PTR OCT, 2014: Whoever's great reunion tour... 10/20/14-10/24/14

[whoever]

October 2014 Trip - Introductions

Welcome to my first ever Disneyland PTR/TR combo.

I've done plenty of TRs here (see my signature for links), but this is my first time planning one out like this, so about time I did a PTR. This is going to be my eighth trip to Disneyland as an adult with a family of my own! We are now 23 days away from departure, and I just finished wrapping up some of the loose ends (and my previous TR), so it’s the perfect time to do a PTR.

Let's start with some introductions for those that don't know me/us.

Here are the wife and I, Amy and Matt:

And here's the rest of the crew:

Nearly 8 year old Katherine (as of our coming trip):

And 5.5 year old Charlotte (as of our coming trip):

And 2 year old Victoria (as of our coming trip):

And the family photo from earlier this year:

Joining us will be Lindsey, and Her DD5, Reese who have been close friends for many years, but whom now live a long ways away in Indiana and we only get to see once a year. They've accompanied us on trips to DLR on a few occasions.

 

[whoever]

The Plan

We are staying at the Grand Californian Hotel and Spa as we always do when traveling as a family. We keep kicking the idea of moving over to the Disneyland Hotel one of these days to try it out, but still haven't been able to pull ourselves away from our favorite lodgings at the Disneyland Resort.


Our Itinerary looks like this:

Monday, October 20th, leave Phoenix as early as humanly possible while still being able to close down the park for Mickey's Halloween Party. We'll be rolling out in our trusty kid hauler, the Volvo XC90 (with a V8... gotta have the V8 ) Should take us about five hours for the trip including fuel and food/bathroom stops, but I really want to check in early for a better chance at room configuration and view preference. More to come on our proposed departure time as we near the trip.

The kids are coming out of school for this. Their fall break is actually the week preceding this trip, and we had tried to book for that week, but found it completely sold-out due to the Utah break. Oh well... the oldest kid is a genius, so she'll have her homework for the whole week done before we even leave.

At some point, Lindsey and Reese will show up. They are staying off property on Harbor, and I'm not quite sure when they are getting in. We won't be doing a regular park day at all (well... I may be able to because I have an AP) because no need to burn those expensive park hopper tickets when we have MHP tickets for the evening. The plan is to check in, and use the pool. With the heat which SoCal has been experiencing lately, I'm pretty confident it will be pool weather during our stay.

We'll hopefully have our room ready well before the Halloween party start, and will be able to get dressed up with plenty of time to spare. I think they let the MHP people in at 3 or 4 PM day of even though the party doesn't start until 6PM.

The costumes... we are doing Peter Pan!! This is going to have some gender miss-matches, but hey, I'm one guy traveling with six gals and Peter Pan only has 2-3 gals in it total. Here's the breakdown of our cast:

Amy: Captain Hook
Me: Mr. Smee
Katherine: Peter Pan
Charlotte: Tinkerbelle
Victoria: Michael Darling
Lindsey: John Darling
Reese: Wendy Darling

Should be a fun night and we'll probably run into some people I know for sure.


Tuesday, October 21st; regular park day. My family will have EMH and L&R will have Magic Morning, so we'll meet up at Disneyland first thing and rock it out. They haven't been since refurbs and Halloween overlays, so I'm sure we'll spend some time in the West End.

Wednesday, October 22nd; regular park day for the most part. My family will have EMH at DCA, so we'll do that and meet up with L&R at some point. We'll be cutting this day short for a couple reasons. It’s another MHP (which we don't have tickets to), so DL will be off limits for us, and DCA is probably going to be beyond packed. That being said, I've decided Amy and I will be doing Chef's Counter at Napa Rose for an 8:30 PM Reservation. We'll see if L wants to come, as I'll be arranging for child-care in our room for our girls. Really looking forward to this as we've never been, and I know I'm going to love the cuisine as I recently sampled some of Chef Sutton's new creations for lunch over at Club 33 a few weeks back.

Thursday, October 23rd; regular park day. Again, both my family, and R&L will have early entry into Disneyland, so maybe hit the East side first thing as we will have no doubt passed on it on our previous early entry day at DL.

Friday, October 24th; truncated park day. L&R will be leaving to fly back to Indiana at some point during the day, and we'll likely leave in the late afternoon/early evening for the long drive back to Phoenix.

At some point, there will also be a Ariel's Grotto for all the girls... just don't know when quite yet.

This will be our first Halloween trip since 2011, so we are pretty excited. We also are doing PhotoPass Plus for this trip, so I'm going to have access to all those attraction ride photos in addition to the PP photogs around the parks. I tend to hand them my camera as the pics typically turn out better than what they shoot, but it will be nice to have some pics with all of us in them for once as they are usually absent myself.

Can't wait, and so much to get ready and do before our trip...

 

[Angrose]

Hey there, I love your trip reports and will be following your Halloween adventures! Hopefully in a few years I can get to DLR around that time of year as well. Sounds like a super fun trip you've got planned there.
After reading your PTR, I'm feeling inspired to do one myself for our Thanksgiving weekend trip. It's just a matter of finding the time!
Happy Planning

 

[whoever]

We've now booked the following as well:

Blue Bayou Restaurant
Date: Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Time: 11:30 AM


Plaza Inn - Minnie's Character Breakfast
Date: Thursday, October 23, 2014
Time: 10:55 AM

 

[whoever]

Hey there, I love your trip reports and will be following your Halloween adventures! Hopefully in a few years I can get to DLR around that time of year as well. Sounds like a super fun trip you've got planned there.

