We're doing what??? A Wonder-ful PTR

[jenseib]

Is your t-rex any cheaper than Disney's...maybe I'll come thereto try it. LOL!

 

[stephielela]

Is your t-rex any cheaper than Disney's...maybe I'll come thereto try it. LOL!

It's not cheap, but I can't imagine it would be as $$ as Disney since I think food has an automatic markup of 150% at WDW

 

[photographymom517]

I knew you'd make it here eventually! You have a lot going on with your own trip right around the corner! And I will need many FB live updates and texts to keep me from being sad

Definitely will post lots of updates on the trip!!! The only bad thing is that my cell phone eats batteries! So when I send a picture message, half my battery dies.

I may have to send a pic first thing in the morning while the phone is still charging & then again once we return to the resort for the evening! But no matter what I do, I will definitely make sure you get those much needed updates!!!

I am actually getting ready to go to Target today (a sickness, I know) because I have some returns and a friend of the family gave me a gift card for helping out with their dogs. I am planning on buying some large plastic tubs so I can start organizing my overflowing basement! I want to have one just for Disney night supplies

I'm in Target withdrawal. I need to go back soon. I'm trying my best to not buy anything else until our trip -- which is going to be soooo hard since I'll probably find out what the baby is on Monday!!!!

I'd like to keep what I have saved just for the Disney trip, especially because I keep visiting the Disney Store website & adding things to my souvenir list!!!

For some reason, Luke & I always get great deals on clothes on August 30th -- not sure whats with that date but its when we've gotten deals the past 3 years Maybe its "before Labor Day" sales or something. I'm not sure, but you know that means I'll probably be at Target next week!

I completely understand about the basement!!! We actually just cleaned out our entire basement 2 weekends ago!!! Instead of trying to do it when my DH isn't home, I waited until he was here. It made it alot easier because I would make piles of "throw it out" or "sell it" or "Salvation Army" and he would take it all outside for me. So I was able to stay in the basement with Luke & continue cleaning instead of running back & forth! Wow was it a huge mess!!!

As far as food pics from the cruise, I am a little worried my tablemates will think I am crazy, but maybe if I explain I am a TA and this trip is research... I will get some Palo pics, I promise!

I know what you mean! I often take pics at Target & people look at me as if I'm insane! I've actually overheard people talking about "that strange woman taking pictures" too!!!

Sometimes I take pics inside restaurants on my cell -- but I try to do it very discretely -- I pretend that I'm sending someone a text & then take a pic with the sound off! It usually works but I did get told at one restaurant to not take pics inside because of copyright/patent issues. I can't remember where it was, but I thought it was strange!

I will totally give you the full review on the Oceaneer club. As you might remember, Jack was NOT in love with Camp Carnival on our last cruise, so hopefully he will have a much better time on this one. You will want Luke to get to go play with other kids so you can have some quiet time with DH. Plus with the new baby, I bet Luke is going to be much more independent. I'm telling you, Jack is like his own person right now. We will be eating at a restaurant and he will say he needs to go potty and act like he is going to go all by himself! (which of course I wouldn't ever let him do) He is starting to complain about having to go in the girls potty all the time too. These kids grow up fast!

I can't wait for that review!!! I'm very curious about the Oceaneer Club! I think Jack will enjoy it more because he will feel more at home with the Disney themes!!!

Luke has become so much more independent recently. Sometimes I almost want to cry because he will say "Mommy, I can do it by mineself!" (that's how he says "myself") If I continue to try to help him after he's said that, he gets very frustrated! So I've learned to control myself, but after years of helping him do basically everything, its super hard!!! He always helped me with my niece when I babysat her as an infant, so I'm really hoping he will help out with the new baby. Everytime we go to a store to look at baby stuff, he tells me things like "Mommy I will help you feed the baby" or "Mommy I will play with the new baby everyday." But somedays, he will just get in a mood & ask me not to buy anything else! He says "No more baby stuff, mommy!" Its hilarious!!! I'll try to get it on video one day because you seriously need to see it for yourself!!!

Sooo funny that you mentioned Jack not wanting to use the girls bathroom because Luke just started that too!!! He was so confused after he was finally potty trained. We went to the bathroom & he looked at the door & said "Mommy I'm a boy, I don't wear a dress like that lady does!" then he pointed to the mens' bathroom & said "I go in here by mineself now."

So I had to explain how he had to come with me because a stranger could take him if he went inside alone. I don't want to scare him, but I don't want him to think he can do all these things alone without us around either. Luckily on the weekends, my husband is with us so he'll take Luke in the mens' room -- but it seems to confuse him more when he's alone with me. I finally gave up with all the explanations & just say "You always have to be with either mommy or daddy." He understood that!

