How Many Ways Can I Explain This? TR July 2016 -7/24, DCA Pt 1

[Mamato4boys]

Your trip is almost here! How exciting! Your PTR is reminding me why it is so much easier when our Disney trips are just DH, myself, and our kids.

 

[amalone1013]

Loving the trip report so far. A couple of those recounting of email discussions had me wanting to hit my head on my desk. Since your trip is right around the corner, I hope things have settled a bit more. Love the spreadsheet. Every Disney trip I plan has a spreadsheet. I think my daughter was a bit embarrassed at first when I chaperoned her high school choir trip, but she got over it pretty quickly. Many of the students would find me (I had a spreadsheet of every food / drink item sold at DL/CA and location and price) to figure out where their favorite snack was. I probably won't bring that again, it was pretty bulky to carry around.

Haha, that's awesome! I love my spreadsheets. This trip has an excel workbook with about 10 pages... I also have a monster one I started trying to compare discounts and scenarios for our Disneymoon next Fall to WDW.

Things have settled now that we're so close, but they got worse (or more unsettled) before they got better...

To give Sz a bit of slack, if she's never had to plan a trip, she probably has no idea what is involved in the research and planning, or how important these deadlines are. It's clearly an area she is clueless about, and you've been super patient. If she's not done a trip like this, BTW, don't be surprised if she remains clueless about what was involved during the trip too...
Sounds like a fantastic trip, though!

You're completely right. I kept telling myself that... and I understand not realizing all the planning/deadlines. It was more trying when I sent information and tried to be very thorough for those reasons, and she would immediately reply back with a question that was answered in the email.

As for the trip, after the WOC dining reservations were straightened out, I decided I was done haha. I was willing to answer questions if needed (she didn't ask), but I've decided that I did a lot to get everyone a good trip that didn't cost both arms and a leg, and I'm going to enjoy it. Their family can make their experience what they will - you can lead a horse to water, buy you can't make it drink, right? I only say this because on their NYE WDW trip, Zack's mom went along she said Sz was acting like a child when she didn't get her way on things... if they want to be like that, I'll just go do something I want to do. They can do something else. I'm not letting anyone else's attitude ruin MY Disney trip!

Your trip is almost here! How exciting! Your PTR is reminding me why it is so much easier when our Disney trips are just DH, myself, and our kids.

I think this is the last time I plan a big trip for everyone. I've only done two - Zack and I going to SoCal last year, and my friend and I to London last Fall. Both of those were a combined effort!

 

[amalone1013]

A Bit of Extra Time...
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I better finish this up if I'm going to get all the PTR stuff in before we actually leave! I slacked off a bit...

About two weeks after we booked our flights (which was early April), Zack hears from work that they'd like to send him to a conference. In Canada. A few days before our trip.

Zack's never been out of the country before, so he was stressing over that.

So after a few more weeks, he finds out (sort of) the schedule. He'll fly out Monday, have conference things Tuesday and Wednesday, and fly back to Denver on Thursday. Then we'll all fly out to California on Friday.

The gears in my head started turning... Zack checked with work, and they were willing to fly him out to California on Thursday instead of Denver. And I can take Thursday off of work. So now the two of us will be flying into LAX around 10am on Thursday and have a day by ourselves before craziness ensues!

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We're going to go hang out/have lunch at Santa Monica Pier. Maybe I can convince Zack we need to stay until sunset... Right now we're supposed to meet Dr B and possibly Bt at Citywalk for dinner, because Dr B is going to keep Zack's work computer for the week (instead of leaving it in the car or hotels). Hmmm....

We've just added a night to the Econolodge - but upgraded to a King suite, woot woot I didn't even know they had suites. Adding a single day to our rental car reservation almost doubled the price (currently we have it from Friday at Burbank to Monday night at Disney for $215; it went up to $400). So instead we're doing a one day, one-way from LAX to Burbank. I was able to use credit card rewards for an Alamo certificate so it came to around $20. We used credit card rewards for a Bubba Gump gift certificate too - I'm a tourist and I like to eat at Bubba Gump in touristy places lol.

Friday hopefully we can sleep in a bit (because we won't do that much on the trip - I can sleep at work! ), then hit Costco (for ferry discounts) and a grocery store (for breakfast items, snacks, water, and a giant bottle of sunscreen for myself), before meeting Zack's family at the airport and switching cars. We'll see how it all shakes out!