Thanks!!! Can't wait to get back with the whole family for a Halloween trip.

After reading your PTR, I'm feeling inspired to do one myself for our Thanksgiving weekend trip. It's just a matter of finding the time!
Happy Planning

DO it!!!

 

[whoever]

While not what Victoria will be wearing to Mickey's Halloween Party, she will be wearing it to the park and for actual Halloween back here in Phoenix. She LOVES "Mimmie Mouse"

Amy found a hat to start with, re-blocked and shaped it to what she needed, and sewed on the feathers... Capt. Hook she will be!

And some more stuff for the trip has arrived. The PhotoPass+ certificate (the instructions leave something to be desired..."Stop by any of the Disney's PhotoPass Sales Centers listed on the back"... there's nothing on the back)

And Amy found this for me on eBay (and for less than it originally sold for based upon the park sales tag on the back). I'm a HUGE fan of the Grand Californian Hotel. This luggage tag is the bee's knees.

Also called the Grand, talked to them about in-room child care, signed the release of liability waiver, and they sent me a list of local agencies to use. Have to select one and get it lined up... only 16 days left!!

 

[Angrose]

It's coming along, isn't it?!! Can't wait to see all of you in your costumes, sounds like so much fun!

I'll be interested to hear how the in-room child care goes. We are thinking of doing this for one night on our trip so DH and I can enjoy some adult time. We gotta hit up Trader Sam's!

 

[whoever]

A couple of updates...

Childcare selected.
Sitter was a four hour minimum, so doing 8-12pm for our Napa Evening. $22/hr for three kids, plus parking fees (anybody know what/where they'll park?) Can they use one of our room keys to park in the Grand parking lot as we'll be valeted?

We decided to invite our close friend to dinner with us. For $4/hr, she can park her daughter with our girls as they get along fabulously together.

Called and talked with Linda over at Napa, and Napa Chef's counter extended to a party of 3.


The Ariel's Grotto has also been expanded for a party of six (my wife, our friend, and all the girls) for 1:10PM on the 22nd. I'll be over at Cove bar doing lobster nachos and either Tower10 IPAs or their excellent Mojitos.

Such the planning for basically a family of 7 which we practically are.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Can't wait to see it

 

[whoever]

Amy's costume is coming together. Hopefully she can make some real progress this weekend. We are only 10 days out.

Her special purchase for this trip arrived today...the new Dooney Haunted Mansion Letter Carrier (the Vera is for size comparison in response to a request for something to guage it against).

 

[pepe3penelope]

Hi, Matt! Found your PTR/TR this morning! I had followed your last solo TR & love it! You also helped me w/some ?'s about Carthay Circle's tour. DH & I are doing a day trip for my bday w/o the kids on Friday the 24th (your departure date). He & I will be there to lunch. I had planned to do the tour beforehand but my parents threw a kink at my plan so we'll see!

Loving this report! Your family is so adorable. Loving the plan for the family and friend costumes. Can't wait to see the pictures! By the way, my name is also Amy!!!

 

[whoever]

Here's the wife's costume. Completely hand made other than the base of the shoes and the hat (which was reshaped).

She has tights for the lower legs, a wig for the hair, and is working on a baldric (maybe) and scabbard for a play sword. I offered her up my screen accurate POTC Jack Sparrow Sword and scabbard, bu they probably wouldn't let us in with it.

 

[whoever]

Hi, Matt! Found your PTR/TR this morning! I had followed your last solo TR & love it! You also helped me w/some ?'s about Carthay Circle's tour. DH & I are doing a day trip for my bday w/o the kids on Friday the 24th (your departure date). He & I will be there to lunch. I had planned to do the tour beforehand but my parents threw a kink at my plan so we'll see!

That's a bummer about the tour. I did it twice so far. The latest was in September for my Dapper Day trip with just the wife and I. Check that out if you want some awesome experiences of DLR without kids as a couple.

Loving this report! Your family is so adorable. Loving the plan for the family and friend costumes. Can't wait to see the pictures! By the way, my name is also Amy!!!

Ha!! Great name. Drop me a line if you want to say hi while we are there.

 

[pepe3penelope]

DW's costume is sooooo awesome yet adorable at the same time! Love it!

Your family must be setting things in high gear because your trip is sooooo close! Enjoy the packing & last minute details! Have a safe drive over.

Weather this week had been cooler, but Yahoo's weather forecast is saying that Anaheim will be 79 on Monday up to 93 on Friday!

I'll let you know how Carthay Circle turns out!

 

[whoever]

This weekend is going to be rough. The list is a mile long.

Thursday after work I had a fifth tire mounted to a spare wheel for our Volvo. Last time we were on a trip, we had an unrepairable puncture which resulted in a purchase of four brand new tires just to get home. They refused to put anything other than the same tire on the vehicle due to the AWD, so I'm not taking any chances this time. One full-size exact replacement spare will accompany us.
It will be tight fitting everything in the cargo area as it won't fit where the factory spare is due to it having to slide above the rear suspension, which only the super-skinny factory spare will fit.

 

[whoever]

And the second member of the ensemble.... myself as Smee (Hat crocheted by the wife. All the rest purchased stuff or stuff we already had.

 

[whoever]

And Katherine as Peter (Hat and shirt wife made)

 

[whoever]

And Charlotte as Tink (wife made the costume 3 years ago and she wore it at the last Halloween party we attended). She's so petite it still fits her.

 

[whoever]

And.... Victoria as Michael.

 

[whoever]

And Reese as Wendy and Lindsey as John (we'll be bringing her an umbrella)