National parks, natural beauty and a bit of Disney wonder! COMPLETED About This Page:

[chezp]

Originally Posted by lauriep

I really enjoyed the fantastic shots of London from the plane! Just a few wispy clouds, but otherwise the mostly great weather from this trip greeted you at home, too. What an amazing trip this was! Thank you so much for letting us tag along. It's going to be weird not having National Park updates every day, but we have the Amsterdam and France/Belgium reports for a little while. What's next?

Sadly you won't have either report for much longer. I think all are done by Thursday.

Well, what's coming up next will be announced in the next couple of days... sorry to be mysterious, but I want to save that for a day or two longer.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Ace_Athena

Amazing pictures of London! Thank you for sharing those. I can just imagine that London doesn't really excite you seeing as you live so close. Is that the case?

not at all. London, to me, is one of the world's most beautiful cities and I always love spending time there. There's nothing more special than seeing it from the air, as all too often, it's either dark or cloudy or both when we fly in. It's very rare to get views like that and I love it when we do.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by honeybee723

I've never heard good things about O'Hare, and you've confirmed it with your experience. Can't believe you're home, even though this has been a long trip, it just seemed to fly on by. And you did get some great shots of London.

I've never heard great things about O'Hare either. Give me Midway any day!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by disney_duke

With the way you divided up the TR's of this epic holiday, it feels like this was just a short trip! I forget you also had time at Disneyland and the Alaska cruise too.... Glad you got some sleep, and made it home safely. Outstanding shots of London, wow!! I, too, didn't recognize that tall building, the Shard? It just looks kind of... out of place. I'm curious what the locals think of it, do you know?

I haven't heard much talk about what people think of it. However, when you compare it to buildings in the Docklands, the new financial district, to be honest it fits right in.

Oh yes we had Disneyland, the Alaskan cruise and then there was Vancouver as well... just a short trip!

[Dlandmom2]

I love the overhead pics of London! It's such a beautiful city. I really do hope I can visit someday soon!

Re: customs and immigration...I was wondering if maybe the Brits were getting back at us for making them wait at LAX! I do like your idea, though, as it would be nice if we could be more friendly with our friends! Unfortunately, I'm sure the bad guys would find a way to use that to their advantage.

[lauriep]

Originally Posted by chezp

Sadly you won't have either report for much longer. I think all are done by Thursday.

Well, what's coming up next will be announced in the next couple of days... sorry to be mysterious, but I want to save that for a day or two longer.

Intriguing! I think the clue is in your many countdowns, but you may have slipped in another quick trip between now and then!

[Wendyismyname]

[pamcarey]

Amazing aerial shots of London!!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Dlandmom2

I love the overhead pics of London! It's such a beautiful city. I really do hope I can visit someday soon!

Re: customs and immigration...I was wondering if maybe the Brits were getting back at us for making them wait at LAX! I do like your idea, though, as it would be nice if we could be more friendly with our friends! Unfortunately, I'm sure the bad guys would find a way to use that to their advantage.

I wondered the same thing, but sadly I think it's now become apparent that the waits were down to a lack of checks previously and as a result of that, things were stepped up in the last few months.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by lauriep

Intriguing! I think the clue is in your many countdowns, but you may have slipped in another quick trip between now and then!

You'll have to wait and see!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Wendyismyname

And she does know what I'm talking about...

[chezp]

Final thoughts:

I think I say this every time, but quite genuinely, where on earth do you start with final thoughts for a trip like this? I figured, after much thinking about it, that the best way to do it was to borrow from my faithful PassPorter and divide it into the chapter sections, so hopefully that works.

Planning our adventure:

I’m used to packing a lot into our vacations and visiting lots of different destinations. In 2008, we hit five different destinations in 17 days and in 2009, we did a road trip from Orlando all the way to Key West, but this was on a whole different scale. I really had never done anything like this in my life before, so this was an education for me. After all, we packed in a Disney park, Disney cruise, three city stops and a 2,000 mile road trip in just over three weeks. Not bad going at all!

Generally, I think the way it was planned worked. If anything, understandably, a bit more time would’ve been good. We pretty much accomplished everything I wanted to in most places, but most noticeably, I would’ve loved another day in our schedule in Vancouver to allow us to visit Victoria, as that was on my wish list, but if we do another Alaskan cruise in the next few years (and we desperately want to) and it’s coming out of Seattle, hopefully it will make a stop there, so I can realise that dream.

