PHXscuba's TR: Summer Sweet 16 at DLR -- New Photos 8/19

[PHXscuba]

Wow, I crammed a lot into the title of this thread!!

**Trip Report (now in progress) begins on page 5** Thanks for reading!

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Wow, I crammed a lot into the title of this thread!!: Summer Sweet Sixteen for me, my daughter, and our BFFs​

My best friend and I are planning a trip to Disneyland this summer for our daughters, who will both turn 16 during the summer months and have been friends forever. Dates are still tentative, but it looks like the best dates we've come up with so far mean that my daughter very well could be in Disneyland on her birthday.

I wanted to open the thread (before the title I finally worked out deserted me) and I promise to come back very soon with the backstory and lots of pictures!

Their first dance recital many years ago was a partner tap to "You've Got a Friend in Me," hence the title​

Join me in celebrating their birthdays this summer!

PHXscuba

 

[TheChapman6]

So cute! Can't wait to hear more

 

[PHXscuba]

So cute! Can't wait to hear more

Well, the little kid photos are cute, but then they turned into teens!! Just kidding, they are both beautiful young ladies! More pictures soon of them growing up together.

PHXscuba

 

[PHXscuba]

The backstory​

So, I will give you the shortened version of how the four of us (moms and daughters) got to this point.

Once upon a time, my friend and I lived in Arizona with our spouses and 2-year-old boys. We met in the church nursery. We chatted a bit and found out that both had been raised in Southern California, and my friend had even lived as an adult in my hometown.

I was new to the area and needed a sitter to watch my son while I went to my doctor's appointments because I was pregnant. So was this new friend!! So we traded off our boys (who are still friends) and soon found out that we were both having little girls!

So when I say our girls have been friends "since before they were born," I am not exaggerating. They had playdates galore and attended preschool together. They used to come out of preschool and kindergarten already having planned the playdate!

Without knowing it, we bought them the same costume for Halloween when they were four!

We both moved to other parts of the area during their early elementary years, but they have also been dancing together (ballet and clogging) since they were four years old (see the first post above for their very first recital photo). They have progressed from the cute scene-stealers to the senior ballerinas of their studio.

They both got their braces off last summer shortly after this photo was taken​

Dance isn't the only love they share. Thanks to Disney-loving mothers, both have been to Disneyland more times than they can count and each has been to WDW once as well. Of our combined 8 children, they are probably the biggest Disney fans of the bunch. But they have never been to Disneyland together!

PHXscuba

P.S. To be continued with pictures of the mamas and our plan to tell them about the trip!

 

[PHXscuba]

So with our very complex summers -- church youth camps, dance recital, family trips, etc. -- we are narrowing down our week to go. Likely the tail end of June right now. And given their fabulously complex social lives as they turn 16, we weren't sure we could hold the surprise that long. Although if anyone can, it's my friend -- she secretly planned an entire trip to WDW and her kids (ages 7-16) only found out on the way to airport. Serious stealth.

So we are taking them to lunch this Saturday, and this is what they will get handed:

I was actually cackling with glee when these Mouse Ears fit on the photos. Scared my dog.​

They are cool teens -- so I'm not holding hopes of jumping on tables, but hopefully they will be excited, and this gives all of us time to plan for a Summer Sweet Sixteen!

PHXscuba

 

[DizNee Luver]

Awesome!!!! That will be so much fun for the 4 of you!! Can't wait to read more as the planning gets going & the reveal is done!!

 

[PHXscuba]

The painfully mundane trip reveal​

So, the cutesy card I made didn't make it into the car with me today. I was all the way down at my friend's (25 minutes away) before I realized it. So we had to give a few hints (like the Disney jewelry we were both wearing) and they caught on real quick. They were happy but not terribly surprised. They love Disneyland but they get to go often enough that the novelty of the trip is doing it together. Plus, it's 5 months away, so there is a lot to do before then.

So I showed it to my daughter when I got home and I am making another for her partner-in-crime and we will give it to her at ballet on Monday.

Lovely orthodontically corrected smiles!​

So not the "ta-da!" moment I had planned for, but we still had a great lunch and hanging-out together, and they will have months to look forward to their Summer Sweet Sixteen!

PHXscuba

p.s. My daughter was pretty jazzed about being in Disneyland on her actual birthday!

P.P.S. -- next week, photos of the grown-up girls!

 

[PHXscuba]

The Mamas' turn!​

So I mentioned above that my friend and I have now known each other for 16 years. I have friends who I have know since childhood, but she is definitely my best friend I have made as an adult, and I am so lucky to have her. She is generous, funny, smart, involved, and a great all-around person.

We actually have so much in common -- more than just growing up in Southern California. We both have accumulated 4 kids. Our husband are both small-business professionals. We have similar parenting styles. And we obviously both love Disney!!

