Squirrels, Ducks and Coconut Butts!!! A Wish Trip Report *LATEST UPDATE 05/2011**

[yinyanggirls]

Our second to last day we woke up at our lovely hotel in Historic Savannah, enjoyed one last southern breakfast buffet and decided that there were just a few more things that HAD to be done before we left. Heather felt like we hadn't seen enough of the town so she opted for a horse drawn trolley tour of the historic area. She enjoyed it but took NO pics (how am I friends with this girl???). Tim had seen an ad for a pirate themed restaurant that he thought Tessa would love so off he and she went to that. (The report after was that he got to the lobby, saw that it appeared to be an expensive lunch with a bunch of pirate decor thrown around so they skipped it). They ended up walking along the riverfront, as they had done pretty much every morning in Savannah. A "street vendor" (aka homeless person) gave Tessa a couple of handmade roses made of the same sweetgrass as her basket from the plantation. I'm sure the man expected some money from husband but he got the wrong parent that day. He said the guy just came up and gave it to her. His choice. I know I would have felt obligated to give him some cash. Well, they are cute little souvenirs just the same.
Phoebe had her late morning nap while I packed up our family's stuff. Once we were ready to check out and get on the road I had MY last minute list of "must do's" which we tried to see briefly. Yeah right!

First we took our time driving around many of the squares, until we reached the block of the Beach Institute.

I liked seeing little signs of the past lingering in unexpected places.

The Beach Institute. I was trying to hurry, so I couldn't cross the street and get the whole building in the shot.

It was built in 1867 by the Freedman's Bureau to provide an education for the neighborhood's black children. It closed in 1919 when the first public school for black children lowered their enrollment. The doors were locked but the hours said it was open so we knocked. A woman came and opened it up for us and ended up giving us a private tour. It was neat to be able to ask all of our questions on the spot. We all wandered through the art exhibits they had on several floors of the building and then got to hang out in one of the classrooms for a few minutes.

A local artist had written a powerful poem on the chalkboard.

We thanked the lady for showing us around and I dropped some bills in the donation box. After loading back into the van I asked Tim and Heather if we could see one more place on our way out. The Bonaventure Cemetery has many old tombs and monuments. It became particularly popular by the book and movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I just wanted to see old pretty stuff. The cemetary was amazing and everyone drove around except for me. I had to get out to be able to read the names and dates on the headstones and monuments. There were some locally famous and recognizable names. Some children, some very very old ones. All frozen in time here. I grew up touring graveyards with my mother who was (and on occasion is enticed to become again) obsessed with geneology. I didn't feel out of place at all. This was the first time I tried to photograph one though, for any purpose other than fact-finding. It was more challenging than I would have thought, to capture the beauty of each monument to a life lived. Trust me, it was really beautiful!

The family was very patient with me and the kids watched a movie and had snacks while they waited. As I was finishing up my explorations (you could be there all day and not see everything) Tessa decided she had to go potty. We found a building near the entrance that appeared to have a public restroom. We went up and tried the door. Oops! There was someone in it. We waited. And waited. And waited. Poor girl was really being patient. I debated using a port-a-potty I saw a little ways away. The idea of helping her go in one of those grossed me out so we waited a little more. Finally a very large, disheveled sweaty man came out and saw us. He claimed to have been cleaning it and confused me with some story about a woman who used it and then told him it was trashed. He had no cleaning supplies, nor were there any in the bathroom. He was trying to sway me away from using it, but I figured we had already been waiting a while, and I didn't know if Tessa could wait any longer. I told him we would just be quick and not touch anything. Oh my. I don't even want to go into detail but let's just say that I made a BIG mistake. I don't know for sure that it was this man, but someone made a nasty mess in there. I tried to go as fast as possible and get out! When we got back to the car I got out the sanitizer and gave Tessa and myself a bath!

It was now afternoon and on our way to finding the freeway we got slowed down by a little bit of traffic. I noticed a Walgreens and remembered one more thing I had wanted to do. Tim could tell I was afraid to ask, so he just turned in. I ran in to the store to see if they had some of my favorite hair products. Out here in AZ we don't get good choices of black hair products because the population is fairly low. Whenever I order product online (and pay way high shipping!) I get jealous of east coasters who can get this stuff at their local drug store. I didn't find my first choice items, but there were a few that I would use and one new one to try. Back in the van, on the freeway, and what now? Stop and go traffic. After a few minutes we see an accident being cleared away. Phew! It opened up and we were moving quickly toward Orlando once again. I had reserved a Best Western near Universal Studios in case we wanted to hang out at the CityWalk or eat at a restaurant there. The hotel was unimpressive, but the room was big and it was close to Universal.

