8 Parks in 9 months aka my 1st attempt at a trip report (with part one deleted) III

[alyssa810]

Hi all!
Welcome to the final chapter of our 8 parks in 9 months trip report! To recap, our cast is me, Alyssa, my DH Mike, and our DS, Joel. We're longtime WDW AP holders (since 2002), and DVC members since 2004. We've been waiting for DVC to open up at DL, and we're very excited to be visiting the GCV! We also haven't been to DL since 2006, so we've been ready for a trip back.
Our first 4 parks were WDW back in January, which was a trip of mishap after mishap. Our next 2 parks was our trip to DLP in June, which was cut short because Joel was sick We're really hoping for an uneventful trip come September- uneventful in that no one gets sick, spazzes out, loses jewelry or runs away!
Here's part II of the report!
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2439987
Anyway, we're just over 3 months away! The flights are booked, as is a car rental (which I'm sure Mike will change a gazillion times before we leave), we have passes for Universal (thanks coke rewards!), and we just have the summer to get through!
We're going shortly after Joel's birthday too, so we'll probably do some celebrating there. Today we're celebrating Mike's birthday! We're starting to think about dining plans, and what we might want to do. We've never done a character meal at DL, so we might try for one or 2. I also just read the height restrictions and Joel is tall enough for Matterhorn, so we'll be able to ride as a family! Woo hoo!
Anyway, thanks for checking out the TR, for more details, be sure to check out our DLP report too!
Stay tuned!

 

[alyssa810]

Just saw that TSM will be closed while we're there but on a happier note, I might have to change the TR title to 8 parks in 5 months as we plan for a potential November WDW trip

 

[DizNee Luver]

Wow, I'm jealous of how much you get to travel!!! For us to go once a year (or so) is a major production that almost didn't happen this year!! I'm looking forward to seeing how your DL trip planning & trip go!!!

 

[alyssa810]

We've made a reservation at the Sheraton Anaheim for 9/25 to free up some points for that November WDW trip that keeps getting closer and closer to being booked!!! Keep your fingers crossed for the TR name change!

As much as I don't want the summer to go by fast, I still can't believe we're 9 weeks from tomorrow away from leaving!!!

It's time to start thinking about our ADRs too...it's too bad you can't book the DL ones online like you can for WDW.

 

[alyssa810]

Exciting news (for us!): We have booked our flight and OKW for November! WDW knew we couldn't stay away for almost a year, so we're taking a short trip before Thanksgiving.
We are at 60 days to DL though, which is very exciting as well. I'm still trying to decide if we want to make ADRs for places like Blue Bayou or Ariel's Grotto. We did get restaurant.com certificates for House of Blues (in Anaheim, Orlando, and Boston) for $2, so we'll be going there for sure!

 

[alyssa810]

I've been checking out the menu for the Celebration BBQ in Frontierland. Anyone ever been? The menu looks decent...6 weeks to go today!

 

[Eight]

Just saw that TSM will be closed while we're there but on a happier note, I might have to change the TR title to 8 parks in 5 months as we plan for a potential November WDW trip

That would be pretty awesome! I did something similar one year, although it was Tokyo Disneyland instead of DLP. I'd love to do every Disney park in one year, though I'm doubting I'll ever have the time and money to do that. But hey, I can dream.

I've been checking out the menu for the Celebration BBQ in Frontierland. Anyone ever been? The menu looks decent...6 weeks to go today!

I personally have never been, although some good friends of mine ate there and recommended that I go. I guess it was one of their favorite meals on the trip.

 

[alyssa810]

tokyo DL is on our "list!" and of course HK DL too. The current long range plan is to go to Tokyo for Mike's 40th, around 2013.

we booked flights for January to WDW today too. and flights for a long weekend in March when Mike's parents will be in kissimmee all month. we were chuckling tonight about having 4 flights booked and how crazy that is! alas, I am getting ahead of myself.

1 month, 1 week, and 1 day can't come soon enough!