 

[chunkymonkey]

I am enjoying your planning saga! I am the resident planner but really only have to plan for myself, DH and sometimes my sister. I have yet to plan a big group trip but am probably going to do so next year at WDW for my extended family (about 16 people).
We're headed to Disneyland in about 2 months! So I am looking forward to hearing about all you do. Your California plans sound like a lot of fun!

 

[amalone1013]

I am enjoying your planning saga! I am the resident planner but really only have to plan for myself, DH and sometimes my sister. I have yet to plan a big group trip but am probably going to do so next year at WDW for my extended family (about 16 people).
We're headed to Disneyland in about 2 months! So I am looking forward to hearing about all you do. Your California plans sound like a lot of fun!

I feel very special that an amazing trip report writer is reading my lowly attempt

I'm glad that there will not be group trips every year (as far as I know!). I have definitely taken over as trip planner for me and DF. He said the one day, "If I was planning these they would be less cool and we'd spend way more." I looked up the Frozen Pre-Show after reading about it in your TR, because I remember reading about it before it released and had never checked back, and we ended up adding it...

 

[amalone1013]

Family Drama
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Around the end of May, we ran into some family drama. Long story short, Little J was being, we'll say, difficult. We don't hear all of it, so my example of one thing he did was lighting a piece of paper on fire over at Auntie L's to set off the smoke detector...

Anyways, Big J told Zack that Little J was being naughty and the trip was OFF!

We'll go with the short version, since we are so close to leaving for the trip. We spent June having discussions with Zack's parents about how it might be easier if they pulled out... but we seriously doubted they would because they were around $2500 in between flights and tickets.

Last weekend, we got together for Zack's grandma's birthday, and though we had been told the day before that Little J's behavior was better, we didn't see it. They didn't mention if they would be going on the trip or not.

We let them know on Tuesday (7/5) we would need to know by tomorrow (7/11) because I had some reservations booked for them on my credit card. Technically everything is cancel with no penalty until 24 hours out, but I didn't want to be dealing with that A. in California; or B. when I was trying to finish packing up my stuff Wednesday night. Auntie L stopped by yesterday to talk about a few things, and Zack ended up texting them to ask - and they're in. I'm not sure they would have officially told us; we heard things on Wednesday which meant we knew they were coming, but they hadn't told us. I'm pretty laid back too, but come on. Just tell us yes or no. Don't try to be sneaky.

So hey, we didn't lose anyone! And I think we talked Auntie L into going to the character breakfast. She wasn't sure, but she's never been either and I do think it's a fun thing to do at least once, even for the parents.

We also solidified that Dr B should be joining us Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and the first two days at Disney (plus going to San Diego with the others while we stay at Disney). His gf, Bt should be joining us for Universal and one day at Disney. Plus we should be meeting them for dinner on Thursday.

 

[amalone1013]

Itinerary Additions
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We've added two things to the itinerary because we're overachievers.

First off, we're going to try and hit the Tar Pits on Friday before Griffith Park. The park and observatory are open later, and the Tar Pits aren't too much farther...

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The other thing we added was the Frozen Pre-Show package on Friday. We debated... then figured, we'd be standing in line outside the theatre, or we could be inside with air and popcorn (and slushes and wine!).

And if Olaf is nearby for a meet and greet, I will make Zack take pictures.​

Really, I think that's about everything for the PTR part. If anything changes in the next three days, I might pull my hair out

Can't wait to go!!

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

I am glad you are able to keep track of all the different schedules. That would be kind of stressful for me. I added the Frozen Pre-Show too last week. I figured it was worth it to wait in AC and have the gets eat all the popcorn and slushies they can. Hopefully, you find it enjoyable.

I hope you have a wonderful trip and that you don't let any family drama put a damper on your vacation.

 

[casagray]

It's so nice that you are going to get some time in alone before the big family adventure!

 

[chunkymonkey]

I feel very special that an amazing trip report writer is reading my lowly attempt

I'm glad that there will not be group trips every year (as far as I know!). I have definitely taken over as trip planner for me and DF. He said the one day, "If I was planning these they would be less cool and we'd spend way more." I looked up the Frozen Pre-Show after reading about it in your TR, because I remember reading about it before it released and had never checked back, and we ended up adding it...