We unloaded, got the girls to bed and Heather and I got ready to go out. Tim was a little pouty because he did not believe that I would be up early enough to have time with him in the morning (as a trade off for girls night tonight). He ordered Dominoe's and watched tv in the room. Heather and I headed off to find the outlet mall that was nearby. I had seen it on our way to the hotel and I knew it was close. We drove on every toll road in the area, and feared that we would run out of change soon. I had hoped to hit the Disney store for a few last minute souvenirs but once you are on the wrong toll road it's miles and miles before you can get off and turn around. AND we had the GPS. Grrrrr. We finally got there after they had closed so we made one more U-turn and headed back toward Universal.

Thankfully the CityWalk was easy enough to find. We wanted to eat first and we were told at Margaritaville that Bob Marley's served dinner late. We walked over there and were told, nope, no more dinner there. Walked past a few more places that all looked done with dinner so we went back to Margaritaville and had a liquid dinner instead. They had a decent cover band, alternating with DJ music, so we enjoyed hanging out there. The lead singer was a dork but it was entertaining.

We wandered around, window shopped, people watched and chatted with a security guard who wouldn't let us leave until Heather finished her drink in a souvenir cup. The giant color spotlights made us look like grapes.

We got home fairly early (like midnight?) and gobbled up the last couple slices of Tim's pizza. Auntie Heather had the privilege of sharing a bed with Tessa one more time, while Phoebe spent the first half of the night in the sofa bed, until she woke up scared and we moved her into Tim's and my bed. I set an alarm and got up nice and early despite Tim's fears!

 

[dawnbu40]

Glad to see you back!

Once again, your pictures are just beautiful! We've never visited the Southern States and your pictures definitely makes me want to go

 

[fulseasmama]

First off, I am sorry about the loss of your furry friend. Animals make their homes in your heart and your family and it is never easy to lose them.

I was happy to read your latest TR installment. I am just loving reading about your trip. How nice you had a girls night out with your friend.

 

[that's nice]

You've been busy with photographing wedding huh? Look at you! You go GIRL!

More great shots of Savannah.

Don't you hate GPSs sometimes? They are great and horrible at the same time. Sorry you missed the Disney store and dinner. Although City Walk looked like it was pretty busy. You even got to see a dorky cover band singer!

I can't believe your trip is coming to an end.

 

[yinyanggirls]

Glad to see you back!

Once again, your pictures are just beautiful! We've never visited the Southern States and your pictures definitely makes me want to go

I'm so glad we decided to drive up there. It was such a unique area, a change of pace after the parks and even the kids have some long lasting memories.

First off, I am sorry about the loss of your furry friend. Animals make their homes in your heart and your family and it is never easy to lose them.

I was happy to read your latest TR installment. I am just loving reading about your trip. How nice you had a girls night out with your friend.

It worked out pretty well to have the third adult along!

You've been busy with photographing wedding huh? Look at you! You go GIRL!

More great shots of Savannah.
Thanks! I think I liked Charleston better, but they were both very beautiful little cities.

Don't you hate GPSs sometimes? They are great and horrible at the same time. Sorry you missed the Disney store and dinner. Although City Walk looked like it was pretty busy. You even got to see a dorky cover band singer!

I can't believe your trip is coming to an end.

Almost too busy...I'm having to give up my play time on the computer.
Yeah for a Thurs night there was a decent crowd at the Citywalk.

 

[All7OfUs]

As usual, such beautiful pictures!! Thanks for such a lovely tour of the deep south! Love it!

 

[cantwaittoseemickey]

Thank you for taking us along on your journey. Your pictures are amazing and capture so much beauty. Glad you and Heather got some "me" time and enjoyed yourselfs!!

 

[eyor44]

sorry about Dallas

 

[yinyanggirls]

As usual, such beautiful pictures!! Thanks for such a lovely tour of the deep south! Love it!

Thanks! I love taking them.

Thank you for taking us along on your journey. Your pictures are amazing and capture so much beauty. Glad you and Heather got some "me" time and enjoyed yourselfs!!

It was fun. If we lived in the area we'd go down there all the time.

sorry about Dallas

Thank you.

 

[yinyanggirls]

On our last day in Florida we had just a few hours before we needed to head to the airport. We didn't have time to use all of our free tickets during week one and I have to admit that I didn't even consider it to be a shady or dishonest thing to use our last tickets (to Universal) the following week. We were on the same trip and not that much time had expired. I read in another wish report that someone was told very specifically not to use the tickets after the dates of their "official" trip were up. So I apologize now to Universal, GKTW and other wish trippers, as it didn't even cross my mind and if we were told I obviously didn't pay attention. Oops.

