TR - A Gregarious Ghostly Gallivant - Final Thoughts Finally Posted!

[mnmrmustard]

Bummer on no custom fire works and no parade but at least the rest of it sounds awesome and the HM is decorated awesomely! I'm totally jealous of that.

Yeah, there'll still be plenty to see and do, and I can't complain about getting to see Jack and Sally

 

[PrincessSarah314]

Love the tshirt designs. I offered to make shirts for my group this year. Noone in my family would agree to them!

That's because I overplan and they think I'm crazy. When I printed out our Ridemax schedules they were dumbfounded.

Anyway, can't wait to read more!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Love the tshirt designs. I offered to make shirts for my group this year. Noone in my family would agree to them!

That's because I overplan and they think I'm crazy. When I printed out our Ridemax schedules they were dumbfounded.

Anyway, can't wait to read more!

Hey there Sarah, thank you for stopping by and for the compliment on the T-shirts. My family tolerates my overplanning. I had multi-tabbed spreadsheets and a binder and all kinds of other little scraps of info for our WDW trip last year. I'm trying not to be quite so over the top this time ...but they do have to wear the T-shirts

 

[mnmrmustard]

Hey All!

I've been away from here for a bit, just haven't had much to report that is new. We're 110 days out and me and AAA have done the initial planning for what we can being this far out.

We have:

• tickets purchased
• room at DLH reserved (first time staying on property)
• rough itinerary put together
• t-shirts designed

When we get closer we still need to:

• make our PS "reservations" at the places that allow for it
• check plane ticket prices to see if (hope beyond hope) flying is cheaper than driving
• finish paying for the package to AAA (only 1/3 paid off at this point)
• cash in our Disney Dollars from our Disney credit card (have just shy of $300 on account)
• finalize packing list
• everything else I am forgetting right now

I think I mentioned that this year is Roxy and my 15th wedding anniversary and I want to do something special for that while we are there. Probably just something during one of the dinners - I'm open to suggestions

Back to the title of this post, I am referencing our incredible knack to plan too much to do for "summertime" activities. I'm looking at our schedule and a these are our weekends:

June 25th – 28th – Drive to Lodi, CA. followed by Brookings, OR. Beach Weekend

July:

July 3rd - 5th – 4th of July 3-day weekend/Bean’s B-Day
July 10th – Monte Carlo bowling with friends/BBQ
July 16th – 19th – Camping at Grayback Campground near the Oregon Caves
July 24th – 26th – Roxy & My 15th Anniversary weekend – Hellgate Jetboat Dinner
July 30st – August 2nd – Camping at Stewart State Park at Lost Creek Lake

August:

August 1st – 2nd (see above)
August 7th – 9th – Roxy’s B-Day weekend/Prospect HS Reunion
August 13th – 16th – Camping at Harris Beach near Brookings, OR
August 21st – actual weekend with nothing planned
August 28th – Kyra’s B-Day
August 30th – Papa Roach & Hinder Concert

September:

September 4th – 7th – Labor Day weekend (Big BBQ)
September 8th – Kid's school starts back up
September 19th – Portland Pirate Festival (arrrgggghhh!!!! )

and finally October:

October 11th – 18th – Halloween Vacation to Disneyland

We're also going to be doing some booster activitied to raise money for Kyra's middle school band during the summer and will probably take part in the fundraising effort for the 2010 trip to the Macy's parade.

Many of you know that I work at a college, but to be clear, I do not get summers off. But I do get Friday's off from July thru mid-September, so that's cool

So what I am envisioning is that our summertime activities will swallow me up and I'll come out the other end in mid-September going "oh no, less than a month to go!!!"

I figure I'll set calendar reminders for the reservations thing and flight prices, even though our AAA agent is probably going to be doing this for us.

Anyone who has had past AAA trip experience please let me know how your experience was. I'm so used to doing all of this myself and have never left it to someone else to plan vacations for me.

I'm probably going to drive our agent crazy when we start getting close

So I think I'm stuck as far as planning goes unless you fine people can offer me some more stuff to keep me busy and keep me DIS-fixated

Cheers to you all and hope your summer isn't quite as busy as mine ...but at least as fun!

