Adventures By Disney--Grand Canyon to Moab

This post could actually be entitled Grand Canyon to Monument Valley to Moab. After a day exploring the Grand Canyon, it was now time for us to leave and make our way to Moab, Utah, where we would spend the last three nights of our adventure.

Since we had slept in a bit yesterday, we got up early to see sunrise at the Canyon. While out on the South Rim, we heard people saying the elk were out. We made our way a few yards to El Tovar and there they were, the elk, having their breakfast. We watched them for several minutes.

It was at breakfast that I realized how isolated from the rest of the world we had been the last few days. Breakfast for us the two mornings at Thunderbird Lodge were in a special room, just steps from our rooms. On the second day, another tour group (not Disney) joined the room for breakfast. I found myself wondering who these people were and did they have permission to be in this room having breakfast. I was used to seeing the same familiar faces of our group in that room and not others. Of course they had permission, but it made me realize that we had been traveling in a circle that was just our group.

After breakfast we loaded the motor coach for the ride to Monument Valley. We left our magical luggage in our room, as the next time we saw our luggage, it would be in our room in Moab. It was going to be a long day on the motor coach, but it went by quickly and the views out the windows were amazing.

We had lunch at Gouldings. The story goes that the Gouldings were traders of Native American wares. During the Depression, the Gouldings traveled to Hollywood to get the movie producers to come to Monument Valley to film movies, which would support the declining economy of the area. The movie makers didn't believe the photos of Monument Valley were real, but paintings. The Gouldings convinced the movie makers to come to Monument Valley and the rest is history. Many movies and commercials have been filmed in the area and it has done much to support the economy. And, the Gouldings now have a museum located near their restaurant with artifacts of the movie making industry.


Here we are in Monument Valley. Two open air trucks picked us up at Gouldings to take us through the Valley. The figure in the photo is the left mitten. There is a right mitten, just not captured in that photo.

We stopped in several spots to take photos and explore. One area had a man on a horse, named John Wayne, who for two dollars would let you sit on his horse and take a photo. See photo below. I know, the background does not look real, but it is. Very real! The man directed us to the best spot to take the photo. Coincidentally, there had been an article in USA Today just that week about the man, John Wayne, on the horse in Monument Valley. One of our fellow guests had the paper, and we took turn reading the article.

After Monument Valley we were back on the motor coach to Moab, Utah. Time for Adventures By Disney Fear Factor. It was kids vs. adults. Our guides asked trivia questions from our trip so far and the group that got it right could pick someone from the other group to perform a daring task. OK, how daring could you get on a bus? Pretty daring when it came to things to eat. Let's just say that boy ate a chocolate covered cricket and the husband ate a mill worm. I got questions right so I didn't get picked to eat anything in the game!

To make both legs of our trip go faster, Disney movies themed to our trip were shown. One was an animated feature about Goofy traveling to the Grand Canyon. We watched that first. Then "Cars" was played. Route 66. . . get it?

We arrived in Moab while it was still light and we could see the Red Cliffs surrounding our resort. . . Red Cliffs Lodge, which was located on the banks of the Colorado River. The Lodge is also a working ranch. The rooms are incredible! Spacious! Clean and comfy. Our room had a large bathroom with separate sinks, two queen size beds, and a kitchen/sitting area that was located on a lower level. We also had sliding doors which lead to a fenced in patio. The photo below was taken against the fence that held in the cattle and horses just behind our patio. Upon arriving in Moab, we had dinner as group, then it was off to bed. Tomorrow we were tackling Arches National Park!

Did you know that Adventures By Disney caters to many ages and types of families? On our adventure we had a adult son/ dad combination. The adult son had a handicapping condition and needed a scooter for mobility. The adult son was a published author and the dad a college professor. We traveled with a single mom and her three children. This was actually their second Adventures By Disney tour and the oldest son was 19, but he still counted as one of the "kids." We traveled with a couple in their mid 30's with no children celebrating their anniversary. They wanted to celebrate with other people and families and chose the tour to help them celebrate. We had a family with two moms and their daughter. We had a single dad and his two daughters. One daughter had experienced an injury to her leg/knee just prior to travel, but she did OK. Another family was a mom and daughter traveling together, as the dad was unable to travel with them. We had a family that had just returned from living in Australia for several years and upon returning to the states, wanted to see the country. Their oldest daughter was graduating high school. And may others, well enough others to make a total of 40 of us, plus our two guides. It was great to see the many combinations and groups. We got along well with each and felt like one big family after spending so much time together.

The boy was the youngest child in the group yet he was old enough to do all the activities on the adventure. Adventures by Disney has recommended ages for each trip based on activities and requirements to participate in the activities or length/difficulty, etc. Adventures By Disney does ask that children be at least four years old to participate in any tour.

