Planning the Southwestern Adventures by Disney Trip

Next Steps….. Book our flights, decide on pre and post stays, if any.

This turned out to be more of a challenge than I anticipated. The Southwest Adventure is a one way trip. It starts in Phoenix and ends in Moab, with a drop off at the Grand Junction Airport in CO. Let’s just say Grand Junction is a rather SMALL airport LOL!

This trip is about trying different things — so experimenting we are.

We used Rapid Rewards (free) tickets on Southwest to fly into Phoenix. Linda and I decided to go in on Sunday. We’ll be using Disney Vacation Club (DVC) points to stay at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa. I have never used my DVC points outside of the Disney World resorts, so this will be new for me. The Arizona Biltmore is part of the Concierge Collection of the DVC Exchanges.

For the trip home from Grand Junction…well, that required a lot of research on flights!! Turns out most flights jump over to either Denver or Salt Lake City and then “home” from there. We decided to book a United flight. Of course, the flight from Grand Junction to Denver will be its own adventure — it’s a 20 seater plane. Linda did remind me (while I was freakin out about it) that we rode a 6 person float plane in Alaska… I guess instead of looking at the glaciers, we’ll have plenty of other scenery to enjoy.

Next up — start planning what to do in Phoenix on Monday – We decided to rent a car and get one with GPS so we can find our way around easier.

Our only thoughts are that we don’t want to do things that we will be doing on the Adventure (Sedona, Grand Canyon, Moab). Plus we don’t want too much outdoor activity — gotta save it up for the ABD.

Here are some websites I found that have been helpful:

http://www.phoenixcvb.com/

In the Yahoo Travel Section I looked at Phoenix, things to do.
Highly rated and some interest to us would be:

Desert Botanical Gardens (rated 4.5 stars by reviewers)
Camelback Mountain (rated 5 stars)
South Mountain Park Scenic Drive (4.5 stars)
The Heard Museum (4.5 stars)
Mystery Castle (4 stars)

So what exactly is in Phoenix to see and do?
Have you spent time in Phoenix?
What would you suggest we do with our free day?
Any ideas for lunch or dinner?

Let me know your ideas through our comment feature!

Deb
Life — IT too short!

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Deb Wills, founder of AllEars.Net, is an internationally recognized expert on Disney vacations ranging from Walt Disney World to the Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland and Adventures by Disney. For many years she participated in events designed to raise funds and awareness in the fight against breast cancer, which she herself survived in 1986. She now raises funds for FORCE - Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered, to increase awareness of hereditary cancers.

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