Never too Early to Plan! An October 2014 (or maybe September) PTR!!!

[Maggie7313]

Things not to ask one's grumpy husband before he's had his coffee:

"Since we decided to take two days for the drive, what time so you think we should leave?"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/100469951@N06/9600858364/

 

[Maggie7313]

Interrupting my 2014 WDW dreams with a SURPRISE announcement regarding the Land!!!!!

I love my husband!!!! We are celebrating our 15th anniversary in three weeks and I'm still in shock over the envelope he handed me just before ducking off the train this morning and the itinerary and confirmations I found inside! We're going to Disneyland!!!!! More accurately, we are going to my homeland, my beloved, sorely missed California.

We are flying to San Francisco for three days after which we will pick up a car and head south, stopping overnight in Carmel and Santa Barbara before three nights at the Grand Californian (!) and then wrapping up the trip with a few days at the Hotel del Coronado(!!). There are also apparently restaurant reservations that he swears he will not disclose. Could this be the year I finally achieve my goal of eating at the French Laundry? Who cares! I'm getting proper fish tacos and In-n-Out!!!!! And I'm going to Disneyland!!!!!!

He planned the entire trip without spilling a single detail! He even arranged for my brother and sister-in-law to take care of my mom and her knees while we are gone and his brother to stay at our house and deal with the wretched, whining cat.

I can't even begin to describe how excited I am (although all of the exclamation points probably provide some clue!)

 

[glaserjm]

Interrupting my 2014 WDW dreams with a SURPRISE announcement regarding the Land!!!!!

I love my husband!!!! We are celebrating our 15th anniversary in three weeks and I'm still in shock over the envelope he handed me just before ducking off the train this morning and the itinerary and confirmations I found inside! We're going to Disneyland!!!!! More accurately, we are going to my homeland, my beloved, sorely missed California.

We are flying to San Francisco for three days after which we will pick up a car and head south, stopping overnight in Carmel and Santa Barbara before three nights at the Grand Californian (!) and then wrapping up the trip with a few days at the Hotel del Coronado(!!). There are also apparently restaurant reservations that he swears he will not disclose. Could this be the year I finally achieve my goal of eating at the French Laundry? Who cares! I'm getting proper fish tacos and In-n-Out!!!!! And I'm going to Disneyland!!!!!!

He planned the entire trip without spilling a single detail! He even arranged for my brother and sister-in-law to take care of my mom and her knees while we are gone and his brother to stay at our house and deal with the wretched, whining cat.

I can't even begin to describe how excited I am (although all of the exclamation points probably provide some clue!)

How amazing! What a nice surprise for your anniversary and the fact that all the details are taken care of just makes everything better. I've never had the opportunity to eat at French Laundry, but my boss did last time she was in CA and she (obviously) loved it! Even if that's not the reservation, I'm sure it will be a great restaurant and a lovely time.

I've never been to Disneyland but it's definitely on our short list of upcoming adventures. When are you going?

 

[Maggie7313]

How amazing! What a nice surprise for your anniversary and the fact that all the details are taken care of just makes everything better. I've never had the opportunity to eat at French Laundry, but my boss did last time she was in CA and she (obviously) loved it! Even if that's not the reservation, I'm sure it will be a great restaurant and a lovely time.

I've never been to Disneyland but it's definitely on our short list of upcoming adventures. When are you going?

I'm so excited! We leave in just over two weeks!!! It was an amazing surprise and he did a great job with the plans. So many things make so much more sense now. I couldn't understand why he was so adamant that we not vacation this year and that I keep the costs down next year. I didn't know he was planning to deplete the "maybe we should renovate the kitchen fund" plus our entire travel budget for one long and luxurious trip. I would totally do that but he is normally the frugal one.

It is a little odd since I'm the control freak vacation planner and I don't quite know what to do with myself. Mike did leave the Disney portion of the trip for me to obsess over. My sister and niece will be joining us for part of that time so I'm having fun making our touring plans.

I grew up mostly in Southern California and we had Disneyland annual passes most years so I've been more times that I can remember. But my whole family moved east when I was in college so I rarely make it all the way west. My last visit to Disneyland was actually New Year's Eve the year before they opened California Adventure. I'm really looking forward to seeing the new park!