Anyways, I am off to go run errands! Jack is a his first day of preschool and Zsa Zsa is still at the puppy hotel (we had a party last night for my mom's 50th) so I am a free woman today!!! This NEVER happens. Of course, it's not like I can relax all day I have tons of work to do in the house

A day alone! Wow! But I totally get what you mean. Everytime I have a day to myself, I run around like crazy trying to squeeze 50 things into 3 hours!!! You just have no choice when you're alone, you know? There's always something to do & its so much easier when you're by yourself. Luke always tries to "help" me clean & while I appreciate it, sometimes he just makes a bigger mess which is double work for me in the end. My mom yells at me when she watches him because she says she's doing it to give me "a day off" -- so I just remind her that, as a woman and a mother, she KNOWS that there isn't a "day off" for us!!!

 

[photographymom517]

Hey! I just found this link!

Its about Halloweentime at DLR in September & October 2011. I didn't really read through much of it, but it seems to have info on different events, parades, etc. so I thought you might want to take a look at it!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2560082

 

[stephielela]

Hey! I just found this link!

Its about Halloweentime at DLR in September & October 2011. I didn't really read through much of it, but it seems to have info on different events, parades, etc. so I thought you might want to take a look at it!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2560082

Thanks Hope!! That is the only part of this trip that makes me sad. I wanted to be able to do our DLR days before our cruise so we could do the Halloween stuff, but with my work schedule we can't, so we will miss Halloweentime Oh well, it's still going to be AWESOME!

 

[Dream426]

Joining in. Love the Disney movie night and activity idea. Have to keep this in mind when my daughter, who is going to be 2 months in a couple of weeks, gets older. Hoping she is a Disney lover like DH and I. She already has Disney outfits, stuffed animals, etc.

Love your pre-trip report so far. We did the Palo brunch each time we were on the cruise and loved it. We have not done the dinner at Palo but from what I have read from other's trip reports it is amazing. Can't wait for more updates.

 

[lbuzz52]

Target really got me today. Right after I walked in, the heavens opened up outside forcing me to spend about an hour and a half wandering around...

Thanks for asking! Jack did great today! He was a bit sleepy and reluctant, but I got him there only 20 minutes later than I planned. I picked him up around 4 and he said he had a great day, but he cried at naptime because he was wanting me to come get him, and he was mad at me for not sending him with sunscreen. He also told the woman who was supervising them outside that he was very frustrated that I wasn't there yet... That's my 3 year old for ya! We are getting ready to head to T-Rex for "first day of school dinner", we are super lucky and have what I believe is the only one outside of DTD in our town... It's our little slice of Disney

i know exactly what you mean. I dropped off Maya at a birthday party Saturday. It just happened to be next to a Target i dont' normally make it to. I spent an hour in there and never even made it to the groceries!

 

[stephielela]

i know exactly what you mean. I dropped off Maya at a birthday party Saturday. It just happened to be next to a Target i dont' normally make it to. I spent an hour in there and never even made it to the groceries!

Lol, I went yesterday to drop off my mom's prescriptions and ended up walking out with a bunch of supplies for travel agency stuff. All the back to school stuff was 30% off so I got 20 folders (10 cents each) and 4 binders (65 cents each), plus some cute pens! Plus I went on Saturday to get that super cute Halloween Mickey tshirt

 

[stephielela]

Well, time marches on and I get closer and closer to this fabulous trip! I have made a few trip purchases, which I will post pics of tomorrow hopefully. Also, Jack and I have been walking a lot, working on his "walking stamina". After thinking about our schedules, I decided to try to avoid renting a stroller. I knew I wouldn't be hauling our Maclaren along, since we won't need it on the cruise at all, and we are only spending 1 1/2 days at Disneyland. I know the first day will be fine, we will be at DCA and we will have a dinner reservation and then we will be seeing World of Color so there won't be a ton of walking involved. The next day is Disneyland, which I am pretty positive is smaller than MK. I really think Jack will be fine without a stroller, he spends very little time in it anyways, and right now he is walking a mile and a half with me, at night, after he has already been playing and running around all day. Obviously if he starts dragging, or if the DCA day is difficult, we will rent a stroller for the Disneyland day, but I'd like to save the $$ if possible Luckily there are plenty of places in our neighborhood to walk. Here are some pics from our recent walks:

Jack loves keeping an eye out for the mushrooms that are popping up all over the place:

 

[stephielela]

Jack started school (preschool) August 22nd. So far it seems to be going pretty well, he is having a lot of trouble adjusting to getting up so early (he has to be as school by 6:25 am so I can get to work on time) but once he is there, he is enjoying it!

We celebrated this milestone by going to dinner at T-Rex. We are super lucky because there are only 2 T-Rex restaurants in the country (as far as I know) and one is here!! Of course the other is at DTD. So it's like a little piece od Disney in our own backyard!

