Pre Trip Report: Are we there yet? A 5,000 Mile Road Trip from Missouri to Disneyland

[PrincessInOz]

Great score!

Those light-ups are fantastic. We bought some and gave them to the kids we were travelling with at the parks. It stopped them from asking for the Disney light-ups when we were waiting for the fireworks; and gave them something to play with when we were marking our spot.

 

[MarbleBob]

Vacation Postponed

I can't believe that I have to write this. My first real trip report... going down in flames. It's 10 days to departure, and I have to cancel/postpone the vacation. I'm still in shock/denial, and I'm totally bummed out. The bright side, is that the Disneyland tickets are purchased, so it's a question of "when/what", and not "if". We'll probably try again in October.

So, I mentioned that I love skateboarding in my introductory post. Being a kid a heart, I never really grew out of it, and it's been a lot of fun skating with Buddy over the last year or two.





Well, I broke my foot skateboarding about 2 months ago It wasn't the result of a spectacular crash or anything, just a weird fall, sliding down a ramp, where my foot was stressed a bit too much.

Originally, they said that it would take 4 to 6 weeks to heal, so I thought that I'd be all healed up in time for vacation. I had about 10 weeks to heal, so no worries, right?

Wrong!!!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately, after 6 or 7 weeks, it still hurt, so I went to an orthopedic doctor last Monday (made the appointment 1.5 weeks before that, but they couldn't get me in sooner.) Anyway, Doc said that it should have been better by then, but he couldn't tell anything from the x-rays. They sent me to get an MRI so that they could get a better look at how the foot is healing. Well, I went in for the follow up yesterday, and very bad news. The broken bones have healed, but a ligament is messed up (they couldn't see it in x-rays and it didn't really hurt early on.) I'll need surgery for it to be repaired. Even worse, it can't wait until after the vacation, because there is risk that I'd have permanent damage if I wait too long.

I guess I'm naive, but I didn't see this coming. At all. (I've done a fair amount of walking on it the last two weeks and it really doesn't hurt that bad, I figured it would be even better by vacation time. I didn't even consider that there was a ligament that was messed up.)

So, the only sensible thing to do, is to cancel the vacation and tray again after my foot heals up (at least 6 weeks after surgery.)

The bummer is that we really only have two options before the tickets expire: Christmas, and a week in October. We could still take two weeks at Christmas, but I'd be concerned about driving the northern part of the drive (and in mountains) in the winter with snow and stuff, Disneyland would be super crowded around Christmas time, and the kids really want to stay home with the family for Christmas. So, that leaves a week in October where they get a few days off. A Friday, then the following Wed-Friday. That gives us 10 consecutive days for the price of pulling them out of school for 2 days. Not a bad deal, I guess. The problem is, that it would take 6 days to drive there and back - just to have 4 days in California. Not worth it. We are going to have to fly (bummer - because 5 plane tickets won't be cheap.)

So at this point, we are looking at visiting Disneyland (and possibly nowhere else) for October 11 through the 20th. We can't afford to stay at the Disneyland Hotel for the entire stay, so we'll need to figure out if we want to stay at DLH for a few days and then move to HOJO or somewhere, or try something completely different for the entire stay. Also, we've only flown as an entire family once, so we need to figure out best ways to get a deal on 5 tickets. Decide on renting car, vs. shuttle/taxi. Do we go to one of the DL Halloween nights or not? Should we go to the beach or anything else. Etc. Back to the drawing board.

I'm really bummed out, but I also enjoy planning, so in a way, it will be fun to start over again. I can't imagine that our 2.0 version of the trip can be anywhere near as cool as the 1.0 version, but spending a week at DL is still an awesome treat and plenty to be grateful for. You gotta roll with the punches in life, right?

I'll probably start a new pre-trip report and possibly ask some questions about lodging options. And also start reading other peoples trip reports to get more ideas. You gotta love the DIS

 

[kelmac284]

Man that stinks. So sorry. Hope your foot gets better quick. I have kind of the same problem. I fell and got a 3rd degree sprain on my ankle in January meaning I tore all three of the tendons and now it is July and it STILL hurts. I can't put any weight on it as in my other foot if I am laying down etc. And most of the time when I walk it hurts but I just deal. They said it could take up to a year to fully heal and I am afraid I may have the same problem as you in that it may not be healed correctly. Good luck on your planning and you will have fun in Oct. It is SO hot in this part of the world right now that you may be glad you had to postpone LOL. We are going in Oct as well and I can't wait.

If you can afford it I would def do the halloween party. I have done it once at DW and twice at DCA so this will be our first time at DL. Again so sorry about your trip but I think you will still have fun.

Good luck!

 

[MarbleBob]

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm sorry to hear that you are having issues with your ankle too.

I agree about the Halloween event, we've been to the one in WDW twice and had a blast. We've seen pictures of the DL ride overlays and think it would be awesome to see them. Hopefully, we can make it fit into the budget. We can probably afford it without question if we skip DLH and just stay at HOJO. Decisions... Decisions...

I'm trying to look at the bright side. You are right about the heat, and also the crowds should be better too

Here's to looking forward to (hopefully) limp free walking during our October trips

 

[PrincessInOz]

MarbleBob - So sorry about the ankle. You know you've made the right decision so I wish you a very successful operation and pain free recovery.

Vacation Plan 2.0 still sound great and when you start your PTR, I hope you'll post a link here when you start it so that there is a trail of breadcrumbs for me to follow. Altternatively, keep going on this one and change the title!

I like staying at the Residence Inn Maingate when at Anaheim. It is a 7 - 8 minute walk to the Disney gates from RIM. It's the hot buffet breakfast and cook your own waffles that sucks me in every time. I also like the fact that I don't have to worry about what to do for breakfast or pay extra $ for this meal; and we're usually still full that by lunchtime, we just only want have a light meal.

