Rides and areas to check out at Disney

Age appropriate stuff for the boys

• Redwood Creek Challenge.  Has a "brother bear" national park theme with flying foxes, swing bridges and challenge course stuff for kids. In DCA Grizzly park rec area.
• Haunted Mansion Holiday
• It's a small world
• Autopia 
• Monorail
• Disneyland Railroad (the section between Tomorrowland and Main Street goes through the dinosaur tunnel...a big hit for us)
• Jungle Cruise
• Tiki Room 
• Tarzan's Treehouse
• Mark Twain Riverboat
• Dumbo
• Mad Tea Party
• Carousel
• Casey Jr. Circus Train
• Winnie the Pooh
• Peter Pan
• Storybook Land

Redwood challenge at Disney. more info

Redwood Creek Challenge Trail

Wilderness Explorer Russell and Dug, the friendly dog from Disney·Pixar's Up, want to help you earn Wilderness Explorer badges while navigating forested paths, rock climbing, swinging on rope bridges and zipping down suspended slides.

Junior Wilderness Explorers: Earn Your Wilderness Explorer Badge!

Russell has left hints throughout the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail to help you receive your Wilderness Explorer badge. Collect the clues to get invited to the Senior Wilderness Explorer Ceremony.

Don't Forget Your Map

Even the most intrepid explorer occasionally needs directions. Not to worry! The friendly park rangers will pass out a map of the entire Redwood Creek Challenge Trail near the entrance. Be sure to consult the detailed map — then head off into the wilds to complete your quest for badges in:

• Tracking
• Bravery
• Rock Climbing
• Wolf Howl
• Animal Spirit
• Puzzle Solving

You're completely free to explore the area in any order you wish.

Senior Wilderness Explorer Ceremony

Collect your badges and proceed to Ahwahnee Camp Circle for a special ceremony with Russell. Wilderness Explorer Ceremonies take place several times throughout the day. For show times, please check the Entertainment Schedule or the Entertainment Times Guide when you arrive at the park.

Kids meals at Disney as a budget idea.

I found this excerpt on a blog.  Great advice.  I might just have to get these meals for myself.

Kids’s Menu – a budget option. The kids' meals are an especially good deal because they include a cold beverage The kids' meals are also often healthier than the adult options
a few of the quick service restaurants have more interesting kids' meals:

·         At breakfast, Tomorrowland Terrace (Disneyland) offers two different kids' breakfast platters, each of which includes a cold beverage for $5.99. Adult breakfasts are only 50 cents more, but don't include a beverage and may be more food than you want.

·         At lunch and dinner, French Market (Disneyland) has a kids' citrus chicken breast with rice, seasonal fruit or vegetables and choice of beverage for $6.99.

·         At lunch and dinner, Plaza Inn (Disneyland) offers a kids' baked or fried chicken leg with mashed potatoes, green beans, seasonal fruit and choice of beverage for $6.99. It also has penne pasta topped with marinara or Bolognese sauce, served with fresh seasonal fruit, Italian bread and choice of beverage for $6.49.

·         At lunch and dinner, Rancho del Zocalo (Disneyland) and Cocina Cucamonga (DCA) have a kids' bean and cheese burrito or chicken taco, either one served with rice, fruit cup and choice of beverage for $6.49.

·         At lunch and dinner, Redd Rockett's Pizza Port (Disneyland) has kids' spaghetti and meatballs with seasonal fruit, baby carrots and choice of beverage for $6.49.

·         At lunch and dinner, Riverbelle Terrace (Disneyland) offers a smaller kids' version of its carved turkey or roast beef sandwich with red flame grapes, sliced apples and choice of beverage for $6.99.

·         At lunch and dinner, Baker's Field Bakery (DCA) and Pacific Wharf (DCA) offer a kids' turkey wrap with a healthy side and choice of beverage for $5.99.

