- Joined
- Aug 7, 2000
- Messages
- 24,364
The Cast,
Myself, Disney Freak
DH, also a Disney Freak, but he wont admit it...he blames it on me.
Cam- 9 and not very daring
Colt- 6 and a daredevil, but a little on the short side.
Luckily both kids love all things Disney. We have all been to WDW many times, however this was only our second family trip to DL, my 3rd (all these DL trips have been in the past 6 months). And we are pretty much commandos when it comes to the Disney parks.
WEDNESDAY 2/22
I started out today getting up bright and early about 3:00AM (EST-so think midnight PST). The first thing I did after putting in my contacts was run downstairs to check our flight on line. So far we were on time, 6:40 AM. The reason for my worry was I had been tracking our flight for the past week and every day the flight got diverted and made an unplanned stop. We had heard this was to refuel because of the headwinds. It looked good, but I was still worried.
I got ready, DH got ready, we got the kids up, and I did the last minute packing up also checked our flight a few more times. By 4:00 AM my mother was at our door ready to drive us to the Logan Express Bus.
We packed up the car and left, arriving at the Logan Express Shuttle about 4:15, bought our tickets and were on the bus by 4:20. 10 minutes later our full bus was on its way to Logan Airport.
We arrive before 5:00, and again I checked our flight on the screen still on time and going to Long Beach. We had checked in on line the night before so all we had to do was drop off our bags at the desk. There was a 5 - 10 minute line for this, but before long we were eating breakfast at the little food court located in Terminal C.
After breakfast we went through security and to our gate. Things still seemed to be going well and by 6:10 we were boarding. Upon boarding DH asked the flight attendant if there was any change in our flight. She chuckled and said, we are going to try to make it today. Once the plane was fully boarded, the pilot made an announcement saying how the last week and a half they have had to stop to refuel due to FAA regulations, but today if the winds are as they are saying they are, we should make it keep your fingers crossed. That is not something a paranoid flier like myself wants to hear the pilot say before taking off keep your fingers crossed.
We tracked our flight on the tv screens on the plane (we flew Jet Blue) and watched us go north west to Canada, then south west across the US. About 4 hours into the trip, the pilot announced the wind gods were with us and we should make it to Long Beach with no stops. Lo and behold we did.
I looked at my watch as soon as we touched down and it was 10:10(PST) to the second, exactly the time we were scheduled to land.
We had never rented a car in CA before, but since we were doing some venturing out of DL on this trip we decided we should. We went with Alamo which is one of the companies located right at Long Beach airport. Our luggage came quickly, then we went to the rental car area. Before 11:00 we were on our way in our upgraded minivan.
We stopped at Target on the way to get some waters and Diet Cokes for our room and arrived at Paradise Pier Hotel before noon. We waited a couple minutes to check in, and the whole process took maybe 10-15 minutes. The kids were given goody bags with coloring pictures, balloons, etc The magic had started.
We were also told we were upgraded to a concierge room. Boy was the magic with us today!
Since it was an upgrade, they said we wouldnt get the perks of concierge (use of the lounge, turndown service, etc
) however we did have a great pool view (we had booked standard) and a DVD player in the room.
Our room wasnt ready yet so we left everything in the car and started out to Downtown Disney. We had a 1:30 PS at Naples, but it was only a little after noon. We were ready to eat so we went right there and were able to get in early (all dining reviews are here http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1047127 ).
After lunch we called to see if our room was ready now and it was so we returned to Paradise Pier to unload the car and unpack a bit. The room was just as I remembered it from my stay here last fall. Very clean, and filled with little touches to go with the beach theme of the hotel. I love the Mickey in the beach chair. With the kids eyeing the pool out the window, you know where our next stop had to be.
We went to the pool area (level 3 in the hotel) and the kids loved the water slide. They would have been happy just riding that for the next 5 days. Its nice how the slide doesnt go into the pool, but into just a bit of shallow water so that younger children and non swimmers can use it.
It was a bit too cool for me, but I did make it in the hot tub for a bit.
After our pool time we went back to our room to wash up. I got ready first and while DH and the kids washed up I ventured out for a walk. I wanted to stroll down Harbor Blvd just to check out the looks of some of the Good Neighbor hotels, where they are, things like that.
About 6:00 we met up at DTD again. On my way back I noticed a huge line going into DL park and realized CA was closing and people were probably hopping. We werent really hungry for a big dinner since we filled up at lunch (and it was already past the kids bed time by our body clocks), but we thought an ice cream at Haagen Dazs would make everyone happy. While DH and the kids were in line I popped into Marcelines Confectionery and got my "dinner there. We ate outside in DTD and then decided to call it a night.
We returned to our room and after being up for about 20 hours at this point, we crashed.