For 10 days in SoCal, have you considered the SoCal City Pass? It includes tix to DL/CA (3 days), Universal (1 day) and Sea World (1 day). There is a version of this pass that includes a visit to either the San Diego Zoo or the Wildlife Park.

Anyway....get better and have fun planning for October.

 

[danacath]

MarbleBob, I'm really sorry to hear about your ligament condition, as well as the postponement of your trip. As disappointing as it is for you, it's good that you're trying to find the positives in the situation.

One plus that I was thinking about is that maybe you'll find a good hotel deal for October since your new travel dates are during the value season. (Personally, we've enjoyed staying at the Candy Cane Inn. It's within walking distance, but if you don't feel up to walking, they do offer a free shuttle.)

Another positive is that you had the foresight to get in to see the doctor BEFORE your trip. The permanent damage you might have incurred on the trip could have hindered MANY future trips and activities, instead of just this one trip being postponed. Also, it would have been a bummer to be on the trip far from home and end up in a lot of pain and misery. Not a good way to spend a vacation.

Actually, I just had knee surgery on a meniscal tear in May, and it hasn't been healing as quickly as I had hoped. I'm going back in to see the PT on Tuesday so she can assess my progress or lack thereof. This Disney trip will probably require a bit more patience on my part, since I'm typically used to touring with my family at a pretty good pace. I think I'm just going to have to slow down and be content with not doing as much as we usually do.

BTW, my youngest daughter came in to see me while I was reading your thread, so I told her about your injury, etc. She said, "Oh wow, that's too bad... So is his whole family staying home from Disneyland or just him?" I just shook my head and laughed at this prime example of a Disney junkie's line of thinking. In her defense, DD did catch herself right away and felt a bit sheepish about what she had just asked.

Both DD and I will be praying that you have a successful surgery as well as a speedy recovery. Sending some pixie dust for your October trip planning, too!

 

[MarbleBob]

Thanks danacath and PrincessInOz

I'll probably start a new and improved pre-trip report next weekend after the surgery. My surgery is a week from today. I'll probably be miserable next Friday, and then I'll be very bored the following Saturday and Sunday while I'm lying in bed recuperating. Starting a new thread then seems like a good way to pass the time

In the meantime, I had the day off for Independence Day yesterday, and spent a fair amount of time exploring options with the family.

In the original trip, we planned to stay at Disneyland Hotel for 5 nights, and do 4 days in the parks. I had my heart set on staying at DLH, and while I know that there are other very good lodging options that are significantly less expensive, I really don't want to give it up on this trip. The problem, is that the entire vacation will be in Anaheim now, and not just several days. (My son went to Disneyland with his grandparents in May and we decided to just get him an annual pass.) Even with Buddy's AP discount, 9 days at DLH is just a bit more that we are comfortable spending right now. So, we have a couple options:

1. Stay at DLH for 5 nights as planned and then move to HOJO. This gives us a taste of DLH, but still allows us to have a 9 night visit. Problems: we want to take advantage of early entry, which means that we would need to use our 4 day tickets consecutively. We would still have 3 or 4 days to do other stuff, but they would be at the beginning/end of the trip. It would be better to go a day, rest a day, go a day, go to the beach the next day, etc. Also, the discounts are better for the first part of the trip and worse at the end, so it would be cheaper to start at DLH. But, I'd rather finish on a high note, not start with it. Also, getting from one resort to the other would be a pain. We'd need to pay for a taxi cab, or drag all our stuff through downtown Disney. Not fun. Also, time spent packing up, travelling, and getting settled in at the new location is time that we could have spent having fun doing something else.
2. Stay somewhere else entirely. Back to being bummed out about having to cancel our orignal trip. I hate to think that in this trip, we'd miss out on so much other California sites, and not even get to stay at DLH. Plus, no early entry days (since Buddy's AP can't get the single early entry day that the rest of us would get, we wouldn't want to ditch him.) Not really feeling this option.
3. Reduce trip to 7 nights and stay at DLH entire visit. In this case, we'd get to spend the whole trip at DLH. we would save nearly $800 plus two days worth of food. That extra money would mean that we could still have our preference hotel and not have to feel like we need to be as conservative on meals/souvenirs. The negative, is that we'd only have a day to really explore SoCal. (Our other non-full-park day would be spent at the Halloween party in the evening. Only one SoCal day isn't that big of a deal. The kids previously didn't even want to go to the beach. Hard to believe. Who knows, we might even just spend the full free day swimming and maybe see a movie.) Also, we are going to Florida in June 2014 - they can get their beach days then (where the water will be warm enough to enjoy swimming in)

So, as of now, we are leaning towards, let's just plan on trying the big road trip with lots of sights/destinations again in 2015 and make this a pure Disney trip - 7 nights at DLH and just have fun doing Disney. Which brings us back to my original post. So much for exposing the kids to more non-Disney locations/activities. LOL

 

[PrincessInOz]

Happy Independence Day! Seems like you had a good day in discussion with the family and sorting out options. In the meantime, here's to Operation Countdown going quickly for you.

 

[tksbaskets]

Here I was all excited and smiling that your family would soon be on their epic journey to DL. Page 2 and Whammo - boy am I bummed for you. First I hope your ankle surgery is a great success. Next I hope you can find an alternate time to visit DL.

I must say your two alternatives you spoke about are my favorite times at DL. Halloween and Christmas. Christmas being my most favorite! I vote for the 7 days doing DL like mad!

Be sure to check out the Halloween and Christmas Super Threads.

Subbing in as I really enjoyed your intro and think it would be a blast to follow your adventures.

TK

 

[MarbleBob]

OK. I've started a new PTR thread for our new trip in October. If you would like to follow along, here's the link:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3142379