Six Wonderful Days in Southern California - Part 2: Disneyland

After a wonderful outdoor breakfast, some last-minute shopping in Santa Monica, and a couple of errands, Annika and I were on our way to Disneyland! I had visited Disneyland twice previously - once on a day trip with my family when Annika was 2 and Ally was just a baby, and another time as part of a Disney education program for travel agents - but I've never really spent time there. Our plan was to spend 2 days and one night, stay at the Disneyland hotel, and drive down to Palm Springs in the afternoon or evening of the second day. It made the most sense to hit California Adventure on our first day, and save Disneyland for our second day, when we could get there nice and early.

It took about an hour to get to the Disneyland Resort from Santa Monica, and we arrived at our hotel around noon. Our room was ready when we checked in (yay!), and when we went up to it we realized we had been upgraded to a room with a Downtown Disney and theme park view. I loved this room! It was huge, very comfortable, and the view was awesome!

Our room was spacious and well-appointed, and the bed was so comfortable!

The view from our room - great spot for seeing fireworks!

We changed our clothes and headed off to California Adventure. California Adventure often gets a bad rap, but all the improvements they have done over the years have worked, because we had plenty to do there! Because the park was getting ready for the opening of Buena Vista Street and Carsland (we missed those openings by just two days!), it was full of scaffolding and barriers, but we had a great time nonetheless!

We got into the park at about 1:30pm, so it was already pretty busy. We did end up standing in a really long line for Tower of Terror, but it is Annika's favorite ride at Walt Disney World, so was a must-do.

We're in the upper left

We also rode Soarin', and the Little Mermaid Ride: by the afternoon I had worked up the courage to try California Screaming. I loved it!

My must-do's were the Aladdin show and World of Color. We really enjoyed Aladdin - I think it was the best show I've ever seen at Disney!

"You've Never Had a Friend Like Me" - hilarious!

We also fit in Grizzly River Run, which would have been better in the heat of the afternoon! Luckily we picked up some ponchos before our ride, so we stayed pretty dry. It's a great water ride.

We ended our day by seeing World of Color. We got there too late for a good view (we were doing a second ride on Tower of Terror), so I don't think we really appreciated it. Something to see again next time!

All in all it was a great day at California Adventure, and we were looking forward to an early start the next morning at Disneyland before heading off to Palm Springs in the afternoon.

The only photo of Annika and I together!

But that's not quite how things ended up going!

When we woke up the next morning, Annika begged me for another night at Disneyland. She wanted one more full day at the park. As a certified (or certifiable!?) Disney fan this made me very happy! - but I was concerned that the small boutique hotel we had reserved in Palm Springs would not honor our reservation if we were a day late, and I knew that we were well past our cancellation deadline with them. But I said that I would try!

So I headed down to the front desk to see if we could extend our stay for one night. Unfortunately, the Disneyland Hotel was completely booked that night, so I thought that was the end of it. But when I reported that to Annika she tearfully requested that I try to see if we could stay somewhere else on property. I put my travel agent hat on, and got to work! I called central reservations, and they were able to find me a room at Paradise Pier for a reasonable rate (we could also have stayed at the Grand Californian, but there was no way I was paying $450 for one night when all we would be doing was sleeping there!). I was very sorry to be leaving our awesome room at the Disneyland Hotel, but happy to be staying one more night. Now I had to work a bunch of things out:
- I needed to contact our hotel in Palm Springs and let them know we would be checking in the next day and to hold our room for us (no problem);
- Our car was valet parked at the Disneyland Hotel, and I needed to find out if it needed to be moved or if I could pick it up there the following morning (no problem);
- We needed to pack and somehow get our luggage over to the other hotel. I asked our bellman if he could move the luggage for us, and found out that unlike Disney World that is not typically done at the Disneyland Resort. He did say that if they weren't busy they should be able to do that, so I gave him a very nice tip and asked him to please take care of that for us (and that did work, thank goodness, because our bags were waiting for us when we checked into Paradise Pier!).

Once all that was handled we headed over to Disneyland feeling very pleased with ourselves! We got there later than we'd hoped, so after just spending a moment contemplating the puny castle we enthusiastically criss-crossed the park doing rides. We didn't ride everything, but we hit all the highlights: Space Mountain (twice), Big Thunder Railroad, Splash Mountain, Pirates (twice), Indiana Jones (twice), Haunted Mansion, Buzz Lightyear (twice), Star Tours and the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. We particularly loved Pirates (it blows the version at Disney World out of the water) and Indiana Jones - awesome! We were sorry that the Matterhorn was closed for renovation, but that's just one more reason to return.

