Dr. Jones and the Spitting Camel - Link to Alaska Cruise TR 9/18

[rentayenta]

Packing booze and wrapping it in bubble wrap? Brilliant!

 

[tinacaplan]

You absolutely know how to write the most engaging trip reports. Based on what I've already read here, I'm guessing you all went for it. I know I'd have a hard time passing up EE!

 

[manntra]

I am thinking you ALL rode EE with time to spare to scurry over to Sanaa Dinosaur is a fun ride....I laugh the whole way through....its just good fun!!! EE of course is one of the best rides everrrrrr
Funny that is one thing that I love about AKV....they don't share buses with anyone which while everyone thinks it is soooooooo far away from all of the parks the lack of stops more than makes up for it
Looking forward to your Sanaa review....assuming you make it there

Tracy

 

[glennbo123]

Absolutely, you risked it! You came all that way, after all.

I loved the "pick your battles" thought that went through your mind. I'm so with you!

Can't wait to hear about Sanaa.

 

[vamassey1]

I'm going to say you rode it! No way the kids are going to let you walk away now.

I still can't get over the fact that you got them all to AK. And falling asleep on the bus, I've been guilty of that a few times. DH absolutely love Dinosaur. I ride it one time and I'm okay.

 

[KathyRN137]

I think the call of The Mountain was too hard to resist....

And don't beat yourself up about the bus... WL doesn't always share with GF, I think it just depends on the time of day/year.

I feel like you were channeling the White Rabbit: "I'm late! I'm late!"


Kathy

 

[eandesmom]

Yes! Risk is worth the reward!

Is it?

I say you went for it !!!!!

We shall see

I"m going for:



You risked it.

It IS vacation after all. It WAS EMH. And There's always Tusker or even Roaring Forks.

You think?

You made it to AK!!! Very impressive!!! You're at Everest. The Yeti is a mere 15 minutes... plus 8. Go for it!!!

(Hope you make it to Saana)

15+8 huh, I'll have to remember that.

Backtracking on comments:

I use the balcony in my room wherever we stay, but I am there from 5 to 6 in the morning, so nobody sees me.

I would not see you. I am in bed. even if I'm trying to make rope drop.

OCD on the bags and packing. I don't Ziploc clothes, but use a bunch of them for lotions or other small things I want to keep together. I think I have some cross-contamination issues, because I do wash the bags when I get home and put them in a special drawer I use for my travel stuff.

Impressive that you wash and reuse, I use them for toiletries that I worry bout leaking as a double protection layer and invariable something does leak so they end up getting tossed. Always. I pack extra empty ones for the trip back home so I can have clean ones.

One more things about bags, my very favorite Disney tip of all time, and appropriate for the current location of this trip report:

I bring a Ziploc X-Large bag to AK for Kali River Rapids. We change into flip flops for this park and while in line, we toss shoes and socks, backpack, cell phones and anything else we don't want to get wet into the big bag.

I know a few others that do that. I'm mean. I just remind folks to wear flip flops, things that can get wet (and will dry) and if they still insist on tennis shoes and socks they can suck it up with wet feet. Although I did figure out an interesting new poncho trick.

 

[eandesmom]

Wow! What a nail biter of an update! Between wondering if K and T were actually going to stay awake to getting to the AK without a million stops and then wondering if you are going to ride Everest before going to Sanaa, I am on the edge of my seat!

It was a nail biting experience for Jeff and I! It was funny, I was SOOOO close to overriding what the group wanted several times with common sense sitting on my shoulder but was determined to roll with it since they were all so engaged. I swear, they were far more committed to sticking to the touring plan at that point than I was, I could have easily been swayed to an entirely different evening.

I am going to guess you took the chance and rode it. Fifteen minutes, after all, is a great wait time!

It is a great wait time! We were hoping for 5 or 10....

Go for it! Go for it! Go for it!

I hope you got to ride EE!

LOL! It's a collective egging on here!

I am impressed that everyone rallied enough to get ready and over to AK!! Dinosaur is a fun ride although I have to admit that it still scares the you know what out of me at the end even though I know what is coming!

It scares the you know what out of the E's too. I honestly don't know what it is about that ride but I am always just laughing during the whole thing.

I was surprised at the bus sharing at WL. That escaped my planning too when I went. You'd think the deluxes could have "exclusive" buses!