Read about Day 1 of our adventure--click here!

Read about Day 2 of our adventure--click here and here!

Read about Day 3 of our adventure--click here!
Read about Day 4 of our adventure--click here!

Adventures By Disney--We Made It to The Grand Canyon

After traveling via motor coach from Sedona, we arrived at the Grand Canyon and got our first glimpse of the mighty canyon! What a dizzying, goosebump experience! It is difficult to describe the awe and wonder that this massive geological creation produces.

Click here to read more about our day getting to the Grand Canyon.

Once we arrived, we explored the South Rim for a while and checked out the visitor's center. We purchased a cool pop-up book about animals in the area. There's a saying that people who visit the Grand Canyon spend 20 minutes looking at the Canyon and 40 minutes looking in the shop. We definitely wanted to reverse those numbers.

When I viewed the Canyon and couldn't help but ask "How did that happen?" It is difficult to fathom the millions of years it took to create the geological wonder.

The temperatures had dropped quite a bit from Sedona and there were moments when we were chilly. We had gone up in elevation from where we started in Phoenix. It is definitely the "high desert." Click here to read about traveling from Phoenix to Sedona. Click here and here to read more about out time in Sedona.

We rode our motor coach to the Thunderbird Lodge, our lodging for the next two nights. The Thunderbird Lodge is built on the South Rim of the Canyon just next to Hopi House and El Tovar. All the rooms in the two story Thunderbird Lodge look out over the Canyon. We were on the 2nd floor so we had an amazing view from our window.

Now, the accommodations are a bit dated, even though the bathroom had been recently renovated. But as they say in the real estate business--location, location, location! In the lobby of Thunderbird Lodge there is a room with a fireplace built by Mary Coulter, a well known architect for Canyon buildings. The stones of the fireplace are from each layer of the Canyon are are in the order you would find them in the Canyon. Such details!

For dinner that evening, we all gathered in a meeting room at Thunderbird Lodge for a meal, a show, and a view. The windows in the room all look out over the Canyon. The show was a Native American drum player/singer and a young Native American dancer. He told us much information of the area and gave us an authentic performance.

By the end of the evening, we were all dancing together while the drums played. Disney magic!

We turned in for the evening just shortly after as we had a full day of Canyon exploring the next day.

Click here to read about our day exploring the Grand Canyon.

I must tell two stories at this point. One is about the soap at Thunderbird Lodge. It has a hole in the middle. The box says that it is to save soap, as people use the outside layer and then throw the middle away and to make it easier to grip. We thought this was very interesting and environmentally conscious.

The second has to do with the tile in the bathroom which had pictures of various animals you would find in the Canyon area. I had stayed at the dinner location to get the news and announcements that we would need the next day. . . times, plans, etc. The husband and boy went back to shower and get ready for bed. When I returned to the room, the boy announced that there was a jackass in the bathroom. Blown away by the word, as it is not a word we use, and confused by the notion that there would be an animal in the bathroom, I glanced at the husband with a puzzled expression. It was then that the husband grinning and sheepish pointed to the tile in the shower that had a donkey. The donkey had been given another name during the shower by the husband. Memories!

Adventures By Disney--Sedona to the Grand Canyon

Day 3 of our Adventures By Disney tour began with breakfast and a trip airport mesa, an energy vortex, in Sedona. The views were beautiful on the mesa as you can see in the photo below.

We had checked out of the tranquil Amora Resort and Spa leaving our magical luggage in our room. The next time we will see our luggage is in our room at the Grand Canyon at Thunderbird Lodge. Click here to read about our day at the Grand Canyon.

We left airport mesa and headed to Red Rock State Park for a little nature hike. We were divided into two groups, each with a naturalist, and began our hike. Our naturalist is in the photo below.

We hiked throughout the park noticing the variety of plants. The tree in the photo below is the Wedding Tree also known as a cotton wood. It is growing along the banks of Oak Creek, which also ran behind our resort.

We hiked to the top of the hill to where a house had been built by a former millionaire and left abandoned. The house is said to be inhabited by wildlife now, so it is not safe to go inside. We gathered around the fire ring outside of the house.

After our hike in the park, we headed back to Sedona for lunch. Lunch was on your own, so we found a fast food place and took one last look at the alien store. Then it was back on the motor coach for our ride to the Grand Canyon.

The motor coach climbed the switchbacks along Oak Creek to get to the main highway. You could look outside the bus at the hundreds of feet drop just beside the road. Adventure! We also went by Slide Rock Park, another attraction just outside Sedona that features natural waterfalls and pools so you slide down rocks.