 

[alyssa810]

We're getting excited to be 5 weeks away! For my birthday, Mike gave me a disney gift card~ I will try to use it on myself, and not on goodies for Joel, but it's so hard sometimes!

It looks like we're definitely going to do the Celebration BBQ, I don't think we're going to make an ADR though because from what other posters were saying, it shouldn't be necessary.

Mike also knocked a few more $$$ off the car rental- always a treat!

I'm also thinking I'm going to have to replace my Mickey crocs; they are getting really worn in ball of my feet area, and new crocs feel sooooo good at the parks!!

 

[onescgirl]

I'm in & looking fwd to reading more about your trip. I am so jealous of all of your Disney travels!
I hope on this one Joel, & everyone else stays well.

 

[alyssa810]

I'm in & looking fwd to reading more about your trip. I am so jealous of all of your Disney travels!
I hope on this one Joel, & everyone else stays well.

Thanks for reading!!

We were going to suprise my in-laws in March while they're in Kissimmee, but we spilled the beans today to tell them, and my SIL was thrilled!

Back to the DL trip though, we're still trying to figure out what we will do to take breaks from the parks, as well as what to do when we're in LA. We're definitely planning a day, or part of a day at the beach. We might spend some time in Santa Monica. Mike would really love to catch a Dodgers game, but Joel doesn't do so well with the games, so we might have to skip it. We finally hung up Joel's WDW height chart, and while it doesn't have DL attractions, it does have heights, so we know he will be tall enough for Matterhorn, but he's likely not going to make Splash Mountain yet After he rode the flume at one of the local amusement parks, he's all fired up for the "log roller coaster." Hopefully soon....
To Mike's chagrin, he will also likely be too short for the Simpsons ride at Universal
But alas, there is much fun to be had!

 

[alyssa810]

10 DAYS AWAY!!! It's almost single digit dancing time!

Joel had his physical on Monday, and he's 38.75 inches, so Splash Mountain is unlikely.

Mike continues to chip away at our car rental prices. We got a few more prepaid visa gift cards from rebates that we need to add to our Disney gift card before next week, which will quickly get used up when we buy our premiere passes! It's almost packing time; I'm hoping the weather is warm because this week has already cooled down at home.

 

[alyssa810]

5 more sleeps!

Joel and I both have coughs but better to be sick now, than at Disneyland.

I did a ton of laundry over the weekend so that we'll have all the "good" t-shirts and shorts ready to go. It looks like the temps might be a little cool at night, so Mike is excited to be able to wear his DLP jacket. I think I'm going to switch our diaper bag backpack for the WDW backpack I got last year for our "around the parks" bag.

I also picked up pullups for Joel (so much for being trained by this trip, although he did pee on the potty at school on Friday) and we're all set on wipes. I need to find the travel first aid kit, which might actually be in the other backpack. I need to make sure my toiletry bag is stocked. We need to decide on which car seat to bring too. Joel is right at 40 pounds, which is the weight limit on the travel car seat we use, and while his pediatrician said we could start putting him in a booster (we already bought one for travel) we might just use on of the regular car seats from Mike's car (since we take my car to the airport). I also need to get Joel's backpack for the plane set. We've got plenty of crayons and coloring stuff, and he has a tag reader, and he likes to bring cars too. We left the portable dvd player at my dad's over labor day weekend, so we might not bring it, or we might head down to see our new baby niece and pick up the dvd player (as everyone's in our hometown)...but with Joel and I having colds, we might skip the baby.

And then I need to pack the suitcases! One of my favorite things to do!

 

[alyssa810]

I'm totally single digit dancing, as in 1 day left!

The suitcases are packed (with room for the last minute essentials)! I have my backpack half-packed: pullups and wipes, my huge Diana Gabaldon book, an extra outfit in case Joel has an accident, my flip camera. I still need to add things like my wallet, phone, and camera, but that can wait. I also need to get Joel's backpack for the plane set up with snacks and "entertainment." He has some cool coloring books (thanks jog58 and metalis4ever!), cars of course, and a tag reader that I just need to locate. I try not to put too much stuff in it so he can carry it himself.