I think they should! It is very inconsistent it seems, both at the YC and at WL as to where else they'd go resort wise and in the case of the YC, how many resorts. Made it hard to know how long the ride would be! Not that it really mattered.

I'm going to guess that you went for it! Can't wait to find out. And wondering if you got K to ride.

Recurring theme here Ah K, the wildcard. She's a funny one. Does like roller coasters, as long as it's a "dark" one, aka inside so she can't gauge the height of things SM and RRC were a non-issue. Outside, high up, freaks her out.

I'm caught up! Phew. You were an updating machine while I was gone.

I'm impressed that you managed to get everyone over to AK. I would have given up and gone to sleep.

Welcome home!!!!!!!!!! and aack! you started the tr....off to sub!

I actually didn't have to try hard to get them to go, they all wanted to, it just moved a bit slower than I'd hoped (though truly, not slower than usual lol).

 

[jenjolt]

OOOH a very tasty cliffhanger, would you have a date with the Yeti or did you head over to dinner!!! I'm going to guess you tango'd with the Yeti, but I guess I will have to wait and see!!!

Impressive getting everyone up and going and heading over to AK, I'm not sure I would have had the energy!!!

Deluxe resorts sharing buses...that just makes me shake my head!! And that is why as soon as Leslie gave the okay I rented a car LOL!

 

[eandesmom]

I'm going to guess that you risked it, went on EE, and made it in time for dinner at Sanaa.

that seems to be the consensus....

Packing booze and wrapping it in bubble wrap? Brilliant!

Isn't it? I wasn't brave enough to try it with a glass bottle but it was a wonderful thing! We joked that the price of the booze would have bought us a whopping 4 drinks once there.

You absolutely know how to write the most engaging trip reports. Based on what I've already read here, I'm guessing you all went for it. I know I'd have a hard time passing up EE!

Oh my goodness, thank you so much! That is so sweet what a lovely thing to read on a Sunday morning.

It would be hard to pass it up, wouldn't it?

I am thinking you ALL rode EE with time to spare to scurry over to Sanaa

Time to spare....hmmmnnn

Dinosaur is a fun ride....I laugh the whole way through....its just good fun!!! EE of course is one of the best rides everrrrrr

I love them both. K definitely influences my love of Dinosaur, it's kind of "our" ride for whatever reason. And EE is just amazing, especially at night!

Funny that is one thing that I love about AKV....they don't share buses with anyone which while everyone thinks it is soooooooo far away from all of the parks the lack of stops more than makes up for it
Looking forward to your Sanaa review....assuming you make it there

Tracy

Well yes and no, they share with each other (Jambo and Kidani) which seems pretty similar to say the BC/YC share. What I think I would love about AKL/AKV (not having stayed there yet) is how away it would seem and feel, the theming alone would make me feel very very far away...in a good way!

 

[eandesmom]

Absolutely, you risked it! You came all that way, after all.

We had come a LONG ways that is for sure!

I loved the "pick your battles" thought that went through your mind. I'm so with you![

You have to, it's pointless not to and I'm generally not a fan of banging my head against the wall. And honestly at that point, if the entire evenings plans had changed, it would have been fine. I was in a weird place this trip. A good place, but a weird place. I honestly didn't care 95% of the time if we stuck to a plan or not. I did want to KNOW if we were going to change so I could come up with options but overall I didn't much care. I was going to enjoy myself regardless. In some cases I was just going to go and if folks came or not, whatever but in this instance I was the "whatever" person in the crew.

I'll tell you though, this entire trip really reinforced that my family likes and needs a plan and all the pre-planning and actual touring plan general outlines really served us a heck of a lot better this time than the "this park this day" approach I took in 2009.

That drink on the balcony was PERFECT. Not to mention I was in the midst of a really really good book and didn't mind the extra reading time.

Can't wait to hear about Sanaa.

Assuming there is something to say

I'm going to say you rode it! No way the kids are going to let you walk away now.

Who's the boss though?

I still can't get over the fact that you got them all to AK. And falling asleep on the bus, I've been guilty of that a few times. DH absolutely love Dinosaur. I ride it one time and I'm okay.

I've been guilty of the bus head bob more than once. I remember I used to do it daily in Chicago and somehow I'd magically wake up at my stop. I lived in fear of missing it though!

