PHXscuba's Club 33 Christmas

[DizNee Luver]

Woo Hoo.......almost trip time!!! I'll make sure to let Mickey know you all will be there after I leave!!!

 

[PHXscuba]

So if you've read from the beginning, you'll remember waaaay back on page 2 that I was dissing the Limited Time Magic offerings, specifically the "Dapper Dans Sing Boy Bands" idea, which I (still) think is about the dumbest thing ever, especially since "hip" and "Disney" don't always turn out well. And those poor men, having to sing those teenybopper songs, wonder what they think?

Well, I'm (not) sad to say I will just miss the "Dapper Dans Sing Boy Bands" week. This Disney Parks Blog post says they will be doing this next week and be done before I arrive. Makes me feel better -- I was thinking after all my time grumping about it that the Dapper Dan thing would be during the week I was there! Disney karma, you know?

And 2 weeks until we leave for CA!!


PHXscuba

 

[kaoden39]

So if you've read from the beginning, you'll remember waaaay back on page 2 that I was dissing the Limited Time Magic offerings, specifically the "Dapper Dans Sing Boy Bands" idea, which I (still) think is about the dumbest thing ever, especially since "hip" and "Disney" don't always turn out well. And those poor men, having to sing those teenybopper songs, wonder what they think?

Well, I'm (not) sad to say I will just miss the "Dapper Dans Sing Boy Bands" week. This Disney Parks Blog post says they will be doing this next week and be done before I arrive. Makes me feel better -- I was thinking after all my time grumping about it that the Dapper Dan thing would be during the week I was there! Disney karma, you know?

And 2 weeks until we leave for CA!!


PHXscuba

Oh my gosh! I remember that conversation well. You are a lucky bug!

 

[PHXscuba]

So we are in home stretch and the kids are mentally counting down. They have been watching both Fantasias this afternoon and I am going to hand out the pins and let them start pin-trading with each other later after dinner. Two weeks from today, we should be checked into the PPH!!

I was looking over some of my trip notes and trying to read more about California Adventure. Despite my many DL visits, I've really only been in DCA about a day and a half. For our one-day trips when the kids were younger, we never felt up to tackling parkhopping, We spent one whole daytime (about 10-6:30) there on our October 2009 trip. At the time, there was a lot under construction. Combined with spending the whole Paradise Pier morning child-swapping with short DS and DD, we decided we really wouldn't be back to do a big multi-day trip until they finished construction and the younger kids grew, i.e. NOW!!

I got to DCA on my girls trip in Dec. 2010. We spent about a half day and hit the highlights, but I think the only "new" thing I did was see the Aladdin show. Since it was a Christmas-focused trip, we wanted to spend most of our two days in Disneyland.

(DS16 spent part of a day there on a band trip in Oct 2011. I think they just did rollercoasters/thrill rides)

So there's a long list of things that are new since our/my trips, plus things that were open but we didn't have time to do in our short day there in 2009. Any tips for these attractions would be appreciated!

New or significantly different attractions:

Goofys Sky School -- bigger kids and DH rode as Mulholland Madness
Little Mermaid
All of Carsland (duh)
Red Car Trolley
Silly Symphony Swings  renovating then, renovating now
World of Color

Attractions we just didn't do last time:

Animation Academy
Bakery Tour
Aladdin musical -- I saw but the fam hasn't
Golden Zephyr
Grizzly River Run -- DH dislikes raft rides and it was rainy last time
Redwood Creek Challenge

So DCA selling itself as a whole new park actually applies to us more than most. With four park days, we should have plenty of time to see everything we want and the little ones are both over 48 inches! DS7 hated Tower of Terror the first two times he went on it (at DL at age 4 and WDW at age 6) but keeps telling us he's trying it again.

Anyone want to lay bets on whether I can convince DH onto Grizzly River Run? He didn't ride Kali River Rapids at WDW or the raft ride at Knott's last summer despite them being nice warm days. I'm betting he won't go on, but that's not stopping the rest of us, although I will be doing GRR before a break so we can get dry clothes if needed.


PHXscuba

p.s. And I didn't even go into the new entertainment or eats -- Ghirardelli, Trolley Treats, Clarabelle's etc. We really need a drooling smiley!

 

[Lynne G]

Glad you are feeling better.

Your family are good sports. My DS teen may not have been razzing me if I did the 80's garb, that is, unless he was with me. DD on the otherhand, is a tween and is more concerned about what I wear and she wears nowadays!

