She's Going To Show Him The World, a September 2016 PTR

[WDWKOOK]

I hadn't gotten an alert for your thread in sooooo long. I finally was back on the DIS today and went to your thread where I found that I missed some fabulous posts
​

Hello! I am Gramma Nancy. Grampa Jim and I get to go on this adventure next year with Paul, Melissa, Allie and Marshall. We are SO excited to get to do this again. We live in Arizona and don't get to see the kids as much as we used to, but when we do it is always a good time. Paul is a planner. He got that from me. He has planned two trips for us to Disney World already and we know #3 will be awesome too. It is so nice to have the details taken care of before we even get there. Melissa takes the best pictures. We are lucky to have her along for that and the patience she shows with any hassles that come up during traveling from one coast to another. We just loved Wilderness Lodge and Port Orleans on trips #1 and #2, but it will be special to get to go to Wilderness Lodge again. It reminds us of the Grand Californian where the kids got married.

We have resort reservations and set up a Disney Trip savings account. Can't wait for what comes next. Hoping for free dining. Gotta put in one more jumping icon because it is how I feel about this trip.

Welcome back to another fine PTR and another fabulous WDW vacation with your wonderful family!

Allie celebrated her 6th birthday last weekend, and we ventured to Legoland.

While this was different than her fifth birthday in Disney World, she still had a great time and we decided to share the day in a mini trip report on the CA section of the DIS boards, which you can check out here.

Hop on over and check out us Disney veterans become newbs in a new park.

There hasn't been much other WDW planning going on, but we are looking forward to it and spending spare time talking about ADRs. We'll post some of those plans soon.

We have been busy preparing for little Marshall and keeping up with Allie's activities. She's moving up a level in her swim class and all three of her dance classes this month. This Saturday though we are headed to Disneyland so we'll post some about our day next week sometime.

HAPPY HAPPY, ever-so-belated BIRTHDAY, ALLIE!

I bet she can dance better than Belle

Hi everybody. It has been a little bit since we posted here, but we are still excitedly planning our WDW trip. The plans got a bit of a curve ball yesterday when Disney announced the annual pass price increases. We're not complaining about it (or debating why they did it) but it does look like the AP option doesn't make sense for our WDW trip anymore. For those who want to see the over analyzed details, this post is for you.

Paul generally has me cross eyed with all the numbers but that's why I keep him around

Our baseline for comparison is a package at WL with 8 day park hopper and waterpark tickets which prices out at $4415. We are hoping to get free dining with the package (so the plan cost is not included in that total), but we calculated out the anticipated dining cost so we could see if there was a better option out there.

Calculating the dining cost was a bit of an exercise, but using the values for average meals at each of the restaurants we are considering from an online calculator here I filled out my own spreadsheet with the anticipated full price of the meal, price with AP discount, and the price with Tables in Wonderland. Then I set up the spreadsheet so we could pick our choices from the larger list and have it calculate the total meal cost for each option.


Initially, it worked out that the total with Tables in Wonderland was $1389, compared to $1441 without discounts. Unfortunately, adding an extra $50 to this negates our savings, making the total $1439. Interestingly, we could do better with just the regular AP discounts, which would come in at $1413.

For our lodging, if we go room only we expect to be able to get a room only discount of as much as 30%. I added a field in the spreadsheet for this, and compare the total cost of the discounted room, the minimum out of pocket cost food option, and the cost to upgrade Disneyland annual passes to Premier passes to the package price.


Initially these values were within $30 of each other (which we could likely cover with AP merchandise discounts) but with the increase the AP Room Only option would now cost $5279, which is $863 more than the package price. We also priced out doing what we did last year, where we purchase the minimum package to get free dining, but use APs for our park tickets. This works out to $5527, but we would have three days of base tickets to use at some future date.

It sucks cause I wanted a golden ticket!

We also priced out one other room only option, in which we could take advantage of our leftover 2 day magic your way base tickets from last year. This works out to be the cheapest option, and even paying full price for our meals the total cost comes to $4306. It means we only get about $110 total out of our leftover passes from last year though, and we would have to deal with paying out of pocket for food. Depending on discount availability, it is still definitely an option though. We'll have to see when discounts are announced.