We decided not to go visit my niece; our colds seem better but between Mike working late and not being packed, we decided it was in our best interest to stay home. Because of that, we don't have the DVD player, so it looks like we're going to bring the laptop instead of the netbook since it has a dvd player in it. A friend got a "copy" of Toy Story 3 so I'm eager to watch it (can I say that?) since we haven't seen it yet.

It's almost check in time for our flights!!!!

 

[alyssa810]

We finally made it!!!
Our airport experiences were A-OK; at Logan when we left, the ATM for my bank wasn't working, so I wasn't able to take out cash, and I had some euro left from our DLP trip that I wanted to cash out, and the currency exchange place was only opened from 7am-8am, and I got over there around 10 past 8. No biggie.
The flight to Denver was fine; we got in early enough so we could grab a bite to eat. There was a guy that looked just like Don Imus from Denver to LA, but Mike said it wasn't him. We left Denver a little late, but still got to LAX earlier than our scheduled time. Luggage and car was fine, we got a stylin' HHR, and then we headed toward Anaheim.

Traffic was a joy; we're not entirely sure the GPS sent us the best way, but from the Enterprise office to the Sheraton (44 miles) took about an hour and 15 minutes. We checked in then headed over to the outlet store. We got some OK deals- I had 10% discount- got some new red Mickey crocs for me, a sweatshirt for Joel, some scrapbooking stuff, Mike got a t-shirt, some other little things. We hit Target after that for water and juice boxes and some root beer. Then we decided In & Out Burger for supper! Again, the GPS took us on an adventurous route before we stumbled onto the one we were trying to get to. It was yummy; I made the mistake of not ordering Joel a plain cheeseburger though.

Then- PARK TIME! We ended up parking at DTD because we weren't sure if would go into the park, or just do a little shopping. We were getting our passes though!
So I don't have to retype, here's the pass debacle, from Day 1 and Day 2.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2564147

It was really, really crowded, and we were really, really tired so we decided we would do the tiki room and head out. Joel was so excited - it was different than the show he's used to seeing at WDW. We made it back to the sheraton with little incident - Joel had fallen asleep on the walk back to the car, and stayed asleep. We got ready for bed and had just about fallen asleep when BOOOOOOOOM, the fireworks started. It was 9:30 (duh). Luckily we fell back to sleep; our earlier concern was actually how loud the pool was going to be, because our room was right next to the pool. The room was pretty awesome too, actually, it was really big. Then at 2:30, the alarm clock went off. UGH! Then I was up from about 4:30 for around an hour when Joel decided it was time to walk up around 7. Perfect!

 

[alyssa810]

We got ourselves up and checked out at the Sheraton, and headed over to the GC!! So exciting! We dropped off our bags and Mike went to park the car while I checked us in, and set up our keys etc. They would be texting when the room was available. Mike met us and we headed into the park, and it was just about 8:15!
If you refer to the link above, you'll see the trouble we had with the passes (again). We went on the Nemo ride first; the wait was longer than we expected, but we figured it would only get worse, so we waited. I thought it was really cute, better than living seas nemo, Mike wasn't as impressed. Then we were going to go on Matterhorn, and Joel was like "I'm not going on that- are you nuts?" so, in keeping with the wise words of Timon and pumbaa we "let the cubs decide" and skipped it for now. We headed into Fantasyland and did a ton of short wait rides; dumbo, the carousel, Casey's, then over to POTC, then it was time to eat. Mike and Joel had both eaten bananas earlier, but I was hungry. We went to the French Market for "brunch", and it was pretty good. We showed our passes for the AP discount, and it wasn't working right- we did get the discount though- and then we we went back to the AP place (see link above).
Did I mention how hot it is now?
Anyhoo, we just kept doing rides, the train, winnie the pooh, Joel wasn't tall enough for Splash Mountain but we did go on the gadget coaster! We got the text that the room was ready about 2:30, and headed over around 4. We've just been waiting for our luggage (which has since arrived), and now we're heading to the pool! Our view is totally wicked awesome too! If I knew how to add pictures (I will later) I'd show it here!

