April 2002 Disneyland/DCA Trip - Chapter 6 Up About This Page:

[dsnytina]

Stars of the Show:
Tina (29) Self-titled Disney freak and trip planner, wife to
Max (33) patient husband, hockey freak and Dad to
Cami (3) our blessing from God, granddaughter of
Nana (actually, Linda, and pretty sure she'd faint if I put her real age here!!!), my Mom, a closet Disney freak and wife to
Papa (actually, Roger, also wouldn't be happy if his daughter betrayed him and revealed his age here!)
Dates: April 25-May 2, 2002

Chapter One
The best laid plans...
Background Info
In September 2000, just after Cami turned 2, we took her and my Mom and Dad from Seattle and Max's Mom, Marlene from Minnesota, to WDW for a land/sea vacation starting with the Caribbean Beach Resort, and ending with a heavenly cruise on the Wonder for 3 nights. Knowing what we know now, we should have gone for a 7 night cruise. Having a hot, sticky, cranky toddler at WDW is a nightmare! (Well, to a commando Mom it is - everyone else swears they had a great time!) [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] I sure wish I had a Passporter with me then! However, having a happy, clean, fun toddler in the Mickey pool on the Cruise was a joy from start to finish... [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]
Planning the perfect Spring get-away
Around Christmas 2001, my Mom and I started planning a vacation "of any kind" for the Spring of 2002. Before long, we had decided we had been absent from Disneyland for far too many years! We were curious about DCA, even with all the bad press. [img]graemlins/ukid.gif[/img] From the beginning, we offered Max's Mom the opportunity to come with us on yet another joint vacation, but unfortunately, she passed. We found out Alaska Airlines was having a terrific sale to fly from Seattle to San Diego. My parents have the wonderful [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] RCI/Worldmark condo system, and kindly offered a week's time at a condo in California. We scoured their choices online, and finally decided on Oceanside, since it's between San Diego and Anaheim. My parents planned on going to Mexico while we were so close, and my husband and daughter had never been before, so Oceanside was booked! [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img] We had airline tickets, an awesome condo to stay in, a rental car lined up at the San Diego airport, 3 day Adult tickets for the price of a child I snagged at disney.com, now we just had to wait for April 25th to come!

[ 05-08-2003, 04:38 PM: Message edited by: dsnytina ]

[AKLRULZ]

Excellent - a DL/DCA report - I'll look forward to reading more about your trip!

[dsnytina]

Chapter Two
The day has come!!!
Saturday, April 25, 2002
Our flight left ridiculously early, so we'd have time to drive from San Diego to Anaheim today. Max, Cami and I drove to Nana and Papa's house at 4:30 and my brother had graciously offered to drive us to the airport. I get Cami settled in the mini-van, Max is putting our luggage in the back, my brother is warming up the van, sitting on the passenger's side so Dad could drive to the airport. Mom is coming down the sidewalk to the stairs that go down to their driveway, when all of a sudden we hear a noise, and where's Mom??? [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] I have never seen my brother move so fast. It's still just 5 am, and I am fuzzy with little sleep, but snap awake when he says, "Mom's down!" [img]graemlins/ukid.gif[/img] Mom's what??? I get myself out of the van just as he rounds the front of the van, helping Mom walk to the passenger's seat. Her ankle looks awful, the right foot is pointing at a 45 degree angle - not good! We get my Dad to come and get in the driver's seat. Thankfully, there is a hospital not five minutes from their house! After very careful but quick driving, we are in the ER instead of on the way to the airport. [img]graemlins/cry2.gif[/img] Mom is already saying that we should go ahead and go without her if her foot is broken. I'm still not thinking clearly, but have the presence of mind to call the airline to tell them we won't be making the 7 am flight. They take her back almost immediately for x-rays. Will they be able to come with us? Is this a sprained ankle or is something broken? [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] AAAAAaaargh!

[ 04-09-2003, 06:01 PM: Message edited by: dsnytina ]

[dsnytina]

Chapter Three
We finally leave…with or without them?
Saturday, April 25, 2002
When the x-rays come back to show that not one, but two ankles were broken [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] , the doctors assure us that Nana will not be flying anytime soon! Papa, of course, will be staying home to care for her, but they both urge us to go without them. Man, that was a TOUGH decision. After all our joint planning and overall love for spending time together, the decision was made to continue on - just Max, Cami and I.
My brother had stayed around and gamely offered to still drive us to the airport. Since the airline had graciously agreed to let us fly out on the noon flight, we gulped, kissed Nana and Papa good-bye, and struck out for an adventure without them. Sigh. [img]graemlins/pout.gif[/img]
During the flight, we were still pretty shell-shocked and to tell the truth, I was pretty embarassed [img]images/icons/blush.gif[/img] that we had abandoned my Mom to go to Disneyland without her. I guess one of the deciding factors was that we had a 3 year old who had woken up that morning expecting to go to Disneyland!
Once on the ground, we got our luggage, went downstairs to the car rental shuttle, had the very best shuttle driver - a woman who actually sang to us. Wow! We're serenaded by the very first person we meet in California! Now, I'm starting to relax and get into the mood for this vacation. Before long, we're settled into a Ford Explorer and on our way to Disneyland!!! Who can say, "Wheeeee!"
My ever-savvy husband has to travel for business and had been collecting nights at the Best Inn & Suites all over Washington state. Well, amazingly enough, by the time we were booking our trip, he realized he had enough nights to claim his free night. Guess where their hotel in Anaheim is? That's right - across the street from Disneyland!!! Since we couldn't check into the condo on a Saturday (love condos, but don't they had the weirdest rules?) we needed a place to stay for this one night. Isn't God great? He supplied our need with a free night not 100 yards from the Happiest Place on Earth!
We arrive about 5 pm, starving! We had noticed some restaurants on the drive in, so took a walk-about to get some tucker. (Sorry for the Australian - don't know what came over me!) We settled on Mimi's at the end of the block. It was terrific - Cami's dessert was Worms in Dirt. Ha! Gummy worms in crushed oreos and chocolate pudding. She had a ball! [img]graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] Since it was obvious we wouldn't be wasting a day on our passes for the couple of hours left, we decided to just walk over and see Downtown Disney. Mostly, we just wandered and saw the outside of the buildings - they all looked so interesting, and everyone seemed to be in a great mood! We watched the fireworks from DL and then walked the 100 yards back to our hotel, swam and collapsed! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] We made it!

[ 04-09-2003, 06:20 PM: Message edited by: dsnytina ]

[loobyoxlip]

Continue on. I've been meaning to come here and post my TR from last year but just never get around to it. But you've inspired me. The boys are watching a movie and I have a few free minutes. BTW, nice name [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

*~*Tina*~*

[AKLRULZ]

Yikes - sorry about your mom's foot - major bummer. But looking forward to hearing more now that ya'll are there.

[ 04-09-2003, 06:46 PM: Message edited by: Dad2jbj ]