Some other interesting information from the spreadsheet was that most QS meals are very close in price, and the average cost only varied by a few dollars. Our total for QS dining was $413.85 Also we did include the cost of snacks we would get if we were on the dining plan, because we love our snacks. They totaled $106. We even accounted for the resort mugs, which would cost us $53.97 if we don't get the package. With the way we dine, we are a great fit for the dining plan since we use up all of our credits and visit a few high cost character meals. We plan on one additional TS meal out of pocket, but this can be our last morning breakfast at Whispering Canyon which will be less than $50, even without any discount. When we compare our meal cost to the cost of the dining plan, we do save a little money, but not a whole lot since the plan would cost $1302. For me, the big benefit of "free" dining is not having to feel the pain of each highly priced meal during the vacation. I'd rather have it taken care of ahead of time.

Though the price hike on AP's here are depressing they make the trip to Disneyworld look like all that much better a value.

Yes they do, now I can go back to my spreadsheets comparing cell phone plans...

LOVE the spreadsheets and running all the numbers. What a great resource for everyone! That's really the only way to compare/contrast your options. Are your folks going to do the same thing as you?

As far as cell phones, here's my comparo experience: You just can't beat Virgin Mobile. We started out many years ago with them with flip phones and have used their iPhones for years. Just got my 6+ from them this summer and we also have a 5 & 6 with them. Unlimited everything and only about $30/month each. The iPhone costs more, but you break even in about a year and then you're paying about half per month Vs. contract plans. They run on the Sprint network and always work really well from WDW

Oh my goodness!!! This is why I just say "OK" when my son tells me what I should do. I credit undamaged brain cells from his healthy living and his passion for Disney. This is the guy to go to Disney World with!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I hadn't gotten an alert for your thread in sooooo long. I finally was back on the DIS today and went to your thread where I found that I missed some fabulous posts​

Ahh, you haven't missed too much, we are still just getting started. We do have pictures from a weekend Disneyland trip that hopefully we'll use in a post soon.

HAPPY HAPPY, ever-so-belated BIRTHDAY, ALLIE!

I bet she can dance better than Belle

Thanks! Allie had a great birthday, and is happy to finally be six. Now the next big step is getting to be a big sister, so she can rule. (Her words)...

LOVE the spreadsheets and running all the numbers. What a great resource for everyone! That's really the only way to compare/contrast your options. Are your folks going to do the same thing as you?

Yeah, it is very interesting to deal with real data. It is neat that we have been enough that we have a good feel for what we want to do, and therefore can make a good estimation of what it will cost. It is also interesting how close everything worked out to be before the AP price increase. Now the extra cost there makes it less desirable, but that's ok, we'll enjoy our 7 or 8 days of park hopper tickets.

Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Jim will go with the package as long as they can get the dining plan. They really enjoy not having to pay OOP for the food ( I see where I get it) and the dining has been one of their favorite things about the trips to WDW. They were slightly concerned when we said we might do meals out of pocket, just because we'd be doing something different, but this way we should all be doing the same thing.

Our friends are still planning on coming too, and they called and wanted to book exactly what we had, so the outcome from our decision is basically tripled since everyone wants to do what we do. It should be fun though.

As far as cell phones, here's my comparo experience: You just can't beat Virgin Mobile. We started out many years ago with them with flip phones and have used their iPhones for years. Just got my 6+ from them this summer and we also have a 5 & 6 with them. Unlimited everything and only about $30/month each. The iPhone costs more, but you break even in about a year and then you're paying about half per month Vs. contract plans. They run on the Sprint network and always work really well from WDW

That's good to know. We are with Sprint, and Melissa gets her phone through work, but we pay for mine separately and I want my 6S. With the way Sprint is pushing their leases it changes the equation somewhat, and they aren't being consistent in offering discounts, so I am still looking elsewhere. Thanks for the tip, I will have to check Virgin Mobile out.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I thought I had commented on your spreadsheets. but guess not. I love making spreadsheets, too, which is good because I have to do it for work. We crunched a lot of numbers trying to decide if the dining plan was worth it. Then when we got back from the trip, I tallied all the receipts to see how it worked out. Although we saved $180 using the dining plan, I ended up giving snack credits to my sisters and getting desserts that I normally never would get.