 

[Leger13]

Wow you really DO have a lot of things planned this summer! I'm jealous! I wish I had half as much stuff going on this summer as you do. I feel like such a fuddy duddy with not having anything planned.

And as for AAA travel agents....I've never used a travel agent so I can't give you much insight there. But if that was me with a travel agent I'd probably make them nutso too the closer my vacation got

Anyways, hope you have a fun summer!!

 

[kaoden39]

I agree with Carla you do have your summer planned out don't you? Which day is Bean's birthday? Kody's is July 5. Wave as you go through to Lodi, okay?

 

[mnmrmustard]

Wow you really DO have a lot of things planned this summer! I'm jealous! I wish I had half as much stuff going on this summer as you do. I feel like such a fuddy duddy with not having anything planned.

And as for AAA travel agents....I've never used a travel agent so I can't give you much insight there. But if that was me with a travel agent I'd probably make them nutso too the closer my vacation got

Anyways, hope you have a fun summer!!

Hehe, yeah. We tend to hibernate during the winter so we try to make up for it during the summer. It is fun but it is also a thing where we come to the end of summer completely draggin' and embrace the slower pace of fall

Okay, well at least I'm probably not the only one who can't help but pester the agent ...she's getting paid to do it so she'll just have to deal with all of my questions as we get close

I agree with Carla you do have your summer planned out don't you? Which day is Bean's birthday? Kody's is July 5. Wave as you go through to Lodi, okay?

Yup, we're gluttons for punishment, what can I say

Well that's cool - Bean's b-day is also on the 5th! Do you ever get away with doing the combo 4th of July/Birthday combo party? We did those the first few years but the past couple Bean has wanted a separate party.

 

[Trentmom]

Hey Mustard


SUmmer looks like a ton of fun, but busy


Pirate Festival sounds neat. Is that something you dress up for?

 

[mnmrmustard]

Hey Mustard


SUmmer looks like a ton of fun, but busy


Pirate Festival sounds neat. Is that something you dress up for?

Hey Sharky!! Thankyee for stopping by

Fun often equals busy for my fam


The Pirate Festival does sound neat and we've been wanting to go for a couple of years now but it keeps not working out so we've never been. Lots of fun for all ages and music and activities and such Portland Pirate Festival

Will we dress up? Probably not - don't have any pirate outfits except bean ...unless you count my PotC Mickey Ears

 

[kaoden39]

Hehe, yeah. We tend to hibernate during the winter so we try to make up for it during the summer. It is fun but it is also a thing where we come to the end of summer completely draggin' and embrace the slower pace of fall

Okay, well at least I'm probably not the only one who can't help but pester the agent ...she's getting paid to do it so she'll just have to deal with all of my questions as we get close



Yup, we're gluttons for punishment, what can I say

Well that's cool - Bean's b-day is also on the 5th! Do you ever get away with doing the combo 4th of July/Birthday combo party? We did those the first few years but the past couple Bean has wanted a separate party.

Kody isn't much for a party. She always wants to go camping over her birthday.

...unless you count my PotC Mickey Ears

And why not?????

 

[Tat2ddisneymom]

I agree with the others...your summer plans make me tired.

Woo hoo for $300 Disney Dollars.

 

[PrincessSarah314]

Holy cow you guys have a LOT planned for the summer! It'll be worth being tired in Sept/Oct after all the things you will have done in the summer, though.

 

[mnmrmustard]

Kody isn't much for a party. She always wants to go camping over her birthday.



And why not?????

Well Bean ended up not really having a party, but has received gifts from us and her friends and got to get a special tour of a big cat park just outside of Cave Junction where one of her friend's mother had been working. That and the camping trips were enough to make her happy.

And as far as the pirate thing, we may dress up after all. I am heavily contemplating going to the Mickey's Trick or Treat party as Captain Barbossa and if I can get the costume together in time I'll wear it to the festival too.

I agree with the others...your summer plans make me tired.

Woo hoo for $300 Disney Dollars.

And I'm feeling it - finally done with the camping and glad the summer is starting to wind down. Yes indeed, and it looks like we may have even more Disney Dollars as we've been paying some big monthly bills with the card and then paying the card back the same week

Holy cow you guys have a LOT planned for the summer! It'll be worth being tired in Sept/Oct after all the things you will have done in the summer, though.

