What do you mean we’re DRIVING from CA to WDW??? With 4 kids!!!!

[Surfinpiratee]

Sounds do much fun! I can't wait to hear about your drive!!!

 

[spiritsim]

I followed you over from D~s thread hope you don't mind. we are also doing Sci-fi but instead of CRT we are doing the Cinderella happy ever after dinner I have heard its better and 1 credit instead of 2 if your on the dinning plan which we will be. Also doing Acker----can't think how you spell it the princess breakfast at Ep This is my first trip to the world but I grew up around Disneyland. I have driven across country with children, they get board a lot so keeping them entertained will go along way to keeping you sane. I sugest making them each a box of activities for their age level. lots of movies to watch with a portable viewer. a bucket (in cass anyone gets car sick) And sncks to keep the I'm hungreys at bay..lol maybe some childrens Dramamine if you think any of them may get car sick even if they never have before. If they start feeling upset tummy you can give them one and the ooshie feelings will go away. Ok sorry for the highjack.....

 

[disneychic2]

Hi Sandra! So glad you started a trip report! So far it's looking good.

Keep in mind that at BOG the Beast doesn't go around table to table like the experiences at other character meals. He makes a sweeping appearance every once in a while, just walking through the 3 dining rooms. You can meet him in the throne room if your DD wants to get a photo with him. By the time you go, she'll probably be over an fear she may have felt. She will absolutely LOVE the Enchanted tales with Belle and if you go early enough, she will no doubt get a part. In fact, they fill in with any child who didn't get a part but wanted to be included.

Can't wait to watch your plans unfold. Hope you're feeling well.

 

[ladylyons]

Sounds do much fun! I can't wait to hear about your drive!!!

Thanks! I want to make it an adventure for them so it's fun for all of us.

I followed you over from D~s thread hope you don't mind. we are also doing Sci-fi but instead of CRT we are doing the Cinderella happy ever after dinner I have heard its better and 1 credit instead of 2 if your on the dinning plan which we will be. Also doing Acker----can't think how you spell it the princess breakfast at Ep This is my first trip to the world but I grew up around Disneyland. I have driven across country with children, they get board a lot so keeping them entertained will go along way to keeping you sane. I sugest making them each a box of activities for their age level. lots of movies to watch with a portable viewer. a bucket (in cass anyone gets car sick) And sncks to keep the I'm hungreys at bay..lol maybe some childrens Dramamine if you think any of them may get car sick even if they never have before. If they start feeling upset tummy you can give them one and the ooshie feelings will go away. Ok sorry for the highjack.....

Thank you!! I'll take all the help and info I can get!! We did breakfast at CRT 5 years ago when we went but I know it's had to of changed by then. I guess I need to relook at menu's decided which way we want to go. This will be my 3rd trip to WDW but my 1st one I was 15 and so much has changed since then!! I've been the passenger for cross country but I was a teenager by then so there's a lot of other things that kept us entertained that won't keep my 6, 5 and 3 year old entertained. Plus we were in a motorhome and this trip we won't be. Yes snacks are an important item we always travel with even when all I'm doing is bringing kids to school. Never know when one of them will say I'm hungry!!! I'm already looking for the children's Dramamine again. My oldest just started showing signs of carsickness back in May when we went on a cruise and then again in July when grandpa took him fishing on a very curvy road. If you think of anything else please feel free to share!!

Hi Sandra! So glad you started a trip report! So far it's looking good.

Keep in mind that at BOG the Beast doesn't go around table to table like the experiences at other character meals. He makes a sweeping appearance every once in a while, just walking through the 3 dining rooms. You can meet him in the throne room if your DD wants to get a photo with him. By the time you go, she'll probably be over an fear she may have felt. She will absolutely LOVE the Enchanted tales with Belle and if you go early enough, she will no doubt get a part. In fact, they fill in with any child who didn't get a part but wanted to be included.

Can't wait to watch your plans unfold. Hope you're feeling well.

Thank you! I've read about BOG and know we'll have to go see him which is fine just in case she's not over the fear of seeing him. But if I know my oldest DS he's going to want to see him!! The scarier the better for him! Since Belle is her favorite I know we'll have to make sure we go early and probably more than once. Once I found out that we'd get to meet Belle at the new show she does in DL I made sure we got there very early!! We were the 2nd family in line to go into the theatre we were that early.

