A Mother-Daughter Trip! Now with BONUS BIRTHDAY Trip! (Final Thoughts Coming Soon!)

[RGirl]

I've already been toying with the idea of a Disneyland vacation. Is your trip report going to push me over the ledge? I kind of thought about it for next year. I know my son would probably love the Cars Land that is opening this June. But, I really want to cruise on the Fantasy, too!



Wow! How exciting! So, do you have any idea of where a move could possibly take y'all?

Well, I'm sorry, but our trip may very well push you over that ledge! I was really concerned that the trip would pale in comparison to our WDW trips (I mean, I was actually stressing about that ). We had The. Most. Amazing. Time. There are hands-down things about WDW that are "better." But there really were an equal number of things about DLR that beat WDW. I would be THRILLED to go to either location. Anytime!

I really have NO idea where we will be this time next year. I work for the federal government, and my current agency just doesn't provide the advancement in career opportunities for my field that most other agencies do. I have finally had to accept that this means a big move for us. So I am going to start hitting the job-search world hard over the next few months. This weekend, I will be applying for jobs in Florida banana, Alabama, and the other side of the state where we live now. Many more possibilities to come, I think, before we will know where we will land. Any way you look at it, we will be more Disney-accessible because we will live somewhere with a "real" airport.

 

[amandaw]

Well, I'm sorry, but our trip may very well push you over that ledge! I was really concerned that the trip would pale in comparison to our WDW trips (I mean, I was actually stressing about that ). We had The. Most. Amazing. Time. There are hands-down things about WDW that are "better." But there really were an equal number of things about DLR that beat WDW. I would be THRILLED to go to either location. Anytime!

OMG! Ok, maybe I shouldn't read your DLR trip report!

Seriously though, I'm glad y'all had an amazing time!

Well
I really have NO idea where we will be this time next year. I work for the federal government, and my current agency just doesn't provide the advancement in career opportunities for my field that most other agencies do. I have finally had to accept that this means a big move for us. So I am going to start hitting the job-search world hard over the next few months. This weekend, I will be applying for jobs in Florida banana, Alabama, and the other side of the state where we live now. Many more possibilities to come, I think, before we will know where we will land. Any way you look at it, we will be more Disney-accessible because we will live somewhere with a "real" airport.

Sounds like it could very exciting for y'all! I'd try for Florida, too. My DH lost his job this past October & was looking for anything in the south. I was secretly hoping it would be in Florida. But, he was lucky to find something where we are now. But, I won't lie, being a Florida resident sure was appealing!

 

[RGirl]

OMG! Ok, maybe I shouldn't read your DLR trip report!

Seriously though, I'm glad y'all had an amazing time!



Sounds like it could very exciting for y'all! I'd try for Florida, too. My DH lost his job this past October & was looking for anything in the south. I was secretly hoping it would be in Florida. But, he was lucky to find something where we are now. But, I won't lie, being a Florida resident sure was appealing!

You will just have to do DLR and a cruise!

You know, I lived in Florida years ago and hated it. But I was in Miami and had no interest in Disney. The horror!!! This weekend I will be applying for a job that would put us about 2 hours by car from WDW! But really, any job that I get will put us closer because of our current airport situation!

 

[amandaw]

You will just have to do DLR and a cruise!

I wish there was an emoticon to put on here that would show you what kind of face my DH would make if I told him that. I'm thinking I could do Fantasy in 2013, WDW (for the expansion) in 2014 and then DLR in 2015. I have a feeling though your TR is really going to make me rethink that. Who knew a TR could be so dangerous?

You know, I lived in Florida years ago and hated it. But I was in Miami and had no interest in Disney. The horror!!! This weekend I will be applying for a job that would put us about 2 hours by car from WDW! But really, any job that I get will put us closer because of our current airport situation!

Well, I have to say, I wouldn't want to live in Ft. Lauderdale or Miami. Everything above that, I'd be fine. A good airport would definitely help you! But, being within driving distance is even better on the wallet!

I wish you the best of luck in your job hunt! May you get whatever's best for you & Willow!

 

[RGirl]

I wish there was an emoticon to put on here that would show you what kind of face my DH would make if I told him that. I'm thinking I could do Fantasy in 2013, WDW (for the expansion) in 2014 and then DLR in 2015. I have a feeling though your TR is really going to make me rethink that. Who knew a TR could be so dangerous?



Well, I have to say, I wouldn't want to live in Ft. Lauderdale or Miami. Everything above that, I'd be fine. A good airport would definitely help you! But, being within driving distance is even better on the wallet!

I wish you the best of luck in your job hunt! May you get whatever's best for you & Willow!

Hmm, where do you live? A DLR vacation can be a LOT less expensive than a WDW vacation. I'm just saying'...........