But I can see why people would love the DDP.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I thought I had commented on your spreadsheets. but guess not. I love making spreadsheets, too, which is good because I have to do it for work. We crunched a lot of numbers trying to decide if the dining plan was worth it. Then when we got back from the trip, I tallied all the receipts to see how it worked out. Although we saved $180 using the dining plan, I ended up giving snack credits to my sisters and getting desserts that I normally never would get.

But I can see why people would love the DDP.

Ahh yes, but somehow the spreadsheets for Disney are so much more fun than the ones for work. I am just always amazed at how close stuff works out to costing with the different approaches to paying for it and discounts. It is like Disney has this all figured out or something.

I see your trip is coming up. Have a great time. We should get some Disneyland pictures from a weekend trip we made posted here this week, but you'll be busy having more fun. Enjoy your trip and we'll be looking forward to hearing about it.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

This update doesn't have much to do with WDW, but does show what we've been up to at Disney recently. With our passes nearing expiration, we decided to spend a nice Saturday at Disneyland. Since we hit a lot of unique DL things, we figured it would be fun to share the pictures here.

We knew we wanted to start the day with breakfast in the park since we wouldn't be able to once our passes expired.


We got pancakes at River Belle Terrace, which is next to Tarzan's treehouse near Pirates of the Caribbean. It overlooks Tom Sawyer's island, which Allie wanted to go visit since the treehouse was closed this day.

They also have a great cinnamon roll here that is delicious. This morning the line was out the door but once we got inside I took a seat for a minute to save my energy.


After breakfast we headed to the island, which was renamed to Pirate's Lair a couple of years ago. It was a pretty minimal retheming as far as Disney is concerned, and you can see where they stuck the new name on the sign.


On the way we got a picture with the Columbia pirate ship, and Allie gave her best pirate pose:


Allie loves playing on the island. I wasn't up for that much walking so I found a bench to chill on while Paul chased Allie.


We decided to let her play as much as she wanted, and she ran me all over that island. Fortunately it isn't as big as the one at WDW, but it is still good size and has some cool trails and caves. The fort on our island is closed, but we went all around it.


[IMGhttp://legacy.inlandempireoffroad.org/TR2013/IMG_6927_zps9ij7graf.jpg[/IMG]



I got to people watch and wave to the crazy people paddling canoes.

Who would do that.. (It turns out me in a few hours...) Once Allie was finally tired out and we had covered all of the island at least twice, we hopped back on the boat to make our way to check out another one of Allie's favorite attractions, the goats. Sadly this area will be closed starting in January to make room for Star Wars Land, so we wanted her to have one last visit with them.


It was kind of sad saying good bye to the goats for the last time. Most of our older favorite goats have already been retired and adopted out including Allies favorite Stitch the goat.

Yeah, we talked to a cast member and learned that Stitch had been adopted. I looked online and found an article (here) about when Stitch was first born, back in 2010.

We also took time to pet one of the horses from Main Street, who will get a new home and be trailered to the park, similar to how they are at WDW.


Then we made our way to another "must do" for us, the Mickey and the Magical Map stage show.


It really is a great show and it's nice cool place to relax for a minute.

We enjoyed the show, and then decided it was lunch time. We headed to Hungry Bear, which overlooks the river in critter country, and offers chili cheeseburgers and onion rings. Mmm.


They changed their onion rings, unfortunately but lunch was still delicious and being hungry at the moment I could really use one of those burgers.

They also no longer have the bumble bee cupcake that we used to really enjoy. It was the best lemon filled cupcake anywhere, and they don't offer it anywhere else. This meant we had to stop for dessert elsewhere and try something new

Allie decided she wanted to go do the canoes so I sent them to go do that while I hung out in the shade and finished my coke


We had fun on the canoe, and it wasn't super hot although it was in the sun. We had a good guide who made plenty of jokes about the group's lack of effort. After we met back up with Melissa we walked through the shops in Frontierland, and Allie picked out a necklace to buy with some of her birthday money.


She had just enough money to buy it and was so excited.


Then we resumed the search for a cupcake, and wound up at the Jolly Holiday Cafe on Main Street. For the WDW people, it is basically located where Crystal Palace is at MK, and serves pastries and some sandwiches.


Most importantly it serves the Matterhorn Macroon.


We didn't get a good picture of it or the 60th anniversary cupcake we got, but they are in the background here. We all shared them, although Allie much preferred the cupcake over the macaroon. The cupcake was good and had lemon cake, but wasn't the same as the bee one.

