinner reservations. It’ll either be CS or eating at the house. If kids did a late nap, we’ll probably eat at the house. Otherwise, if they did stroller naps, we’ll hit CS. I pretty much like all the foods, and would love to use mobile ordering. We’ve got no real food restrictions this time (only lactose intolerance, and we’re bringing oodles of Lactaid pills for the trip). If in DCA, looking at Angry Dogs (DS’s favorite), anything in Pacific Wharf, or Flo’s. If in DL, looking at Rancho Zocalo, Bengal BBQ, Jolly Holiday or French Market primarily but could end up a combination of places if people want different things.
• Evening **if** in DCA exploring probably entirely focused on Cars Land. Might shell out for RSR ILL$, but for 7 this eats into my budget. **If in DL, will check out Pixar Pals Dance Party in Tomorrowland, and try to catch a few rides**
• Whether we hopped or not, we'll be in DL by 7:30 to meet up with BF’s fam so we can check out MSEP at 8:45 and fireworks at 9:30. I’m keeping my eye on info about viewing and snagging good spots - current front runner is iasw so we can also see the Encanto projections at 9! If we strike out the first night, we can always try again - and we’ve got more chances as the week continues.
• After fireworks, almost certainly some of the group will head back to the house for bedtime. I hope to stay until park close though because I am a crazy lady. Most likely DH will head back with the littles so I can park storm with the bigs (what we call our littler and bigger children respectively). With any luck, my BF can stay with me and FH will take their littles back to bed, but we shall see how it goes. They might not make it all the way to fireworks that first day - it is a lot for adults, let alone little ones!

We may end up staying in DL the entire day. I’m not sure how hoppable everyone will feel like being, but I like the flexibility - especially since we can line up LL in advance. This first day especially we will be focused on letting the 5 yr old lead the way for a lot of things, but it’ll also be a chance for the families to get comfortable with each other and there is a very large possibility that my BF’s family will be overwhelmed - they have never done an amusement park before. My DD15 & DD12 are major nightowls, and DS loved his late night time last trip, and with nothing planned for the following morning, I plan on closing down the park with them.

Next up, our first Rest Day.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Just realized - my budget doesn't include anything for ILL$, but we will for sure want to do RotR at least once, and my youngest is 5 so we can't use the single-rider line for RSR, and that's also a must-do, plus of COURSE the family wants to try Web Slingers - DS will insist on it. That's gonna add up - I'm assuming worst-case scenario/high rates, so $20*7 for RotR = $140, $15*7 for RSR = $105, and $15*7 for WS= $105, for a total of $350 I need to come up with from somewhere. I could cancel one of my character meals, or I can take it out of souvenir budget. I am leaning toward taking it out of souvenir budget, which was a little padded anyway. We typically do $100/person for the trip, but I rounded up to a full 1k. It doesn't quite get us there, but it is probably doable.

I think if I end up not making it work out, we will ILL$ RSR and WS, and standby for RotR. We've done RSR before (although not with DD5 yet), and WS sounds like its outdoor queue setup is pretty frustrating and hot, but RotR seems to have shade and overall be a nicer experience, even if a longer wait. Plus it doesn't hurt that its the most expensive ILL$ so would save the most money!

 

[BGinCali]

The RotR queue is significantly shaded and then inside…if everyone is okay standing for an hour or more - would save money and an interesting (and at parts, interact with the app) queue. Especially with 5 days, I would try standby if I could (it’s definitely worth the wait!)

For WS and RSR - will you be rope dropping that you could hit one without a significant standby? I love all your ADR choices, would just hate to have to cut one of them.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

For WS and RSR - will you be rope dropping that you could hit one without a significant standby?

It is really unlikely we will manage an actual rope drop. In the past 4 trips I have attempted it every time, and the end result is me very very unhappy/disappointed and the rest of my family harried. Even if we did rope drop, we'll be with another family that is even less likely to manage it. I might just check queues as soon as we do manage to get into park (I'm guessing it won't be too bad, like 8:15 or so). And who knows - maybe the family will surprise me and get moving faster this time!

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Itinerary: Day 5 - A ‘Rest’ Day (Rental house fun & stadium tour)

Day 5: Thursday Jun 9, 2022

My FH is a huge LA Ram’s fan, and will be taking his family on a stadium tour. My DH plans on joining them, but the rest of my fam isn’t interested, so we will enjoy a full day of being lazy at the rental house. There will probably be a lot of swimming and snacking happening, with a movie thrown in there as well.

We may also hit DTD some of the day. Who knows! If anyone has suggestions, feel free to share ‘em!

For dinner, we’ll be setting the kids up with something at the house (likely pizza or mac & cheese), while the adults double date to DTD. The plan is to walk up for UVA or Catal. It seems like FS and my DD15 should be able to babysit all the kids, especially if we get a movie going for them.

We’ll end the night watching fireworks from the house/yard (in theory there is a view available).