A selection of Disneyland photos:

Whew! We did take a break in the middle of the day and check into our new hotel, Paradise Pier. It was not as fancy as the Disneyland Hotel, but the rooms were cute and comfortable:

Once again (that's twice so far!), we were upgraded and got this great California Adventure view:

I spent a few minutes at the pool while Annika rested in the room, and then we headed back to the park on the monorail. After a really awesome dinner of steak gumbo at the Royal Street Veranda we did a few more rides and caught the end of the fireworks. We then finished our day with some shopping at Downtown Disney before heading back to our room to sleep.

The monorail is much smaller at Disneyland!

A very blurry firework picture!

We had one more treat in store! California Adventure had closed early to get ready for the opening of Carsland two days later. It turned out that there was a major celebrity & media event there that night, and we had a great view of World of Color from our room! Here are some shots - I had trouble timing things to get a decent photo of the water effects, but it was really fun to see:

 Carsland looks so awesome, and will be a great addition to the park!

The following morning we packed up again, I picked up the car at the Disneyland Hotel, and we headed out for Palm Springs.

Final thoughts:

- We had a wonderful, wonderful time at Disneyland! I loved how small the resort is. When we go to Disney World I feel like I'm mounting a military campaign - it takes that level of planning! But at Disneyland we could decide what we wanted to do and then just go do it. We could have easily spent another day or two there and not run out of things to do, but we could also be spontaneous and relaxed about our plans.

- While it is not "necessary" at Disneyland to stay at one of their onsite hotels for a great experience, I really loved it and would do it again. I would go back to the Disneyland Hotel in a heartbeat. Paradise Pier was perfectly nice as well, but the pool area was really lacking:

Paradise Pier hotel pool - a rooftop pool overlooking the parking lot






vs.






the Disneyland Hotel pool - an oasis of palm trees and loungers nestled in the middle of the hotel courtyard.

No contest! Plus a slide shaped like a monorail!

- Finally, I am so glad we were able to work it out to stay another day! It made for a much more pleasant and relaxed time, and it was great to make Annika so happy.

Whenever we make it back to southern California, we will definitely head back to Disneyland!

Next: we head into the desert to see Palm Springs!

Six Wonderful Days in Southern California - Part 1: Los Angeles & Santa Monica

Santa Monica Pier

As I'm sure I've mentioned, we have 4 children (now ages 11-20). As each child graduates from 8th grade, it has become our tradition to have one parent take them on a vacation of their choice, by themselves. I took Hannah to Disney World, Tom took Will to Key West, and a few weeks ago Annika and I went to Southern California (Ally is already busy planning her trip!). We had 6 days and 5 nights exploring some of what this amazing part of our country has to offer, and I want to hit the highlights for you here. We went to LA/Santa Monica, Disneyland and Palm Springs, and had a wonderful time!

We started our trip in Los Angeles, and decided to stay in Santa Monica, which was a great choice. It is a very pleasant area to be (although a bit chilly and gloomy in June), with unlimited options for food and shopping, and it is very easy to get from Santa Monica to some of the most interesting areas of Los Angeles. We stayed at The Shore Hotel, and I highly recommend it for anyone staying in the area. It is a brand-new, LEED-certified, very comfortable and trendy hotel, and we really enjoyed it. Here are some photos from our stay:

The first thing we did after some lunch and getting settled in our hotel was go on the Hollywood/Beverly Hills Tour at Amazing LA Tours. We were picked up right in front our our hotel at 1:30, were able to check off many of the top sites in LA and get oriented, and were dropped off back at our hotel before 5:00. Our tour guide was terrific (sadly I don't remember his name), and it was a fun and relaxing way to see the city. We saw the Hollywood sign, had a half hour to explore Hollywood Blvd (Grauman's Chinese Theater and the Walk of Fame), did a drive through West Hollywood and then through Beverly Hills. We also had a stop at Rodeo Drive, but other than the awesome brownies we picked up there, that was really boring! The highlight was seeing the handprints and footprints at Grauman's Theater - that was inspiring and fun to explore. Don't miss it! Highlights from our tour:

Our main activities in Santa Monica were shopping and dining - there is plenty of both! We were just 2 blocks from the Third Street Promenade, a pedestrian-only outdoor shopping area - heaven for a 14-year old girl. We had a couple of really great meals there, and Annika really enjoyed all the shopping options.

The next morning we had reservations at IFly Hollywood, for "indoor skydiving." Wow! What an experience! It is an indoor vertical wind tunnel that mimics the experience of skydiving without actually having to jump out of a plane. It is actually much more challenging than it looks, and somewhat athletic (our shoulders ached for the next day or two). After 2 sessions we got the hang of it, and boy what a rush! Totally worth doing!

