PTR: Prepping for our June 2015 20th anniversary & mega-birthday celebration spectacular!

[Tasscrapper]

By the way, I had 3 kids get tonsils out within 6 months and they were all a bit different in how they dealt with it but the one thing they all seemed to like was Slurpees. None of them were very interested in popsicles but I would get them a Slurpee from Sams Club or where ever in an insulated mug and it would stay good for hours and it really seemed to help their throats and their willingness to drink. Good luck!

 

[VandVsmama]

Thanks for the suggestion! I hadn't thought of Slurpees!

 

[VandVsmama]

OCTOBER TRIP PLANS UPDATE!

Plans for our October trip have changed a bit as well. Originally, we were going to do 4 days at the parks, but BIL & SIL want to go camping w/us for a couple of days prior to us going to DL...and the good news is that they might join us for 1 of the DL days! YAY!!!!!

In case you haven't seen the picture earlier in this thread of my nephew fighting a stormtrooper in Tomorrowland, you should check it out and then you'll understand my glee.

Good news is that DNiece has the same week off of school in October as our kids. YAY!!! So our revised plans are going to be:

• Fri 10/9 - hit the road right after school ends & drive to Big Bear.
• Sat 10/10 - camp w/BIL & SIL in Big Bear
• Sun 10/11 - finish camping in Big Bear, drive the 2 hours to Anaheim & check in at Tropicana.
• Mon 10/12 - Disneyland!
• Tues 10/13 - Disneyland! Use our Magic Morning entry on this day.
• Wed 10/14 - last day at Disneyland. Check out of motel by 11:00 am, move car to DL parking lot. @ end of day, drive to BIL/SIL's house in La Mesa. Overnight in La Mesa.
• Thurs 10/15 - drive back home.

I'm hoping that we can afford to go to Mickey's Halloween Party, but all we might be able to swing is the regular 3-day park hoppers. MHP will likely cost us an extra $250-270, depending on what the prices are this year.

 

[kaoden39]

What fun changes!!

 

[VandVsmama]

Give it 24 hours and our plans change yet again! LOL!!!

DH spent some time today w/his mom for Mother's Day (since YDD is getting over strep/scarlet fever) and she has expressed interest in accompanying us out to La Mesa in June. So my original plans for Sunday 6/8 were this:

Sun 6/7:

• 7am - everybody in the car & on the road. Realistically, it'll probably be 7:30 am that we are on the road. LOL!
• ~ 2pm - arrive in Anaheim. Stop in the 15-minute parking lot @ DL so I can get birthday buttons for ODD & YDD and get Happy 20th Anniversary buttons for DH & I. I want to get the buttons on Sunday because I want to utilize our time on Monday as best as possible! Then go over to BW Plus Pavilions motel on Katella and check in.
• ~2-5pm - pool time for the kids. Knowing my DH, he'll want to walk over to DTD and go to the Lego Store (my ODD loves that store).
• ~ 5-7pm - dinner next door at Marri's Pizza. Or get it to go and eat al fresco by the pool. But if DH wants to go to the Lego Store, then we'd probably eat dinner at White Water Snacks at the GCH instead.
• 8pm - kids in bed

However...
Since we'll now have to stop in La Mesa & drop off my MIL, we'll arrive in Anaheim later than 2pm. More like 4-5pm, I think, mostly because my kids & DNiece & DNephew will be ecstatic to see each other and they'll want to play for a little bit before we hit the road again.

Plus side to this detour - I can unload the cooler & toys from the car & leave them at BIL/SIL's house.
Down side to this detour - kids probably won't get pool time. But chances are pretty high that YDD won't be allowed in a pool yet then anyway due to her ear & throat surgery. But that's ok, because we'll just spend some extra time in DTD and do some pin trading (which we all LOVE!!!).

What this means to the tail end of our trip in Big Bear:
DH, ODD, YDD, & I will camp w/BIL & SIL at the Hanna Flat campground instead of stay at AIL/UIL's cabin. MIL will stay w/AIL & UIL at the cabin. Campground is only 10-15 from the cabin. Downside of this: have to sleep on the ground. I'm a delicate desert flower! LOL! Plus side of this: us young'uns can have a campfire outside, roast marshmallows, & tell stories and hang out after the kiddies are asleep in the tents.

Here's a link to the campground website in case anyone is interested! http://www.reserveamerica.com/campi...oundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=70532
It's $26/night + $5/night for each extra car. We'll split the costs with BIL & SIL.

 

[VandVsmama]

While we are all waiting for our departure day to arrive, this happened in my front yard:


It's an agave, planted right in front of our Palo Verde tree. The agave flowers only once and then dies. This agave is about 12 years old. The flower stalk looks like a big asparagus! And as of today, it's even taller than the top most part of the roof on our house! Apparently, our local bats love the flower nectar. Every day when we come home from school, we are amazed at how much taller it is! I swear, the stalk must be 13 feet high now.