K could ride it over and over for sure.

I think the call of The Mountain was too hard to resist....

was it?

And don't beat yourself up about the bus... WL doesn't always share with GF, I think it just depends on the time of day/year.

yeah, over the next few days it didn't consistently share so it was a bit confusing and once it shared with FW

I feel like you were channeling the White Rabbit: "I'm late! I'm late!"

Oh my goodness, I was! I had this horrible fear of it being 9:30 at night and no food to be found. There is nothing worse than it being late, you are tired, but hungry and nothing is open.

OOOH a very tasty cliffhanger, would you have a
date with the Yeti or did you head over to dinner!!! I'm going to guess you tango'd with the Yeti, but I guess I will have to wait and see!!!

It was a tough call

Impressive getting everyone up and going and heading over to AK, I'm not sure I would have had the energy!!!

well it was "early" Seattle time but we were operating on fumes at that point to be sure.

Deluxe resorts sharing buses...that just makes me shake my head!! And that is why as soon as Leslie gave the okay I rented a car LOL!

Seriously. Even more annoying when you get to the other resort and no one gets on! It's not like WL and GF are that close to each other, FW actually makes more sense in some ways, if you have to chare. Poly and Contemporary must share I guess

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

I seriously have a love/hate thing going on with your cliff hangers. I love them, and it makes me get so excited for your next update. But then I hate them because I can't wait for your next update. I want to know now!! It would be much easier to wait until you are done and then read the whole thing through, but I don't want to wait that long. Decisions, decision. I think I will just torture myself and stick with reading your updates when you write them.

I think you went for it, and then still made it to dinner. At least, that is what is supposed to happen on a magical trip, right? Everything goes as you want it to?? I'm seriously impressed that you made it to AK at all, considering you almost lost all of the kids to sleep at different points.

 

[eandesmom]

I seriously have a love/hate thing going on with your cliff hangers. I love them, and it makes me get so excited for your next update. But then I hate them because I can't wait for your next update. I want to know now!! It would be much easier to wait until you are done and then read the whole thing through, but I don't want to wait that long. Decisions, decision. I think I will just torture myself and stick with reading your updates when you write them.

oh that's funny, well then I guess that's what they are supposed to do huh. I think Kathy is the master of the cliffhanger though. Pure torture.

I think you went for it, and then still made it to dinner. At least, that is what is supposed to happen on a magical trip, right? Everything goes as you want it to?? I'm seriously impressed that you made it to AK at all, considering you almost lost all of the kids to sleep at different points.

Tell me about it, as we were getting off the bus I REALLY thought we should go straight to dinner, get it over with and go to bed. And there were moments when I was on the balcony with that drink going WHY did I pick AK/ALK for dinner? Oh yeah...EMH and everyone wanted it. Still though, were I to do that exact itin again, with EMH and all, I think I'd pick somewhere closer for dinner. The day had been SO easy up to then. And while it's not like it was hard, it was a bit more work and time sensitive.

A big part of our problem is there wasn't anywhere we really wanted to eat that was closer! But I also knew, the later we made it, the better in the long run for us all. And it's not like anyone was complaining, more like they were convincing me they were ok and wanted to stick with the plan.

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Oh goodness! I couldn't agree more about picking battles! I keep trying to explain the concept to DH, he doesn't get it!

What did you do?! My thought, you risked it and then tried to get to AKV for Sanaa! I feel like you may have ended up not making it though

 

[eandesmom]

Oh goodness! I couldn't agree more about picking battles! I keep trying to explain the concept to DH, he doesn't get it!

He will, your kids are young still. Just wait till the teen years.

What did you do?! My thought, you risked it and then tried to get to AKV for Sanaa! I feel like you may have ended up not making it though

And therein lay our conundrum....

 

[creativeamanda]

Cynthia--I'm glad you ended up in those rooms, beacuse that view really is lovely. I hope you were able to really enjoy that view!

I probably would have canned all of the reservations that day in favor of cs at Flame Tree BBQ and stayed in Animal Kingdom. I can't wait to see what ya'll did.

 

[eandesmom]

Cynthia--I'm glad you ended up in those rooms, beacuse that view really is lovely. I hope you were able to really enjoy that view!