Yes, I very much agree. Tired but happy about the memories we've created

 

[kaoden39]

How cool about touring the cat park. Oh, I hope you can get a Barbossa costume done. He is one of my favorite characters from the series. And no Jack Sparrow was not my favorite character. Odd considering my avatar.

 

[mnmrmustard]

Hey All,

Hadn't had much to report lately, been busy with summer activities and had to get under the 60 day mark before I could make dinner reses. But now I have plenty to report

First off, we have added a person to the crew - my 17yr old nephew (in-law) came up for the summer to spend some time with us. Due to some financial difficulties his dad is having we offered for him to stay with us for his senior year of HS and he and his dad agreed. So as he is now a member of the household we couldn't leave him behind. It is a bigger strain on the pocketbook but it will be worth it. Family is family.

Next, we are no longer driving down. There is too much going on at Roxy's work for her to be away the extra days and the thought of a total of 5 of us spending 4 days on the road in a cramped rig was really not sounding appealing. Sooo, we got the flight booked today and I also confirmed our PS dining reservations! Without further adu here is our new itinerary:


Day 1 - Sunday, October 11th, 2009 - Packing Day

- Get everything together during the day and load up the rig that evening


Day 2 - Monday, October 12th, 2009 - Travel Day/Disneyland

- Get up and stumble into the rig
- Leave for the airport at 5:30am
- Breakfast at airport - flight leaves at 7am - 2hr flight to LAX
- 1hr shuttle to DLR - get to resort around 10:30am
- Drop off bags at reception at DLR
- Early lunch at Rainforest Café - 11am
- Head in to Disneyland and just go where we feel like
- 3pm - leave the family in DL and go check in and get bags to room
- Make a run to Food 4 Less for breakfast stuff
- Catch back up with fam in DL
- Dinner at Blue Bayou - 5:30pm
- Maybe hit a couple of rides
- Head back to room for early bedtime


Day 3 - Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 - Disneyland

- Breakfast in room
- Walk from hotel through DTD to DL main gate - try to be there for Main Street opening
- Check times for characters (everything below subject to change depending on where they are and when)
- Avoid the initial crowds by going towards Adventureland instead of Fantasyland or Tomorrowland
- Jungle Cruise
- PoTC a couple of times
- Indiana Jones Adventure
- Haunted Mansion a couple of times
- Splash Mountain
- Lunch at Stage Door Café
- Ride the Riverboat to let food settle
- BTMRR
- Back to hotel to kick back/hit the pool
- Come back and ride the train to the Toontown stop
- Stroll straight through to hit the classics in Fantasyland
- Jump back on the train and do a full loop, ending in Tomorrowland
- Stroll to the monorail and ride it back to DTD and DLH
- PS for Goofy's Kitchen - 5:30pm


Day 4 - Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 - California Adventure

- Breakfast in room
- Stroll in around opening time
- Check out where/when for characters
- Make a beeline for ToT (Bean won't allow for anything else)
- I'm assuming she'll want to ride it at least 8 times to match her WDW record
- See Disney's Aladdin
- Stroll through Disney Animation
- Check out Monsters Inc. ride
- Might do Turtle Talk and Muppet Vision - up to the kids
- Ride Soarin'
- Eat lunch at Taste Pilot's Grill
- Hit the Redwood Creek Challenge to work off lunch
- Hit the Grizzly River Run to cool off from RCC
- Back to the hotel to rest/hit the pool
- Back in the evening to do Paradise Pier
- Finally get to ride California Screamin'!!!
- Do the boardwalk and the rest of the rides there
- Dinner at one of the counter services spots on the Pier


Day 5 - Thursday, October 15th, 2009 - Disneyland

- Breakfast in room
- Early entry to Toontown
- Roll over to Tomorrowland
- Finding Nemo before it gets crowded
- Space Mountain
- Buzz
- Star Tours
- Lunch at either Redd Rockett's or Tomorrowland Terrace
- Honey, I Shrunk the Audience
- Innoventions
- Back to hotel to rest/hit the pool
- Back to the resort to hit the stuff we missed in Fantasyland and Frontierland
- Monorail back to DTD - dinner wherever