Yeah, I lived in Miami a long time ago for a year-long position. I hated it - I felt like I was breathing soup every day, and I had really bad lungs to begin with. YUCK!!!!! The job I am applying for is in St. Petersburg, so I think that would be better, but honestly, I am assuming that I will be applying for a LOT of jobs before I find the right thing, and even then, it will probably be a 2 or 3-year thing for us. It is definitely serious now though because I decided to tell my boss today that I was going on the market. That was hard, but I did NOT want to blind-side her because I love working for her and would never do anything to make her life harder if I could help it.

 

[amandaw]

Hmm, where do you live? A DLR vacation can be a LOT less expensive than a WDW vacation. I'm just saying'...........

We're in south Louisiana. I can see where the package for DLR would really be less than WDW. Especially since I don't think we'd spend as long as what we normally do at WDW. But, the airfare is what kills us. We have an airport in the city where we live but it's tiny so the prices are usually ridiculous. We'd have to drive about 1 1/2 or so to get to New Orleans to even get half-way decent prices.

Hmm
Yeah, I lived in Miami a long time ago for a year-long position. I hated it - I felt like I was breathing soup every day, and I had really bad lungs to begin with. YUCK!!!!! The job I am applying for is in St. Petersburg, so I think that would be better, but honestly, I am assuming that I will be applying for a LOT of jobs before I find the right thing, and even then, it will probably be a 2 or 3-year thing for us. It is definitely serious now though because I decided to tell my boss today that I was going on the market. That was hard, but I did NOT want to blind-side her because I love working for her and would never do anything to make her life harder if I could help it.

I think St. Petersburg would be nice. Good thing is that you have your job and you can somewhat take your time to find what's best for y'all.

 

[RGirl]

We're in south Louisiana. I can see where the package for DLR would really be less than WDW. Especially since I don't think we'd spend as long as what we normally do at WDW. But, the airfare is what kills us. We have an airport in the city where we live but it's tiny so the prices are usually ridiculous. We'd have to drive about 1 1/2 or so to get to New Orleans to even get half-way decent prices.

Gah - that is exactly the problem we have here - no "real" airport so that we end up spending a fortune to get anywhere. If you can find an affordable airfare, DLR would be soooo do-able for you. It is nowhere near as expensive to do as WDW. Honestly, there are WDW things that are missing and, at first, you would miss them, but then you are struck over the head with the incredible things that are at DLR and not at WDW. I can't wait to get onto my DLR report so that I can tell you all about it. I was all before we left and when we first arrived, and then I was all after we started experiencing Walt's park.

I think St. Petersburg would be nice. Good thing is that you have your job and you can somewhat take your time to find what's best for y'all.

Yes, I am very glad to have a job while I am looking. A few years ago, I was laid off, and as the sole supporter of my little family, it was a HORRIBLE and terrifying experience. My situation now is a luxury in comparison - I will never lose sight of that.

 

[shan23877]

Seems like a fun last night! I think we'll be in that scary P&F line next trip

Love the pics of BWI. DH and I stayed there on our honeymoon, and we LOVED it. Can't wait to be able to go deluxe again!

Willow is so photogenic! All the pics of her are so cute!

 

[RGirl]

Seems like a fun last night! I think we'll be in that scary P&F line next trip

Love the pics of BWI. DH and I stayed there on our honeymoon, and we LOVED it. Can't wait to be able to go deluxe again!

Willow is so photogenic! All the pics of her are so cute!

Phew - that P&F line was INSANE, but they do break for entertainment, which makes it a lot more bearable. For the kids anyway. For the impatient adults , less so.....

Thank you so much - I love my little girl!

Thanks for sticking with me. I am going to finish up the whole point of this TR very soon - tonight or tomorrow - and then on to the bonus round!

 

[shan23877]

LOL! I'm in for the bonus round!

 

[RGirl]

LOL! I'm in for the bonus round!

Woot!!!! I honestly cannot wait to share the Bonus Round Surprise Birthday Trip to Disneyland with all of you!!!!!!

 

[shan23877]

Woot!!!! I honestly cannot wait to share the Bonus Round Surprise Birthday Trip to Disneyland with all of you!!!!!!

I've never been to DL, so I'm really excited to hear about it! I think that we're going to try to surprise DD for the April trip, so I'm also eager to hear about how you surprised Willow. I think that DD may be starting to suspect already, but we're going to try to hold out. (plus, we won't be 100% certain that the trip will happen until we get much closer--we list the house on Monday so if on the off chance it sells really quickly...)
Anyway, enough about me. Bring on DL!!

 

[RGirl]

I've never been to DL, so I'm really excited to hear about it! I think that we're going to try to surprise DD for the April trip, so I'm also eager to hear about how you surprised Willow. I think that DD may be starting to suspect already, but we're going to try to hold out. (plus, we won't be 100% certain that the trip will happen until we get much closer--we list the house on Monday so if on the off chance it sells really quickly...)
Anyway, enough about me. Bring on DL!!

