Quest for the West Disney Style - updated 9/26 page 16

[puggymom]

I decided to do this TR as when I was planning my ABD trip I kept wishing someone would post a detail trip report. I won’t be telling everything as I don’t want to ruin the surprises of the trip, but hopefully this will give you an idea of what to expect on an ABD trip.

Wasn’t sure where to post this, but since it is a Disney Trip Report I put it here on the trip reports board. If this is not the right place please feel free to move it mods.

So on with the show, um report.


Cast of characters:

Me – puggymom, I love pugs , Disney and my 6 nieces and nephews. I have 3 of each, from 2 older brothers. Bit by bit I am taking them on vacation. One brother has not been to WDW since 1972 , doesn’t see the point, so I have taken it upon myself to take his kids to WDW, my other brother has taken a few trips to WDW with his family. I try to find trips that fit the kid, KWIM.

Dear niece – this is kid #4 to get a trip from Aunt Mo and she will be 10 in October. She belongs to the brother that has gone to Disney so I was looking for something a little different. I started hearing about these ABD trips last year and when I saw the Quest for the West trip I knew that would be the one. DN loves horseback riding and that sort of stuff, so what better place then Wyoming.

ABD was offering a $500/person booking discount last fall so after checking with my SIL it was decided that I would go and book this for DN and I. That saved me $1000, which was enough to cover our transportation costs. I booked airfare on my own as ABD was quoting me $1200 per person. Uh, thanks anyhow ABD, I will see what I can find on my own. I was able to get round trip tix for about $460/person.

One thing I learned with this trip, there is no direct flight from any NY area airport to Jackson, Wyoming on any airline. So that meant we had to do a layover. I can’t tell you the last time I did a layover. I am not exactly a maternal type person. I admit I am great at being an aunt though. So the idea of doing layovers with a kid in tow had me nervous.

About a month before the trip my SIL emails me that my niece is already packing. That a girl. See she was born to non-planners, but seems to be taking after her aunt. Did my heart proud to read that email. I too got my bags out about that time and started to pack. About a week later I received a box from ABD that had some awesome back packs for us. I noticed that Erin’s had a bad zipper so I called the next day to see what I could do about getting a new one and they overnighted one that day. I came home from work the next day and it was waiting on the front porch. Awesome customer service. They also send these little booklets with a daily itinerary where it explains what you will be doing and what you should bring along for that day’s activities. Very nice touch.

So the plan was that DN would sleep over the night before the trip. They dropped her off after dinner that night and we hung out for awhile before trying to get some sleep as we did have to get up early the next day.

Next Up- What do you mean you don’t have batteries?

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I love that you are writing an ABD trip report. I too have lamented the lack of detailed trip reports of the ABD itineraries. I can't wait to see your pictures and hear all about your trip.

You are such a great aunt taking your nieces and nephews on vacation. They must really love you.

 

[boysmom5150]

Hi Mo, Just saw this link, glad your doing a TR . I am gonna get reading...here I go. Glad your back safely, hope all was great!!!

 

[boysmom5150]

WOW you are a great Aunt. In case you ever feel the need for another niece, Im right here and available for all vacations. I wont be picky...anywhere you choose will be good for me

 

[TEminnie]

a box from ABD that had some awesome back packs for us.

Why do you need back packs?? Is this an "extreme" survivor kind of trip?? (What do the back packs look like? Princesses?? Pirates??)

I love that you are writing an ABD trip report.

Hey Lessa--thought folks might need your picture of you here too!

 

[puggymom]

Hey everyone welcome aboard!

For TE here are the backpacks, they were just regular type backpacks,

Believe me when I say, I am not the extreme sport type person, the Holiday Inn is roughing it for me, KWIM?

 

[puggymom]

Departure day starts off smoothly and we had decided the night before to go to the diner for breakfast first. Bit of trivia, did you know that NJ has the more diners than any other state, yeah I know you are all soooo impressed now. DN had a very nutritious breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, I opted for an eggwhite omelet. With full bellies we were off to the airport and the offsite car parking that I always use. Uneventful check in and we were quickly through security. We got some bottled water and sat down to wait for our boarding call.

Now I did mention that she is a daughter on non-planners, right? Well, it is at this point she tells me that she needs batteries for her CD player. I was like didn’t your father buy you any? Her reply… I asked but he said he I should just ask you. Nice! Apparently taking your kid on vacation isn’t enough I have to supply the batteries too. Luckily we found a stand near the gate that had batteries as where we were there was very limited vendors and since I just bought the water didn’t want to have to go through security again.

Shortly after the battery incident the boarding started and we were off to Denver. She gets her DVD player out and starts watching Bridge to Terabithia, gets halfway through the movie and the battery goes. Yep, the non planning parents didn’t fully charge the DVD player.

