Winter Wonderland

[Grifdog22]

Acbdis:

We will keep you posted on what we come up with at the Tetons. We have booked two pre days and one post day - the post day doesn't count really, since we leave that morning at the crack of dawn and travel all day to get back to the east coast. For the pre day we are looking at the sleigh ride into the Elk Preserve - the pictures are amazing. We MAY also book a snowmobile tour for the day through the Tetons. It's guided. One of them would allow my twins to drive their own snowmobile each, and at 14 they are having a fit to do that; we'll see. We still have time to make that decision....

If you are staying post days you'll get to see what we wanted to see - New Years Eve at Jackson Hole they have all the kids with the red flares ski down the mountain and end with fireworks....so cool!

But we really wanted to spend Christmas Day in Yellowstone Park. Christmas Eve will be the dogsled and hot springs...have you seen the pictures on the web? OMG is all my twins can say. There is a great video on youtube of the actual sled ride.

We ARE on the dates we wanted - on several of my early calls they told us this date was not available and being cancelled. When we called to book - and we were going on your date - we were told the Christmas date WAS available and we jumped on it. I'm sorry we will miss hooking up with you - but we may just cross paths yet!

Please look at the readings etc they recommend. We pulled the video from our local library and my twins stopped halfway through to go outside and warm up! They were freezing watching this. We can't wait! The readings are very helpful.

Please share any suggestions as well, as we will wait to lock in these things for a bit.

 

[Grifdog22]

We finally booked air for this trip - the air prices have come down a lot in the last 60 days. We were almost the first on the plane, based on seats. Now that a few days have passed, others have done the same and the rates are back up, with a lot more seats taken!

I compared the 2013 dates with the new dates. The pricing is similar, but the second night's dinner (Go anywhere, it's on us) has disappeared and it is now "on your own." Additionally, the ice skating in at the Yellowstone Snow Lodge is off the list too. Otherwise, the trips appear to be the same.

Curious - on the first three ABD trips we booked, we promptly received in the mail a detailed package about the trip, with forms, etc. to sign. This year we received only an email with forms we are to print out and fax back. That is the only communication we've received. Not even a confirmation on the air booking. Is this the new norm?

I sure hope someone will post a trip report. I would hate for mine to be the first.

 

[Bobo912]

We finally booked air for this trip - the air prices have come down a lot in the last 60 days. We were almost the first on the plane, based on seats. Now that a few days have passed, others have done the same and the rates are back up, with a lot more seats taken!

I compared the 2013 dates with the new dates. The pricing is similar, but the second night's dinner (Go anywhere, it's on us) has disappeared and it is now "on your own." Additionally, the ice skating in at the Yellowstone Snow Lodge is off the list too. Otherwise, the trips appear to be the same.

Curious - on the first three ABD trips we booked, we promptly received in the mail a detailed package about the trip, with forms, etc. to sign. This year we received only an email with forms we are to print out and fax back. That is the only communication we've received. Not even a confirmation on the air booking. Is this the new norm?

I sure hope someone will post a trip report. I would hate for mine to be the first.

For the 2011 trip, I think they asked if it was okay to send the forms through email. When I booked the 2013 trip, I asked them to send both email and snail mail (just because I it seemed more real when I got the packet in the mail). The trip I booked yesterday, I asked for the snail mail packet again and they also said they would send the confirmation through email. I imagine they prefer to send just the email because it is less expensive for them. I did get a letter in the mail with the flight information, but I don't remember how quickly it came after I booked the flight. I received an update in the mail when the flight changed too.

 

[Grifdog22]

Thanks Bobo. I guess I'm okay with email. I would just like some confirmation that the air is booked, and booked on the right days to match the pre/post trip. Silence is not always Golden!

I sure have appreciated all your posts over the years, by the way.

 

[Bobo912]

Thanks Bobo. I guess I'm okay with email. I would just like some confirmation that the air is booked, and booked on the right days to match the pre/post trip. Silence is not always Golden!

I sure have appreciated all your posts over the years, by the way.