Have fun seeing the new things in the parks. Our last visit was 3 years ago, so we are sad to see the tortilla factory go (DS and I liked the free handout), but we are looking forward to the new things this year. I fondly remember telling DS to meet me at the F letter if we got lost. That year we did the fun 5k run.

 

[PHXscuba]

So now I think I am getting greedy ...

I think my plan after we check into the PPH on Sunday afternoon is to get over to DL and activate both my AP and the Photopass Plus, so I don't have to deal with either later. If the weather's good the kids might swim, or just check out the hotel while I am gone. Then we'd likely eat in DTD and let the kids look in the stores.

But then I started thinking, and that's where I get into trouble. Our arrival time Sunday afternoon is fairly flexible. Once we get done with church around noon and eat lunch, I have a feeling I will be holding wild horses back from showing up at DL ... and the kids too.

So .... it would be about $75 to convert the rest of the family's 4-day parkhoppers to 5-day parkhoppers and go into Disneyland on Sunday night. We did this at WDW and went to Magic Kingdom even though we only stayed about 3.5 hours the first evening. Realistically if we headed to DL we would have about 5-plus hours and leave after the 9:30 fireworks.

Pros:
Fills up the evening
Get gate pictures taken w/o rope-drop chaos
Only night for fireworks and Fantasmic
See original DL before going to DCA the next day

Cons:
Fills up the evening -- no DTD or hotel time
Park will be really busy that night
Kids to bed later
Extra cost of upgrading

I casually ran the idea past DH and he said he was OK with it either way. If I did decide to do it, I probably wouldn't tell the kids or upgrade until we arrive so I can see what weather/health bring that weekend.

Anyone with thoughts on whether I'm going overboard and pushing it going into the parks on our arrival night?

PHXscuba

p.s. I was trying to explain the differences in the resort hotels to the kids. DD13 figured out we weren't staying at the GCH because of the higher cost. DH interrupted and said, "your mom and I will stay there someday -- not you all, just us." My handsome prince!

 

[tksbaskets]

Well that is a quandary...

I think if the park is going to be super crowded I'd let the family relax at the hotel and explore DTD whilst you go and do recon (and shop and take pictures) in the park with your AP.

Of course if the $75 doesn't break the bank it would be fun if you could make a show of Aladdin and then see the fireworks....

Basically I'm no help....

 

[kaoden39]

I am also no help, but..... I am a grade A+ enabler!

1. I am always excited to go to the parks when I get there. I know that I have a hard time relaxing enough to sleep knowing that Disneyland is right there and I am not going in.

2. It is nice to walk off the traveling feeling and the opportunity to relax at the pool and visit the grounds is very inviting. You can visit the ground of all three hotels as well as DTD.

So, as I say I am no help!


And because I know you really didn't want to miss this!

 

[mvf-m11c]

I came by on your PTR which is very interesting and I will come along and follow it. All of your photos are very nice.

If you are going to be at the DLR on the 10th of March which is a Sunday, you will be able to see RDCT fireworks and Fantasmic! on the other days during the weekdays since it is during Spring Break. So you will be able to see the fireworks and F! on the weekdays.

 

[kaoden39]

Pushing my luck with more treat for you!

 

[Lynne G]

Since you are somewhat flexible, I think I would spend the $75 dollars to see the nighttime shows the day you check in. Since you are not driving that far, I would think the excitement would not be tempered with time change and/or worn out travel issues. I would think it would be a great time to just enjoy looking around, have a nice dinner somewhere, then catch the nighttime fireworks and show.

How awesome, you will be there before you know it. So jealoius! Wish I was there now.

 

[Sherry E]

PHX -

Do you happen to have the link to your Knott's Berry Farm info thread handy? One of my Disneyland at Christmas Superthread peeps won some tickets to Knott's and will be going later this year. I would like to be able to refer her to your Knott's thread.

 

[PHXscuba]

Kaoden39, I refuse to even watch those clips. It's just wrong.

I came by on your PTR which is very interesting and I will come along and follow it. All of your photos are very nice.

If you are going to be at the DLR on the 10th of March which is a Sunday, you will be able to see RDCT fireworks and Fantasmic! on the other days during the weekdays since it is during Spring Break. So you will be able to see the fireworks and F! on the weekdays.

Hi mvf-m11c!! Thanks for following! Also thanks for making me check the official Disneyland calendar again. Until very recently, it was not showing fireworks and Fantasmic during the week. Now it is showing fireworks each evening (still no Fantasmic but that wasn't a priority this trip).

Right now I am leaning toward staying in DTD and the hotels, especially since we can see the fireworks during the week. I am the big fireworks lover and I think the kids would just want to ride something that night instead if we went.