IFly is located at Universal Studios CityWalk, so we decided to head into Universal Studios for a couple of hours. This was the only real disappointment of our trip. We really enjoyed the brand-new Transformers ride (totally amazing!), but other than that the park was not that interesting. There is a huge difference between Universal rides and what we experienced at Disneyland later in the week - they just didn't seem to work that hard to engage the rider in what was happening. Both Jurassic Park and the Mummy ride just sort of petered out at the end. I would have enjoyed doing the studio tour (and maybe that would have changed our feeling about the park), but Annika was not into it and we still wanted to do more shopping and see the Santa Monica pier. So we left after a few hours and headed back.

A quick note about driving in the LA area. I was actually somewhat nervous about tackling the freeways out there, and dealing with the traffic and drivers. But once I got a bit oriented (the tour the first day was very helpful for that, and I spent some time studying maps), it was actually pretty easy to get around. And we were VERY lucky with traffic. On a few occasions we saw a huge traffic jam going the other way on the freeway, but we never got stuck in one ourselves.

Anyway, we headed back to Santa Monica and spent some time on the beach and the pier. It was too cold for swimming - they aren't kidding when natives talk about June Gloom in Southern California!

Then more shopping, and the best meal we had in Santa Monica, at The Border Grill. I've decided that Margaritas are definitely my drink! We soaked in the hot tub at the hotel for a bit, and then headed to bed, because in the morning we were going to Disneyland!

There were a number of things that I would have liked to have done that we didn't get to, in particular:

• visit the Getty Museum (we thought we might do that on our last day, but that didn't work out as you will see)
• see Venice Beach - we drove through that area and it looked really interesting
• drive up to Malibu

I always say that when you don't do everything that gives you a reason to go back, and we definitely feel that way about the LA area!

Next blog post: Disneyland and California Adventure!

New Orleans Trip Report - coming soon!

I'm so sorry that I didn't liveblog this trip as promised - I left home with the wrong camera cord, so I have not been able to download any of my photos to my computer! And there's really no point to a liveblog of Mardi Gras without photos - so I'm putting it on hold until I return home tomorrow and can give you the full picture.

For now I will just say that it has been an amazing experience! I highly recommend it. It's been fun with the kids (although Tom & I now really want to come back without them at some point in the future!), and you really can avoid the "worst" of the excesses if you try. Mardi Gras is a family event for New Orleans natives, and at some points really has a picnic atmosphere.

Anyway, more to come soon!

Travel Advice - When to Visit Walt Disney World

Walt Disney World is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States. More than 17 million people visit the Magic Kingdom each year! And although a surprising number of people choose to honeymoon in Disney World, it is safe to say that the vast majority of those visitors are families with children. Taking the family on a pilgrimage to see the Mouse is practically an obligation! With a bit of advance planning, a Disney World vacation can be a joyous experience for everyone. However, too many families are overwhelmed by the size and complexity of Disney World, and find themselves standing in an endless series of long, hot lines wondering when the fun is going to start. Drawing on my experience both vacationing at Disney with my family, and planning dozens of Disney vacations for my clients, I am beginning my Travel Advice posts with some of my favorite Disney World planning tips. I'm going to start with one of the most basic considerations - the best time to visit Walt Disney World.

There are a number of different things to consider as you decide when to plan your Disney vacation. Let's consider a few of the most important ones.

Crowds
I am told that there once was a golden age, long before I started taking my family to Disney World, when there were whole months during which you could visit Disney and find almost empty parks, walk onto attractions with no lines, and dine at any restaurant without a reservation. Alas, those days are no more! While there is no "perfect" time to visit Disney World, if avoiding crowds is important to you you should definitely consider planning your trip at certain times of the year.

Because most families prefer to schedule a trip to Disney World when school is out of session, the busiest times of year are invariably during school vacations. The very busiest times at Disney are the week between Christmas and New Years, and the two weeks before and after Easter. This doesn't mean that you can't enjoy a vacation during those weeks, particularly since Disney extends hours and adds lots of special events at those times. However, you will need to plan ahead and decide what is most important to you, and not try to see and do everything in the parks. Do what you can and enjoy the atmosphere! Other very busy times of the year are the 4th of July holiday, the week after President's day, and Thanksgiving.

The summer months are also a very popular time to visit Disney World. The busiest months are mid-June through late July. If you would like to plan a summer visit, but want to avoid the heaviest crowds, try to schedule your vacation when some schools are in session. Southern schools typically have their summer vacation from late May to early August, while schools in the Northeast are dismissed in mid-June and return in September. Both late May and late August are good times to visit Disney World, and late August also typically has some of Disney's best discounts of the year!