My parents, sister, my cousin and his girlfriend all came out to celebrate with us. My cousins mom (my aunt) is the one who has been keeping Jack ever since he was 6 months old, so he is really close to my cousin and his gf. He loves them both a lot, and they are really attached to him as well. It's been a hard adjustment for them apparently not having Jack around all the time.

I will add more pictures later, I'm not sure where they went, but I will find them. Here are the 2 I managed to find for now!

Jack was distracted:

We got a dip sampler and onion rings to split for apps, and they were both yummy. Jack had the dino shaped chicken nuggets (kids meals are huge here). My cousin had a burger he really enjoyed, and his girlfriend (also named Stephanie btw) had the calzone, which was enormous! She liked it, and it came with a Caesar salad. My mom, sister and I all did soup/salad combos. The soups were tomato basil and french onion, and both were good. I got the chicken sandwich that comes on a pizza type crust. It's really good, but hard to eat. My dad had the Lava Me Tenders (chicken tenders) which were good, but he was sick the next day... he was the only one, and no one else tried his tenders, so we can't be sure that's what caused it, but I probably won't be eating them anytime soon just in case. My mom's 50th birthday was the day before, so we told our waiter and they came to sing to her, and brought her a little scoop of ice cream with a cookie.

They also have a "character", a dinsoaur (obviously) come around and take pictures. They take the pictures and give you a ticket to go look at it later. Jack was nervous and made me get in the picture too. We didn't look at them because we knew we weren't going to buy them, but I thought it was a nice touch.

It was a but pricey, but it's not someplace we eat everyday. The menu is slightly different than the WDW location. They have build-a-dino here too, but Jack wasn't interested. They also have this area where you pay $2.50 and you can go do special activities (some of which cost extra) but it looked closed (it was a Monday evening after all). It did look like a fun place for a birthday party.

 

[stephielela]

Here is the problem. I was originally planning to spend 11/6 (probably won't arrive till 12) at California Adventure and do the World of Color dinner package, and then spend the whole next day at Disneyland... But that is a Monday and there is no night time entertainment (Fantasmic or fireworks) at Disneyland Monday night. I LOVE fireworks. They are my favorite things at Disney Parks. So now I am thinking I should do park hoppers and then I can do DCA and then hop over to Disneyland for Fantasmic and late fireworks, then do Disneyland Monday and hop over to DCA for WoC dinner... It's only about $30 more for the park hoppers... Suggestions? Advice?

 

[Leshaface]

Here is the problem. I was originally planning to spend 11/6 (probably won't arrive till 12) at California Adventure and do the World of Color dinner package, and then spend the whole next day at Disneyland... But that is a Monday and there is no night time entertainment (Fantasmic or fireworks) at Disneyland Monday night. I LOVE fireworks. They are my favorite things at Disney Parks. So now I am thinking I should do park hoppers and then I can do DCA and then hop over to Disneyland for Fantasmic and late fireworks, then do Disneyland Monday and hop over to DCA for WoC dinner... It's only about $30 more for the park hoppers... Suggestions? Advice?

I would DEFINITELY do park hoppers. I think the extra $30 would be worth it IMO, because it gives you more flexibility. I think you should go for it if it's not going to break your budget and you'll be able to see the fireworks too!

 

[stephielela]

I would DEFINITELY do park hoppers. I think the extra $30 would be worth it IMO, because it gives you more flexibility. I think you should go for it if it's not going to break your budget and you'll be able to see the fireworks too!

Thanks, I think I am going to go for it. You are right about the flexibility, and its so much cheaper than at WDW (it's over $50 per person there to add the hopper option) that it's totally worth it!

Does anyone know if Disneyland restaurants offer reservations for before the park opens like some at WDW do?

 

[Leshaface]

Thanks, I think I am going to go for it. You are right about the flexibility, and its so much cheaper than at WDW (it's over $50 per person there to add the hopper option) that it's totally worth it!


Does anyone know if Disneyland restaurants offer reservations for before the park opens like some at WDW do?

Oh yeah, it's WAY expensive at WDW to get the hopper option.

I know there used to be a character breakfast at Plaza Inn at Disneyland, but i'm not sure if it opens before the park opens. I DO know that Ariel's Grotto allows people to get into the restaurant before the park opens at Disney's California Adventure (I know this because whenever I waited for Rope Drop to happen at DCA, people would go up to the CM waiting at the rope and tell them they had Priority Seating at Ariel's Grotto and they were allowed through.

Otherwise, there are Character breakfasts at all the hotels

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

What a great idea to work up Jack's walking stamina! Seems like you will be fine without a stroller.

I got the Mickey halloween t-shirt too! So cute!

That is awesome that you have the only other T-Rex near you!! We have a Rainforest Cafe near us and it really takes you right there!

Glad Jack seems to be adjusting to pre-school nicely.