 

[alyssa810]

The pool was great! Joel loved the kiddie slide too. Mike did take a spill when he got out though~ I missed it, I just saw him sitting on the ground. Apparently he was tip toe walking because it was so cold when he got out that he slipped and took out a little girl too. Everyone was fine; he was embarrassed. I overheard the little girl's mom saying something like "he took it worse than she did."
We decided to go to white water snacks for supper, and let me just say the shredded beef nachos were really delicious! Joel must have been starving too because he ate all his chicken nuggets, french fries, most of the grapes that came with my chicken salad sandwich (also delicious), and his milk. Mike got a burger and we had shared the nachos.

We have also decided that we'd watch WOC from our room. It really feels like we have the best view in the entire resort, honestly! We were joking about having people come to our balcony to watch!
More on that later!

 

[alyssa810]

We had a super view of WOC! I was able to tape the whole thing my resting my flip camera on the table too...not that I imagine I'll watch it often though I'm sure seeing it up close isn't comparable, but being able to sit on the balcony at the end of a long, hot day really seemed more worth it to us. And Joel slept through it anyway

Monday morning had us up fairly early again. Joel woke up -we think- sleep walking. He was crying and had gotten out of the pull out, looking for water and walking toward the door. I got him some water and put him in bed with Mike, and took to the pullout for myself. Anyway, we were all up around 7, and decided to head back to white Water snacks for breakfast. We then took advantage of getting into CA early, we walked around waiting for stuff to open up, since it was before 9:30 when we headed in. We sweated the morning in the park, hitting up the swinging side of the ferris wheel, something Mike and I had never done. Man, did Joel LOVE it! He was roaring as we swung; I thought Mike was going to make use of the puke bags! After that we were going to try to get FPs for CA Screaming, but something wasn't working so I took Joel on King Neptune's carousel- he rode a whale. Then we saw Jessie and the army guy with no line, so we ran over for pictures! Joel was pumped! CA Screaming was getting ready to open up, so I took Joel over to A Bug's Land while Mike rode and would meet up with us. We did the ladybugs, and bumper cars, and then Mike came over so we all rode the chew chew train. Joel drenched himself in the water spout (as did I- but it was refreshing!) Since we were so wet we decided we'd skip it's tough to be a bug, and headed over to the mission tortilla tour and after our tortilla, we decided we should grab lunch. We went to Taste Pilot's grill - I had ribs - they were pretty good, and the boys had chicken nuggets. We also saw Mater & Lightning, and took pictures with "them."

Mike had wanted to head down to UC Irvine to get a t-shirt, so we decided we'd head out there in the peak of the heat of the afternoon. Joel napped the whole time, which was nice, and Mike got his t-shirt. We also took a "scenic" route back, and picked up some more water, and got some donut snacks at Winchell's. They were really good! We went back to the room to drop stuff off, and headed back to DL. We were going to take the monorail over because it was going to be down for the rest of our time, and unfortunately it was down so we walked. The crowds definitely seemed quieter than the weekend, which was also nice. We went straight to HM- the Nightmare overlay is really cool! Joel wouldn't let go of my hand the whole time though We hit POTC next, and jungle cruise and the tiki room again. We were trying to talk Joel into Matterhorn again, but he wasn't budging. We walked over that way too, but they had closed the line so we went to iasw instead, which was lovely too. It's so nice to have such short waits!
We're back in the room now; we were going to head to the pool, but now that we're here, we -Mike and I- don't really feel like leaving the room....It was 107 on the car thermometer when we went to Irvine; the temps are supposed to be dropping so hopefully tomorrow's weather won't be as oppressive.