We really enjoyed the view! Well Jeff and I did, it is a rather small balcony so we basically had an "adult" one and a "kid" one and the boys would read outside on the other one while we read on ours and had a drink.

I probably would have canned all of the reservations that day in favor of cs at Flame Tree BBQ and stayed in Animal Kingdom. I can't wait to see what ya'll did.

That could have been a good solution but FTB was closed while we were there. I think it's one of those things where in the moment you can't actually see all the real options. I could see 2 at that point, basically try to make to Sanaa or we'd be back at WL eating at Roaring Forks which was not remotely appealing. We'd eaten at Y&YLF the previous year for lunch and while it was fine, it wasn't on the list to redo and none of the other CS options were remotely appealing. The latest ressie at Tusker had been that 7:35 one that I'd made 6 months out and so I was not remotely hopeful of just trying to walk in either there or Y&Y (which no one liked the menu at...which made no sense given their other choices but...whatever) and actually get seated.

That is one of the tough things about a party of 6, you can't wing sit down dinner as easily as you might with a smaller group. But had FTB been open it would have been viable. Not my first choice (BBQ in August heat, eating outside and all) but it would have worked and been easy! Although given how very set the clan was on Sanaa...I might not have brought it up.

 

[tinacaplan]

Hmmm...you mentioned something about your planning this year vs. your 2009 trip. What were some of the major differences? Were you a lot more detailed this time? I pretty much have just put together a basic outline of exactly what you said, "this park, this day, these ADRS." Just curious, as I am already more than impressed with the amount you accomplished in a pretty short amount of time.

 

[TrayRene]

You've managed to do everything today which is unbelievable - so I say you definitely went on EE and made Sanaa!!

I so know the "pick the battle" dilemna!!

 

[eandesmom]

Hmmm...you mentioned something about your planning this year vs. your 2009 trip. What were some of the major differences? Were you a lot more detailed this time? I pretty much have just put together a basic outline of exactly what you said, "this park, this day, these ADRS." Just curious, as I am already more than impressed with the amount you accomplished in a pretty short amount of time.

Well in 2009 it was K&T's first trip and we just weren't sure what they'd think, how they'd react, how much we could do, all of that. I planned around ADR's and evening EMH but that was about it. I also tried to schedule flexible time and down time.

The end result was we had a REALLY hard time getting the teens up in the morning, meaning making it late to parks at peak crowd times during President's week. I really hadn't made back up plans in the event that happened. I also found that flexible time just resulted in a bunch of "I don't know, what do you want to do" over and over and over again. The crowds were brutal and it had a rather huge impact at times. And I got VERY crabby with the teens more than once. I didn't want to repeat that (for all our sakes).

This was also a really different trip just based on the time of year. In 09 it was Feb. We didn't need mid day pool breaks from the heat. We got to the parks late...and then closed them down. For this trip, we did, or at least I needed to try to plan for those breaks. Which made for a lot of potential hopping and just more logistics to consider and map out.

The plans for this trip tried to incorporate those learning, and mid day break needs in a few different ways.

1. Identify what mornings were key and make it clear to all that if you were up cool, if not, I'd leave you there. No penalty or judgment mind you, just here are the consequences of certain decisions.

2. Have a really good feel for the options at all parks on any day if we needed to move things around.

3. Have a really food feel for what was flexible, and what was not. In this case, we had 2 very good dinner options to address how tired or not we were. I would not have done that in the past. Frowned upon or not, it gave me peace of mind and 11th hour flexibility. This day had a ton of flexibility in it. MK or not depending on how people felt, AK or not depending on how people felt, etc.

4. Have a plan for the scheduled down time. It could be thrown out the window but it became clear that the clan needed direction and a plan to start with. As you can see on this day, sometimes they really embraced it!

I also felt I had to have a more structured plan as once my in-laws arrived, they'd be seeing things for the first time but only had 4 days to there would be some re-do of things....except moving a lot slower and I actually wanted to make sure I could just relax and not care if it was slow once they got there instead of stressing that we hadn't seen things.

I did make note of key times (fireworks, parades, shows, etc) although I can honestly say for the most part we didn't look at them or have them impact any choices.

You've managed to do everything today which is unbelievable - so I say you definitely went on EE and made Sanaa!!

I so know the "pick the battle" dilemna!!

Picking battles is key! it was employed often during the trip.