A couple of months ago, this bloomed in the backyard:

It's something called a gopher plant. It looks really weird and that's why I love it!

And we had a big swim meet for all the kids ages 8 & under. The hosting team had everybody participate in a parade around the pool. It was so much fun. There was a Hawaiian theme, hence the leis, and every kid got a goody bag with treats, sunglasses, and other cool stuff to take home! This is YDD ready for the "parade of athletes" to start. She cracks me up!


This is ODD at a recent school event.

 

[kaoden39]

More fun changes for you!

 

[VandVsmama]

Only 28 more days until we're in DL!

I am so totally super excited now I just can't stand it! So to satisfy my Disneyland needs today, we watched some ride videos. A big thank you to all of the YouTubers out there who are at the parks with their GoPro cameras because the video of Splash Mountain helped my skittish ODD decide to ride Splash Mountain with all of us!

ODD also decided that she really wants to "ride the cars again, Mommy" (aka Autopia). I loved Autopia when I was a kid. I mean, what kid wouldn't love it? You get to drive a real car way before you're allowed to in the outside world. Might have to spring for the Autopia Driver's Licenses this time!

I also played again with RideMax, adding Autopia back into our list and taking out one of the Fantasyland dark rides like Snow White or Pinocchio. So here's how it came out:

8:05am Matterhorn Bobsleds (see tip #1 below)
8:17am Mad Tea Party
8:25am Alice in Wonderland
8:34am Dumbo, the Flying Elephant
8:48am Send Runner to Get Splash Mountain FASTPASS
8:48am Main Group Visit King Arthur Carrousel
8:56am Main Group Visit Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
8:57am Runner Get Splash Mountain FASTPASS
9:07am Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
9:21am Pirates of the Caribbean
9:46am Haunted Mansion (see tip #5)
10:01am Send Runner to Get Star Tours FASTPASS
10:12am Runner Get Star Tours FASTPASS
10:35am Splash Mountain (use FASTPASS)
11:07am Tiki Room
11:40am Star Tours (use FASTPASS)
11:58am Free Time

10:15pm Autopia- I think after Autopia, we'll take the train to Main Street Station

 

[VandVsmama]

OCTOBER TRIP UPDATE!

After talking with BIL and deciding that we will camp with them a couple of days before DL in October, I changed our Oct hotel reservations from 5 nights to 3. So this means that hotel will only cost $417! Plus half of our tickets are paid for already, so now I just have to buy the other two tickets plus squirrel away food $$ for the 3 days at DL and we are all set!

 

[VandVsmama]

Well, YDD's surgery yesterday went well. She's recuperating at home now. No PE at school for 2 weeks. We have to see the doctor in 6 weeks for a follow up.

I was going through our pin lanyards yesterday and realized that I couldn't find DH's! Well, for some reason he had squirreled it away in his car. Not lost after all. Whew! The Disney Store has half off a pin set that includes 7 pins and I'm thinking of getting it so we can have a few pins to trade when we're at DL.

 

[kaoden39]

I'm glad to hear DD's surgery went well. Two weeks without PE? Typical man! To him it wasn't lost! Good luck on the pins. I've never gotten into the whole trading thing. I usually find ones I want and that's it.

 

[VandVsmama]

Well, darn it, the Disney Store was all sold out of the 50% off pin set that I was eye'ing.

We are now at the 25 day mark! 25 days left until we're at DL!

I changed our ride itinerary again. Showed YDD a Youtube video of BTMRR and she gave it a thumbs down. Oh well, if YDD isn't keen on it, then ODD definitely will hate it (YDD is more adventurous than ODD). And my DH hates roller coasters.

...which leaves me with Space Mountain - a ride that freaked out ODD, DH ended the ride disliking it even more than he did before, and YDD was lukewarm the last time we were at DL.

So I decided to put on my big girl britches and reminded myself that this trip is a birthday trip for ODD & YDD and an anniversary trip for DH & I, so it's not just about the roller coasters that I like (and would really like my family to enjoy, too!). DH is a big computer game dude. In fact, he is playing one right now.

So when I told him earlier this evening that Buzz Lightyear was like playing a large in-person video game (sort of like TSMM is at DCA - he loved that attraction), he grinned from ear to ear and said, "Yeah! Let's do that one!"