Well, DD's surprise almost got totally derailed by weather, so all my plans went out the window, but you will soon know all about that!

You are putting your house on the market???? So stressful! I hope it sells quickly! Are you relocating to another area, or moving in the same area?

So excited to tell all you WDW vets about what DLR has to offer!

 

[shan23877]

Well, DD's surprise almost got totally derailed by weather, so all my plans went out the window, but you will soon know all about that!

You are putting your house on the market???? So stressful! I hope it sells quickly! Are you relocating to another area, or moving in the same area?

So excited to tell all you WDW vets about what DLR has to offer!

Oh no! After all of that planning? Can't wait to hear about it!

We're relocating. Moving to the Chicago suburbs. (about 1 1/2 hrs from where we are) DH was offered a great position up there, so... We love Chicago, and his whole family is there. I'm excited to move, but not excited to keep my house in perfect condition 24/7 with a 5 year old girl (and all of her stuff) and 2 dogs. We have to get DD's room in show-worthy condition too which makes me sad, because she loves having most of her toys in there (she has a playroom in the basement that she never uses-guess she'll have to now)

Oh, well-- it will be worth it in the end. Plus, the move is what helped me convince DH to go back to WDW so soon! I argued that we'll need a vacation badly after all of this, and since he can't really take vacation time right away once he starts the new job... worked like a charm

I've heard good things about DL, and would love to go. We have friends in Portland and San Diego and have talked about trying to do a trip in the next few years visiting them and hitting DL all at once. I do hope that the DL part of the TR will take some time, because I'm eager to hear how you girls do on the cruise too. That's something DH would love to do, but I wasn't sure how DD would do. Since she and Willow are about the same age, and have such similar interests your experience will be really helpful!

 

[RGirl]

Oh no! After all of that planning? Can't wait to hear about it!

We're relocating. Moving to the Chicago suburbs. (about 1 1/2 hrs from where we are) DH was offered a great position up there, so... We love Chicago, and his whole family is there. I'm excited to move, but not excited to keep my house in perfect condition 24/7 with a 5 year old girl (and all of her stuff) and 2 dogs. We have to get DD's room in show-worthy condition too which makes me sad, because she loves having most of her toys in there (she has a playroom in the basement that she never uses-guess she'll have to now)

Oh, well-- it will be worth it in the end. Plus, the move is what helped me convince DH to go back to WDW so soon! I argued that we'll need a vacation badly after all of this, and since he can't really take vacation time right away once he starts the new job... worked like a charm

I've heard good things about DL, and would love to go. We have friends in Portland and San Diego and have talked about trying to do a trip in the next few years visiting them and hitting DL all at once. I do hope that the DL part of the TR will take some time, because I'm eager to hear how you girls do on the cruise too. That's something DH would love to do, but I wasn't sure how DD would do. Since she and Willow are about the same age, and have such similar interests your experience will be really helpful!

Oh, I love Chicago! But I know how stressful it is to move and buy and sell homes! UGH!!!! As you may have read, I have finally reached a decision that we are going to be moving too - I know how stressful that decision is. I am actually underwater on my house here, so our move is going to be doubly stressful, but it has to happen.

You know, it drives me crazy that this board doesn't just have a centralized TR forum. I want to hear about TRs to WDW, DLR and DCL. I hate that they are segregated here because it has resulted in only WDW travelers regularly posting TRs. I so want to share our cruise with all of you, but I think I will be pushing it just to get my DLR TR in this thread. One way or another though, I would love to report on our Alaska cruise, so stay tuned - I will find a way to link you in. I feel really positive about DD and the Kids' Club - she is really excited about it - so I would love to be able to give you a positive report on that experience.

 

[shan23877]

Ugh! Moving is the pits. But, in the long run it will be worth it. I read that you might be moving to Florida?

I've read a few DCL TRs, but nothing about DL. As long as I know where the TR is, I'll subscribe !!

 

[RGirl]

Ugh! Moving is the pits. But, in the long run it will be worth it. I read that you might be moving to Florida?

I've read a few DCL TRs, but nothing about DL. As long as I know where the TR is, I'll subscribe !!

Moving IS the pits!!! And it's made worse by the fact that I don't *really* want to move, but I think it will be the right decision for our little family.

Going to get the WDW part of this report finished up today, I think!

 

[RGirl]

38. Our Last Few Hours of Disney Fun

Today was going-home day. But we had a few more hours to have a little fun!

We were up at 7:30 and got ready quickly. I finished packing, and we were out of the room at about 8:30! Wow - how did we do that????