I still don't know where the secret dinner is - only hints are that I'm familiar with the chef and I need to pack something nice. Of course I'm obsessed with cooking shows so the hint is of no help!

Your trip isn't all that far away either. Almost time to begin the countdown? So much fun to be had this fall!

 

[MrsZ]

Hi Maggie!

DH and I are also planning a fall 2014 trip! I'll be following along and we can count down together! DH is ready to kill me if I don't stop talking about it. He loves Disney as much as any loving DH but he doesn't want to talk about it this far out so I'm with ya girl!

Editing :

Just saw the second page and the trip to Disneyland you were just surprised with!!!! OMG I'm so happy for you and completely jealous!

 

[Maggie7313]

Hi Maggie!

DH and I are also planning a fall 2014 trip! I'll be following along and we can count down together! DH is ready to kill me if I don't stop talking about it. He loves Disney as much as any loving DH but he doesn't want to talk about it this far out so I'm with ya girl!

Editing :

Just saw the second page and the trip to Disneyland you were just surprised with!!!! OMG I'm so happy for you and completely jealous!

Hi Mrs. Z! Glad to have you along as I can always use more people for WDW chatting! I was so glad I found the DIS before my DH disowned me.

I'm totally obsessed with California right now but I'll be back to all WDW all the time in another month or so. Especially since I can make our 2014 reservations sometime next month!!! My poor husband. I think he thought he was buying himself some peace with the West Coast excursion. We were having dinner yesterday and I mentioned that I needed to make a decision on our hotel for next year soon so I could make the reservations and he just started to shake his head..... Oh well! He still loves me.

 

[Maggie7313]

Quick update on the Disneyland (and rest of California) break from WDW planning.

I've gotten so used to WDW planning that I'm finding the relative simplicity of DLR planning to be unexpectedly complicated. It just feels strange to not have to worry about the main park of the day or how long it will take to get from place to place. I made my Blue Bayou, Cafe Orleans, and World of Color dinner reservations and mapped out a basic Radiator Springs Racers strategy and am basically done. I'm trying to make touring plans but realizing we don't really need them since we have several days. We can just proceed around the park in a basically orderly fashion with a few breaks for fast pass runs. It's all very strange.

We will be going to Mickey' Halloween Party and I can't decide if I want a costume. I'm totally psyched about dressing up for MNSSHP next year but on the fence this year. It just feels complicated since Disneyland will be in the middle of our trip and I'm trying to travel light. So maybe I'll just acquire a cool set of Ears and be done with it.

 

[MrsZ]

Hi Mrs. Z! Glad to have you along as I can always use more people for WDW chatting! I was so glad I found the DIS before my DH disowned me.

I'm totally obsessed with California right now but I'll be back to all WDW all the time in another month or so. Especially since I can make our 2014 reservations sometime next month!!! My poor husband. I think he thought he was buying himself some peace with the West Coast excursion. We were having dinner yesterday and I mentioned that I needed to make a decision on our hotel for next year soon so I could make the reservations and he just started to shake his head..... Oh well! He still loves me.

I'm always up for WDW chatting! You sound just like me. DH said we could go next year and he is regretting it now. It's all I'm talking about. I just miss it so much! Oh well atleast there are others out there like me who "get" it

I'm so excited to hear about your DL trip. It's on our bucket list of place to go. I can understand how it would seem weird to plan days when it is so much smaller than WDW. But I'm sure you'll enjoy it just the same!

As far as dressing up, I like your idea of getting some fun ears to wear! If you are more excited about dressing up next year I'd wait until then.

xoxo
Mrs Z

 

[Maggie7313]

Just one more week until we leave for California!!!!

I'm starting to get my regular pre-vacation jitters but it is more excitement than anything. Everything is planned and about all there is left to do is execute the plans!!!