As far as the national parks went, I felt we just about did each justice. We certainly had enough time for Yellowstone, although I would’ve liked longer in the Grand Tetons, just to take that boat ride across Jenny Lake. Zion was certainly a challenge, as it’s not a park aimed at those who just want to do a quick visit, but having said that, I don’t think a few more hours would’ve fixed that, as some of the problem was the physical effort that park requires and we just couldn’t give that sort of exertion.

Of course, more time in Chicago would’ve been a bonus as well, but I enjoyed what time we had there. It gave us a chance to get another taste of the city and experience something else.

When it comes to the stops along our road trip, generally they were nicely spaced out, although we could easily have stayed at Moab after our Monument Valley day, as there was nowhere near as much driving as Mapquest had me believe. However, it’s all relative, as that would’ve probably meant that we wouldn’t have then stayed at Rifle and would’ve pushed on somewhere else and that was a lovely stop for the night. Apart from that, every stop we made worked out well, which I was very relieved about.

Getting there (and back)

All of the flights we took were pretty good. Of course, you can’t beat flying Upper Class in Virgin Atlantic and, as I’ve said before, if we could, this is how we’d fly to the States every time, but it does come with a heck of a hefty price tag, although it’s easy to see why.

We were pleasantly surprised by Air Canada, with good legroom, even if the standard seats, and their entertainment system was wonderful. Air Alaska were fine as well and we had no issues with them at all. Of course, Southwest is Southwest and they are always great. Why oh why can’t every airline in the world board people the way they do?

Of course, there was much more to this trip than just flights. The cruise was absolutely wonderful. Having read so many great reviews of the Disney Wonder’s inaugural season in Alaska, my expectations for this cruise were set pretty high, so they had a lot to live up to. There was also the concern that maybe we’d be disappointed with the Wonder, after having cruised on the Dream four short months earlier. We needn’t have worried. The cruise was superb and proved to be an absolute delight from start to finish, so much so that we’re already thinking about taking another one, providing it becomes a long term route for the Wonder.

The third big element of this section was the driving we did. The first section from Seattle to Vancouver was really nothing by comparison to the rest of the vacation, but driving across the American border is something I’ve always wanted to do and have never had the chance to do. Well, now that’s another off to the “to do” list...

The bulk of the driving, over 2,000 miles of it came during our final week, with Mark doing all of it. Some of it was very beautiful and scenic, the last day in Colorado specifically and also the entrance into Zion, but others were just painful. The worst sections had to be the drive at night and the drive from Grand Tetons to Orem in Utah. My goodness, that was dull and we had no idea that Wyoming was such a big state!

Staying in Style

It’s hard to know where to start with hotels, as we had so many different ones, so I’ll pick out some favourites, in fact a top five:

5. Hampton Inn, Seattle
It was lovely to have the equivalent of a one bedroom villa to walk into in a big city and it was a real surprise, given how little we paid for this place.
4. Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone
The real Wilderness Lodge – what more can you say? Well, except that the views of Old Faithful were amazing and the meals at the Dining Room superb. It was beautifully themed and a thoroughly enjoyable stay.
3. Pan Pacific, Vancouver
Maybe if we hadn’t been cruising, I wouldn’t have rated this quite so highly, but it’s a magnificent hotel and our city view room had quite the view. However, it ranks this high because of the simplicity of getting from there on to the Wonder and for the beautiful view of the Wonder arriving in port.
2. Grand Californian, Disneyland
The one bedroom villa we had here was an absolute revelation in terms of how much space we had. It was beautifully themed as well and I’d like to see this standard and amount of space at some of the DVC resorts in Walt Disney World.
1. Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone
There is just nothing better than having a hot tub in your own yard to enjoy and every single cabin should have one of these. I really thought it would be far too cold to use the thing when we arrived, but I was pleasantly surprised and it was lovely to have a bit of seclusion in such a beautiful part of the world.

Of course, the other part of this section would be the Staying in Style on the Disney Wonder. The veranda was the way to go. We went for a higher category than we’d ever had before and, although we didn’t notice that much of a difference space wise between that and what we’d had previously, we were very glad we made the decision we did. We spent so much more time sitting outside and just watching the beautiful world drift by than we’d ever imagined. The beauty was that we could go up to decks nine and ten for a different perspective, which came into its own at Tracy Arm Fjord, as the views from our deck and the public decks were very different. In short, if you’re thinking of doing an Alaskan cruise, do yourself a favour and get a veranda. You won’t regret it. :

Touring the Parks

Here, touring the parks has some very different meanings, depending on the leg of the journey! At the start, we had a traditional tour of the Disneyland parks. We could’ve probably done with a full second day just to see and do a bit more, but we crossed everything off my must-do list, although admittedly, I did keep it fairly short to ensure that we would achieve everything on it.

