sasywtch
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 16, 2008
- Messages
- 2,522
The best laid plans go south --------> Which also happens to be the direction from Sacramento to Anaheim 
I do have to say a big thank you to a special guy friend who came over daily before and after work to feed my cats and spent time weedeating/mowing my back yard, fixing a few sprinklers and watering my garden. Found out on the drive home that they were told his mother only had days to live so it was a good getaway for him to sit in the lawnchair, water and relax by himself. He called me a few times (once during Crush--oops, forgot to turn off my phone) but didn't want to spoil my vacation so told me on the way home. And a big thank you to my neighbor. I was coming home from work early Friday to mow/weedeat the front yard but he had done it earlier that morning and told me "happy birthday".
My DS, DIL and GS left on Friday, July 18 to stay over with her uncle and aunt that lives in San Pedro (or Long Beach, still not too sure where we were). The plan was for me, DS2 and DD to finish packing Friday night and leave at 6am Saturday, July 19. My neighbor wanted to take me out to a crab and shrimp feast Friday (you'll see the humor later) night soooooo off we went. No packing for me. DD and DS2 went to see the new Batman movie at 10PM so no packing for them. First plan down the drain. "Oh mom, don't worry, we can get up early". Yeah, right. Threats at 7am, 3 licensed drivers but yet the two younger ones are snoozing in the car. Mom is driving.
We finally pull out of Sacramento at 7:30am. I do like my coffee so somewhere after Stockton at some rest stop, I got myself some not so good vending machine coffee where my DD took over driving. Mom got to lay down in the back seat and snooze away for once! I completely missed Anderson's Split Pea Soup. We stopped somewhere just before the Grapevine for lunch and gas (exactly where my DS1 called and told us NOT to get gas as it was 50 cents more a gallon---didn't say we were the brightest bulbs in the bunch). Stuck in the LA traffic on a Saturday at 1pm, I was kicking myself for not writing down the bypass ways other posters had mentioned other than using I-5. We finally get to the Park Place Inn at 3pm. First budget snafoo.....the motel quoted a higher price than what was confirmed through the internet. My DS1 did not bring the paper so we ended up having to pay $35 a person more.
The plan was, DS1, DIL and GS would come from her uncles and meet us at the Gardenwalk for my birthday dinner at Bubba Gumps. Seems DIL's uncle and aunt who live in a house worth a million with a view (overlooking where the cruise ships dock in San Pedro??? Didn't know Porche made a SUV?) They had shrimp and crap flown in from Louisianna and they wanted us to drive there to eat. We just got done driving 400 miles, didn't really want to drive anymore on the freeway, didn't know any of these people, not exactly what I wanted to do for my birthday but......need to be a trooper so off we go with a smile at 6pm.
So here we are in San Pedro or Long Beach, eating shrimp and crab for the second night in a row with people I don't know. Shrimp and crab are great but since I had cracked and peeled the night before, I was really ready for some "ready to eat, shove it in mouth" food. 8pm told the kiddos that I'm ready to go, want to go to DTD to get me my chocolate covered strawberry for my birthday which DS1 bought for me. The beginning of the end of the budget. So much chocolate, so little time!
Park Place Inn--this is the second time we've stayed here. The location certainly cannot be beat. Definitely would think twice if having adults sleep on the sofa bed. Pretty lumpy and thin mattress. Other than the price change, everything else was good there. They even let my son park his car there where normally you can only have one car per room. We really don't have a problem with the free breakfast at Captain Kidds as we aren't big breakfast people so cereal and bagels/muffins are great for us.
Sunday-wow what a good day to be at the park! Even though we didn't get up early enough for the early entry, we did all of fantasyland and more in 2 hours. It was overcast so not so hot. I did stop and get my birthday sticker. Later on one of the Nemo castmembers stopped me, told me he hated those stickers and pulled out a birthday button. I was leaning over the railing at the exit to Autopia taking pix of my kids driving and off my button went down into the bushes. My DIL in one of the cars told the worker, she called someone and some guy went digging through the bushes for me. Too nice! We were spoiled Sunday as we went on all fantasyland including Casey's train, the Story Book Canal, Dumbo (those are ones that usually have a long line so we usually skip), along with all the other fantasyland rides, all the mountains, jungle cruise, POC, Haunted Mansion. Saw Fantasmic, fireworks and then the kids saw that Nemo was 45 minutes so in-line they got. We were happy campers that day and thought it would be like that the next two days. (how wrong we were!). We ate at the Rocket Port (is that the name?) pizza and I think the Hungry Bear. (about $11 each). Oh wait, it's getting cooler, I need some coffee........uh oh, they have mocha for just $1 more. Somewhere in here I had the first of two Dole Whips. Budget slowly going down hill. We closed the park down and headed back to the motel.
