PTR - June 2017 - It's never too early to plan!

So has anyone ever purchased a cheap foam topper to use on a hotel bed? Not gonna lie...but I am considering it. But I don't know if the fumes from it would be too awful since there isn't time for it to air out. I wonder if I could spray it with febreeze and let it air out while we're at the parks? Am I just insane now?
 
I am so sad that the Electrical Parade might be gone before we make it to Disneyland in June. I think my son really would have liked it.

And now I am seeing that the BEST FIREWORKS SHOW EVER is returning in February. I really hope it sticks around for our trip. Or that would be TWO nighttime shows I love that I could have seen in February. :(
 
I am so sad that the Electrical Parade might be gone before we make it to Disneyland in June. I think my son really would have liked it.

And now I am seeing that the BEST FIREWORKS SHOW EVER is returning in February. I really hope it sticks around for our trip. Or that would be TWO nighttime shows I love that I could have seen in February. :(

Is there a closing date for the Electrical Parade? Was hoping to catch it too in August. Saw it at WDW at it was quite impressive.
 
The Disney blog says that it runs nightly through June 18th or something like that. I am hoping that it will at least run weekends or something after that but I am not really sure.
 


Food - Breakfast

I am just waiting on June flights to be released and then I can book some stuff. But until then I am just thinking about various aspects of the trip so I thought I'd start posting randomness. So let's talk about food.

Last time we ate most breakfasts in our room. At the time, I think Henry was just eating dry Cheerios and fruit puree pouches. We bought cereal and milk for ourselves. Some mornings G would go down to the breakfast room for muffins or pastries and tea. I suspect we will do that again. But we will also buy cereal and milk again. For Henry this time, it's hard to say what he'll be eating come June. His tastes change a lot. But for the purpose of this pre-trip report, I am just going to assume he is eating the same stuff as now.

One of the first things we do when we arrive is make a trip to Target for a ton of junk. I am thinking if we can find a cheap ($10-$15) toaster, we might get one for the week. Henry has been really into toast lately so that would be easy to do in the room. This morning, for example, he had toast (half butter/half jam), yogurt, and cut up apple pieces. If we have a toaster, that is an entire meal we can make in our room for him. Easy and quick.

In February, the park didn't open until 10am. In June, I think it will open at 8am. There's very little chance of making it there that early. But I would love to get there as early as possible. So the quicker the breakfast, the better. We have 5 park days. I suspect that 3-4 of those we will have breakfast in our room. We like to eat breakfast at least once in the parks though.

Typically we go to Tomorrowland Terrace (or whatever they are calling it now.) If we go there...I will likely get what I always get - the breakfast platter. Eggs, bacon, potatoes, biscuit. For Henry we would probably order from the kids menu - french toast, turkey bacon, and fruit.

I thought we might try Pacific Wharf for breakfast because I remember seeing a bread bowl with eggs. But I just looked and apparently they no longer serve breakfast. Boo. And they also stopped serving breakfast food at Riverbelle Terrace. Their cinnamon roll french toast was so good last time.

So I suppose if we want a second breakfast in the parks we'd probably go to Rancho del Zocalo and I'd still order the breakfast platter. For Henry we'd order from the adult meal and get him pancakes, eggs, and bacon.

On our non-park days we will either eat in our room or maybe go next door to Denny's. Or if we want to spend a little more, IHOP down the street.

Basically our goal is to eat breakfast on the cheap most days. We managed it pretty well last time though Henry is a bigger eater now so it won't be quite as cheap.
 
Food - Breakfast

I am just waiting on June flights to be released and then I can book some stuff. But until then I am just thinking about various aspects of the trip so I thought I'd start posting randomness. So let's talk about food.

Last time we ate most breakfasts in our room. At the time, I think Henry was just eating dry Cheerios and fruit puree pouches. We bought cereal and milk for ourselves. Some mornings G would go down to the breakfast room for muffins or pastries and tea. I suspect we will do that again. But we will also buy cereal and milk again. For Henry this time, it's hard to say what he'll be eating come June. His tastes change a lot. But for the purpose of this pre-trip report, I am just going to assume he is eating the same stuff as now.

One of the first things we do when we arrive is make a trip to Target for a ton of junk. I am thinking if we can find a cheap ($10-$15) toaster, we might get one for the week. Henry has been really into toast lately so that would be easy to do in the room. This morning, for example, he had toast (half butter/half jam), yogurt, and cut up apple pieces. If we have a toaster, that is an entire meal we can make in our room for him. Easy and quick.