It didn't come close, but the macaroon was amazing as always. It is one of my favorite Disney treats.

Allie wanted to go through the castle, so we ran up there while Melissa sat and people watched. I got a couple of pics of the castle all decorated for the 60th, and then we did the sleeping beauty walk through, which Allie really likes.






Jolly Holiday is a great spot to sit and people watch.

After we met back up, we decided to beat the parade rush and cross over to California Adventure. On the way we stopped at our paving stone in the plaza between the two parks.


After we were in the park we did a little shopping to cool off.

After the stores on tehe main street we stopped by Bug's Land for one of Allie's favorites.

Heimlich's Chew Chew train


This is very much a kiddie ride, but the theming is cute as it loops through various food items. Allie just loves it, so we often ride it. After that we headed towards her other favorite ride at this park, the Ariel ride. While the ride itself is just like the one at MK, the line area is different here. The line was super short, and this was the extent of the wait.


We were able to just walk on the ride which was nice and the decent to the ocean floor is a good chance for a short nap, especially if the ride stops.


After that we decided to head out and call it a day, but we had one more of Allie's favorite things to visit. She loves to run around in the courtyard at the Grand Californian. This is where our wedding cocktail reception was, and now it is one of her favorite playgrounds




It is amazing how much fun she can have running in a darned circle. Daddy chasing her makes it even more fun too.

On the way to the car we went through Downtown Disney and visited the Lego store. It really is better than the one at Legoland, which I find ironic.

Allie really wanted more minifigures but she settled on just building one and then taking pictures with the lego people.






I am looking forward to visiting the Lego store at WDW again too. That one is even bigger, although I might not be able to resist buying stuff for Marshall. That's right, he really needs the 400 piece dune buggy with working enjgine and suspension...

Right.... maybe we can start with some Duplo blocks first?

Ok, it's a deal, as long as they are car ones... Then we headed to the car and chose to climb the stairs in the parkign garage to save the walk to the elevators and escallators. By this point Melissa was done, but she was still smiling.


I don't know why I decided climbing the stairs was a good idea but I made it up three flights.

And thus concluded one more day at DL. With the baby coming and saving for WDW we won't be back for a while, but we will have the WDW trip to focus our Disney energy on.

Seven more weks to go before we get to meet our little guy and we are busy prepping for his arrival.

 

[Wood Nymph]

And thus concluded one more day at DL. With the baby coming and saving for WDW we won't be back for a while, but we will have the WDW trip to focus our Disney energy on.

Seven more weks to go before we get to meet our little guy and we are busy prepping for his arrival.

Your pictures always make Disneyland look like a great place to visit. I never knew they had canoes - how fun! Allie looks like she is having a great time.

You have a busy seven weeks coming up, with the holidays and the baby both coming at the same time. Our son was born on Dec 21st, which made Christmas interesting.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Your pictures always make Disneyland look like a great place to visit. I never knew they had canoes - how fun! Allie looks like she is having a great time.

You have a busy seven weeks coming up, with the holidays and the baby both coming at the same time. Our son was born on Dec 21st, which made Christmas interesting.

Thanks, it is fun to show the little things that are different. I just recently realized that they don't have the canoes at Magic Kingdom. DL has a lot of neat things, but is just so much smaller than WDW.

It is going to be a busy time between now and Christmas. Marshall is scheduled to arrive with a c-section on the 11th, so we should have a little more time with him before Christmas. We are really excited about having a tiny baby for Christmas though.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Our fourth traveler now has a birth date to enter in the Disney system. Marshall Paul was born last night at 5:35 PM. He weighed 9lbs, 15 ounces and was 21.75 inches long.







Melissa and our little guy are doing great.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Melissa and our little guy are doing great.

Thanks for posting your pictures. Melissa looks great and Marshal is adorable.

 

[WDWKOOK]

He is a precious bundle of boy - SO CUTE and so happy for your family. Thank you for sharing Marshall Paul with us - he looks ready for DLR and WDW with his MagicBand

ETA: Love all the birthday DLR photos...that I missed until now. I kept picturing Marshall right there with you on Allie's next birthday

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Thanks for posting your pictures. Melissa looks great and Marshal is adorable.

Thanks! We knew you'd want to see.

