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Sorcerer Mickey
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| Day 8 – Friday, June 15th Today is a sad day. Our trip is over and we have to head back home. We slept until 8 or so and checked out of the hotel. My overall opinion of the hotel is that it’s clean. It’s old. If you are expecting a Hilton…you will be disappointed! For a budget hotel it’s fine. As for me…I’ll be spending the extra $200 to stay at a nicer/closer hotel! It’s a short walk to the park but after a long day it’s a long walk! We started our drive home. We hit traffic everywhere! We hit construction everywhere! We made bad time going home. We decided to stop in Grand Junction (if we hadn’t hit all the stopped traffic in every state we’d have made it home) at 10:30. All the hotels were all full! We had to continue driving. We ended up in Glenwood Springs at 1:00 am. Guy couldn’t drive any farther! It’s a good thing we fond a hotel! We stayed at the Best Western-Antlers Inn. It was a pricy one but she gave us a great discount (took over $100 off!!). The room was huge! The beds were huge! The pillows were feather. We really wish we’d stayed in a hotel like this all week!!! Next time…it’s the Grand Californian for us for sure!!! Day 9 – Saturday, June 16th Up and at em at 8:00 to head home. We got back home at 12:00. Overall driving cost us $100 more than if we had flown standby. It cost about $400 less than if we’d flown with a confirmed airline ticket. Our next trip will be to Disney World and we’ll for sure be flying there! We’re going to go during off season next time. It’s nice to take vacation when Brittany is out of school..but it would have cost half the price if we’d gone in April or the beginning of May! We’ll just have to buy the trip protection in case there is a hurricane or something!!! We’re already counting down to the next Disney trip!!!! 
Mynde - All it takes is faith and trust...and something I forgot...Dust...just a little bit of Pixie Dust 
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Sorcerer Mickey
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| | Mynde we just back from Disney World you will have to go read it. Sounds like you had a lovely time and a long drive too. We are actually thinking about going to Disneyland maybe next year, depending on prices. Great report
Kristi |
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Mouseketeer
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/26/2008 4:38:41 PM
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| Nice reports Mynde. Makes me happy that driving to DL is not an option for us.
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Sorcerer Mickey
Group: Administrators
Last Login: 11/17/2008 5:38:21 PM
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| | Mynde - sounds like a wonderful trip! So, counting hotels and food on your drive - both ways, how much was the total? How many miles to the gallon does your car get and how much did you spend on gas? Curious because we may try driving since it went so well for you guys! Leanne
 
May All Your Days Be Filled With Magic! And your nights full of Disney Dreams! |
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Sorcerer Mickey
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| It cost approximately $700 total. I have a 98 Durango...read that as Gas Guzzler! Every time we stopped we filled up, no matter how much was left in the tank. We stopped for one night in Utah, then one night in CO on the way back. We also had lunch twice and dinner twice (picked hotels out of the AAA book that had continental breakfast). The hotel in CO was expensive for us! $118 a night!! The breakdown was around this....hotels: 190, food: 120, incidentals: 35 (clean up!), the rest was gas (and Guy's energy drinks which were around $2 each gas stop!). If you have a fuel efficient car it would be better. Also, if you can talk your family into packing sandwiches for day one you'll cut the cost too! My family would have none of that! We stopped for fast food for both lunches and one dinner..the other dinner was at a small family style place so inexpensive. I don't know what airfare is like these days..but to fly standby it was going to be $460 plus renting a car around $200. If you don't leave the Disney property and don't rent a car then flying will probably be cheaper for you?! We enjoyed the drive. It's very scenic for most of the way (though the desserts areas are LONG). We were just ready to get home and it happened that we caught ever traffic jam possible. The way out was smooth sailing. We could have made it home in one day (on the way out we took our time and stopped and walked around at intervals, but the drive home we all just wanted to keep going) but the traffic slowed us down. If you do drive and want to stop...stop before or after Vegas. We had a really nice hotel in St. George Utah (about an hour from Vegas I think) for $70 but there are a few other cities closer than ST George from here if need be. Let me know if you decide to drive and I'll give you more suggestions on stops etc! Hope that helps!!!
Mynde - All it takes is faith and trust...and something I forgot...Dust...just a little bit of Pixie Dust
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Sorcerer Mickey
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Last Login: 11/17/2008 5:38:21 PM
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| | Mynde - that is EXACTLY what I was looking for. If we drive we will take our F150 (very comfy) and like yours, it is a gas guzzler. We always look at driving, and flying comes close price wise. The biggest problem with flying is the hours you spend in the airport. For example, our last trip, we flew out around 12, but had to leave the house at 8 to drop off the dogs then get to the airport. If we drove, in that 4 hours we could already be in Grand Junction. With your info, it will make it easier to make a decision next time. Oh - and we have always planned that if we drive we will have a cooler with drinks and snacks inside to minimize those stops. Aside from meals, did you need to stop other times for Joshua to get out, or was he happy to sit in his car seat for long stretches? Leanne
May All Your Days Be Filled With Magic! And your nights full of Disney Dreams! |
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Mouseketeer
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/26/2008 4:38:41 PM
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| | Checked and it's just under 2000 miles of driving if we wanted to go that route next time. So I don't even have to do anymore research, cause I won't be doing that anytime soon. I'd have to take an extra week of holiday's just for the driving alone back and forth. If you check, airlines like Alaska Air have deals on. That's who we booked through. It was "Kids Fly Free" and was for travel between January and June of this year, although tickets had to be purchased by mid-April. So, we ended up cutting our airfare cost in half! Can't go wrong with that.
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Sorcerer Mickey
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| Joshua was fine driving and just getting out at our stops. We played at a playplace for lunch and then he'd walk around the gas station stores when we stopped for bathroom breaks. And he enjoyed watching me play a few slot machines at the gas station in Vegas. I made 50 cents. Woo Hoo!
Mynde - All it takes is faith and trust...and something I forgot...Dust...just a little bit of Pixie Dust
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