Wow thank you for the kind words...although not really that deserved. I just write from the heart and Disney makes me really happy so I guess that just translates into my trip reports!

That's cool you added the Frozen Pre Show! Let us know how it goes! Very curious about it!

The Tar Pits sound like a cool stop, always interesting to know about prehistoric animals and such, reminds me of the natural history museum in NYC.

Hope planning goes well! Can't believe Little J set off the smoke detector with burning paper! Let's hope he doesn't do so at Disneyland!

 

[amalone1013]

Hello! Just popping in to say we made it! We survived!



I was feeling a bit like I didn't take enough pictures, until I peeked through them a bit last night... Don't worry, I got plenty!

I'll probably go through this in order, as long as you won't be too bored by my non-Disney adventures. There'll be plenty of anecdotes too!

 

[emilyhuff]

Can't wait to hear about it!!!! I am going in November and an super anxious to start planning but Disneyland makes it so hard with their timing!

 

[casagray]

Add me to the "can't wait!" list! Looking forward to the pics - and the stories! I can't wait to hear if Sz realizes how much planning you did, if Little J behaved - well, all of it! I love the way you write about people (I would not manage to be so calm in such frustrating circumstances), and all the places outside of Disney sound very interesting!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Can't wait to hear about it! We leave in a little over a month!

 

[amalone1013]

So like I mentioned, I think I got plenty of pictures. Somewhere around 2200, if you include the ride photos. So I think I'm covered. I promise to cut out the blurry or here's-Alyssa-trying-to-be-artsy-and-failing shots!

I am glad you are able to keep track of all the different schedules. That would be kind of stressful for me. I added the Frozen Pre-Show too last week. I figured it was worth it to wait in AC and have the gets eat all the popcorn and slushies they can. Hopefully, you find it enjoyable.

I hope you have a wonderful trip and that you don't let any family drama put a damper on your vacation.

The Frozen Pre-Show was great. When we got out of our show (almost an hour before the next started) the outside queue was full. I couldn't imagine waiting outside. It was nice to not have to worry about FPs, and just head over for slushies and wine!

Right before leaving I decided I didn't care about any drama that came up on the trip... I was so not caring that I actually missed a few things and had to be filled in later. But I had a great trip!

It's so nice that you are going to get some time in alone before the big family adventure!

I'm so glad we did that. We had one night were just Zack and I went to dinner too, so that was a nice break.

Wow thank you for the kind words...although not really that deserved. I just write from the heart and Disney makes me really happy so I guess that just translates into my trip reports!

That's cool you added the Frozen Pre Show! Let us know how it goes! Very curious about it!

The Tar Pits sound like a cool stop, always interesting to know about prehistoric animals and such, reminds me of the natural history museum in NYC.

Hope planning goes well! Can't believe Little J set off the smoke detector with burning paper! Let's hope he doesn't do so at Disneyland!

No smoke detectors, but... (foreshadowing). The Tar Pits were really cool. We caught a free tour, and I think we got so much more out of it that way. Otherwise, you could definitely feel like you're just wandering around looking at sticky spots in the grass. Someday I'll make it to the Natural History museum! We really liked the Frozen Pre-Show. I'll try to make it there before your trip with more pictures and details, but I definitely don't regret it.

Can't wait to hear about it!!!! I am going in November and an super anxious to start planning but Disneyland makes it so hard with their timing!

While I was planning this, I was also doing some preliminary planning/pricing for our Disneymoon next Fall at WDW, and the back and forth on timing is so goofy! Oh, no dining reservations until 60 days out, and you want ones with the entertainment packages? Try 30-40 days. And then: I was up at 4:57am for our 180 day ADR window! Etc. Neither of us have been to the World so we have lots of reading to do!

Add me to the "can't wait!" list! Looking forward to the pics - and the stories! I can't wait to hear if Sz realizes how much planning you did, if Little J behaved - well, all of it! I love the way you write about people (I would not manage to be so calm in such frustrating circumstances), and all the places outside of Disney sound very interesting!

There are many stories! At some point, I just have to mentally step back and think, "This will make a good story someday. Like that time you passed out on the airplane..." I think the communication being mainly via email helped during the planning though, because I was getting super frustrated.