If you want to visit during the Spring Break period of mid-February through mid-April, just try to avoid the busiest weeks around President's Day and Easter; you will still encounter larger crowds during these months, but with smart touring decisions it shouldn't be overwhelming.

If you have young children, or don't mind taking your children out of school for a few days, you can plan your visit for the lowest crowd periods of the year. If you avoid Martin Luther King weekend, early January through mid-February have the lowest crowds of the year; if you don't mind the possibility of cool temperatures that's a great time to tour the parks. Another good time to visit is the first 2 1/2 weeks of December - the crowds are low and the holiday decorations and parades are up and running, so you can have the best of both worlds! Finally, September and early November are also periods with lower crowds.

If you can't avoid going during the busiest periods, do your homework or use a Disney-certified travel agent to help you plan your time (I provide itinerary planning free of charge to all of my Disney clients). Get to the parks early, don't try to overdo things, and enjoy all the extra entertainment that Disney provides during those months - and have a great time!

Weather
As you can see from these photos from our family vacations, weather in Orlando can vary quite a bit, from very hot, humid and sunny:

Disney in August

to wet and rainy:

A rainy June day at Epcot

and even occasionally quite chilly:

Bundled up for a chilly day in January

It's good to be prepared!

If you really hate hot and humid weather, you should definitely avoid Disney from late May through early October. However, most people can tolerate a visit during those months as long as you keep hydrated, take frequent breaks in air-conditioned attractions, shops and restaurants, and avoid touring during the hot afternoon hours (that's what the pool at your resort is for!). You can get rain during any month in central Florida, but the rainiest months are June-September. Finally, while freezing temperatures are quite unusual in Orlando (although they do happen occasionally), you can encounter a cold snap any time from December through February.

The best months to visit if you are looking for moderate temperatures and low rainfall are March through May, and late September through November.


Cost
The most expensive times to visit Disney are also the most popular times: the week between Christmas and New Years, Easter week, and the spring break and summer months. So if you can find a way to visit during the less crowded months, you can also save quite a bit of money on your vacation. During the recent economic downturn, Disney has been offering excellent deals on packages during much of the year; however, there are indications that this will not be the case in 2012. You will find the best values during late August and September, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and during the month of January.


Special Events

There are special events scheduled throughout the year that may lure you to Disney. Here is a list of some of those events:

January - Disney's Marathon Weekend
May - Epcot Flower & Garden Festival
June - Star Wars Weekends at Disney Hollywood Studios
October - Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party
November - Epcot International Food & Wine Festival
December - Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

Visit the following links for more information about special events at Walt Disney World:
For general information: http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/
For information about Disney Marathon Weekend and other running events at Disney World: http://espnwwos.disney.go.com/sports/rundisney

Running a Half Marathon thru the Magic Kingdom

Epcot Flower & Garden Festival

When planning your vacation, you need to balance all these different considerations with your family's work and school schedules. Knowing what to expect and planning ahead gives you what you need to have the best Disney vacation possible.

I hope this is helpful! My next Travel Advice topic will be enjoying Disney at every age - from babies to grandparents and everything in between! In the meantime, next week I will be live blogging from my family's trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras.

Have a great week!

Kira Gartner
Blue Sky Destinations
kira@blueskydestinations.net
267-481-2930

Reviving the Blog!

Hi! It's been a really, really long time since I've even visited this blog. I really didn't think I had it in me to start blogging again - to be honest, it just hasn't been something I've been thinking about.

But I've been reading so many blogs lately, and they contribute so much to my life! And I want a place where I can send my clients and friends who are interested in travel tips & tidbits about my life. So I am going to get this going again.

This time around, I am going to focus more on travel topics. I may sprinkle in some family news every once in a while, but mostly I am going to use this as a forum for education and communication. My plan is to blog weekly. I'm going to try to be pretty eclectic in my topics. My current ideas include

• using Disney's Fastpass (changes are coming soon), and other Disney topics
  
• topics about traveling with children, including getting through security gracefully, what should go in their backpacks, taking children to Europe, etc.
• running on vacation (or "don't let a vacation ruin your fitness program"!)
• how to shop for the best airfare prices
• destination & restaurant reviews
  

I'm open to any suggestions and requests for topics!

Look for my first post on Tuesday! And thanks for stopping by again!

Running plans for 2009

So, I have amazed myself in the last 12 months by doing something I never, ever thought was possible for me - becoming a distance runner. I have run 2 half marathons, several 5K races, a grueling 10K trail run, and logged more miles in my running shoes than I ever imagined. So what do I do now?