Thanks, Griffdog. I checked my inbox and I got an email after I booked the flights with ABD, and I'm pretty sure it didn't come on the day I booked. I know how you feel. I booked the 2014 trip on Saturday morning and I haven't gotten my confirmation email yet. It came the next day last time. I got an email alert today from the credit card I used to book my trip and it had "merchant credit/refund applied to your account" in the subject line. My immediate thought was that ABD had cancelled my reservation, which was a crazy thought. It was something totally unrelated. But I will feel better when I get the confirmation.

 

[Bobo912]

I got my confirmation email this morning. I can relax now.

 

[acndis]

Grifdog and/or any other fellow travelers,
If you decide on a snowmobile tour, could you let me know the tour company? We are also interested. Also, have you thought about packing? I found some ski clothes on sale for me but I am not sure about DH and DS. Here in South Texas, they really don't even have winter coats! I am planning on renting stuff from a local place since we won't have much need for them after the trip but are there any essentials you are bringing? It's gonna be COLD!

 

[Grifdog22]

Good morning!

I haven't yet booked the pre and post activities. I was first waiting for the trip itself to settle down. As you can tell from the ABD page, for this season they are down to 2 trips from the original four. I did not want to book something, nonrefundable, for pre and post and have our trip moved. Our trip numbers are up, probably due to the cancellation of trip 3....

We have followed the non ABD disboard blogs and decided to present this trip completely as a surprise to our DD 14 year old twins. They will think we are going to visit some old unknown relatives in New England under the guise of family duty, you've never met them, etc. That way all the appropriate winter gear is packed. We'll tell them that we couldn't get a direct flight, and the plane leaves at 6 am, so it probably won't be until the changing of the planes that they start to figure it out. We'll be with Disney Christmas Eve and Christmas day - should be magical for 14 year old girls, we hope.

We are absolutely going to rent snow mobiles on one of the post days for a full tour. We've found a couple of companies we continue to "check out" that will allow the twins to drive their own...but we haven't made our own decision on that yet.

The trip has enough time on our own built in to explore Jackson Hole, so that we probably won't do much of this on our pre- and Post days. I expect to try the horse drawn sleigh into the reindeer herds and a ranger led snowshoe trip in the Tetons for pre-day. Post day should be a day on the snowmobile and some open time to do what we here from others to try. Two post days is really only one and a quarter - as we won't return to Jackson Hole until afternoon, the next day is the real post day, and our flight leaves midmorning the next day.

Clothes? Track the LLBean website - winter stuff floats through their sale sections all year long. We just picked up the winter gloves in July. Also look to some outdoor focused retailers - online - like REI and campmore. Good products, and reasonable return policies.

Please keep us posted on your tour planning as well. The Yellowstone NPS website is ever changing, and they continually post winter stuff. Indeed, it looks like they are starting to lock down winter season activities, so I'm glad we are going now!

It also looks like ABD is taking a portion of the trip on the route "less traveled" by other winter vendors - we will hit the meadows on our loop tour that most trips avoid. Bring binoculars!

 

[carpenta]

Grifdog and/or any other fellow travelers,
If you decide on a snowmobile tour, could you let me know the tour company? We are also interested. Also, have you thought about packing? I found some ski clothes on sale for me but I am not sure about DH and DS. Here in South Texas, they really don't even have winter coats! I am planning on renting stuff from a local place since we won't have much need for them after the trip but are there any essentials you are bringing? It's gonna be COLD!

Check out E-bay for clothes. There may be new clothing with tags still on for less money. We have ski swaps every year up here in VT and get stuff pretty cheap on close outs and end of year sales.

 

[acndis]

Check out E-bay for clothes. There may be new clothing with tags still on for less money. We have ski swaps every year up here in VT and get stuff pretty cheap on close outs and end of year sales.

Thanks to everyone for the replies! Those are great suggestions. I'll post when we make our post day plans. Snowmobiling is really moving up he list but we might just want a relaxing day or do a short sleigh ride at the Elk Reserve. I am getting really excited!

 

[sabrecmc]

We are seriously considering this for 2014. It would be our first ABD trip. My daughter would be almost 9. I'd love to hear some feedback. We are from Florida and DD wants to see snow! I admit, the idea of a snow-filled Yellowstone is pretty awesome. Airline tickets are not cheap though, and the tour itself is fairly expensive compared to other, longer tours, but we've done Europe and Arizona on our own before...this just looks really different and neat.