The Disneyland Hotel Santa

On the Holiday Tour (hence the headphones)

The photos are from our Christmastime trip in 2010. We both also love Christmas, and the idea to go together (sans kids and husbands) went from glimmer to reality! We had a marvelous time, eating what we wanted and riding only the rides we like. It's amazing how much you can get done without all of the kids in tow! After scoring some comped tickets from a CM friend of our family, we sprung for the Holiday Tour, which was awesome and I would highly recommend it.

PHXscuba

 

[PHXscuba]

(Side note: I know I will eventually get used to it, but the "New Dis" is making me a little loopy. It's gonna take me some time to really be able to read it. So if anyone in a TR or thread thinks I'm not around or ignoring them -- I'm not! -- I'm just trying to make sense of it all.)

So things are slow-starting with concrete planning on this trip. I've asked my daughter to keep it under her hat for awhile to postpone the inevitable "no-fairs" from DD12 and DS9. Plus the inevitable lecture that will follow on "different kids have different opportunities at different times blah blah blah." They get to do equally cool stuff on other occasions and will continue to (especially) as they get older, but that's hard to visualize when all you see is Big Sis going to Disneyland!! We are doing a family day at Knott's over spring break on our way to a family reunion in Santa Barbara, now that both younger kids are finally tall enough to ride everything!

I am debating whether to buy our tickets now or later. My BFF and her daughter have Deluxe Annual Passes good through November, so they don't need tickets. I plan to get 2-day PHs for DD and me. I keep hearing rumors of price increases and I am certain they will before the 60th anniversary stuff goes official in late May. The real question is how much before that will Disney raise prices, seeing how much is closed right now? I can't see them doing it within the next month, especially when they are pumping SoCal ticket deals.

Anyone with thoughts, advice, crystal ball on this?

PHXscuba

 

[PHXscuba]

So I caved.

I bought my parkhoppers yesterday. I kept hearing more rumors of price increases -- mostly at WDW but who knows about DLR? -- and I figured the money was going to be spent sometime, so I pushed the button!!

Spreading the cost out gradually over the spring is a good thing. I'll probably get a gift card to cover food next time Kroger does the 4x fuel points, and the hotel and gas will be at the time we travel.

FYI: I buy gift cards regularly at my Kroger/Fry's for the gas points. Most of the time gift cards are 2x gas points for what you spend, sometimes they run special promos for 4x points. I wasn't sure if the Disney PHs would trigger 2x gas points as they are kind of "tickets" and not "gift cards." But happy surprise, they do!!! 868 gas points total = 80 cents off a fill-up up to 35 gallons. I will get DH to follow me to the gas station with his truck and max it out! 80 cents x 35 gallons = $28.00 saved!! That's like 7 Mickey bars!

PHXscuba

 

[PHXscuba]

I felt better about my ticket purchase when the price increase rumors turned out to be true!

Haven't decided whether to buy Disney gift cards for food ... my friend's AP gets us 10 percent off of food so I may just take a bunch of cash and reimburse her as we go. Any savings of gas points etc. isn't going to equal 10 percent unless I got some special deal on the gift cards. And I should have about $40 in rewards from my Disney VISA to use on some souvenirs. Like that will be enough!

PHXscuba

 

[PHXscuba]

So I am back after spring break in California. I joke that we go to our "beach house," which is really just my parents' little house in Orange County. We spent a couple of days with them, including a day at Knott's, then all went up to Santa Barbara to join more of my extended family for a short family reunion.

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Knott's Berry Farm was a fun day with very low crowds -- almost everything was a walk-on. My kids only want to ride the roller coasters, so we didn't do a few of the minor shows I was hoping to see. But we got multiple rides on everything they wanted. Lunch was a bit of a bust. Both daughters ordered "Caesar salad," which was $8.59 for a bunch of lettuce, three tomatoes, and a packet of dressing. No cheese even. Say what you will about Disney food prices, but I feel you get pretty good value for the money. The enormous fresh ice cream cookie sandwich I shared with DD15 for a snack was a better value at $6.19.

Objects in photo may be larger than they appear
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You even learn new things about people you think you know. Their little wild mouse coaster (like Goofy's Sky School) freaked DH out a bit because he could imagine the tiny cars flying off the track as they went around the tight corners. I don't think it helped that every corner DD15 and DS10 were laughing hysterically and yelling "Boom ... Dead!" Crazy kids.

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Only way to get a photo of this child is to let him make goofy faces.​

I would have better pictures if my point-and-shoot didn't die within the first half hour of Knott's!! The lens got stuck and couldn't be repaired. So the rest of the week was recorded with cell-phone photos and when DD15 was willing to lug our DSLR around, mostly to take artsy photos for her photography class.

