Planning is half the fun... counting down to our fabulous return!

[jensen]

Who's up for a low-season visit to Wine Country?

DH and I are heading to San Francisco and Napa Valley this week with friends. Hindsight being what it is, we probably shouldn't have booked this vacation with all of the work going on at our house and our Disney vacation less than two months away. But, our friends have been begging us to go to wine country with them and they found some really cheap flights, so off we go.

My sister and BIL live in Silicon Valley and visit Napa regularly, so they are wine club members at several wineries in the region. They have agreed to be our tour guides, so I haven't really done any planning for this trip.

We fly out very early Thursday morning and arrive at SFO around noon. My sister and BIL will meet us at the airport and we'll all drive up to Napa together. They reserved a three-bedroom house for us and we'll stay there two nights.

We'll visit a couple of wineries Thursday afternoon and then have a nice dinner somewhere in the valley. That evening, we'll head back to the house and enjoy the hot tub and fireplace. Friday we have a limo hired to take us to a few more wineries... I think my sister has a couple of tours planned and lunch at Gott's Roadside (formerly Taylor's Automatic Refresher). That evening we'll eat someplace fantastic, I'm sure.

Saturday we'll head into San Francisco and hit the tourist spots there. That evening, we are meeting family of our friends and they have promised to take us to a great SF restaurant.

Sunday is my niece/Goddaughter's 2nd birthday. So, we'll head south to my sister's home in Gilroy and have a little birthday gathering with some family and friends that evening. We'll spend that night at my sister's house.

Monday we aren't sure, yet. We'll do whatever we feel like... maybe head over to Monterey, Carmel, etc. ... playing it by ear.

We fly out on Tuesday afternoon, getting home late that night.

Should be a nice break from all the craziness of the house construction and holiday shopping.

Have any of you been to Napa Valley, San Francisco or Monterey Bay? If so, I'd love to know some of the highlights - not to be missed things to do.

 

[lledman]

WEDNESDAY
This day we will head over to DHS.

THURSDAY
Today we'll head to Epcot.

Subbing to follow along. I think we'll be at the same parks on these days. We'll miss Fantasmic on our trip but I'm still looking forward to the EMH at the studios.

 

[jensen]

Subbing to follow along. I think we'll be at the same parks on these days. We'll miss Fantasmic on our trip but I'm still looking forward to the EMH at the studios.

I'm sorry I totally missed this comment when it was first posted. I'm a little disappointed to see that they aren't even planning to show Fantasmic the whole time we are there. But, I agree that EMH at the Studios is great. I LOVE TOT in the dark!!!!

 

[lledman]

I'm sorry I totally missed this comment when it was first posted. I'm a little disappointed to see that they aren't even planning to show Fantasmic the whole time we are there. But, I agree that EMH at the Studios is great. I LOVE TOT in the dark!!!!

Did you notice that Wednesday the 25th is no longer an evening EMH at the Studios according to the calendar on the Disney website?

 

[jensen]

Where has the time gone? I cannot believe we are only 7 days out from our fabulous return!

It's been quite a while since we sprung The Great Christmas Surprise on our kids. But, I'm really glad we did it that way. The kids and I have been busily preparing and planning and getting so excited together this past month.

DH and I debated the merits of different suprise plans. We considered a scavenger hunt or a mystery game. We talked about doing a big package full of Disney items like we'd done in the past. But ultimately decided to keep it simple. We wrapped our itinerary and a couple of luggage tags in a shirt box. We set it aside and it was the last gift they opened on Christmas morning.

DS knew immediately (as we figured he would) what the gift meant. He jumped up and started hugging us and yelping with excitement.

DD, on the other hand, was bewildered until her brother said, "We're going to DisneyWorld!" Then she joined in on the cheering, too.

It's all they've (we've) talked about since that day. They loved their other gifts, but a return to Disney is something they really wanted... and didn't expect. So, it's very exciting for all of us.

 

[jensen]

Did you notice that Wednesday the 25th is no longer an evening EMH at the Studios according to the calendar on the Disney website?

Yes, I noticed many changes... the worst (IMO) being the lack of an Electrical Parade at Magic Kingdom. Second worst is the fact that there are no evening EMH at Animal Kingdom. Two of my very favorite things!

 

[lledman]

It's been quite a while since we sprung The Great Christmas Surprise on our kids. But, I'm really glad we did it that way. The kids and I have been busily preparing and planning and getting so excited together this past month.

So glad to hear that the surprise went well. I can't imagine not telling my kids and letting them share in the planning process with me.