PHX -

Do you happen to have the link to your Knott's Berry Farm info thread handy? One of my Disneyland at Christmas Superthread peeps won some tickets to Knott's and will be going later this year. I would like to be able to refer her to your Knott's thread.

Here it is. Thankfully I had a link to it in a response to a more recent thread, because search is down.

PHXscuba

 

[PHXscuba]

Today was NOT awesome.

I was on my way to a class this morning when someone decided to run a red light and smash into the front of my beloved black van. Once we determined that we were all shaken up but fine and got out of the street, my first thought was, "Crap!! I'm leaving for California in a week and a half!! Bad, bad timing."

The other driver was totally at fault and was ticketed. Thankfully she had insurance and it appears it will all get paid for, eventually. But I will have my rental van for at least 3 weeks while they sort it all out and get it fixed.

I already feel so behind and I lost another half-day sorting out the police, tow truck, rental, insurance company interview, etc. It happened right near my house and everyone knows my van, so several friends stopped by the accident scene (the cars were stuck together so we made quite a mess of the intersection for awhile) to be supportive and make sure I was OK.

All in all, except for the crummy timing, it could be a lot worse. I feel very lucky it hit in front of my door or I could be really injured. She was going pretty fast and didn't even see me -- no skid marks. I have great family and friends and the money to put a deposit on the $$$ rental.

Thanks for letting me vent a little ... all of you drive safe, OK?


PHXscuba

 

[kaoden39]

I'm sorry I couldn't resist on the videos. I am a lame person. I watched them.


I am sorry to hear about your accident. I am glad to hear you weren't hurt. I had that happen to me in 2006 when I getting ready to leave on a trip to southern California. He had no insurance, thankfully we have uninsured motorist. In the long run, I preferred having a rental vehicle and not putting those miles on my van.

 

[PHXscuba]

Kaoden, I hadn't thought about the silver lining of not putting miles on my car. Thanks for the reminder.

I am actually posting this from my tablet as a test run for when I'm there so I can give a few live updates! Let's hope it works well.

PHXscuba

 

[kaoden39]

Kaoden, I hadn't thought about the silver lining of not putting miles on my car. Thanks for the reminder.

I am actually posting this from my tablet as a test run for when I'm there so I can give a few live updates! Let's hope it works well.

PHXscuba

Glad to help!


I love my tablet for reading but I hate typing on it.

 

[Lynne G]

Glad you were not hurt and glad it won't mess with your vacation plans.

Happy thought: Snacking on the treats from the cones in carsland!

 

[Sherry E]

PHX -

I'm so glad you were not injured in that accident! Yikes! Judging by the photo you posted, it looks as if the red light-running driver had hit your van just a few inches to the right, you could have been in real trouble. I've been in an accident like that before - except that someone else was driving and I was the passenger - and the car who hit us missed plowing into my passenger seat by a few inches. It was very jarring and traumatic, but it could have been so much worse.

Thank you, also, for the link to your Knott's thread. I PM'd the link to the DIS'er who is going to Knott's in November. I couldn't use the Search feature to find it either. I knew that the thread was somewhere in my Subscribed threads but I have so many subscribed threads that I didn't know how far into them it had disappeared.

 

[PHXscuba]

PHX -

I'm so glad you were not injured in that accident! Yikes! Judging by the photo you posted, it looks as if the red light-running driver had hit your van just a few inches to the right, you could have been in real trouble. I've been in an accident like that before - except that someone else was driving and I was the passenger - and the car who hit us missed plowing into my passenger seat by a few inches. It was very jarring and traumatic, but it could have been so much worse.

Thank you, also, for the link to your Knott's thread. I PM'd the link to the DIS'er who is going to Knott's in November. I couldn't use the Search feature to find it either. I knew that the thread was somewhere in my Subscribed threads but I have so many subscribed threads that I didn't know how far into them it had disappeared.

Yes, I was very, very lucky it hit so far forward. My sister and her family were T-boned in a similar type of accident about 6 years ago and their side airbags deployed. They were all OK except my brother-in-law still has some minor hearing loss from the airbag. And it took 11 weeks for the cruddy insurance company to fix their van! My damage is less and I am hopeful it will be simpler.

But it was definitely jarring and traumatic. I was shaky for awhile and then really cold afterward when the shock wore off. It must have not been too traumatic, though, because I slept well last night (anxiety can give me insomnia).

And to top it all off, I just had to pick up DS7 early from school with a low fever and headache. I just can't catch a break this month!

I need March and my vacation to get here STAT!!

PHXscuba