Now that our brains are back from break, I need to get together with my friend and partner-in-crime and start planning some more for our trip. I am not sure yet where we will stay. I think she is leaning toward onsite because of the early entry perk and we can hopefully get some kind of AP discount. I am OK with paying a little extra since it is a special occasion and we will be splitting the cost between 2 families.

I am excited to get final details on some of the 60th anniversary stuff or things that will be new to me since my last visit in Dec. 2013!

PHXscuba

 

[PHXscuba]

OK, so my friend and I are having dinner and seeing a show (my Christmas gift to her) next Friday, so I think I need to start a short list of things we need to decide:

1. For sure dates -- especially since DD15 has a job interview to be a swim team coach and will have to let them know the few bits she needs to be gone.
2. Lodging. Too bad all the discounts seem to end the week before we are going! Onsite or off? Will we actually drag our rears out of bed for early entry? Probably stay one night with my parents on the way home.
3. Do we want any special TS meals? I am thinking mostly CS but DD was just saying the other day that she wants to eat at Carnation Cafe (he loves the potato soup). Gotta find out my my friend's family has any special meal traditions we should include.

Is it too early to start ranting about how late Disneyland posts park hours? Any of you who have followed my previous TRs know how impatient I get. Right now they are only out until May 8, so extrapolating from that, I have about 6 more weeks until they finally post our park hours! I know with summer being high season the hours will be less screwy, with early openings, late closings, and nightly entertainment. But there is something about knowing those hours for sure that makes my little OCD heart happy.

Anything else I should be fretting about this early?

PHXscuba

 

[PHXscuba]

OK, I know it's a little bit until my trip, but is anyone reading this? <crickets chirp in the background> I kinda feel like I am updating to myself rather than anyone else. I know the trip doesn't really get exciting 'til it happens, but it would be nice to know how much effort to put into the PTR, or just start fresh after we return. So please let me know if you are reading this!

(Whining over)
In actual updates, my friend and I had dinner and saw the play My Fair Lady last weekend. We got to chat about our trip . I think we've decided to stay onsite (probably PPH) mostly for the early entry, with the caveat that our girls are willing to get up and GO rather than primp! We talked about a few favorite must-do rides and how much we can expect to do if it is busy.

PHXscuba

 

[lozzypop]

You are not alone PHXscuba!
I am going to DL with my daughter (13) and her stepsister (14) the last week of July. DD's stepsister is the daughter of my ex-husband's (current) wife - so that makes me the "cool" Mom for taking both of them . I understand your frustration with the park hours. I am using last year's hours as an estimate for planning purposes - I think if DL is going to mess with historical summer park hours, it will only be on July 16 and 17 to accommodate the actual anniversary celebration. We aren't staying on-site so I am looking forward to summer hours and park open at 8am.

 

[gardengirl2790]

I've been lurking and reading your report! I look forward to hearing more about the trip. I took my daughter on a surprise trip, just the two of us, and I'm so glad I did. I have very special memories.

 

[PHXscuba]

You are not alone PHXscuba!
I am going to DL with my daughter (13) and her stepsister (14) the last week of July. DD's stepsister is the daughter of my ex-husband's (current) wife - so that makes me the "cool" Mom for taking both of them . I understand your frustration with the park hours. I am using last year's hours as an estimate for planning purposes - I think if DL is going to mess with historical summer park hours, it will only be on July 16 and 17 to accommodate the actual anniversary celebration. We aren't staying on-site so I am looking forward to summer hours and park open at 8am.

Welcome to the TR! Traveling with teens is so different than little kids! They want so much more of a say in what they do than being drug around. They already have favorite rides and places they want to eat. I am hoping for long park hours -- I would rather get up early, take it slower in the afternoon, then play until late. Some extra caffeine helps that too.

I've been lurking and reading your report! I look forward to hearing more about the trip. I took my daughter on a surprise trip, just the two of us, and I'm so glad I did. I have very special memories.

Thanks for lurking ... I'm glad someone is reading along. I've never done a surprise trip, but my friend pulled off a whole WDW trip without her kids knowing. She is my Disney stealth ninja hero. DH actually has trouble keeping secrets. I haven't told the younger kids we are going without them but I need to soon, because I can't believe DH has kept the secret this long!

PHXscuba

 

[gardengirl2790]

It was VERY hard to keep it a secret. There were several times I almost let it slip.

 

[kaoden39]

I'm here!

What a great thing for 16th birthday celebration!

 

[PHXscuba]

Hi ya Kaoden39! Glad to see you found our latest adventure!! I am really going off-book for this birthday thing ... we've never really done "birthday trips," unless you count my younger son, who has spent HALF of his 10 birthday out of state, mostly in CA with family. The benefit of having a birthday that usually falls on our spring break! DD13's birthday is usually right in the middle of state testing, so I'm afraid this will never be an option for her birthday, poor child.