Even though I hate Mondays, I am so excited about waking up tomorrow, ripping August off the calendar, and announcing that we are going 'this month'.
Still 3 1/2 weeks to go, but with the way time is flying at present that will arrive in no time.
I have made a few additions and changes to my trip this weekend which I am excited about.
For a start I changed our cabin at Lake Yellowstone Hotel to a larger one at Lake Lodge. We were booked to stay in one of the Hotel's yellow cabins, which despite being quite cute on the outside, are tiny on the inside and have 2 double beds. Short of paying hundreds more for an expensive room inside the hotel, we were resigned to being pretty much stuck with this option. Up until a week ago, the only other Yellowstone lodges open at the end of September were a considerable drive away.
Xanterra (the company in charge of Yellowstone lodging) obviously realised that there was demand to provide another option for the end of the season and decided last week to extend their opening dates on some Western cabins at Lake Lodge. Lake Lodge is about half a mile down the road from Lake Hotel and will have no facilities open other than the cabins. So we will still need to check in at Lake Hotel and drive there for meals. But what the Lodge will lack in open facilities, it makes up for in much larger cabins with 2 queens instead of two doubles. Plus the cabins have been recently renovated with some charming rustic Western furniture. I'm very happy about the change.
I changed from this... (Photo courtesy of Xanterra Yellowstone Lodging website)
to this. (Photo courtesy of Xanterra Yellowstone Lodging website)
Even though the main lodge is closed, I'm hoping they might still have the rocking chairs out. (Photo courtesy of Xanterra Yellowstone Lodging website)
I made a lunch reservation for the Mural Room in Grand Teton NP because it has the most stunning views outside the windows and some lovely murals inside (hence the name). I'm a bit worried about setting a schedule for our drive through the park, but I really would like to eat lunch here. Worst case scenario we turn up late and they hopefully find another table for us. There is no financial penalty if we need to cancel altogether, but hopefully it won't come to this.
Mural Room (Photo courtesy of The Grand Teton Lodge Company website)
I also booked Big Thunder Ranch BBQ for an early dinner on the night of MHP. It's the only ADR I have made for
Disneyland and there is a small chance I might make one more.
I'm still a bit torn between Fantasmic and WOC. The Mark Twain is out of action, so Fantasmic won't be as good as usual. WOC will be super busy due to the Gay Days schedule. I'm kind of thinking that we should flag them both and enjoy quieter ride queues instead.
Next weekend I will ring to book the Discover the Magic Tour and then everything that can be paid in advance will be. We have also paid off our December cruise, so I'm feeling good that all our big travel expenses are now behind us.
Lastly, I just wanted to share a cool bargain I grabbed the other day. Does Australia have Kathmandu stores? If not, they are a store that sells clothes and equipment for travelling and outdoor living. They often have massive clearance sales. I went into my local store last weekend to grab some beanies and gloves for Yellowstone and saw a special on these cute little travel airplane packs. They are a small bag with a pair of slippers, earplugs, an eyemask and a blow-up travel neck pillow. The stuff in the bag is surprisingly good quality, especially the pillow which is covered in a soft cotton fabric. Anyway, at full price the bags are $80. At that price they are daylight robbery, but I got 2 for just $4.95 each. Bargain! Even though I'm not traveling first class, I will feel like I have my own little bag of first class amenities.