·         At lunch and dinner, Lucky Fortune Cookery (DCA) offers kids' teriyaki chicken and rice with a fruit cup and choice of beverage for $6.49. (Note that you can also order this with spicy tofu, though it's not listed on the menu. I have tried this meal myself and found it pretty good.)

Disney at Halloween

We will be at DisneyLand on October 31st.  If we can we would like to buy the extra tickets to get entry to the Halloween trick or treating party.  In NZ Halloween isn't really a part of the culture, and it's recent intrusion is seen as rampant commercialism and a gimmee gimmee attitude (and a bit of paganism thrown in too).  It isn't a young kids thing.

BUT..my kids have seen so much about it on TV that they keep asking when it is going to happen.  The answer this year is that it is happening on our holiday at Disneyland. Yay!

Our plan is to let the kids wear costumes that day. We will shop for these at the big mall that isn't too far away.

Disneyland makes some special efforts for decorating at Halloween too.

Halloween season is on at Disneyland from September 14 through October 31, 2012.

Differences are:

• Step into Haunted Mansion Holiday brought to you by Jack Skellington.
• Drop in for ghostly encounters on The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
• Witness the terrifying transformation as Space Mountain becomes Ghost Galaxy.
• Trick-or-treat at Mickey's Halloween Party on select nights. Separate admission required. (approx $60 each, not on every night)

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disneyland/Events/Halloween.htm

 (a commemorative mug that is free with the dessert approc $7- a bit cheaper than buying the mug at a gift shoppe too). MUST GET THE ONE FROM THIS YEAR!!

Yosemite.

Updated flyers every few months available online at http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/guide.htm

Entrance Fees

Reservations are NOT required to enter Yosemite. The park is open year-round, 24 hours/day.

Vehicle permit $20 Valid for 7 days

Map here of the whole park area.  I need to figure out the scale and where the loding and visitor centres fit into the larger area.

This is the lodging I would like to stay in while there:

Curry Village

Cabin - Two Double Beds
These cabins, constructed circa 1919, are located in the western part of the camp. Outfitted with two double beds, dresser, mirror, closet, nightstands, chair, and private bathroom, they are decorated to give them the feel of "grandma's cabin in the woods." In addition, expansive front porches provide the opportunity for socializing with friends and family, or enjoying a favorite book.

Total: USD 370.30 (2 nights, inc breakfast & tax)

Souvenirs I know I'm going to want to collect

My parents were avid stamp collectors as I grew up, and my father has made a life-long career out of it.
I've inherited the love of  the acquisitiveness of collection making but I for me the thrill is in the chase.
If the items are too easy to collect then it isn't interesting. If it is purely a matter of spending money to collect the set then that isn't my style.

Going on this holiday I have realised that I might want some souvenirs. And a quick google search has shown that there are some beautiful and challenging and not too pricey things I would enjoy finding.

• Disney Pins (badges)
• Squashed Pennies
• Letterboxing stamp impressions
• National Park and State quarters.

Clearly I could just get on trademe or ebay and buy buy buy and make the set, but that wouldn't really be fun. I want to find these things in the wild.

I have ordered a random selection of less desirable disney pins from ebay to get me started on the pin trading "craze".  Apparently I can go and swap any authentic disney pin with cast members at disney for one that they are displaying on a lanyard. I would love to build up a collection of pins that are commemorative of our trip there - 2012, halloween theme or something like that. And cute ones too of course. I don't have a favourite character though so not sure if my collection should have a theme. Pin Trading info http://disneypintrade.com/. Lots of google images and websites out there. Think this is the sort of thing that gets a bit obsessive.

The squashed pennies bring back a memory of me at age 9 getting one made at Brisbane expo 1988.  And I've seen the machines around locally.  There are heaps of these machines in Disneyland and also in lots of other tourist sites we will be visiting.  I'm going to need a lot of quarters and pennies to make all the designs at the machines we track down.

