PTR/TR August 2011 - Our Grand Canyon/DL road trip adventure!

[MemoriesintheMaking]

Woohoo - my first PTR/TR ever! . I'm so excited to be able to plan and obsess to my hearts content here and not burn out my dh before the trip starts!

So, I suppose I should start with our cast of characters, right? Ok, of course, there is yours truly. (No pics in order to protect...well, my pride! Kidding, kidding. I will add some pics as soon as I can, promise!).

Next, there is my wonderful dh. He loves our DL trips, but like I mentioned, burns out on the planning and details WAY before I ever could. .

Then, my two children - my dd is 9 and my ds is 6. They are super excited about our trip, love all things Disney, and are my cohorts in planning.

And finally, we have my little brother (not so little I suppose, 31 - yikes!). He has cerebral palsy and moved in with us almost two years ago. He is an awesome guy and we love him to pieces. He loves music, movies, and being an uncle. He is thrilled about both the Grand Canyon and DL. I am really looking forward to watching him experience DL.

And that is our team! I have to go do some actual work right now but I will be back soon to outline what we have sketched out so far.

I hope everyone is having a good monday!

 

[maryr1oz]

Looking forward to hearing all about your plans!

 

[MemoriesintheMaking]

Looking forward to hearing all about your plans!

Thanks for the welcome!

Okay, let's see how far I get with this today. Our goals: beyond the obvious of seeing the Grand Canyon and enjoying Disneyland, we want this trip to be as relaxing as possible. I know - the middle of August, heat, crowds does not equal relaxing per se, but we just don't want to be rushing around like crazy. We will be exhausted for sure when we return, but I want to look back on the trip as a whole as something easy and fun. We have never taken a trip this big before, and I'm even looking forward to the road trip parts!

As of now, our trip dates are 8/9/11-8/21/11. We plan on leaving our house on Tuesday, 8/9, as early as we can, as in 5-6 AM. No, really. I count on all of us being so excited to get going that it won't be too hard to get up so early. Of course, at the end of the trip, it will be another story, right?

The first two days will be us driving from just outside Portland, OR to Flagstaff, AZ. The first night I think we will stay somewhere near Ogden, UT. I've bookmarked the Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Ogden, as all 5 of us can stay in one unit, and they have a breakfast included. It will just be a place to sleep, getting in late and leaving early.

When we arrive in Flagstaff, I think we'll stay at Drury Inn & Suites. We will be there for 4 nights. I haven't decided yet if we will all share one suite (with a separate bedroom and living room area with sofa bed), or get two rooms. It will come down to budget, probably. I don't want us all to be on top of each other for days on end, without space to breathe. But, if we're just there for the nights, and out seeing the sights during the day, it might be doable. We'll see. We are saving our main hotel splurge for DL, so I don't know what we'll end up doing yet.

So, Thursday 8/11 - Saturday 8/13 will be our Grand Canyon days. We're taking a few days to also see the surrounding areas and see things along Route 66, etc. It will be relatively low budget, so no tours or anything, but I think I can do enough research beforehand to have a pretty good idea of where we want to go and how best to do it. Any tips on what not to miss in the area would be great!

On Sunday 8/14, we will get up early and drive to Anaheim. I'd like to arrive/check-in to the DLH as early in the afternoon as we can. That way, we can unload, take a few minutes to unwind, and then explore the grounds before having dinner at Goofy's Kitchen. On our other two DL trips with the kids, it has become our little tradition to go to Goofy's the night before our first day in the parks. We like getting our dose of characters and Disney feel before we hit the ground running the next day.

So, yes, we're planning on staying at the DLH. It's going to be a big chunk of my budget, especially since we are reserving two rooms. BUT, 1) this is a once in a lifetime trip for my brother, and 2) again, we have decided to make sure we have enough space to breathe and get a few moments of quiet here and there. My brother needs to be on his own a little bit every day in order to not get too stressed out. I know we could get two rooms at Hojo's, where we stayed last time, for a fraction of the price, but we are splurging on this. We are all excited to see the newly refurbished rooms!

We'll be spending 5 days in the parks, Monday 8/15 through Friday 8/19. Then, we'll head out on Saturday up I-5, stopping for the night around Sacramento, and get home sometime on Sunday, 8/21! Voila!

All of this is subject to tweaking here and there, but I hope to stick to it for the most part. Next, I need to make a list of our must-do's at DL. Be back soon!

 

[MemoriesintheMaking]

Okay, our must-do's include:

* Definitely the two MM's we'll get on Tues and Thurs.
* Jedi training academy - my ds is a huge Star Wars nut This will be our first time to catch this.
* The Aladdin show - we've missed it both visits before, and MUST see it this time!
* WOC
* Fireworks - we were amazed by the RDCT show. I'd love it if they were showing that again while we are there.
* Blue Bayou - we've never eaten there, and would like to this trip.
* Pool time - definitely!

I'm sure there will be more added to the list. (I can come up with more in the almost 8 months we have to wait!)

 

[maryr1oz]

We stayed at the Drury in Denver and we loved it - i bet they are all so much fun too!! So cheap, yet so many features and little extras, next time we are in the US i will definitely be looking for places to visit that have these hotels.

 

[MemoriesintheMaking]

It seems like a nice enough place, especially with the freebies, like breakfast, evening snacks, wifi, parking, etc. Most of the reviews on trip advisor are good, with reports of being really clean. I'm glad to know you had a nice stay at a Drury. Thanks!