The last thing that is still up in the air is my Halloween Party costume. Mike refuses to dress up and so does my sister so my niece and I have to carry the day! Niece won't tell me about her costume ("It's a surprise, Auntie Maggie!"). I'm not sure what is up with my family and surprises lately; I think they are trying to make me crazy. But I've decided that I'm definitely going to be Minnie Mouse. I'm just not sure yet exactly how I'm going to proceed. My original plan was to be Halloween Minnie. I have an orange polka dot dress on order and thought I could pair it with Minnie Halloween ears. I'm a little freaked out about the dress, though. It's orange. With polka dots. I suppose I'm just concerned that it will be hideous when I open up the package. So I came up with a back-up regular Minnie Mouse plan and ordered a simple red cotton skirt with white polka dots, figuring I could pair it with a black tee-shirt and whatever Minnie ears fit my fancy. The skirt arrived yesterday and is about the cutest thing I've ever seen. So at the moment, the back-up costume is winning the competition. It will be interesting to see what happens when the orange dress arrives.

I've also been practicing various mouse eyelash and nose designs with regular black eyeliner. I still think I want a face painter to do it but I just wanted to make sure I could do something simple myself since I'm not going to want a face full of paint if it turns out to be really hot that night (please, please be normal California 72 and sunny weather). As usual, Mike thinks I've lost my mind. Luckily my mom is staying with us as she continues to rehab. And Mom is always amused by my antics.

 

[Maggie7313]

We start the first leg of our California trip tomorrow with a mid-morning flight to San Francisco.

I'm running around like crazy today with last minute packing, list making, and costume assembly. Halloween Minnie won the day! I can't believe I'm going to be trick-or-treating at Disneyland a mere week from today!

And most exciting of all? Just five more weeks until reservations open for 2014!

 

[jpmom97]

So excited for you! I hope you have a great time on your trip! Can't wait to hear about it when you get back! Safe Travels!!

 

[Maggie7313]

So, California....

We've been back for a week so time for the first installment of a mini-trip report. I want to write more about Disneyland at some point soon because it was AWESOME! So awesome that I don't think we will be going to Disney World next year. But first I wanted to get the ugly out of the way.

Turns out our trip was really sort of a bust. I took Mike straight to the ER after landing in San Francisco. He was diagnosed with walking pneumonia and discharged with a bagful of medications. Needless to say, I spent the first segment of the trip in the hotel room nursing him back to health. We ended up staying in San Francisco a few extra days to give him more time to recover and crossed the meandering drive down the Pacific Coast highway with stopovers in Monterey and Santa Barbara off the list. Luckily he mended quickly and is almost as good as new now (albeit with a slight lingering cough).

We were both ready for a vacation reboot at this point and happily headed South. We arrived in LA on schedule (after driving straight down from SF) and picked up my sister and niece at LAX. They checked in at the Candy Cane Inn while we made our way to the Grand Californian. Turns out we should have stayed at the CCI since we ended up back there after a miserable night in strange smelling room and numerous calls to the front desk. Maintenance couldn't fix the problem (everyone agreed there was an odor) and the front desk said they couldn't move us. They ended up comping the room for the night but we were so fed up at this point that we decided to check out and join DSis and DNiece over at the Candy Cane.

The Candy Cane Inn is a relatively basic hotel but it is spotlessly clean, the grounds are filled with flowers, and the staff are unbelievably helpful and friendly. Even without the problems we experienced at the GC, I think the CCI would be my choice in the future. I may write more about the two hotels later.

Joy! Fun! Vacation! And then the government shut down! Seriously, could this trip be any more cursed? Mike is a federal employee of the exempt, essential variety, and worked it out with his boss so that he had 2 days to make it back to DC so he could begin working for no pay (at least until all of this ends). We climbed aboard the Disneyland Railroad and talked about what we wanted to do while the train circled the park - a somewhat odd place to talk but it was fairly quiet and worked for us. To start with, we completely cancelled the planned final leg of the trip - San Diego. So we could at least have a bit of fun, we decided that we would enjoy our day at the park, including lunch at the Blue Bayou and Mickey's Halloween Party that night. We booked Mike on a flight back to DC the next day (Wednesday) and I stayed in Anaheim with DSis and DNiece until Saturday, when I flew back to DC while they flew home to Boston.

Now that all of that is out of the way, the next installment will be the AWESOMENESS that is Disneyland and why that may not bode so well for WDW and my perhaps premature trip report.