We had snacks and a Disney nature movie on the bus. Let me just note here that whenever we had a long ride--this day and one more day later in our trip--there would be Disney features offered that were themed to the trip. Today's show was a narrated feature--"The Living Desert" which I believe won an academy award.

When we got to the Grand Canyon, the temperature was much more mild, almost chilly. We all got off the motor coach, took care of any urgent business, and then gathered. Our guide Tiffany wanted us to walk to the edge of the Canyon holding hands with our eyes closed, then open them together. We did just that. We walked to the road just across from the viewing location with our eyes open. We still couldn't see anything yet. Then, we made a line, held each other's hands and walked across the road to the viewing station. Tiffany counted down and we opened our eyes in unison. What a sight! Goosebumps!

Here is one of our guides, Tiffany, directing the group before we viewed the canyon.

We had more adventures that evening once we arrived at the Canyon and got settled at Thunderbird Lodge. Ahh . . . another entry.

Click here to read about Day 1 of our Adventures by Disney Tour.

Click here and here to read about Day 2 of our Adventures by Disney Tour.

Adventures By Disney--Grand Canyon

The summer vacation theme continues with a posting about a portion of our summer vacation last summer. We toured the southwest with Disney. While you may be in shock and awe at the thought (hear the sarcasm), we took our first, and hopefully not our last, Adventures by Disney tour.

Adventures by what? Adventures by Disney. Disney has 19-22 different tours around the world. The tours include China, Australia, Spain, Italy, South Africa, Peru, Costa Rica, the Galapagos Islands, and North America. The North American tours include Alaska, California, the mid-Atlantic States, Yellowstone, and Arizona/Utah (Southwest Splendors) which was ours. I know I am leaving some of the tours out, so if you want more info head to their web-site--click here.

So what does Adventures by Disney provide? Transportation within the tour, fun adventures for the whole family, most meals, excellent overnight accommodations, two adventure guides, access to naturalists, and magical luggage. Let me start with magical luggage. Once you arrive at your destination, for us that meant the Phoenix Airport, your luggage is tagged and whisked away. The next time you see it, it will be in your hotel/resort room. This happens each time you move to a new overnight stay. The husband loved this! Two Adventure Guides: Ours were Tiffany and Diana. They host, plan, guide, entertain, and anticipate almost every need you might have. They along with up to 40 guests become a big family by the end of the week. Excellent overnight accommodations: Let's just say that when we stayed overnight at the Grand Canyon for two nights, we were at Thunderbird Lodge. Now, if you know anything about Thunderbird Lodge, you know that it next to El Tovar on the South Rim of the Canyon and that when you open the curtains in your room, you are overlooking the Canyon. Not everyone gets this kind of view or access. Disney does!

Here we are on a remote portion of the Canyon rim. We had a naturalist who works at the park join our group and take us to some remote locations explaining the terrain, wildlife, plant life, and answering lots of questions.

After spending the morning exploring the Canyon, we ventured into the nearby town and took a helicopter ride over the Canyon. You can see it was a "thumbs" up adventure. After the helicopter ride, we took in an IMAX movies of white water rafting on the Canyon. That was foreshadowing for another experience. . . but I won't spoil it now.

We got to hike and explore throughout the park. The picture below demonstrates the acting ability in our family. Yes, we had matching shirts for this vacation, too. It was Disney! The shirts on this day have Disney characters hanging from one another with "Stay Off The Rim!" printed underneath. We made them ahead of time at Zazzle.com.

Our Adventures By Disney Tour included two nights in Sedona, Arizona, two nights on the South Rim in Thunderbird Lodge, and three nights at the Red Cliffs Lodge in Moab, Utah. This tour begins in Phoenix, Arizona, and ends by flying out of Grand Junction, Colorado.

Here's how we kept our costs down:

1. This tour has a Saturday to Saturday tour and a Tuesday to Tuesday tour. Since airfare is typically cheaper mid-week than on the week-ends, we chose the Tuesday to Tuesday tour to reduce our airfare costs.
2. Adventures By Disney has an early booking discount. The earlier you book your Adventure the better. We took advantage of the early booking.
3. We budgeted for souvenirs--Christmas tree ornaments (click here to read more about what we collect), a couple of t-shirts, and some books came home with us.
4. While ATV'ing, rapelling, and horse back riding were all extra, our only extra was the helicopter ride. We knew we couldn't do that anywhere else.
5. Most meals were included! When we were on our own for a meal we looked at value options. We did splurge for a special cowboy meal in Sedona.
6. No extra's for transportation within the tour. Since we had a motor coach to get us from place to place, there was no need for a car rental or taxi. We even used free public transportation in Sedona.

We know that traveling with Disney means quality, dependability, family friendly, and of course magical. Our Adventures By Disney Tour did not disappoint!