The second category would be the cities we visited. We definitely didn’t have enough time in Chicago and could easily have spent longer at the Museum of Science and Industry. A third trip back there is definitely needed. The same could be said of Vancouver, although I do feel that we saw most of the major sights there. If the opportunity arose to return, I certainly wouldn’t say : and I’d love to experience some of the areas outside of the city, like Whistler for example.

I think we managed a much better job of seeing Seattle in the day we had for that, although again, I’m sure there’s much more to enjoy outside of the city itself. I’m told that the national parks that surround it are quite something.

The third category would be the excursions while we were on board the Disney Wonder, each of which gave us a good taste of the places we were visiting. This was one of the reasons that we first started to talk about going back again, as every shore excursion only gives you a little sample of the port you’re visiting. Each excursion that our group took part in sounded wonderful and gave a little more introduction to the town that we were in.

The final category of touring the parks can be taken a bit more literally, as it applies to the various national parks we visited. My goodness, touring some of these, particularly Yellowstone, was like touring a Disney park – there’s just no way that you can see and do everything. Despite the fact that, again, we didn’t have a great amount of time in any of them, I think we did a good job of doing them justice. Sure, we could’ve done with more time in the Grand Tetons and Zion, but other than that, I was happy with the time we allotted to each. I felt we had the opportunity to visit the major highlights in each and my guidebook was absolutely invaluable in helping to decide on which those were.

Feasting and Eateries

Some of this trip wasn’t so much about the eating, whereas the cruise very much was! The food sadly wasn’t up to par on the Wonder at the regular restaurants, as I have had better. However, Palo reached the great heights that we’re used to, but sadly didn’t get to enjoy on the Dream. If I’m honest, I’d have liked to have eaten every night at Palo.

We had our share of not-so-great meals, the Lodge at Bryce Canyon immediately comes to mind, while the meal in our room in Blanding during the storm was another, but as I say, those parts of the trip weren’t necessarily about the food. If it had been, we wouldn’t have been stopping for McDonald’s and Burger King drive-thrus or grabbing food at airports.

We did find some stand-outs, away from the Wonder, including the Dining Room at the Old Faithful Inn, which was rounded off by the amazing Yellowstone Sundae. Oh to be able to enjoy that delight every day! Our lunch with our fellow PassPorters at Ivar’s Acres of Clams in Seattle was also a delight and it was so much fun to enjoy lunch the next day at the market.

At Disneyland, Breakfast in the Park was a complete winner with the amazing character interaction while we also enjoyed our early dinner at the Wine Country Trattoria, although Ariel’s Grotto wasn’t as good as we remembered.

Making More Magic

The real magic to this trip, outside of what’s already been covered so far in this segment, was the various get-togethers we had with PassPorter friends both old and new. It seems unfair to single people out, but I will say here that our motley crew on the cruise was the real highlight for us. It’s the first time we’ve cruised with fellow PassPorters and being together for seven nights could’ve been a disaster. Instead we had an absolute blast. I cannot wait to do it again – we talked about 2015 and hopefully, work and life permitting, we’ll be up for it guys!

The other magic we enjoyed was visiting some truly wonderful places, which everyone, if they have the chance, should see. National parks in particular are real “must-dos” and after all, there’s a reason that they were designated as national parks.

Well, the next major Disney trip anyway will be December with a 40th birthday to end the world – literally – as mine falls on 21 December 2012, the date the Mayans claimed that the world would end. We’ll be on Castaway Cay that day, so we’ll be going out in style anyway... There will no doubt be other smaller trip reports between now and then, but that’s the next biggie.

[Dlandmom2]

Great wrap up to a monumental trip...in more ways than one! Thanks so much for taking us along on your fabulous journey! I keep chuckling to myself that I'm making lots of mental notes on where I'd like to visit someday...I'm getting travel tips for the US from a Brit!

Can't wait to find out what the next "surprise" trip is!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Dlandmom2

Great wrap up to a monumental trip...in more ways than one! Thanks so much for taking us along on your fabulous journey! I keep chuckling to myself that I'm making lots of mental notes on where I'd like to visit someday...I'm getting travel tips for the US from a Brit!

Can't wait to find out what the next "surprise" trip is!

Glad I can help with travel tips - we're often told that we're more travelled in the States than many Americans...

As to the next trip, the details are now out there - you just have to find them!

[Dlandmom2]

Originally Posted by chezp

As to the next trip, the details are now out there - you just have to find them!

I found it!