I have to admit, my enthusiasm for running flagged somewhat since the Disney Half. I met my goal, which I had worked towards for a full year, and had a wonderful time doing it. Add to that mix having a miscarriage in mid-January, and the cold damp weather, and I have not laced up my running shoes nearly enough in the past 2 months.

What the cure for that? Why, creating the next set of challenges of course! There's nothing like putting a race on the calendar to get me moving again!

So what's on tap for this year?

Well, the first major race I am planning is the Broad Street Run. This is a very well-known race in Philadelphia, although probably not much outside of the city. I think that's because it doesn't fit into the usual categories - as a 10-mile race it's more than a 10K, but less than a half marathon. You start at the top of Broad Street (actually, at Central High School, where my daughter goes to school), and run down to the Navy Yards. Essentially you see the whole North to South arc of the city, and run through many different types of neighborhoods. I think this is going to be really cool, since I have driven up and down Broad Street so many times in my life.

Because this is a 10-miler, I am going to do a modified half marathon training for it. I'm a bit behind since it's now about 10 weeks away, but hopefully the miles I've already put in will stand me in good stead. Oh, and it's all flat or downhill! You park at the Navy Yard, and then take the subway up to Olney. The only flaw with this race is the sad lack of a finishers medal (no bling), but I think I'll live!

The next major race(s) in my plans are the Beach to Bell - the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach on September 6th, followed two weeks later by the ING Philadelphia Distance Run (another half) on September 20th. Knowing how I have felt after my last 2 half marathons, I think I am a tiny bit crazy for doing this. However, the challenge of it is making me really excited! And if you do both you get an extra medal - thus making up for the missing medal from the Broad Street Run. And it's a really cool medal too:


Don't you want to sign up now too! LOL - it's all about the bling, isn't it!

I'm going to be looking for some advice about these races from my WISH friends, since I have never tried to do two major races so close together. I think this is the closest I am ever going to get to doing the Goofy (i.e. doing the Disney Half on one day followed by the Disney Full on the next) - but never say never, right?

I am saving the really big challenge for last. I have officially signed up to do the Full Marathon at Walt Disney World in January. Yesterday I mapped out my training plan for that race - it is going to be a whole different animal from training for a half marathon! Many weekends I will be spending 3-4 hours on my long runs, with the longest runs in that relaxing time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm not sure how I will feel as I get closer to the event, but right now I am just amazed by myself for jumping in.

In between these big runs, I have a couple of smaller races in my plans. There are some nice 5Ks around here in the spring, and I will probably repeat the (rather grueling) Wissahickon Classic Trail Run 10K in June as well, since the people that do it are so great! We'll see what else comes up that I feel like doing.

One of the great things about putting races on the calendar is that it gives a kind of order and structure to the year. Now we get to see how it all plays out!

OK - off to the gym. I need to get started!

Getting caught up

I've been a bad blogger again, and while I could resolve to be better, I'm not sure what I can promise right now! I'm finding myself so busy between work, my kids, running and my business, that lots of things have fallen by the wayside. This includes housework and blogging. Add my facebook addiction to that mix, and you have a recipe for neglect.

Let's see, shall I try to summarize the past 5 months?

There's the trip to Disney in August I never blogged about:



We had a financial windfall, which was great but strange since it came the same week as the failure of AIG and Lehman Brothers.

I ran the Philadelphia Distance Run (which I did blog about, see below).

Halloween and another beautiful fall in Philadelphia:





The Phillies won the World Series!



A certain election happened here in the US!

We went to Maine for Thanksgiving.




Annika & Ally danced in the Nutcracker.




We went to New York the week before Christmas, and then we had Christmas.



In early January Tom and I ran the Disney Half Marathon, and had a blast! I plan to post a full trip report in the near future, but here are a few teaser photos.






We finished up January with a one-night "Cruise to Nowhere"out of New York with my wonderful sister and her husband, and 2 of our best friends. Sorry, no pictures of that - I just forgot to take any.

In the middle of all that I found out I was pregnant and had a miscarriage, which was a big deal (to say the least!). Also during the past few months: we had both of our cars hit by our neighbor - one totalled, the other fixable; Hannah started at a new high school; I went to several travel industry conferences and learned a lot; joined BNI which has been amazing; took a 10% pay cut and (hopefully very temporarily) lost our family's health insurance; booked a summer trip to Europe for all of us; Will applied to high schools; we bought a new car, drove the kids to a million activities, and generally were in a whirlwind of activity.

There, now you're all caught up!