 

[amalone1013]

The Trip Report!!

Pre Travel, Days -5 to 0​

The few days before our trip we pretty busy. We had a few things on our to-do list - laundry, buy socks and travel items, haircuts, thrift store donations… We went to Costco with Zack’s mom. We thought we were going to re-add Zack to her account, so we could check for discounted ferry tickets in California, but she bought us our own membership. Even with our long list (and me having to work on Sunday) we managed to make it to see The Secret Life of Pets on Saturday night. We highly recommend that one!

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After Zack left Monday morning, I puttered around, packed, washed my work clothes (so I wouldn’t have to worry about it when we got back, in case I had to work the weekend… SPOILER, we are working this weekend). I had a few conversations with Zack’s dad, who kept telling me how it would make him very upset if anyone behaved badly on the trip, since Zack and I had put a lot of work into it.

I also made sure all of the last minute essentials made it in, like these beauties:

Portable wine glasses! ​

I was also very proud of myself for keeping my packing to my Vera duffel and a tote bag as my “purse” on the plane.

Tuesday night, I became convinced that my two pairs of shorts weren’t enough for the trip, and that I need a third pair. I wasn’t too worried, because I was working a half day on Wednesday. Instead, I hit 7 stores, and ended up coming home with a dress and yoga shorts… and no time to do my nails, or go to bed early as I had planned. Oops!

I also made Zack pack this bag in his suitcase so we'd have extra room to bring back goodies. I got it in Disneyland Paris. I saw lots of people with backpacks in this pattern at Disneyland, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Which is probably a good thing, because I'm not a backpack user. I use this tote all the time though!

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This is what Bodie (aka, a cuddly monster) looked like after suitcases came out and Zack left. The morning Zack left, Bodie climbed in his lap but wouldn't look at him.

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Bodie is also a Pixar dog. For whatever reason, when we put a Pixar movie in, he watches the whole thing. He really likes Wall-e.

Next up, We head to California!​

 

[amalone1013]

Thursday
Travel Day​

I got up nice and early for my 8:20am flight. Zack’s dad took me to the airport. On the way out of the neighborhood, we saw this guy cruising around.

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I gave up on resizing pictures because it was a pain, so resign yourself to ginormous photos!

It only took me about 15 minutes to get through security, which was good because I’d been hearing about that being a nightmare - plus, I was hungry!

Would you like to get a bikini wax while you wait at the airport? You can here!​

Usually I read or sleep on planes, depending on the time/how tired I am, but I spent most of this one looking out the window. I’ve never NOT been above the clouds before.

Ski runs look so funny when there’s no snow!

We also flew over this dam, and I got very excited thinking it was the Hoover Dam, but it wasn’t. If the planes don’t have the map feature on the seat back screen, I don’t know where I am.

And they fed me some plane shaped cookies.

And as we got into LA...

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I’m going to take this time to say I am not a fan of LAX. Last year was a nightmare flying out of there, because they were remodeling the Southwest terminal and there were only enough chairs for maybe half the people there. It was so bad, there wasn’t even an out of they way spot on the floor to sit because they were all taken already! So I was a little bummed we had to switch from flying into Burbank to LAX. This time, inside security was mostly done with remodeling, but the ticket counter and baggage claim area was being done. There was one unisex bathroom for the whole dang part. I ended up walking down to the next terminal (Zack’s, luckily) and hanging out there.

Originally, there was around 20 minutes between when our flights landed at LAX, but I ended up being about 20 minutes early (9:30am). Zack ended up being around half an hour late. I had a much easier time traveling than Zack. Zack had a 5:00am flight, which was 2:00am California time. He didn’t sleep much. Then he got to Toronto for his connecting flight, and they were in a holding pattern due to weather… They almost diverted but ended up being able to land about half an hour late. He only had just over an hour between flights originally, and he had to go through customs there before leaving. So he was stuck in the customs line when his plane was supposed to be leaving. Luckily they held the plane for him and a few other people in the same boat, but not all of them made it. Otherwise, the next flight he could have got on was 2:00pm there, with a 5 hour flight, so about 4:00pm landing time.