Monday-plan was to get up early, go to DL then head over to DCA. Well, it appears I'm not the only one needing a little more sleep. We made it to DCA at opening, rode CA Soarin (gotta love that ride), pretty much they did everything in there. Got my free bag of tortillas for my birthday. I did mosey back over to the motel for 2 hours as I was wiped out from the day before and not really into the rides on the wharf area. I know we ate at the Pilot's grill for lunch, got the hamburger and must have ate there for dinner as I got the ribs also. DIL and GS had gone back to the motel. My sister, 2 neices, one of their husbands (the other neice's husband just passed away from cancer 3 weeks earlier so this was a getaway for neice's 5 year old daughter who had never been to DL) and 4 little kiddos were checking in for their 4 day stay. They all went swimming then met up for the Electrical Light Parade. Not bragging here (okay, maybe a little) but my grandson can be so cute. He's out there dancing away in front of everyone waiting for the parade to start, people were clapping. He's a little ham. Over to DL and closed the place down again. Ooops, more mocha and don't those huge $4 chocolate peanut butter cups look good? Budget going further down south. Lots more people today than Sunday and a lot hotter.
Tuesday-our last day and even though we'd ridden most everything, you feel the need to do everything again cause it's your last day. After Toontown, we decided we'd do things we normally never do.......Columbia ship around the island, the train, monorail......It was swamped today and hot. We ate at the Mexican place (can't remember the name). I did see a budget tip there but not something for me: A very large group with those flags sat down in groups of 4-5 with one turkey leg per group, got a fork and knife, pulled out hot dog buns out of their bags, sliced the turkey off the bone and made sandwiches with the buns. $7 for 4-5 people. Just not for us. We all don't like the same type of food, can't get all of us to agree so seperate ordering is for our family.
Dingy time for me here. Dinner time, DS/DIL/GS were meeting uncle #2 at Rainforest Cafe so DD wanted a Pirate pin she saw at DTD so we all rode the monorail over. I was tired of burgers so told my kiddos we could go find somehwere off property to eat. Big mistake. I know better to find somewhere cheap on the DLH side but I wasn't going to admit I was wrong. Off we hike down to Katella. Kids were not happy after walking around the parks for 3 days, it was getting cold and they were hungry. We ended up at Tiffys which wasn't any cheaper than the parks. The hike definitely wasn't my brightest idea but I wasn't going to admit that to my kids.
Later GS and I were by the smokers area (Small World one) and got to see Tinkerbell fly. He enjoyed that. Ran into the other relatives around 11 pm and everyone rode everything in FL one more time. GS loved the teacups so I think we hit that 20 times over the 3 days. Over 40 years, this was the first time I rode Dumbo and it was with my gs. Uh oh, more mocha and chocolate on the way out.
Wednesday-Check out day. No one was moving. We barely made breakfast at 9:25 as they close at 9:30. I think we finally checked out around 11. DIL, DS and GS went straight home. DD, DS2 and myself drove around Hollywood a little, found Melrose, saw Pinkys with the huge line, kids were getting ansy so got on the 605 (I think), found signs that said Sacramento and made it home around 7:30. Not too bad as we were leaving the Magic Mountain area around 2:30. The first thing we noticed was DANG.......no newspapers or news for 4 days and wa la........saw our first gas station and gas had gone down 30 cents a gallon!!! Whoo Hoo Flip side to that, heard that as of this Monday, my pay may be cut to the federal minimum wage 2/3 paycut
So what does one do??? Start adding up in your head how to save for the trip next year!!!! 
It's so amazing how in just 6 hours you can be transplanted to such a different world where all the worries are gone and you can just relax and enjoy. The twinkling white lights, riding the matterhorn at night just can't be beat anywhere else.