Back to RideMax I went! I love that app. This is what it came up with:

We start off in Fantasyland, assuming we're there for rope drop:
8:05am Matterhorn Bobsleds
8:17am Mad Tea Party
8:26am Dumbo, the Flying Elephant
8:38am King Arthur Carrousel
8:45am Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
8:51am Alice in Wonderland

Then we go to Tomorrowland:
9:04am Buzz Lightyear
9:15am Send Runner to Get Star Tours FASTPASS (this is a good time for me to take kids to bathroom)
9:16am Runner Get Star Tours FASTPASS
9:28am Autopia

10:13am Send Runner to Get Splash Mountain FASTPASS
** This is a good time for DH to have ODD & YDD make droids for their cousins at the droid station in Star Traders.
10:24am Runner Get Splash Mountain FASTPASS
10:35am Star Tours (use FASTPASS)

Then we all go over to Adventureland:
10:57am Tiki Room

And then we mosey over to Critter Country for Splash Mountain:
11:35am Splash Mountain (use FASTPASS) Critter Country 12 12 4
12:03pm Free Time

• Note: I like the timing of this for the morning. It ends in Critter Country, which is where DH wants to eat lunch (Hungry Bear). And right after lunch, we can go on the Winnie the Pooh ride since it usually has minimal lines. Plus if we decide that we want to go on Star Tours again, we can get another FP for it.

Then starting at dinner time, we spend some time in New Orleans Square:
5:10pm Dinner at Blue Bayou, get our Fantasmic! FP's
6:21pm Free Time
7:18pm Pirates of the Caribbean
7:45pm Haunted Mansion

After that:
8:30pm - go to Fantasmic! viewing area
9:00pm - Fantasmic!
9:30pm - fireworks
10:00pm - maybe fit in 1 last ride on something and then leave. My kids will be REALLY tired!

Other iterations of this had us on the Matterhorn late at night with a 35 minute wait and since the Matterhorn will only have been operational for a week or 2 when we're there, I'm not too thrilled at going on the Matterhorn in the evening....due to southern CA AP holders who will be jones'ing to ride it before their AP's get blocked for the summer. So us riding it first thing in the morning is a good thing!

 

[VandVsmama]

Well, we are now half way through YDD's recovery from her getting her tonsils & adenoids removed. She's back at school today. The past week has been full of ice cream and Otter Pops and frozen yogurt and other soft foods.

Our family countdown continues! 22 days until we're at Disneyland and after today, 8 more days of school left in the school year! WOOT! My kids' school is set up such that the last 5-6 days of the school year is "Project Week." All of the kids participate and they have to pick 3 different projects to do. The school then assigns them to 1 of their 3 picks. You get a pass or fail grade on project week and the grade is basically based on them trying hard and working with their classmates.

ODD got assigned "Muggles Unite!" They can wear pajamas or a Harry Potter costume all week. They can bring a pillow or stuffed animal. And they're going to be making potions...and watching Harry Potter movies, too!

YDD got assigned "Folkloric Dancing." So 1 day, they're doing a field trip to our local Chinese Cultural Center, where they're going to learn Tai Chi and how to do a dragon dance. The other days of project week, they'll learn about a different country each day, along with learning a new dance each day and doing arts & crafts fun stuff for each country.

One of the 6th grade project options involves going on an archeological dig. I wish I could do that!

DL Update!
DH told me yesterday evening that he's NEVER been on the Matterhorn. EVER! In all the years as a kid (and he grew up in Southern California) when he'd go to DL every year with his grandparents, he's NEVER been on the Matterhorn? Holy moly, Mickey Mouse! We need to rectify that!

 

[kaoden39]

Have you eaten at the Hungry Bear before? My DH. And I ate there in 2012 and I had the fried green tomatoe sandwich and it was amazing!

The girls project week sounds absolutely fun! What a great way to end the year!


DH hasn't ever ridden on the Matterhorn? Oh boy! Now he has to do it!

 

[VandVsmama]

Have you eaten at the Hungry Bear before? My DH. And I ate there in 2012 and I had the fried green tomatoe sandwich and it was amazing!

The girls project week sounds absolutely fun! What a great way to end the year!


DH hasn't ever ridden on the Matterhorn? Oh boy! Now he has to do it!

We ate at the Hungry Bear on our last visit to DL 2 years ago. DH & I both LOVE the fried green tomato sandwich! And my picky eater children loved the sweet potato fries.

Speaking of Project Week...
Here's a photo I took of the kids this morning before we headed off for school. ODD got assigned to "Muggles Unite!" and YDD got assigned to "Folkloric Dancing." We borrowed ODD's costume from a friend. I wish that I could go to potions class all week instead of going to work! LOL!


We are now down to 17 days until we're in Disneyland! YAY! During our other days in San Diego, I'm thinking of also taking the kids to the Cabrillo National Monument to see if we can check out the tide pools at Point Loma. And there's a neat Living Coast Discovery Center in Chula Vista on San Diego bay ($14/adult, $9/child general admission) that has some interesting animals & stuff to check out. We might do that as well.