I'm feeling really good just tired all the time. But that's to be expected considering the early mornings to get the kids to school and the not sleeping at night. I take advantage of only having one at home in the mornings and turn on the Disney Channel for him and then I go take a nap!! Only time I'm able to. The baby is healthy from my last appointment last week and has a very strong heartbeat and kick!! He already likes to make sure I know he's there.

 

[kaoden39]

Once I really start figuring things out and find I can ditch the boys I'd love to do the tea with you!!



I'm all for doing everything in the Castle. If I only have to make one stop I'll be happy!!

I think the main reason we'd do CRT again is because of it being in the castle. We don't have that luxury at DL.

Since Sarah is such a big Beauty and the Beast fan I can't not think about eating at BOG. Oh and I know we'll have to do Enchanted Tales at least once if not more!! That's a guarantee to at least see Belle!! Hopefully she gets picked for the story because then she'd get to meet her!!

We really enjoyed California Grill when we did it. It's actually one meal my DH has requested again so we'll see what happens.



Thank you! I'm leaning more towards AOA over the Cabins for the simple fact of I think the kids will like it more. We aren't big water people but I know we'd have to at least check out the pool once while we are there. I actually forgot about Hollywood and Vine. The kids do love the Disney Jr Characters!! I already figured the baby would go where I go. I nursed my other 3 until they were at least a year old (the youngest went until he was 18 months old) and all 3 refused a bottle no matter how early I introduced one. So it wouldn't be a full no kid dinner.



We'll figure it out. Always do!! Thankfully I already get her princess dresses when they go on sale so she has Belle and Sofia. She's going to be Tinkerbelle for Halloween so I still have to get that one for her.

Let's plan for June 2014!! Then we can all go!!



Thank you! We're pretty excited! It'll be a fun trip regardless of what we plan. If things work out we'd have to meet up!! Always fun to meet other people. I love the look of AOA. We are lucky that we get to go to DL quite often (at least once a year if not more) so we've been to Cars Land and wow it does feel like you are in the movie. I know the boys will for sure but DD just isn't that big of a fan of Cars or Lion King for that matter. We basically use the room to sleep and take a break in the middle of the day so we probably won't be in it all that much.



I'm leaning towards AOA for sure more because of the theming over everything else.

We're talking about doing the dining plan so we'll have to see how that will work out for us. I haven't really looked to deep into yet.

I basically figured the baby would go where ever I went. I nursed all 3 of the kids until they were at least a year old (James went until he was 18 months old). I also tried to give them bottles but it didn't matter how early I introduced them they just flat out refused them. We very rarely go out at home with out the kids so Disney is no exception, it just would be nice. I think our last no kid night out was in May when we were on our cruise and all 3 kids were in the kids club having a blast!!

Right now we're throwing out restaurants we're wanting and will figure out from there what will make it and what won't. I'm not a big breakfast person anyways so I'd want lunch for most places anyways if possible.

I wish we could, but there is no way with our January trip to Disneyland.

 

[ladylyons]

I wish we could, but there is no way with our January trip to Disneyland.

Maybe sometime in 2019 for our 15th we can make something work out. I'm still trying to work a DL trip into between now and then but so far DH isn't going for it.

 

[kaoden39]

Maybe sometime in 2019 for our 15th we can make something work out. I'm still trying to work a DL trip into between now and then but so far DH isn't going for it.

Silly husbands just don't get it do they?

 

[ladylyons]

Silly husbands just don't get it do they?

No they sure don't.

 

[DMGeurts]

I am here Sandra! Thanks for the invite!

I cannot belive how big your kids have gotten, and I love the flashback photos from your 2009 trip... DD is adorable with the princesses and DS is so cute!

I also cannot believe you will be driving from CA to FL!!!! WOW!!!! I've contimplated it with my two teens and I don't think I'd make it to Iowa... I cannot imagine how it will be with 4 under 7 y/o. Kudos to you!!!

Following along for the ride!!! Can't wait to hear more about your plans!

D~

 

[kaoden39]

I am here Sandra! Thanks for the invite!

I cannot belive how big your kids have gotten, and I love the flashback photos from your 2009 trip... DD is adorable with the princesses and DS is so cute!

I also cannot believe you will be driving from CA to FL!!!! WOW!!!! I've contimplated it with my two teens and I don't think I'd make it to Iowa... I cannot imagine how it will be with 4 under 7 y/o. Kudos to you!!!

Following along for the ride!!! Can't wait to hear more about your plans!

D~

You and me both! The 7 hours to Disneyland is bad enough.