I hope all of you in the planning stages have a wonderful, relaxing trip.
I do have to say a big thank you to a special guy friend who came over daily before and after work to feed my cats and spent time weedeating/mowing my back yard, fixing a few sprinklers and watering my garden. Found out on the drive home that they were told his mother only had days to live so it was a good getaway for him to sit in the lawnchair, water and relax by himself. He called me a few times (once during Crush--oops, forgot to turn off my phone) but didn't want to spoil my vacation so told me on the way home. And a big thank you to my neighbor. I was coming home from work early Friday to mow/weedeat the front yard but he had done it earlier that morning and told me "happy birthday".
My DS, DIL and GS left on Friday, July 18 to stay over with her uncle and aunt that lives in San Pedro (or Long Beach, still not too sure where we were). The plan was for me, DS2 and DD to finish packing Friday night and leave at 6am Saturday, July 19. My neighbor wanted to take me out to a crab and shrimp feast Friday (you'll see the humor later) night soooooo off we went. No packing for me. DD and DS2 went to see the new Batman movie at 10PM so no packing for them. First plan down the drain. "Oh mom, don't worry, we can get up early". Yeah, right. Threats at 7am, 3 licensed drivers but yet the two younger ones are snoozing in the car. Mom is driving.
We finally pull out of Sacramento at 7:30am. I do like my coffee so somewhere after Stockton at some rest stop, I got myself some not so good vending machine coffee where my DD took over driving. Mom got to lay down in the back seat and snooze away for once! I completely missed Anderson's Split Pea Soup. We stopped somewhere just before the Grapevine for lunch and gas (exactly where my DS1 called and told us NOT to get gas as it was 50 cents more a gallon---didn't say we were the brightest bulbs in the bunch). Stuck in the LA traffic on a Saturday at 1pm, I was kicking myself for not writing down the bypass ways other posters had mentioned other than using I-5. We finally get to the Park Place Inn at 3pm. First budget snafoo.....the motel quoted a higher price than what was confirmed through the internet. My DS1 did not bring the paper so we ended up having to pay $35 a person more.
The plan was, DS1, DIL and GS would come from her uncles and meet us at the Gardenwalk for my birthday dinner at Bubba Gumps. Seems DIL's uncle and aunt who live in a house worth a million with a view (overlooking where the cruise ships dock in San Pedro??? Didn't know Porche made a SUV?) They had shrimp and crap flown in from Louisianna and they wanted us to drive there to eat. We just got done driving 400 miles, didn't really want to drive anymore on the freeway, didn't know any of these people, not exactly what I wanted to do for my birthday but......need to be a trooper so off we go with a smile at 6pm.
So here we are in San Pedro or Long Beach, eating shrimp and crab for the second night in a row with people I don't know. Shrimp and crab are great but since I had cracked and peeled the night before, I was really ready for some "ready to eat, shove it in mouth" food. 8pm told the kiddos that I'm ready to go, want to go to DTD to get me my chocolate covered strawberry for my birthday which DS1 bought for me. The beginning of the end of the budget. So much chocolate, so little time!
Park Place Inn--this is the second time we've stayed here. The location certainly cannot be beat. Definitely would think twice if having adults sleep on the sofa bed. Pretty lumpy and thin mattress. Other than the price change, everything else was good there. They even let my son park his car there where normally you can only have one car per room. We really don't have a problem with the free breakfast at Captain Kidds as we aren't big breakfast people so cereal and bagels/muffins are great for us.
Sunday-wow what a good day to be at the park! Even though we didn't get up early enough for the early entry, we did all of fantasyland and more in 2 hours. It was overcast so not so hot. I did stop and get my birthday sticker. Later on one of the Nemo castmembers stopped me, told me he hated those stickers and pulled out a birthday button. I was leaning over the railing at the exit to Autopia taking pix of my kids driving and off my button went down into the bushes. My DIL in one of the cars told the worker, she called someone and some guy went digging through the bushes for me. Too nice! We were spoiled Sunday as we went on all fantasyland including Casey's train, the Story Book Canal, Dumbo (those are ones that usually have a long line so we usually skip), along with all the other fantasyland rides, all the mountains, jungle cruise, POC, Haunted Mansion. Saw Fantasmic, fireworks and then the kids saw that Nemo was 45 minutes so in-line they got. We were happy campers that day and thought it would be like that the next two days. (how wrong we were!). We ate at the Rocket Port (is that the name?) pizza and I think the Hungry Bear. (about $11 each). Oh wait, it's getting cooler, I need some coffee........uh oh, they have mocha for just $1 more. Somewhere in here I had the first of two Dole Whips. Budget slowly going down hill. We closed the park down and headed back to the motel.