He is a precious bundle of boy - SO CUTE and so happy for your family. Thank you for sharing Marshall Paul with us - he looks ready for DLR and WDW with his MagicBand

ETA: Love all the birthday DLR photos...that I missed until now. I kept picturing Marshall right there with you on Allie's next birthday

Aww, thanks. We are thrilled and looking forward to introducing him to Disney.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Marshall and Melissa came home last night, less than 48 hours after he was born.

Allie is enjoying taking care of him, and he has his mouse ears.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Allie is enjoying taking care of him, and he has his mouse ears.

I'll take your word that there is a baby under there.

I bet Allie will be a big help with Marshall. It is always easier when there is a big sister to take care of the little things. I hope Melissa can get lots of rest. Any kind of surgery is tiring, but adding a newborn makes it even harder.

 

[WDWKOOK]

Marshall and Melissa came home last night, less than 48 hours after he was born.

Allie is enjoying taking care of him, and he has his mouse ears.

Welcome home!! It must feel so good to be back home as a family. That photo with the dog's head should be included in your Christmas card - love it! Allie looks so grown up and I know she'll be an amazing big Disney sister. When did you get the ears personalized? You won't lose him at DLR now

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I'll take your word that there is a baby under there.

I bet Allie will be a big help with Marshall. It is always easier when there is a big sister to take care of the little things. I hope Melissa can get lots of rest. Any kind of surgery is tiring, but adding a newborn makes it even harder.

He makes his presence known, but so far he is a great baby. He rarely cries, just fusses a bit when it is time for food. He had his first checkup today and is doing great.

Welcome home!! It must feel so good to be back home as a family. That photo with the dog's head should be included in your Christmas card - love it! Allie looks so grown up and I know she'll be an amazing big Disney sister. When did you get the ears personalized? You won't lose him at DLR now

Yes, that's Shelby saying hello. This is her first baby and she is fascinated with him. Diesel, our Great Dane, was around for Allie and is interested too but seems to understand. They both come running when he cries though.

We bought the hat at Disneyland over the summer once we picked out the name. We wanted to make sure we had it ready for him.

 

[adudeinblue]

I was reading your PTR for the first time and didn't realize that it was your youngest son's birthday was last weekend! Congratulations!!

We're from SF, so it's super sweet to read reports about Californians traveling to WDW! Especially big DISers who frequented DLR! My GF and I are planning to go to WDW (my first time ever and her first time as an adult) in January 2017. So I find your PTR both entertaining and informative! We're still playing with the numbers since we have a whole year. Can't wait to read more planning from your family!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I was reading your PTR for the first time and didn't realize that it was your youngest son's birthday was last weekend! Congratulations!!

We're from SF, so it's super sweet to read reports about Californians traveling to WDW! Especially big DISers who frequented DLR! My GF and I are planning to go to WDW (my first time ever and her first time as an adult) in January 2017. So I find your PTR both entertaining and informative! We're still playing with the numbers since we have a whole year. Can't wait to read more planning from your family!

Hello! We are glad you found us and are enjoying the PTR. This one hasn't had a whole lot of info yet, but should get more informative as we get closer to our trip. As we come up on our ADR date (6 months ahead of our arrival) we will finalize our meal plans, which is a big part of WDW trips. There are so many great restaurants though that you can't go too wrong.

You should have a great time planning your trip for over a year. It is great to get to spend time at WDW as adults, and re-experience it for the first time. Have you picked a resort yet? The WDW onsite resorts are amazing, and something that is quite different than at Disneyland because there is so much space between things that you really can stay immersed in the Disney bubble.

 

[adudeinblue]

Hello! We are glad you found us and are enjoying the PTR. This one hasn't had a whole lot of info yet, but should get more informative as we get closer to our trip. As we come up on our ADR date (6 months ahead of our arrival) we will finalize our meal plans, which is a big part of WDW trips. There are so many great restaurants though that you can't go too wrong.

You should have a great time planning your trip for over a year. It is great to get to spend time at WDW as adults, and re-experience it for the first time. Have you picked a resort yet? The WDW onsite resorts are amazing, and something that is quite different than at Disneyland because there is so much space between things that you really can stay immersed in the Disney bubble.