PSA to any non-planners reading this, buy batteries and charge everything to its fullest prior to departure.

Now yes I am a planner, some might say obsessive planner , but I don’t travel with kids often and well let’s just say I did learn my lesson. In my defense when I traveled as a kid the most sophisticated entertainment we had were those magnetic travel games.

The flight wasn’t bad, I watched Fracture with Anthony Hopkins thumbsup2 ) and had what United Airlines calls a snackbox. For $5, you can purchase a box with finger foods, mine had a cheese spread, salami slices, Milano cookies, and some other stuff that for the life of me I can’t remember. I have to admit for $5, it was very good and filling. Especailly when you are used to WDW prices.

When Fracture was over they showed Shrek 3 which DN enjoyed. She had books with her and her gameboy that she had been using to entertain herself when the DVD player died, but was thrilled when they started Shrek 3.

After an uneventful layover in Denver we boarded our next plane to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The flight was about an hour. The route into the airport is unbelievable as the airport in right in Grand Teton National Park. You fly in right next to the Tetons.

We exit the plane by going down a ramp and then walk outside to the actual building. I don’t think this airport is much bigger than my house and I don’t live in what would be called a large house either, KWIM. This is one small airport!

We are greeted by an ABD guide and sent off on our way to the Wort Hotel. Yeah, not a great name for a hotel, but don’t let the name fool you. Very nice hotel.

Here is Erin in the lobby

So we settle in and are told to meet in the lobby at 6:30 for our orientation and dinner. We are escorted to a private room where we are greeted by our guides and fellow adventurers. A few were delayed and missed the first dinner but we met them the next day before starting our adventure.

We were served a buffet style dinner that was good, but looking back was the least favorite of the trip. The guides had a unique way of getting us up and talking to each other which I don’t want to give away to future travelers , but I will say it was a great way to break the ice.

After a very long day we say good night to our fellow adventurers and go back to our room and attempt to get a good night sleep.

Next up – What is that wild life I hear?

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Wow that must have been really annoying with the batteries.

That picture of the lobby looked very nice although I agree the hotel name is deceiving!

 

[Disneyolic]

Okay....now after your shameless plug on Jo's thread and reprimand to me on your OTHER thread, I am finally here. So there.......

I'll be back...

 

[puggymom]

Okay....now after your shameless plug on Jo's thread and reprimand to me on your OTHER thread, I am finally here. So there.......

I'll be back...

Glad you found your way! Feel free though to enjoy the detour you took to the other trippie

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

I'm here! I'm here!! I'm so happy your writing an ABD report!

Love the backpacks, love the fact that dear ol' dad lacks in the battery department and love that you're such a cool auntie, Mo! :

I'm jumping on board, girlfriend!

 

[puggymom]

I'm here! I'm here!! I'm so happy your writing an ABD report!

Love the backpacks, love the fact that dear ol' dad lacks in the battery department and love that you're such a cool auntie, Mo! :

I'm jumping on board, girlfriend!

Hi T! Glad you found me! Let me tell you dear ol' dad lacks in many departments, not just batteries

 

[puggymom]

So we are getting ready for bed and Erin wants to charge her DVD player, which of course would require a power cord. Oh don’t misunderstand there was a power cord, just the kind that you use in a car. Yep, we can’t charge the DVD player that we just lugged all the way from Jersey . ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION NON PLANNERS???

She found Nickolodean on the TV and fell asleep watching that. I too tried to sleep until I heard the wild life of Jackson Hole. No not that kind of wild life, the bar kind of wild life. Nothing more soothing that the pounding bass line of cowboy music and the drunks leaving the bar when it closes walking past your window.

Not all the rooms at the Wort Hotel have this special feature, I was just lucky in my room assignment. At least it didn't smell.

Luckily the first morning is at your leisure, so we were in no rush to get started. We were given vouchers for breakfast in the Hotel coffee shop. We both enjoyed our meals here and were very satisfied with our meal, you can order anything off the menu. We had a few hours until we had to meet for our lunch so we walked around Jackson and did some shopping.

First we went to the town square and checked these out.

Those arches are made out of elk horns. The boy scouts are the only ones that are allowed to collect the elk horns and then they sell them as their fundraisers. They can go for $1000 each. Nice gig, huh?

Erin and I really enjoyed our morning, it was a nice way to start the vacay after traveling the day before. We each got some nice souvies that included a Christmas decoration and matted prints of the Tetons for me and Erin added to her snow globe collection and her charm bracelet. We also got her brother and sister some gifts as well as my Mom who was pugsitting for me.

One of our more interesting buys was picking out Elk and bear poop. Yes I said poop. Elk poop is a chocolate truffle type candy and bear poop is chocolate peanut clusters. I can honestly say that I enjoyed eating both elk and bear poop. Now there is a statement I honestly never thought I would say.