 

[spiritsim]

One thing you might look into is figuring out your driving plan and pick one or two stops along the way to make a quick stop and see things the kids would like. That way the trip we be more of a vacation and not just drive,drive,drive. For example we drove through missiouri and stoped at a restaurant called Lamberts home of the thrown rolls. The kids loved it and it got us out of the car for 2 hrs plus after that big dinner they slept like babies untell we were ready to stop for the night. They had a mini train out front for the kids to play on and the food was fantastic all you could eat ,served family style.Or a quick museum stop or park stop works well. Even stoping at kfc and then a park to eat it gets them out of the car to run around and burn off energy.

 

[LB1122]

Such fun fun ideas and what fun to read this with all the great tips and comments.

I love the idea of doing something big every 5 years for the marriage. The trip we will take in December is so covering our 10 year anniversary as well so I see great minds think Disney.

Sounds like driving will actually be part of the fun with all these fun ideas.

 

[ladylyons]

I am here Sandra! Thanks for the invite!

I cannot belive how big your kids have gotten, and I love the flashback photos from your 2009 trip... DD is adorable with the princesses and DS is so cute!

I also cannot believe you will be driving from CA to FL!!!! WOW!!!! I've contimplated it with my two teens and I don't think I'd make it to Iowa... I cannot imagine how it will be with 4 under 7 y/o. Kudos to you!!!

Following along for the ride!!! Can't wait to hear more about your plans!

D~

Thanks D! I can't believe how fast they are growing. I look at those pictures of DD and look at her now and think where is my baby girl!!

I can't believe that DH is the one who thought it up!! And said it! They've been good travelers for us in the past so I'm hoping it continues for this trip too. I've been on lots of road trips growing up so I know it is doable. Just hope my sanity survives.

You and me both! The 7 hours to Disneyland is bad enough.

We do Disneyland in about 6 hours. We leave at 5 am so we miss almost all of the LA traffic and the kids go back to sleep. We also keep drinks to the bare minimum when possible so that keeps the potty stops down.

One thing you might look into is figuring out your driving plan and pick one or two stops along the way to make a quick stop and see things the kids would like. That way the trip we be more of a vacation and not just drive,drive,drive. For example we drove through missiouri and stoped at a restaurant called Lamberts home of the thrown rolls. The kids loved it and it got us out of the car for 2 hrs plus after that big dinner they slept like babies untell we were ready to stop for the night. They had a mini train out front for the kids to play on and the food was fantastic all you could eat ,served family style.Or a quick museum stop or park stop works well. Even stoping at kfc and then a park to eat it gets them out of the car to run around and burn off energy.

I plan on doing that. DH of course just want to drive as much as possible and get there. I did lots of road trips growing up and most of them were in the back of a small 2-seater Toyota pickup truck with a camper shell (there were usually 3 of us but sometimes my older Step Sister joined us). We drove to Oregon, Texas, Colorado, Missouri, and Iowa numerous times to visit family. Granted I was a little older than the kids will be but we made it fun and we all survived. I want to make stops but DH wants to just drive and get there. We'll see how this all goes down as the planning continues.

Such fun fun ideas and what fun to read this with all the great tips and comments.

I love the idea of doing something big every 5 years for the marriage. The trip we will take in December is so covering our 10 year anniversary as well so I see great minds think Disney.

Sounds like driving will actually be part of the fun with all these fun ideas.

Thanks! I'm loving all the ideas to keeping the kids entertained in the car!! That's the important one for me since DH will probably do most of the driving and I'll be the one keeping the kids entertained.

Only reason why WDW would happen for our 10th is because of the new baby. If he's anything like his brothers and sister he won't take a bottle and I'd feel horrible leaving him with anyone and them having to fight to get him to take a bottle (along with taking care of the other 3's schedules). When Jeremy was 8 months old I went back to work for a few months and it took him 2 solid days of crying at daycare to finally take a bottle. That's when I realized just how stubborn he can be. But we did talk about going to Paris so Disneyland Paris could have happened for our 10th so it was still Disney!!

Happy 10th to you and yours as well!! We really enjoyed celebrating our 5th in WDW even with all the rain!