We don't get too many chances to visit DL, so I have to admit, we are envious that you guys live so close! When we do have the chance, we make it a short weekend road trip. And we are always overwhelmed by the crowd and how little time we have. So reading your occasional DL updates are kinda refreshing to see it in a slower and relaxing pace haha I have to agree, it's not as immersive when you visit DLR and you head back to your hotel. Instantly back in reality.

Being creeps as we are, my GF and I read some of your older PTR/TR. She instantly noticed the dresses you guys made! She uses tumblr, a blogging social media, and she said she remember they were trending a couple of years ago. Is this enough creepy? haha

It's also funny because we also want to stay the WL or AKL. But it's still in the air because it depends how much we can save up until then. My SO is from PA, and we try to visit her family each year, so a lot of our traveling expenses are used for that. That's why we are planning so far ahead. We actually played with the idea since 2015! But it's getting more realistic because our savings for it is getting bigger.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

We don't get too many chances to visit DL, so I have to admit, we are envious that you guys live so close! When we do have the chance, we make it a short weekend road trip. And we are always overwhelmed by the crowd and how little time we have. So reading your occasional DL updates are kinda refreshing to see it in a slower and relaxing pace haha I have to agree, it's not as immersive when you visit DLR and you head back to your hotel. Instantly back in reality.

Being creeps as we are, my GF and I read some of your older PTR/TR. She instantly noticed the dresses you guys made! She uses tumblr, a blogging social media, and she said she remember they were trending a couple of years ago. Is this enough creepy? haha

It's also funny because we also want to stay the WL or AKL. But it's still in the air because it depends how much we can save up until then. My SO is from PA, and we try to visit her family each year, so a lot of our traveling expenses are used for that. That's why we are planning so far ahead. We actually played with the idea since 2015! But it's getting more realistic because our savings for it is getting bigger.

Isn't it fun to stalk people on the Dis? It is fun to read about their past trips and get to know people that you've never met. That's crazy that the dresses were trending on Tumblr. Melissa doesn't even use it, but she did have a lot of fun making dresses for our second WDW trip with Allie.

We really think that planning for a trip is one of the best parts. The anticipation and research add to the fun, and help make sure you'll have an even better time when you are there. Then, waiting and saving helps make the trip longer. Like with Disneyland, having extra time when you are there helps calm the pace and make it all more enjoyable.

We really like both lodges at WDW, but WL wins out for us because of the great location and proximity to MK. AKL is newer and has some advantages like a bigger QS restaurant a zero entry pool, and of course the animals. We have visited there most every trip, and the busses aren't bad, but the transit time to AK is still a little longer than from WL to MK. As more of a budget option we really liked POR because it had a similar rural feel to WL. We considered POP too, but not having Queen beds was what kept us from doing it. No matter where, staying onsite at WDW is great.

Have fun planning your trip and following along with ours.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Hi everyone! We've been super busy settling into life with two kids lately but we are still so excited about Disneyworld. I can't believe that we get to go this year!

Hello, and Happy New Year!

Saturday marked a pretty momentus occasion, Marshall took his first trip to Disney!

Since our passes expired in October we let them lapse for a while since we knew we'd be busy with other stuff, and that way we could put that money towards our WDW trip. We still are without passes, but we thought it would be fun to get a taste of Disney by having dinner at the Grand Californian and walking around Downtown Disney. So we grabbed the new to us double stroller and headed to Disney!


I wasn't sure how Allie (or myself) would react to being that close and not going in to a park, but some of our favorite things are outside the gates so there's no reason to miss out on them. Allie was cute about it too.

Allie said "There are still magical things to do."

We actually had a pretty full night without going into the parks and I didn't really miss it this time. We really got to test the double stroller in crowds though and I really like it. It's different but I like it. I think I'll be more comfortable with Marshall in it as he gets bigger as well and by the time we go to Disneyworld he'll be able to sit up and chill better in it.

Allie begged us to walk through the Rainforrest Cafe, so we checked it out and Marshall got an up close view of the wildlife. He wasn't sure about the Alligator but played along.


Her smile looks so sinister in this picture.

By then we were hungry, so we headed to our favorite spot, the snack bar at the Grand Californian. We really like the food here, and it is a beautiful quiet spot to hang out. Melissa and I decided to split an order of Nachos and a Carnitas burger.


That is the best burger at Disney hands down. I'm talking any Disney property that we've been at.