 

[K and K's Mommy]

I can't wait to read the trip reports about this trip. When we did the Wyoming trip last summer, one of our guides had been on the "planning committee" of this trip. She loved Wyoming in the snow. She said the snow mobiles were a lot of fun, but Disney deemed them too unsafe. So, I would definitely do those on your own!

 

[Grifdog22]

I've been off the boards for a couple of months trying to earn some money to pay for this trip! We researched at length the snowmobiling plan and have booked with Jackson Hole snowmobile tours. Their record is good, good yelp reviews. We are taking the Grey's River Tour trip, with the twins on the back of the snowmobiles. However, this is the only trip where they will let a 14 year old drive the snowmobile. We intend to let them switch off with us on the flat, areas and try it. They also provide the gear, including snow gear, to keep us warm.

Costco has great merino wool long johns and winter gloves right now. Other gear comes from REI, LLBean and Campmor.

We intend to still do "something" for Christmas, and will probably use the limited free time in Jackson Hole Christmas Eve or morning to slip out for a church service.

Since there are no trip reports we can locate on this event, and since our previous three trips were really driven by the generosity of others posting reports, we promise to post. No promises we can deliver great pictures tho...

 

[sayhello]

I've been off the boards for a couple of months trying to earn some money to pay for this trip! We researched at length the snowmobiling plan and have booked with Jackson Hole snowmobile tours. Their record is good, good yelp reviews. We are taking the Grey's River Tour trip, with the twins on the back of the snowmobiles. However, this is the only trip where they will let a 14 year old drive the snowmobile. We intend to let them switch off with us on the flat, areas and try it. They also provide the gear, including snow gear, to keep us warm.

Costco has great merino wool long johns and winter gloves right now. Other gear comes from REI, LLBean and Campmor.

We intend to still do "something" for Christmas, and will probably use the limited free time in Jackson Hole Christmas Eve or morning to slip out for a church service.

Since there are no trip reports we can locate on this event, and since our previous three trips were really driven by the generosity of others posting reports, we promise to post. No promises we can deliver great pictures tho...

Thanks, Grifdog22! Really looking forward to hearing about your trip!

Have a MARVELOUS time, and try to stay warm!

Sayhello

 

[bliscum]

I got medium level long underwear from academy sports plus good jacket and was warm. I did this trip last new year and it was awesome. Neck garter that is a tube and covers your neck is a must. Had to buy one in Jackson hole. If you forget anything they have sports store where you can but things. I would post a few pictures but not sure how to due this. It is so calm, crisp and beautiful.

 

[Grifdog22]

We would all love to hear more!

 

[sayhello]

I got medium level long underwear from academy sports plus good jacket and was warm. I did this trip last new year and it was awesome. Neck garter that is a tube and covers your neck is a must. Had to buy one in Jackson hole. If you forget anything they have sports store where you can but things. I would post a few pictures but not sure how to due this. It is so calm, crisp and beautiful.

If you know how to post photos to an external photo hosting/sharing site (photobucket, snapfish, flickr, etc), most of those sites will give you the URL for the photos once you upload them. Then, when you are typing up a Reply, in the toolbar just above the text window, there's an icon that looks like a picture of a mountain with the sun over it. Click on that, and it will bring up a window where you can put the URL. Click OK, and it will insert the photo wherever your cursor was in the text.

Let me know if you need more detailed instructions than that. We'd love to see your photos!

Sayhello

 

[bliscum]

If you know how to post photos to an external photo hosting/sharing site (photobucket, snapfish, flickr, etc), most of those sites will give you the URL for the photos once you upload them. Then, when you are typing up a Reply, in the toolbar just above the text window, there's an icon that looks like a picture of a mountain with the sun over it. Click on that, and it will bring up a window where you can put the URL. Click OK, and it will insert the photo wherever your cursor was in the text. Let me know if you need more detailed instructions than that. We'd love to see your photos! Sayhello

Thanks will look into this and post.

 

[bliscum]

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[bliscum]

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