The two of us somehow maneuvered all of the suitcases and the stroller all by ourselves. It was NOT easy. We went to the baggage check desk and left our bags, hoping to see them again when we got home……

DME had only delivered a boarding pass for DD, so I asked them to print mine at the baggage desk. They managed to check me in but then couldn’t print the boarding pass. They told me to go to the concierge desk and get it printed there. So we left our carry-on bags with the valet and hoofed it over to the concierge desk. The woman there had apparently never heard of checking in to a flight, printing a boarding pass, or using a computer. It was quite something. She honestly had NO idea what she was doing. Finally, I just gave up so that we could have some time in Epcot.

We walked over to Epcot in a drizzle that soon became pouring rain as we arrived at the IG. We got out the ponchos and headed to Soarin’. The wait was only 20 minutes, so we rode stand-by after collecting a set of FPs.

When we got out, the rain had stopped, so we decided to walk over to TT before doing Nemo. The posted wait for TT was only 15 minutes, but the actual wait was even shorter. We had a great ride as usual!

We stopped in MouseGears for some final gifts - including one for me. My own Dooney and Bourke bag!

From there, we headed over to Nemo.

And then Soarin’.

The FP line for Soarin’ was crazy long, so I left it to DD to decide whether we would wait and ride one more time or not. She felt that she did not need to ride again, so we gave our FPs to another couple who had absolutely no idea what FPs were - or what Soarin’ was! Again, I sure hope they figured it out and used them……

Our big goal today was to meet Alice because, despite approximately 42,892 trips to Epcot this trip, we hadn’t met her yet! We had about an hour before she was scheduled to be out, so we headed over to England and got some fish and chips to share and an unsweetened iced tea for me and a pomegranate lemonade (?) for DD. These were yummy!

There were no tables available, so we decided to just have a picnic on the curb near where Alice would be coming out. This put us at the front of the line for Alice! Soon after we finished eating, a father, his daughter, and two grandmas joined us. It wasn’t long before we discovered we had two Willows! DD has never met someone with her name before - the two girls loved it and had a great time playing together while we waited for Alice. [I will not post pictures of The Other Willow.]

[cont. in next post for picture overload!]​

 

[RGirl]

[cont. from last picture-overloaded post!]

After that fun meet, DD started moaning and complaining about walking (so glad that we had gotten a stroller for the other days!), so we decided to head back to the BW. We took the boat this time, which was very pleasant and quick.

We walked around the boardwalk for a bit and ended up in a shop at DD’s request. Somehow we managed to leave there with a Pluto stuffy…… We also stopped in at the Boardwalk Bakery, hoping to find something nice to take on the plane. But none of the savory items appealed to us, and we ended up just getting some fruit and a brownie, figuring we would just get dinner at the airport.

We then hung out in the BW lobby and verandah until it was time to get on a DME bus. We looked for HMs, did sticker books, and took pictures.

DD was REALLY into looking for HMs:

Eventually, we went ahead and got on the 2:50 bus instead of the 3:20. We said good-bye to Disney and tried not to fall asleep on the bus.

We had an easy check-in at the airport and breezed through security. We did some more sticker books.

And then we got a sandwich to share - it was turkey, brie, apple, and mango chutney. I was surprised how much DD enjoyed it - she ate TONS. In fact, as soon as we left WDW, she started eating. Like a pig. Never mind the million-dollar meals she ordered and didn’t eat while we were there……

Our flight took off right on time, but it was LONG - 6 hours. DD had some fruit from the BB, and I had a Greek salad that I had purchased in the airport. We shared the BB brownie, and DD watched Mary Poppins. Finally, DD decided to go to sleep. But she woke up crying about every half hour or so because it was so uncomfortable not being able to stretch out her legs, etc. while sleeping. When she woke up the last time, we were close to descent so I woke her up totally with the cookie the flight attendants brought around and a game on my phone. Soon she was awake enough to do some more stickers until we landed and then was in a great mood for baggage claim and the LONG trek to the hotel shuttle pick-up spot in Seattle.

It was about 9:30 when we landed so after 10 when we got to the hotel room. Or 1:00 a.m. East Coast time. We were tired but also really hungry, so we did order from room service before we passed out.

However, DD was awake at 6:00 a.m. West Coast time! Ugh…. I made her go back to bed. We got up for real at 8 and went downstairs for a leisurely breakfast.

DD goofed around while I got all of our bags together.

We waited for the shuttle.

And then our plane.

And then we were home. We had such a wonderful trip, and it has been great to relive it with all of you.

But this TR is not done yet - stay tuned for a BONUS DISNEYLAND SURPRISE BIRTHDAY TRIP coming soon to this TR!!!!!​

 

[amandaw]

This is so silly but I got all teary-eyed that it was the end of y'all trip. Thank you so much sharing your vacation memories with all of us here. It's been wonderful!

Although, for a last day, it sounds like y'all had fun!

Ok, bring on Disneyland!