The locals must have a thing about poop. They even have a book in the gift shops called Who Pooped In The Park.

The night before we had been told to meet in the lobby at 11:45 to walk over to the saloon for lunch. It is a small place and we had the place to ourselves. In addition to the restaurant they also have a small theatre. The current production is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Unfortunately we did not have time to see it. The building itself is the oldest structure in Jackson, it started as a lean too. The hostess gave us a brief history of the place which was very interesting. After the introduction and history of the saloon each family was seated in the dining area. To save time we had given our food selections the night before. I had the most deeeelicious veggie and Brie cheese quesadillas. Erin went with the cheeseburger. Check out the mugs for our beverages.

Erin and me at lunch

We both really enjoyed our meal here and were quite filled which may not be a great thing since the afternoon called for rafting down the Snake River. Not just rafting but white water rafting.

Side note… I did bring a water proof camera, but you will have to wait for development. I will post pics from that when I get them back.

After lunch we walked back to the hotel to get ready for the rafting trip. A bus from the rafting company picked us up a short time later and took us on a 45 minute drive to where we were met by the expert rafters that would take us down the river and through the rapids.

Here is a link of the pics that were taken by professional photographers of our raft as we went through a class 3 rapid.

http://snakeriver.elevationimaging.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=466860

You can click on each pic to see a larger version of it. They must have known my importance in being a Focker and placed me right in the middle of the boat where I could be clearly seen in the photos.

This was a highlight of the trip, everyone loved the rafting trip, lots of fun. We were on the river about 2 hours which I think was just right. Long enough to enjoy it, but not too long that you were exhausted. The guides had towels for everyone and there were changing facilities to change to dry clothes for the ride back to Jackson.

Next up - A quiet evening in Jackson.

 

[TEminnie]

For TE here are the backpacks, they were just regular type backpacks,

But they do say "Disney" on them!
I bet they start adding your favorite character as an upgrade!

Believe me when I say, I am not the extreme sport type person, the Holiday Inn is roughing it for me, KWIM?

Yes, me too. My kids have got really spoiled at the free Hilton stays--they wanted to know if our beach condo had turndown service.

The route into the airport is unbelievable as the airport in right in Grand Teton National Park. You fly in right next to the Tetons.

Found a pic of the Grand Tetons cause I've never seen them! Is this accurate? We had a subdivision street in Fort Worth called Grand Teton Road--it looked flat with houses lining it...

Very nice hotel.

Whew! What were the rooms like?

 

[TEminnie]

So we are getting ready for bed and Erin wants to charge her DVD player, which of course would require a power cord. Oh don’t misunderstand there was a power cord, just the kind that you use in a car. Yep, we can’t charge the DVD player that we just lugged all the way from Jersey . ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION NON PLANNERS???

I personally pack all chargers--camera, video camera, Nintendo, cell phones (3) in the same bag each trip. Of course, if we lost the bag, we'd be screwed...

She found Nickolodean on the TV and fell asleep watching that.

No Disney channel wishing a Zip-a-dee-do-dah day? I miss that one

I too tried to sleep until I heard the wild life of Jackson Hole. No not that kind of wild life, the bar kind of wild life. Nothing more soothing that the pounding bass line of cowboy music and the drunks leaving the bar when it closes walking past your window.

Not all the rooms at the Wort Hotel have this special feature, I was just lucky in my room assignment. At least it didn't smell.

Never mind about the hotel question...

I enjoyed eating both elk and bear poop.

O-kay.........so foods getting a little scarce on your adventure, huh??

Here is a link of the pics that were taken by professional photographers of our raft as we went through a class 3 rapid.

http://snakeriver.elevationimaging.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=466860

Super cool! I would love to do this. Looking forward to your pics! I don't see the Focker hand signal though--that would have earned some points....but probably lost your paddles...

Looking forward for more! Mods should put this under a new sub-heading cause I bet lots of folks are curious about ABD. (which I am sure doesn't mean Anything But Disney)

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Hey Lessa--thought folks might need your picture of you here too!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Hey puggymom,

That is too bad that you could hear the "wild life" from your hotel room but it sounds like you had a great first day. The rafting looks like a lot of fun!

 

[Computer Magic]

Nice trip report. It was great meeting a few disboard members

 

[puggymom]

But they do say "Disney" on them!
I bet they start adding your favorite character as an upgrade!

Found a pic of the Grand Tetons cause I've never seen them! Is this accurate? We had a subdivision street in Fort Worth called Grand Teton Road--it looked flat with houses lining it...

Yes those are the Grand Tetons, my own pics will be forthcoming...

 

[DisneyJo]

Great start Mo, can't wait for more