Disneyland machines http://www.disneynow.com/profile/web/index.cfm?PKwebID=0x5910a44b and California in general http://www.pennycollector.com/Locations.aspx?area=45

Letterboxing is a dormant hobby of mine. It involves following instructions from a website to locate a hidden box with rubber stamp and log book.  You take a stamp impression of the stamp to show you've been there. There is often a hike involved and a folk-art hand carved stamp of something relevant to the location.

In NZ there are few letterboxes and not many people in the hobby.  In the US it is big. I took a peek at the listings for California and there are heaps of letterboxes.  Not many Yosemite way which surprised me, but a lot at places like Big Sure, Carmel, and Monterey.  I shall have to get a notebook and two contrasting colour small ink pads.  Lots of letterboxes listed at http://www.Atlasquest.com and I am pleased to see that an android app has been developed, so that should save some trees.

The last thing is special design coinage. I already am the proud owner of 3 state quarters which I found in geocaches in Europe while on my honeymoon. I would love to add to this with a California coin and whatever other state quarters fall into my hands as change.  There is another series now of National Parks and I will certainly be wanting to get the Yosemite coin seeing as we are visiting there. 

Yosemite. Programme for the kids

I might be more keen on this than the kids.  Wonder if I'm too old to sign up to the junior ranger programme and earn my pin badge?

______

http://www.nps.gov/yose/forkids/beajuniorranger.htm

Be a Little Cub (ages 3-6)!
Yosemite has a program for YOU! Little Cubs is a self-guided booklet that encourages our young visitors and their families to discover Yosemite ’s wonders and to earn a Little Cubs button.This booklet (published by the Yosemite Conservancy) is sold for $3 plus tax in the Nature Center at Happy Isles,Yosemite Valley, Wawona, and Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Centers, and the Big Oak Flat Information Station.


This is an activity guide for children ages 3 to 6 years designed to be completed cooperatively with parents or other adults in the park. Upon completion of a number of different activities in five different areas, youngsters become 'Little Cubs Activities in the handbook include learning about various park features, attending a ranger program, matching animals with their homes, taking a hike, learning about bears, an introductin to the Native Americans, and more. It's a great way for kids to learn about Yosemite, and a perfect guide to discovering the park for the whole family.

Join a Junior Ranger walk and learn about Yosemite wildlife and plants.

Drop by a Visitor Center or head straight to the Nature Center at Happy Isles for this great program. Kids age three and up can earn the official Junior Ranger badge by completing an activity book ($3.50 plus tax), joining a one-hour Junior Ranger Walk with a National Park Service ranger, and other educational activities.

Junior Ranger walks are held daily during the summer. Junior Ranger programs are for kids ages 7-13. Little Cubs Programs are for ages 3-6

They also are hopefully running the "wee wild ones" programme while we are there.

Wee Wild Ones is an interactive program for kids 6 and younger who are wild about animals.  Featuring fun stories, songs, games, crafts and activities, this exciting Yosemite program for kids brings the Park's famous inhabitants to life.

In the summer and fall, Wee Wild Ones occurs before evening programs held at the Yosemite Lodge at the Falls Amphitheater or the Curry Village Amphitheater. In winter and spring, this learning program for kids is held during the day in front of the great fireplace in The Ahwahnee®.

Parents are encouraged to participate.

The Details, Cost: Free; Start Time: Varies by season;

Basic Outline of trip

The purpose of this blog is to collect my thoughts and planning for our family trip to California in Oct/Nov 2012.
It is a mostly private blog an won't be written to be witty or even possibly entertaining. Sometimes it'll just be a dumping spot for things I've cut and paste from the internet that I think will be interesting or useful.

Our trip starts on 27 October 2012 and runs through to the 15th of November.
The solid bookings we have are for Anaheim and San Francisco.
We're planning on fitting in some coastal towns (San Simeon, Carmel, Monterey) on the way north, and a side trip to Yosemite National Park.