We caught the shuttle to Alamo (much easier than last year…) and picked up our one-day rental car. When I looked at adding one day to our original rental, it added $200. This was $60, and we used a credit card reward to make it $20. Picking out a car was a sticking point too. There were maybe 12 cars, and 2 other groups, but every time one of us would turn around and be like, “What about this one?” a person from the other group was looking at it. So we’d move on to another car, and go through it all over again. And those people weren’t even ending up choosing those cars. Finally, we got a little Nissan and we were off!

Next Up: Santa Monica Pier!​

 

[VandVsmama]

Following along! Your PTR and TR so far are an entertaining read! It sounds a lot like what my DH & I go through just trying to coordinate Thanksgiving with his extended family. DH & I end up being the cruise directors & making all of the plans & arrangements. I was literally LOL at some of your posts because it sounds so familiar!

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

Loving the trip report so far. Sorry that Zack's flight was not the best. Can't wait for the rest of the report.

 

[amalone1013]

Thursday
Santa Monica Pier
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Also known as, where the fun pictures start! This was only about half an hour from LAX. Unfortunately, the GPS kept putting us one block over from the ocean. Boo. I really enjoy seeing houses and stuff in other places. There was also a really neat hotel that I didn’t take a picture of for some reason, so I found it on the internet.

I looked it up - about $500 a night. Not in my budget!

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Once we found parking (the hardest part), we headed down the path to the pier.

So many styles and colors.

THE FLOWERS
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I’m so glad we made it here, silly as that may sound. Last time we were out here we only went to the beach on Coronado, so we didn’t get to see any of the piers or ‘famous’ beaches. Parking was hard. The lots were full, so we ended up finding a meter a few blocks down. 5 hours there was cheaper than the lots, and we wouldn’t have spent more time anyways, so that worked out.

So many cars!

I have a friend who is terrified of birds, so of course I take pictures and send them to her.

We made it!

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Our first stop was lunch. It was about 1pm, and we were starving!

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Whenever I go somewhere, I make a point of not eating at places we have back home. Technically, there’s a Bubba Gump in Denver, but we don’t go down there. Plus, we didn’t have one back in Nebraska, and we ate at them in a few different places on family vacation growing up, so they feel vacation-y to me. And I love the theming! And shrimp. It was about a 20 minute wait, so we watched their shrimp character take pictures with people. We knew it wasn’t Disney when the guy pulled the head off to take a drink.

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There’s always all sorts of stuff on the walls of these places, and this is what they sat us under. It was like they knew! I didn’t see any other Disney stuff in the place.

I knew I would be getting shrimp, probably fried, but I saw this appetizer I really wanted… So instead of getting a $20 meal, I got two $10 appetizers!

Best Ever Popcorn Shrimp
Our popular Popcorn Shrimp plus Pepperoncini, Roasted Red Bell Peppers and great Dippin’ Sauces.
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I love popcorn shrimp. I don’t recall seeing many peppers as I have in the past at other locations, but that doesn’t bother me. The sauce on the left is great, whatever it is. I don’t usually use cocktail sauce except with shrimp cocktail.

Shrimp Shack Mac & Cheese
Southern cookin’ meets the sea! Noodles mixed with Sautéed Shrimp, Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Parmesan Cheese. Topped with golden brown Breadcrumbs. ​

This was the appetizer that sold me! It had tons of little shrimp in it. It was very rich. I only ate about half, partly because the popcorn shrimp came out as an appetizer and I ate all of them.

Zack had the ribs, because he doesn’t like seafood. But he loves Forrest Gump, and had never been to a Bubba Gump before. I didn’t get a picture of his food. I remembered food pictures for maybe 3/4s of the trip? I tried! I asked Zack if he would make fun of me for taking food pictures. He just kept asking, is this for that Disney blog?

After lunch, we made our way down the pier. We stopped in to see the historic carousel building, the Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome. It was built in 1916. The carousel was built in 1922 and moved to Santa Monica Pier in 1942, replacing the original carousel after it was sold.

This looks familiar...

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The pier is actually 2 piers, which is why there’s a longer, skinny section. The longer pier is the Municipal pier built in 1909 to carry sewer pipes, and the Pleasure pier, which was built in 1916 to compete with nearby piers at Venice Beach and Ocean Park.

Municipal Pier

Pleasure Pier!


Continued in Next Post!
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