 

[becstr]

I will definately be following your PTR especially as I hope to be at Disneyland that same week to celebrate my 40th!

 

[AZBeth]

I am going to chime in on your Grand Canyon part of your trip. Staying in Flagstaff and daytripping up to the Grand Canyon is quite a long drive, about 2 hours and will really cut into your time to really see and experience the canyon. THe 2 best times to be in the canyon and Sunset and Sunrise and do you really want to be on the road 4 hours/day... you might want to reconsider either staying in the Park (or Tusayan) for 2 days and 2 days in Flagstaff so you can see other sites in Northern Arizona. If you are at all intersted in getting lodging in the Park you will need to book that a.s.a.p. If you decide to stay in Tusayan, there are several large Chain hotels there. There is a Best WEstern, which I have never stayed in, but I hear it can be fun place for kids. It has a bowling alley etc... But if it were me I would stay inside the Park, it will make that part of your trip so much more enjoyable especially considering when you are going to GC, August will be very crowded...

Have fun planning...

 

[MemoriesintheMaking]

I will definately be following your PTR especially as I hope to be at Disneyland that same week to celebrate my 40th!

Yay! Hopefully, the next seven plus months or so will go by quickly!!

I am going to chime in on your Grand Canyon part of your trip. Staying in Flagstaff and daytripping up to the Grand Canyon is quite a long drive, about 2 hours and will really cut into your time to really see and experience the canyon. THe 2 best times to be in the canyon and Sunset and Sunrise and do you really want to be on the road 4 hours/day... you might want to reconsider either staying in the Park (or Tusayan) for 2 days and 2 days in Flagstaff so you can see other sites in Northern Arizona. If you are at all intersted in getting lodging in the Park you will need to book that a.s.a.p. If you decide to stay in Tusayan, there are several large Chain hotels there. There is a Best WEstern, which I have never stayed in, but I hear it can be fun place for kids. It has a bowling alley etc... But if it were me I would stay inside the Park, it will make that part of your trip so much more enjoyable especially considering when you are going to GC, August will be very crowded...

Have fun planning...

I sooo appreciate your opinion - thank you! We do want to see a Grand Canyon sunset, for sure. It's funny, because after I posted above, it dawned on me - why don't we see about renting a house in the area?? We use vrbo all the time when we go to the coast here in Oregon, so I am inquiring on that site about the rates and availability of a few wheelchair accessible homes in the Williams area. From what I see, it seems that Williams may be a smidge closer to the Grand Canyon entrance than Flagstaff. ??

It does make more sense to stay a couple of nights nearby or inside the GC, and then move closer to the other sights, and if it were just us and the kids, I think we would do that. But, with everything involved with my brother's care, this time we would prefer to settle in one place for the stay, and not move around too much. I know we will have a drive to get to the GC, but if we can get an accessible house not too far away for the same or even less $ than the hotel rooms, I think that would really be good. Separate bedrooms and a full kitchen will make up for the drive, I'm hoping.

If I'm way off base, please knock some sense into me!

 

[MemoriesintheMaking]

Ok, here's my attempt at some pictures - first time!

This was our last trip, in 10/08. I thought it was funny, because dh had the idea at the last minute to hold up two fingers, for our 2nd trip, and then we can progress with each trip, to 3, 4, and so on...but the photopass guy thought we were meaning it as the peace sign. It threw him for a minute, trying to figure out what to say, like "Say peace!" instead of "Cheese!" I don't know - you had to be there - but it was pretty funny.

I love his happy face here!

One of our favorite rides - BTMRR. We probably rode this one 7 or 8 times this last trip. I love ds's face here, though - you would never guess he loves this ride!

We loved Mimi's!

And here's a pic of my brother from a couple of years ago.

 

[MemoriesintheMaking]

Ok, I hope those pics aren't giant sized. If they are, let me know. I chose the "medium" setting on Photobucket. Hope they are all right!!

 

[MemoriesintheMaking]

Ok, we are booked at the DLH!! I had two excited kids and one excited brother in the room while I made the call. It was very sweet. Now I'll be on the lookout in the next few months for a beautiful, lovely PIN offer in the mail. Here's hoping!!

I've started my trip binder, too. I've got the Attraction Accessibility brochure printed out, my handy dandy manila envelopes for fuel/meal etc receipts, my Grand Canyon visitor guides, and there will be much more added I'm sure, as the months go by. I love that cute little binder!

And, last but not least, we've got our trip officially on the work calendar. Big step! We're training our new hire so DH can be away without any big worries. That will be soo nice to get away from the phone for a while! I am really looking forward to that. We have a family business, so while the flexibility is wonderful, we never really get away from the work.

We had an absolutely gorgeous day on Saturday, after many, many rainy days, so we took the kids to the zoo in the afternoon. It was so nice to get away from work, etc for just that day with DH, and it made me realize how badly we need this vacation! It's easy to see it as an unnecessary extra (which, in the grand scheme of things, in this world, it really truly IS, and we are so very fortunate to be able to do this), but it is also something that will be really good for our family. Just like all families do, we've been through a lot the past couple of years, and it will be very special to get away for a bit and recharge.

All right, speaking of work, time to get back to it. Just had to share our new developments!! I hope everyone is having a good Monday!