As those of you who have read our reports know, I am a big burger fan and I would have to agree. It is amazingly good, and I'm sorry we were too busy eating it to get a picture.
After dinner Allie insisted on climbing the stairs in the hotel lobby. This has become a tradition, and I follow her up there while Melissa hangs out downstairs with Marshall. This time we went all the way to the fifth floor and looked down.


We even found a nice outside sitting area that reminds us of some of the areas at Wilderness Lodge, only it is outdoors which works well with our nice weather.


I was able to find a big comfy chair to nurse in while they went exploring.

Then we headed outside to run around in the courtyard at the Downtown Disney entrance to the hotel. This is another one of Allie's favorites, since she can literally run around in circles. This is the same courtyard we had our cocktail reception at for our wedding, but we didn't get to hang out then because we were off taking pictures.

Marshall and I watched the two of them zoom around for a while until we decided it was time for dessert.

We had promised Allie we could get something from Marcelline's, which is the Disney candy store at our DTD, but on the way we walked through the WOrld of Disney store.

It was fun checking out the merchandise, it felt like it had been forever since we'd been there. We found some cute things for Marshall but decided not to buy anything because he's growing like a weed. Plus they were kind of expensive and we've got a Disneyworld trip to pay for!




We actually made it out of the World of Disney store without buying anything, but we then went to Marceline's to get some yummy treats. After much consideration, Allie decided on a Mickey marshmallow thing on a stick, and we went with cookies. Their white chocolate rasberry cookie is amazing.

It is one of my favorite cookies. We also got a snickerdoodle which are normally my favorite kind of cookie but this one was a little too cakey for my liking. I like them more chewy. I still ate it though because it was still a cookie and still delicious.

By now we were past our two hours of free parking, so we started workign toward the car. On the way we had to stop at the Lego store though, and Allie decided to spend some of her own money on more minifigures. The funny thing is she made two of the three figures identical, so they could be twins.


After the Lego Store we were pretty tired plus we didn't want to have to pay for any more parking. On the way to the car the evening fireworks started.


We really had a nice view of the show, and in all of our times at Disneyland we had never watched them from the DTD parking lot. Allie really enjoyed them, and while Marshall wasn't too sure about the loud noises he did fine with Mommy holding him. Then we hopped back in the truck and headed for home after a successfull first trip.


Now, back to our WDW trip planning. There isn't a whole lot to report, but things are still on track. Currently we are just 46 days from our ADR date, and the Jet Blue airfare schedule and the preliminary Diseny travel agent calendar should be available within the next month.

Our goal is to see if we can get airfare for the 4 of us for under $1,000. Marshall will be a lap baby so we're not technically buying him a ticket. We are looking at ALL the flight options including a non-stop red-eye flight out of LAX. I'm not sure what I would prefer in a flight with the baby but budget is going to be a pretty big factor in our flight choice this time. It should be interesting to see what we end up with.

We are all hoping for a deal on the JetBlue flight we have taken the last two times, which has one stop in Austin but is the same plane for both flights so we don't have to worry about making the connection.

I like that flight because we've got the whole routine figured out. Hopefully we can still make that one happen.

We are also watching the Wilderness Lodge construction situation. Since we last posted they have announced that basically half of the main resort is shut down, leaving only the North wing and a single set of elevators. While this means our favorite rooms from the last two times won't be available, we are still thinking it will work out ok, and it might be very nice to have fewer people overall at the resort.

It would be nice if the resort was quieter ultimately though for me the resort location is a pretty big deal for this trip. I think the only thing that would really make me want to switch would be if we couldn't get quick service food. If we switch it would be to POR.

I agree, as long as we have access to Roaring Fork and can catch boats on Bay Lake to the CR, FW, and MK, I think we can work around anything else. It all will also depend on what hapens when discounts come out though too. We are hopeful that we will have a better chance at free dining at WL.

It's a big wait and see game at this point. Speaking of wait and see, I'm thinking we should start some sort of pool as to what size clothing Marshall will be wearing by the trip.

We were spoiled by Allie who was always right on as far as sizing. Now Marshall is wearing some 6 month clothes at only 6 weeks old!

He has made it impossible to predict what size he'll be in by September. I guess that's about it for now. We'll keep you updated as planning heats up in the next month or two.

Thanks for following along and we'll post more here as things come together.