 

[ladylyons]

So the last few days have been busy between school for Jeremy and Sarah, Girl Scout meeting last night, and getting things ready for Jeremy's Cub Scout meeting this weekend. Yesterday we also had an play date I didn't realize was a going to be a play date. I've shared in the past that Sarah's Kindergarten teacher was also Jeremy's kindergarten teacher and due to medical reasons she went out on medical leave the last two months of school last year (she was back for 3 days this year and unfortunately had to go out again). Well over the course of the school year last year, meeting up with them in Disneyland and our kids becoming friends we no longer have just a teacher/parent relationship. It's turned into a friendship. Now I've never expected my kids teacher to become a friend. On Monday Sarah came home from school very sad saying she missed Mrs. D. She didn't have a reason for it or anything like that so I was like OK and suggested she make her a card. She was all for it. So that's what she did on Monday and then added some finishing touches to it on Tuesday. Tuesday was one of those days that everyone I had to get a hold of either texted me or I ran into them at the store. So Mrs. D had texted me on Tuesday and I told her about the card. She said she'd stop by yesterday which was fine by me (I had forgotten I had said let's have a play date with the girls one day because Sarah had been missing A (her daughter). So when she stopped by yesterday to pick up the card she was also dropping off A which ended up working out great because Jeremy wasn't home and was at a play date of his own. It also allowed me to get things done around I've neglected.

Here's some pictures of Sarah and Mrs. D and from our trip that we saw them in DL. (I have been given permission to post these now.)

 

[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[lovethattink]

That's so sweet that Sarah made a card. How nice that a friendship is growing with Mrs. D. The pictures are great and you can tell Mrs. D cares about the kids very much.

 

[kaoden39]

We do Disneyland in about 6 hours. We leave at 5 am so we miss almost all of the LA traffic and the kids go back to sleep. We also keep drinks to the bare minimum when possible so that keeps the potty stops down.

We are about an hour north of you too so that makes the difference. Plus I have worse than little ones. I have a 76 year old mother.


How sweet of Sarah to make her that card. I am sure that really touched her.

 

[ladylyons]

Following along!

Welcome!! It's going to be one crazy adventure I'm sure! Between the planning and the actual trip!!

That's so sweet that Sarah made a card. How nice that a friendship is growing with Mrs. D. The pictures are great and you can tell Mrs. D cares about the kids very much.

Sarah is very sensitive when it comes to things like this. She does love the kids!! The first picture is of Sarah and her from the 1st day of school. The rest are from when we met up with her and her family at DL. The last one the kids in order go Sarah, A, Jeremy and her son S. S is a year older than Jeremy and A is a year younger than Sarah. So very close in age.

We are about an hour north of you too so that makes the difference. Plus I have worse than little ones. I have a 76 year old mother.


How sweet of Sarah to make her that card. I am sure that really touched her.

Yeah the 76 year old mother I'm not looking forward to trips like that again!! When I was 7 1/2 months pregnant with Jeremy we still went on our Christmas trip to DL. Well that was the year my parent's and my mother in law and step father in law went with us. My parent's were fine. No issues at all!! It was great (I rode with them.) My mother in law and step father in law wanted to stop every 5 mins it seemed!! I felt so bad for my DH because he drove them from Split Pea Anderson's to Valencia (Magic Mountain). Then I took over the driving in their car. I was not very sympathetic to them. We hit really bad traffic where it took us about 3 hours to get from Valencia to Anaheim (one of the last times we hit LA traffic!!) I froze them out of their car because it seems like when I'm pregnant it takes more to cool me off. Plus they kept wanting to stop because of the traffic and felt like we had lost my parent's (who were 2 exits ahead of us) and I just told them no we're fine and even if we do lose them I know where we're going. They learned on that trip I'm not going to put up with their complaining and if I'm driving I get to control the temp of the car!! Especially when pregnant!!

She loved it!! She can't wait to get back into the classroom and it actually sounds like she'll be back sooner than we thought!! Now to hope it all moves forward like it's supposed to and she does get back in the next couple weeks!! Of course I'm not telling Sarah because she'll keep asking when is she coming back and little ears have big mouths so I know she'd tell all the kids in her class and I don't need to field those questions! Especially since a lot of the families already know I know what's going on but unfortunately I can't share. All I can say is it's not life threatening and she really wants to be here but right now she can't be.

 

[DMGeurts]

How sweet of Sarah to make a card for her teacher... And how great that you all have become friends. I have become friends with many of the girls' teachers over the years.

I sure hope she is able to go back to teaching soon - it sounds like many love her and miss her being there.

D~

 

[ladylyons]

How sweet of Sarah to make a card for her teacher... And how great that you all have become friends. I have become friends with many of the girls' teachers over the years.

I sure hope she is able to go back to teaching soon - it sounds like many love her and miss her being there.

D~

She is the sweetest teacher ever!! Well I did find out if things go right she should be back in hopefully 2 - 3 weeks!!! Now of course I can't tell Sarah that because little ears have big mouths!!