So our itinerary is starting to look like this:

• Sun 6/7 - drive to La Mesa, drop off Grandma, drive to Anaheim & check into BW Plus Pavilions. Eat dinner next door at Mari's Pizza on Katella.
• Mon 6/8 - Disneyland! Lunch @ Blue Bayou. Watch 8:50 pm Paint the Night parade, followed by fireworks at 9:30 pm.
• Tues 6/9 - go to the Fleet Science Center in San Diego's Balboa Park. Return to BIL/SIL's house by 3pm since that's about when DNiece will get home from school.
• Wed 6/10 - out the door early to check out the tide pools @ Point Loma. Only costs $5/vehicle to get into the Cabrillo National Monument. They're open 9am-5pm and from tidal records, it looks like low tide will be about 9:30 am. Each lunch maybe somewhere nearby at Point Loma or Coronado Island & head back to La Mesa shortly after lunch.
• Thurs 6/11 - maybe go see the Living Coast Discovery Center in Chula Vista. Preferably in morning. Or take kids to the Santee town lakes and let the kids play in one of the splash pad areas ($3-$5/kid), bring a picnic lunch.
• Fri 6/12 - drive up to the campground at Big Bear Lake.
• Sat 6/13 - camping at Big Bear Lake.
• Sun 6/14 - drive home to Tucson.

 

[VandVsmama]

Throwback Thursday!
From 5 years ago when my babies were just 2 and 4 years old!

 

[kaoden39]

Oh so cute!

 

[VandVsmama]

13 more days until we're in Disneyland!

Ridemax is great. It helps me when I constantly change my mind, like I've been doing over the last couple of weeks. Seeing all of those fabulous pictures online of 60th anniversary merchandise got me thinking and since we'll be going to DL again in October, I decided to cancel our Blue Bayou lunch reservations completely.

I know, I know! I'm probably crazy for doing this. But this will mean that I can contain all of our meal costs for the whole day in the same amount of $$ that we would have paid at Blue Bayou just for lunch.

So instead, I made a reservation at Carnation Cafe on Main Street at 5:30 pm on 6/8. We'll likely be around Main Street at that time anyway. I want to get the kids pressed pennies at a couple of Main Street locations. And I plan on getting silhouettes done of my kids. My mom got silhouettes done of my sister and I many years ago and she saved them and now those silhouettes are a treasured keepsake since my mom passed away a few years ago.

So here's our yet-again revised attraction itinerary for that day:

• 8:05am - Star Tours
• 8:20 am - Buzz Lightyear
• 8:28 am - Autopia
• 8:50 am - Alice in Wonderland
• 9:00 am - Dumbo
• 9:23 am - send runner to get Indiana Jones fast pass, main group goes on King Arthur Carrousel
• 9:30 am - runner gets Indiana Jones fast pass
• 9:40 am - Mr Toad's Wild Ride
• 9:57 am - Mad Tea Party
• 10:12 am - send runner to get Splash Mountain fast pass (good time to take kids to bathroom)
• 10:23 am - runner gets Splash Mountain fast pass
• 10:34 am - everybody meets up at Tiki Room to see some singing birdies
• 11:04 am - Indiana Jones
• 11:22 am - Pirates of the Caribbean
• 11:59 am - Splash Mountain
• 12:30 pm - free time - lunch @ Hungry Bear. 1 of DH's favorite spots and it's right there near Splash Mountain! Get the kids a treat from the confectioner's shop near Pooh Corner.

Between lunch & 5:30 pm dinner reservations:

• meet some fairies in Pixie Hollow. This is a must do. They're only open until 3:15 pm
• meet some princesses at Fantasy Faire. This is open until 7pm.
• get some pressed pennies
• pick up our Photo Pass + card after lunch. Get ride photos linked to it.
• get silhouettes on Main Street
• take PhotoPass pictures by the castle & in front of the Mickey at Main Street station.

Then in the evening:

• 5:30 pm - dinner reservations @ Carnation Cafe
• 6:30 pm - Haunted Mansion
• I'm considering snagging a spot on Fantasyland by It's A Small World around 7pm for Paint The Night & having DH take the kids to see the 7:15 pm show of Mickey & The Magical Map. It'll be a good time killer. If we do this, then we'll go to the Haunted Mansion earlier in the day.
• 8:50 pm - see Paint The Night parade
• 9:30 pm - watch fireworks

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I hear you with the 60th anniversary stuff impacting plans - especially for the night time entertainment. Plus with the projection part of the fireworks being different in each area, gotta pick one or go multiple times.

Good thought about the silhouettes. I know my mom had those of me and my sister and I should think about something like that of my kids at some point

 

[kaoden39]

We loved Mickey and the Magical Map! So much so that my 19 year old daughter went twice to watch it. We've even watched it on YouTube! Can we say "geeks"?