Monday-plan was to get up early, go to DL then head over to DCA. Well, it appears I'm not the only one needing a little more sleep. We made it to DCA at opening, rode CA Soarin (gotta love that ride), pretty much they did everything in there. Got my free bag of tortillas for my birthday. I did mosey back over to the motel for 2 hours as I was wiped out from the day before and not really into the rides on the wharf area. I know we ate at the Pilot's grill for lunch, got the hamburger and must have ate there for dinner as I got the ribs also. DIL and GS had gone back to the motel. My sister, 2 neices, one of their husbands (the other neice's husband just passed away from cancer 3 weeks earlier so this was a getaway for neice's 5 year old daughter who had never been to DL) and 4 little kiddos were checking in for their 4 day stay. They all went swimming then met up for the Electrical Light Parade. Not bragging here (okay, maybe a little) but my grandson can be so cute. He's out there dancing away in front of everyone waiting for the parade to start, people were clapping. He's a little ham. Over to DL and closed the place down again. Ooops, more mocha and don't those huge $4 chocolate peanut butter cups look good? Budget going further down south. Lots more people today than Sunday and a lot hotter.
Tuesday-our last day and even though we'd ridden most everything, you feel the need to do everything again cause it's your last day. After Toontown, we decided we'd do things we normally never do.......Columbia ship around the island, the train, monorail......It was swamped today and hot. We ate at the Mexican place (can't remember the name). I did see a budget tip there but not something for me: A very large group with those flags sat down in groups of 4-5 with one turkey leg per group, got a fork and knife, pulled out hot dog buns out of their bags, sliced the turkey off the bone and made sandwiches with the buns. $7 for 4-5 people. Just not for us. We all don't like the same type of food, can't get all of us to agree so seperate ordering is for our family.
Dingy time for me here. Dinner time, DS/DIL/GS were meeting uncle #2 at Rainforest Cafe so DD wanted a Pirate pin she saw at DTD so we all rode the monorail over. I was tired of burgers so told my kiddos we could go find somehwere off property to eat. Big mistake. I know better to find somewhere cheap on the DLH side but I wasn't going to admit I was wrong. Off we hike down to Katella. Kids were not happy after walking around the parks for 3 days, it was getting cold and they were hungry. We ended up at Tiffys which wasn't any cheaper than the parks. The hike definitely wasn't my brightest idea but I wasn't going to admit that to my kids.
Later GS and I were by the smokers area (Small World one) and got to see Tinkerbell fly. He enjoyed that. Ran into the other relatives around 11 pm and everyone rode everything in FL one more time. GS loved the teacups so I think we hit that 20 times over the 3 days. Over 40 years, this was the first time I rode Dumbo and it was with my gs. Uh oh, more mocha and chocolate on the way out.
Wednesday-Check out day. No one was moving. We barely made breakfast at 9:25 as they close at 9:30. I think we finally checked out around 11. DIL, DS and GS went straight home. DD, DS2 and myself drove around Hollywood a little, found Melrose, saw Pinkys with the huge line, kids were getting ansy so got on the 605 (I think), found signs that said Sacramento and made it home around 7:30. Not too bad as we were leaving the Magic Mountain area around 2:30. The first thing we noticed was DANG.......no newspapers or news for 4 days and wa la........saw our first gas station and gas had gone down 30 cents a gallon!!! Whoo Hoo Flip side to that, heard that as of this Monday, my pay may be cut to the federal minimum wage 2/3 paycut
So what does one do??? Start adding up in your head how to save for the trip next year!!!! It's so amazing how in just 6 hours you can be transplanted to such a different world where all the worries are gone and you can just relax and enjoy. The twinkling white lights, riding the matterhorn at night just can't be beat anywhere else.I hope all of you in the planning stages have a wonderful, relaxing trip.