In February, the park didn't open until 10am. In June, I think it will open at 8am. There's very little chance of making it there that early. But I would love to get there as early as possible. So the quicker the breakfast, the better. We have 5 park days. I suspect that 3-4 of those we will have breakfast in our room. We like to eat breakfast at least once in the parks though.

Typically we go to Tomorrowland Terrace (or whatever they are calling it now.) If we go there...I will likely get what I always get - the breakfast platter. Eggs, bacon, potatoes, biscuit. For Henry we would probably order from the kids menu - french toast, turkey bacon, and fruit.

I thought we might try Pacific Wharf for breakfast because I remember seeing a bread bowl with eggs. But I just looked and apparently they no longer serve breakfast. Boo. And they also stopped serving breakfast food at Riverbelle Terrace. Their cinnamon roll french toast was so good last time.

So I suppose if we want a second breakfast in the parks we'd probably go to Rancho del Zocalo and I'd still order the breakfast platter. For Henry we'd order from the adult meal and get him pancakes, eggs, and bacon.

On our non-park days we will either eat in our room or maybe go next door to Denny's. Or if we want to spend a little more, IHOP down the street.

Basically our goal is to eat breakfast on the cheap most days. We managed it pretty well last time though Henry is a bigger eater now so it won't be quite as cheap.

I bet he'd love the Mickey pancake at Rancho! Such a fun breakfast for kids (and immature type adults like me!!)
 
He doesn't really "get" that sort of thing and doesn't really know who Mickey Mouse is...haha. I'd prefer the regular pancakes since they come with eggs and are actually cheaper while still getting more food. Not really sure if he'll even eat pancakes. Right now, at home, he doesn't. I wish he did though!
 


On the 5th, Southwest will release our dates. I am so nervous that they are going to suck. We had found a pretty good flight for February so I hope there is something similar. Still not sure what to do about that United flight coming home with the short layover.

I am really dreading flying. This weekend we had a big family party. We didn't stay long because our son was just so upset. There were too many people and it was too noisy. I just keep thinking about all of the people on the airplane and whatnot. Ugh.
 
On the 5th, Southwest will release our dates. I am so nervous that they are going to suck. We had found a pretty good flight for February so I hope there is something similar. Still not sure what to do about that United flight coming home with the short layover.

I am really dreading flying. This weekend we had a big family party. We didn't stay long because our son was just so upset. There were too many people and it was too noisy. I just keep thinking about all of the people on the airplane and whatnot. Ugh.

Noise cancelling headphones will be a life saver. Start him using over the ear headphones now and he will be used to using them by June. Call your airport and airline and speak to them about what programs they have in place to help kids with ASD get through the airport and flight a bit easier.
 
From what I have read, our airport doesn't have any of those programs. Which sucks because they look amazing and would be super helpful.

In general, noise never seems to bother him much. I feel at the party...it was just the unfamiliar location and unfamiliar faces that were the biggest problems.
 
I am going to call the hotel this week to cancel our February and March dates. So sad.

We already have the room booked for June. But I always like to have back up dates in case something comes up last minute. So I am trying to decide what to pick. In order to use the $500 we spent on Southwest flights, we'd have to go before August 31st. That doesn't leave too many options really. We have other things happening in August so that's off the table. So really the only time would be late July. I'm not too sure about that. I think I'd almost rather lose the $500 and pick a different time. I love Fall but now with the constant Halloween parties, that makes it kind of crappy. I am not sure if the week after Thanksgiving is still decent or if it is crappy now too.

I am also not sure about booking the Desert Inn for late 2017 because I don't know how Harbor will be at that time. If we can't walk to the park easily then I'd rather say somewhere else.
 
Southwest released their dates. Not sure if anything will work for us. May just have to lose our $500 and cancel our trip. This sucks.
 
My husband thinks we can make it work with the flights available so I guess we're going to give it a try. I'll be back later when I have more time to post about our options. Vacations were so much easier pre-child! Ha!
 
Flights

Okay....so flights were released and like I said, they aren't great. Since we are picky, options are pretty limited. None of the flights are perfect. I found one "okay" flight for each day so it's looking like this is the best we'll probably get. I wanted to find a flight on United to use some miles, but theirs are bad. I decided that a 59 minute layover with a 3 year old just isn't doable for us. It's a shame because I really wanted to use some United miles.

So here is what we are looking at for day 1.....