 

[alyssa810]

Tuesday started early again, with a phone call from Mike's boss. He ended up working for a few hours in the room while I took Joel over for early morning entry. We weren't sure how long Mike was going to be; we got in line around 8:45, and decided to grab a bite at the bakery before hitting rides. We got milks and a muffin for Joel and a croissant for me, and headed right to astro orbitor. Again, lines were brief since it was so early, and we took our spin. I kept expecting Mike to call or show up, but no news yet. I also figured it would only tick him off if I kept calling to see when he was coming- he was ticked off enough to have to work at all. We had a 10 minute wait for Buzz Lightyear, and from there, we headed toward fantasyland. We rode Mr. Toad, snow white, and Pinnocchio, and then Joel was begging for POTC again. We rode twice in a row, and while we were on the 2nd go 'round, Mike had called to say he was in the park and would meet us at the exit.

For lunch, we went to the big Thunder ranch BBQ, and it was great! The food was delicious and the service was terrific- the entertainment was cute too. We had the usual fare, chicken & ribs, beans, corn bread, and cole slaw. We got the family style chocolate chip cookie in the skillet for dessert and it was AWESOME! I'd have to say it was even better than a chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich from the Main St. Bakery in WDW, which is my favorite! We worked our way around the park some more; we went to the petting zoo right after lunch, rode HM, Casey's again, and finally took some photopass pictures by the Castle.

We headed back to the hotel around dusk so we could swim again- Mike was going to take the plunge and go straight to the big slide. He did- and there was no falling down this time! They closed the slides fairly early though- defintely earlier than the other night, so we didn't stay long. We grabbed dinner at -guess where? Yup, again, White Water snacks, and brought it up to the room so we could watch WOC while we ate, which we did. Joel stayed in the room because it was "too loud" he said.

 

[alyssa810]

Every Disney trip comes to and end, and this was our last full day. We were up at DL just before rope drop. We were going to grab a bite at the bakery, but the line was too long and we wanted to hit Peter Pan before the line got crazy. We did that first, and then hit the other Fastasyland rides with little lines. Then Joel started asking about Pirates, so we worked our way over there. We saw that the river terrace was serving breakfast, so we decided to eat there first. We both had the steamboat~ pancakes, eggs, bacon for me, sausage for Mike, and we got the big fruit plate. I had more eggs than Mike so I shared more of mine with him -Joel has been fussy about eggs- sometimes he pounds them, and sometimes he can't be bothered. He also enjoyed the pancakes.

From there we decided we'd take turns on splash mountain. I went first- single rider line rocked- and I got hosed! Like, it's 10 hours later and my shorts still feel damp soaked! It was great though! Mike went next and I took Joel on Pirates. From there, we wanted to ride on the Columbia- we just missed a ride, so we lingered around in the shops before we were able to ride. We worked our way back over to Adventureland, and I really wanted to ride on the Indiana Jones ride, so we single rode again- that's an awesome ride! Mike had taken Joel up through the tree house while I was riding.

Once Mike was done, we were getting hungry again, so we decided we'd start mosying our way to Main st. shops, and work our way out. We were going to use our restaurant.com certificate for HOB. Mike squished some pennies along the way too. HOB was really quiet, it was an off time, so we ate right away. Mike and i had the same meal (how corny...)- the soup of the day was a shrimp & corn bisque that was really yummy, and the meatloaf. joel had grilled cheese. We decided from there we'd take a ride down to Long Beach state (or UCLB as I believe it's now called) so Joel could take a nap and Mike could get a t-shirt. We were successful on both counts!

We got back to the resort and headed over to CA to catch the rides we missed earlier. I really wanted to ride CA screamin, since I didn't the other day, and we'd been telling Joel we could ride the silver rockets (the golden zephyr). We also wanted to check out the "coming attractions" they had in the building that used to have the Mondavi wines show. The new Little mermaid attraction as well as Cars land look awesome! I single rode the roller coaster- I really think it's my favorite disney coaster- and it didn't disappoint! I met up with mike and Joel at the ferris wheel- we did the non-swinging gondola this time. It was a great view! I took Joel on the zephyr from there- he loved it! I thought we were going to head out from there, but Mike decided he wanted a margarita, so we headed over to the Wharf to the margarita stand only to find out it was closed Joel saw the bug's land, so we decided to do the rides over there again- Joel loved francis's boogie again! Then we headed back to the room to watch WOC and start to pack.