We wanted to be ready to hit the parks tomorrow!
Myself, Disney Freak
DH, also a Disney Freak, but he wont admit it...he blames it on me.
Cam- 9 and not very daring
Colt- 6 and a daredevil, but a little on the short side.
Luckily both kids love all things Disney. We have all been to WDW many times, however this was only our second family trip to DL, my 3rd (all these DL trips have been in the past 6 months). And we are pretty much commandos when it comes to the Disney parks.
WEDNESDAY 2/22
I started out today getting up bright and early about 3:00AM (EST-so think midnight PST). The first thing I did after putting in my contacts was run downstairs to check our flight on line. So far we were on time, 6:40 AM. The reason for my worry was I had been tracking our flight for the past week and every day the flight got diverted and made an unplanned stop. We had heard this was to refuel because of the headwinds. It looked good, but I was still worried.
I got ready, DH got ready, we got the kids up, and I did the last minute packing up also checked our flight a few more times. By 4:00 AM my mother was at our door ready to drive us to the Logan Express Bus.
We packed up the car and left, arriving at the Logan Express Shuttle about 4:15, bought our tickets and were on the bus by 4:20. 10 minutes later our full bus was on its way to Logan Airport.
We arrive before 5:00, and again I checked our flight on the screen still on time and going to Long Beach. We had checked in on line the night before so all we had to do was drop off our bags at the desk. There was a 5 - 10 minute line for this, but before long we were eating breakfast at the little food court located in Terminal C.
After breakfast we went through security and to our gate. Things still seemed to be going well and by 6:10 we were boarding. Upon boarding DH asked the flight attendant if there was any change in our flight. She chuckled and said, we are going to try to make it today. Once the plane was fully boarded, the pilot made an announcement saying how the last week and a half they have had to stop to refuel due to FAA regulations, but today if the winds are as they are saying they are, we should make it keep your fingers crossed. That is not something a paranoid flier like myself wants to hear the pilot say before taking off keep your fingers crossed.
We tracked our flight on the tv screens on the plane (we flew Jet Blue) and watched us go north west to Canada, then south west across the US. About 4 hours into the trip, the pilot announced the wind gods were with us and we should make it to Long Beach with no stops. Lo and behold we did.
I looked at my watch as soon as we touched down and it was 10:10(PST) to the second, exactly the time we were scheduled to land. We had never rented a car in CA before, but since we were doing some venturing out of DL on this trip we decided we should. We went with Alamo which is one of the companies located right at Long Beach airport. Our luggage came quickly, then we went to the rental car area. Before 11:00 we were on our way in our upgraded minivan.
We stopped at Target on the way to get some waters and Diet Cokes for our room and arrived at Paradise Pier Hotel before noon. We waited a couple minutes to check in, and the whole process took maybe 10-15 minutes. The kids were given goody bags with coloring pictures, balloons, etc The magic had started.
We were also told we were upgraded to a concierge room. Boy was the magic with us today!
Since it was an upgrade, they said we wouldnt get the perks of concierge (use of the lounge, turndown service, etc
) however we did have a great pool view (we had booked standard) and a DVD player in the room. Our room wasnt ready yet so we left everything in the car and started out to Downtown Disney. We had a 1:30 PS at Naples, but it was only a little after noon. We were ready to eat so we went right there and were able to get in early (all dining reviews are here http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1047127 ).
After lunch we called to see if our room was ready now and it was so we returned to Paradise Pier to unload the car and unpack a bit. The room was just as I remembered it from my stay here last fall. Very clean, and filled with little touches to go with the beach theme of the hotel. I love the Mickey in the beach chair. With the kids eyeing the pool out the window, you know where our next stop had to be.
We went to the pool area (level 3 in the hotel) and the kids loved the water slide. They would have been happy just riding that for the next 5 days. Its nice how the slide doesnt go into the pool, but into just a bit of shallow water so that younger children and non swimmers can use it.
It was a bit too cool for me, but I did make it in the hot tub for a bit.
After our pool time we went back to our room to wash up. I got ready first and while DH and the kids washed up I ventured out for a walk. I wanted to stroll down Harbor Blvd just to check out the looks of some of the Good Neighbor hotels, where they are, things like that.
About 6:00 we met up at DTD again. On my way back I noticed a huge line going into DL park and realized CA was closing and people were probably hopping. We werent really hungry for a big dinner since we filled up at lunch (and it was already past the kids bed time by our body clocks), but we thought an ice cream at Haagen Dazs would make everyone happy. While DH and the kids were in line I popped into Marcelines Confectionery and got my "dinner there.
We ate outside in DTD and then decided to call it a night. We returned to our room and after being up for about 20 hours at this point, we crashed.
We wanted to be ready to hit the parks tomorrow!