Next: DCA & World of Color

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

My latest worry: DH vapes. On previous trips he has used the smoking sections to get the fix he needs to avoid issues, but now he'll have to exit parks entirely. I'm getting advice on best spots to have him go, but now I'm wondering if I should purposefully schedule his breaks or just wing it. I am probably over thinking things, but last trip with him & his brother taking smoke breaks they always ended up longer than I expected and those were even in park.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Today I made a packing list spreadsheet. I have tabs for my todo/shopping list, clothes, toiletries, electronics, entertainment (might combine those), food, and misc. This section is likely to change often, but here's my first cut!

**Edited to add: sunglasses!

Clothes
We will do laundry at least once while there. Kids will be wearing jammies in the car the first night, so they'll end up with 3 sets of jammies each. For each person we need:

• underwear x7
• socks x7
• jammies x2
• shirts x7
• shorts x4
• pants x1
• jacket/sweatshirt x1
• swimsuit x2
• hat

Toiletries
We have a family of 7, so it doesn't make sense to use travel size toiletries, with the exception of toothpaste - we always use the samples the dentist gives us, and hand sanitizer - for ease of brining into parks/carrying with us on the go.
I've also further split this into categories for ease of packing.

• Medications
  • Prescriptions
  • Vitamins (not sure how our preferred gummy vitamins will do; might back them in the cooler!)
  • Pain Killer (can't bring gel caps - they melted in the van last time!)
  • Tums
  • Pepto
  • Immodium
  • Benadryl
  • Vape juice
  • lactaid
• Hygiene
  • Toothbrushes x7
  • tooth paste x2 (grownups & kids)
  • floss
  • shampoo x2 (one for grownup's bathroom, one for kids)
  • conditioner x2 (same)
  • hair brushes x3
  • hair bands
  • body wash x2
• First Aid
  • bandaids
  • neosporin
  • blister packs
  • aloe vera gel
• Misc
  • sun screen
  • baby wipes
  • travel size hand sanitizer x7

Electronics
I am debating whether we bring the kids' electronics or not - Switch, some tablets. On the one hand, they are useful for keeping kids occupied during the drive. On the other, I don't want to be fighting over screen time while we are actually there! Would love to hear others' thoughts!

• External batteries x2
• Apple charging cables x4 (5 if we take ipad)
• micro usb charging cables x2 (only if we take tablets)
• usb wall plugs x4 (8 if we take tablets)
• garmin charger
• vape batteries & charger
• switch & charger (maybe?)
• laptop & charger (maybe? leaning towards no!)

Entertainment
Most of this is stuff the kids will get in the van, and continue to have during the trip. I try to make a carry-on style bag for each kid with their stuff separate. It typically works on launch, and by the time we get to our destination stuff is spread out anyway . The entertainment bags can double as in-park backpacks though for us this year!

• journals x6 (the custom Disney journals I am making)
• pens (hopefully cool Disney themed!)
• colored pencils (we avoid crayons in the van now after some unfortunate incidents)
• markers (might skip these - the 5 yr old has been in a draw on herself mode lately)
• books
• stuffies
• dvds (assuming we get the van's dvd player fixed)

Food
I've split this between stuff we will pack to snack on during the drive over, and stuff we will pack specifically for the week at the rental house. We also plan on doing a Target run/Costco run once we are there, but I figure we can save some time and money hitting up our local Costco first for the things we know we will need.

• On the drive
  • Cooler
    • cold drinks
    • lunchables x7
    • snack cheeses
    • pickles
    • yogurt pouches
  • Non-Cooler
    • chips
    • bananas
    • jerky
    • snack bags x5 (might put together separate snack bags for each kid)
• At the house
  • chewy bars - case
  • applesauce pouches - x2 case
  • diet dr. pepper - case
  • coffee grinder (rental house might have one, but only a coffee pot is explicitly listed)
  • coffee beans (Texas Pecan is our favorite)
  • cereal (costco sized boxes)
  • peanut butter
  • bread
  • jam
  • tortillas

Beach Bag
We will pack our swimsuits with clothes, and have some sunblock with our toiletries, but in addition to that I like to have separate beach bags ready to go. We typically do one with the flipflops, and one with the suits, towels and sunblock (spray and cream).

• flipflips x7
• towels x7
• spray sunblock
• cream sunblock

Miscellaneous
Various stuff that we might need!

• wallets x4 (my two oldest kids have started carrying their own purses/wallets, and I plan on giving them gift cards to use at the parks)
• vaccine cards x7
• poncho x7
• instant camera
• instant film
• garbage bags (in the van)
• paper towels (in the van)
• kleenex (in the van)
• sunglasses x7
• reusable water bottles x7 (bonus if I can find Disney themed ones that I like!)
• blankets x6 (for the drive, plus to use for seating at WoC, F!, MSEP, Fireworks etc)
• pillows/neck pillow x6 (for the drive)

So how do those lists look? Am I missing anything? . Last trip we also took more heavy duty rain gear because we were going in March. We had rainboots for all the kids and shoe covers for DH and I. I don't think I'll take those this trip as heavy rain in June is highly unlikely.

Head back to the beginning of the detailed Itinerary because I did these out of order!