 

[jenseib]

Here is the problem. I was originally planning to spend 11/6 (probably won't arrive till 12) at California Adventure and do the World of Color dinner package, and then spend the whole next day at Disneyland... But that is a Monday and there is no night time entertainment (Fantasmic or fireworks) at Disneyland Monday night. I LOVE fireworks. They are my favorite things at Disney Parks. So now I am thinking I should do park hoppers and then I can do DCA and then hop over to Disneyland for Fantasmic and late fireworks, then do Disneyland Monday and hop over to DCA for WoC dinner... It's only about $30 more for the park hoppers... Suggestions? Advice?

It's been awhile since I did DL research, but I thought once you got a 2 day ticket they were automatically hoppers? Did that change? I thought the 1 day ticket was the only one you had the option to add it to?

I think you are right about the stroller. For jsut a day and half, I think you will be fine. You won't need it on the cruise.
I'm loving the T-rex review. That place looks so good. I do want to try it out someday.

 

[stephielela]

Oh yeah, it's WAY expensive at WDW to get the hopper option.

I know there used to be a character breakfast at Plaza Inn at Disneyland, but i'm not sure if it opens before the park opens. I DO know that Ariel's Grotto allows people to get into the restaurant before the park opens at Disney's California Adventure (I know this because whenever I waited for Rope Drop to happen at DCA, people would go up to the CM waiting at the rope and tell them they had Priority Seating at Ariel's Grotto and they were allowed through.

Otherwise, there are Character breakfasts at all the hotels

MAybe we will just do one at the Disneyland Hotel or something, since parks look like they won't open until 10. It will almost be relaxing!!

What a great idea to work up Jack's walking stamina! Seems like you will be fine without a stroller.

I got the Mickey halloween t-shirt too! So cute!

That is awesome that you have the only other T-Rex near you!! We have a Rainforest Cafe near us and it really takes you right there!

Glad Jack seems to be adjusting to pre-school nicely.

We used to have a Rainforest Cafe here in our mall but it closed. I love that Mickey shirt! So perfect! Jack is adjusting pretty well, still not happy in the mornings, but I am not sure that will change, he takes after me that way

It's been awhile since I did DL research, but I thought once you got a 2 day ticket they were automatically hoppers? Did that change? I thought the 1 day ticket was the only one you had the option to add it to?

I think you are right about the stroller. For jsut a day and half, I think you will be fine. You won't need it on the cruise.
I'm loving the T-rex review. That place looks so good. I do want to try it out someday.

You can get 2 day tickets with or without. I am definitely going to get them, especially as I started looking at rides/touring plans. I like T-Rex, I think the food is way better than the food was at our Rainforest Cafe. Maybe that's why ours closed? I don't think I have been to the one at WDW but I have been to others that were better than ours.

 

[Leshaface]

MAybe we will just do one at the Disneyland Hotel or something, since parks look like they won't open until 10. It will almost be relaxing!!

I think that would be a great idea! I've heard great things about the character breakfasts, especially the character breakfast at the Storyteller's Cafe located in the Grand Californian. We stay at the GC pretty often and every time we walked past this restaurant it was always filled with people and characters.

But I've also heard great things about Goofy's Kitchen too (at the Disneyland Hotel). So it looks like you're gonna have some tough decisions to make

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

By the way, did I ever tell you how much I LOVE the name Jack? That was my cat's name and we loved him sooooo much, he was like our child. He died just about 2 years ago and I still cry about him often. Anyway, since then we've always said if we ever had a boy, we might use Jack as a middle name.

The problem is that since I'm a teacher, I encounter some "troubled" children and some kids can turn me off of names. Tom really likes the name Charlie but I had a Charlie once and he was AWFUL! So I associate the name with him. Anyway, the point it, there is a Jack on my list for this year and I'm really hoping he doesnt' turn me off of the name!!

 

[stephielela]

By the way, did I ever tell you how much I LOVE the name Jack? That was my cat's name and we loved him sooooo much, he was like our child. He died just about 2 years ago and I still cry about him often. Anyway, since then we've always said if we ever had a boy, we might use Jack as a middle name.

The problem is that since I'm a teacher, I encounter some "troubled" children and some kids can turn me off of names. Tom really likes the name Charlie but I had a Charlie once and he was AWFUL! So I associate the name with him. Anyway, the point it, there is a Jack on my list for this year and I'm really hoping he doesnt' turn me off of the name!!

I know what you mean, when I was frantically trying to find a boy name (I originally was told I was having a girl and had the perfect name picked out) my mom and I literally just sat around listing off names. I couldn't use a name of anyone I had dated lol, it just felt wierd! Jack is actually "John Davis", John after my grandfather who passed away the year Jack was born, and Davis after my mom's side of the family, her ancestors go way back with that last name. Since Jack is a nickname for John it worked out perfectly!