1:00pm - 1:50pm (2 hours, 50 minutes)
2 hour, 5 minute layover in Las Vegas
3:55pm - 4:55pm (1 hour)
Total travel time = 5 hours, 55 minutes

This flight leaves later than I would like. I fear Henry is going to be super cranky by the time we get going. As it is, I'm already so stressed about flying with him. So the later departure worries me. The layover is maybe a smidge longer than I would like but it's not too horrible. Arriving at 5pm (which will feel like 7pm for us) also isn't ideal. Once we land, G will have to get the rental car and install Henry's car seat. Then we'll check into the hotel. Grab some food if we're hungry. Then head to Target. After that it will be back to the hotel for all of us to shower.

I looked at time stamps on photos and read my old trip report. Last time our flight landed at 1:45pm. We weren't in the car on the way to the hotel until around 3:20pm. So that's an hour and a half right there. On that timeline, that puts us leaving the airport around 6:30 this time.

We will likely eat an early lunch before we leave home that day or eat at the airport before we leave. So maybe we'll be hungry for an early dinner in Las Vegas. It would save a little time if we don't need to eat dinner in Anaheim. Target will take a fair amount of time. And then we all need to get clean. And I always like to settle into the hotel...get some things unpacked, etc. So I'm sure I'll feel very rushed that evening. But the only other flight option leaves here at 7am. We'd have to leave our house at 4:30am. Um...no thanks!

For the trip home, the best flight I could find is this....

9:30am - 12:40pm (2 hours, 10 minutes)
1 hour 30 minute layover in Denver
2:10pm - 4:30pm (1 hour 20 minutes)
Total travel time = 5 hours

This flight really isn't too bad. We'll have to get our butts moving in the morning but that's really the only downside to this one. If we can get Henry to sleep in the front parlor on the pull out couch, G and I could get up earlier to get ready and get the last minute packing done while Henry sleeps. Then we can either wake him up and eat a quick breakfast in the room or go straight to the airport and eat something there. I am thinking eating in the room is the best option though. Hopefully at that time, Henry will be into eating things like Nutrigrain bars or muffins. Something quick and easy.

The prices are kind of crap. Each flight is almost $200 a person. So basically that gives us a total of $1200. Blech! I miss the days of $225 round trip flights!

I am not going to book anything just yet. Though I suspect prices may not drop much so I don't think I'll wait too long. I canceled our flight we had booked in February so we have about $500 to use. So at least it's only $700 more we have to pay now.

I am just nervous to book because Henry's behavior has been fairly iffy lately. If it keeps getting worse...is this trip even a good idea?? I don't know. But I also don't want to not do things just because my child has autism, you know?
 
Here's what we're currently thinking....

We will book flights toward the end of February. We will NOT schedule any backup days in 2017. If something comes up and we can't go in June, we will lose the $500 we spent when we booked a flight with SWA last summer. That's life. Then we will book backup days for February 2018. We will then be able to use roughly $700 towards a new SWA flight for that trip (as long as we wait until February to book for this trip.) Not sure if that makes sense. Ha! Anyway...that's the plan. So now I just have to wait a month and a half to book and hope that prices don't go up too much! (Or worse, the flights fill up or something.)
 
Well, we SHOULD have been headed to California tomorrow. :( I looked at the forecast there and the weather looks perfect. So that depresses me a bit since I know it will be WAY too hot for me during our June trip. *sigh*
 
Today would have been our first day in the parks. The weather is great and wait times are low. So freaking depressing.
 
Read through most of your PTR so far. I'm so sorry that the planning is becoming super stressful, this should be an exciting time! I remember in Feb 2015, when we were supposed to be in the parks but weren't due to unforeseen circumstances, how depressing of a feeling that is. :( We did make it there though, and it was amazing. I'm coming up on one year since our trip in a few days, and I'm not looking forward to the Facebook memories, I'll be wanting to be there instead of work!

We're actually going in June, too, and I am also worried about the heat and crowds. Maybe we're going at the same time? We're going at the beginning of June.

In regards to your son and flying, can you bring him to the airport for visits, so that he is at least familiar with that aspect of the trip? As for the flight, the noise cancelling headphones may help him to feel he's in hos own world, even if it's not the sounds necessarily that bother him. What about a weighted blanket? My nephew, recently diagnosed with ASD, has a couple of blankets that give him comfort; he makes a "cocoon" around himself with his blankets, puts his headphones on and watches videos on his tablet when he needs to escape the world.
 
He absolutely hated the weighted blanket and vest the therapists have tried with him. And he still won't keep headphones on at all. :(

We are planning late June.

I don't know about visiting the airport. I almost feel it might be more "exciting" to him if it's a new place. I don't know though. He's tricky.
 

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