Day 6 - Friday, October 16th, 2009 - California Adventure/Disneyland -

- Breakfast in room
- Basically a general hit whatever we want to ride again morning
- More ToT and California Screamin' specifically
- Everything in between
- Lunch wherever is convenient
- Back to the hotel to rest/hit the pool
- Take monorail to Tomorrowland station
- Take train to New Orleans square
- PoTC & Indiana Jones if they aren't too crowded
- Stroll around until evening/light counter service dinner
- Fantasmic! Dessert Buffet/watch Fantasmic!
- Stroll around/ride what we can
- Hit Main Street Shops
- Take train to Tomorrowland/monorail back to DTD/DLH


Day 7 - Saturday, October 17th, 2009 - Check-out from DLH/Fly home

- Pack up and check out by 11am
- Take the shuttle back to LAX
- Fly out at 12:55pm - 2hr flight
- Pack up the rig and get home around 4pm and collapse

Whoohoo!!!

 

[mnmrmustard]

How cool about touring the cat park. Oh, I hope you can get a Barbossa costume done. He is one of my favorite characters from the series. And no Jack Sparrow was not my favorite character. Odd considering my avatar.

Yes, she had a great time there. Sadly it was the going away party for one of her best friends ...she was one of the "3 musketeers" - they had been together since 1st grade and her mom and her just moved up north so her mom could continue on with her large animal vet degree.

Yes, I hope it works out to be Barbossa ...I'm even growing out a beard - lol. He was always my favorite character in the series.

I'm looking at options for buying a decent quality version on eBay and also have feelers out to a seamstress who had made one for a customer in the past that looks fantastic, but I'm sure I wouldn't be able to afford the cost of having one fully custom made.

 

[kaoden39]

Yes, she had a great time there. Sadly it was the going away party for one of her best friends ...she was one of the "3 musketeers" - they had been together since 1st grade and her mom and her just moved up north so her mom could continue on with her large animal vet degree.

Yes, I hope it works out to be Barbossa ...I'm even growing out a beard - lol. He was always my favorite character in the series.

I'm looking at options for buying a decent quality version on eBay and also have feelers out to a seamstress who had made one for a customer in the past that looks fantastic, but I'm sure I wouldn't be able to afford the cost of having one fully custom made.

That's unfortunate that her friend had to move away. My sons school closed and he and his friends got split up between two different middle schools so it is a chore and this is the first week. I am trying to change his school so he can be with his friends ans hi band teacher.

Having a costume made can be really expensive, hopefully you can find one on ebay or such.

 

[mnmrmustard]

That's unfortunate that her friend had to move away. My sons school closed and he and his friends got split up between two different middle schools so it is a chore and this is the first week. I am trying to change his school so he can be with his friends ans hi band teacher.

Having a costume made can be really expensive, hopefully you can find one on ebay or such.

Yeah, they are bummed but they both play a game called Wizard 101 online so they'll still be able to have virtual play dates

That is too bad about your son and his friends being split up. I hope you are able to get him transferred, espeically if he has a band teacher that he likes. Having a good band teacher has done wonders for Kyra and her flute/picolo playing.

 

[kaoden39]

Yeah, they are bummed but they both play a game called Wizard 101 online so they'll still be able to have virtual play dates

That is too bad about your son and his friends being split up. I hope you are able to get him transferred, espeically if he has a band teacher that he likes. Having a good band teacher has done wonders for Kyra and her flute/picolo playing.

Loren has been with Mr Hunt for two years and he is supposed to be first chair trombone in the jazz band and he won't even be able to be in the jazz band if they don't change his school. The band director at this school has a Napoleon complex, and he and I are gonna butt heads if Loren';s school doesn't get changed.

 

[Trentmom]

Hey Mustard

Cat park sounds really cool. What a shame her friend is leaving. By I am sure by power of internet, they will remain in touch

That is so nice to take your nephew in and to DL with ya

Can you take some pics of Goofy's Kitchen? I am curious what it looks like in there. If you forget, no biggie.