So I set my alarm for early that morning, knowing it would take me the longest to get ready. Tim was able to keep Phoebe asleep a little while longer but Tessa was up and whispering and excited for another day full of adventure. Once we were all finally dressed and ready to go, we wished Heather (still in bed and trying desperately to sleep in) happy slumbers and off we went. We stopped in the lobby for a quick breakfast (included in the price of the room) and it was easy not to linger, because honestly nothing in that dining room was very good.

We drove the very short drive over to Universal, parked in the handicapped lot and walked the long walk to the parks. It's a fun walk though, through the Citywalk restaurants and stores. We were excited that we were actually at a park early for once! We veered right and heard "rope drop" happening over a loud speaker. Darn! We missed it. I was still impressed that we were even that close! We got to the ticket booths for Universal Studios and found that we really didn't miss anything because only the front portion of the park was open (stores, restrooms strollers, etc). We got a comp stroller for Tessa and then had a "photopass" photographer (no idea what they call them at US) snap our pic by the entrance.

I'm too unorganized to be able to find the copy we got to take home (for free as a perk of being with GKTW), but it had the special effects (like Disney does) where they added a couple of characters into the shot where our hands are out. You get the idea though.

As we started walking deeper into the park we saw the sign for the kids area (name escapes me - oh how the details fade after 6 months!) but there was an employee standing gaurd not allowing people to go that way. He said it was not open until (insert time) which was after we needed to leave. Hmmm. Weird that they open different parts of the park at different times. We moved on, as we had no time to waste. At one point we looked around and realized we were the first ones to be walking down one "street". We asked a couple right behind us to snap a shot of the emptiness before the high school band that was fast approaching ruined our view. I try to "suck it up" when it comes to pictures of myself (yes, pun intended), but I just couldn't stand this one of me. Thankfully I could crop myself right out.

Soon we found the Simpsons ride and decided to give it a try. We asked the line attendant if this was the wheelchair line (wondering if our GKTW button would get us in faster or anything) and he simply said yes. Thankfully it was a short line anyway so no big deal. It was an interesting ride, the procedure and mechanics of it. The "ride" part (you watch a 3d movie from a flying car that doesn't really fly) was thrilling for the kids and made me just a wee bit motion sick as I focused on Phoebe the entire time making sure she wasn't terrified. I couldn't imagine how a 3d movie looked to a person with multiple vision issues. Tessa loved the ride and talked about it for months after. Her favorite part was being sucked like a binkie into Maggie's mouth and then misted with baby powder scented water as we were "spit out". Tessa has never seen the Simpsons before, so knowledge of the show is not necessary to enjoy that ride. We gave it 4 thumbs up.

Next up was Men In Black. Very similar to Buzz Lightyear, where we were sitting in a moving car, two at a time, and went on track through scenes where we got to shoot lasers at aliens. Surprisingly Phoebe seemed to really enjoy it and we asked if we could go twice. The exit employee showed us a shortcut to get back to the front of the line and we went again. Another 4 thumbs up!

As we continued walking around the park we passed areas that were supposed to look like LA and New York, but I bet they have never been this empty! It was cool to have an empty park for the first time on our trip.

The weird part was that even the kiosks and food stands were still closed. We had to have been there an hour or so. Very weird. We decided that Shrek would be a fun one for the kids so we headed that direction. There was a long line but the employee saw us checking it out and told us to stand by. It is a theatre, so we probably would have made it to the next "show" anyway, but it was nice not to have to wait in the line. As soon as the next show was ready to fill in, he let us go in first. Phoebe was bored with the pre-show and the movie (another 4d) was not really her thing either. You just never know. Tessa enjoyed it, but not as much as the others we had just done. As we walked out of the theatre I saw Shrek and Donkey greeting guests across the street. The line was short so I made a beeline to it with the kids. Tim went to get our stroller and by the time he got back a minute later, the handler had already seen us and told us to go next. Shrek was nice to Phoebe and let her clap his giant hands as long as she wanted to. Donkey was funny and joked around and called us the "pink ladies". Tim snapped the pic of the three of us.

We were out of time, but I was really happy that we had squeezed in that last park. The two rides were favorites for us, and hey, you can't beat free tickets! We returned the stroller, picked up our free print and headed back through the Citywalk to our van. We called Heather to tell her we were on our way. She was ready to go and we loaded her up and headed to the airport. She managed to get a flight that left very close to ours so none of us would have to sit around the airport alone. The line to check in at SWA was pretty long, but moved along fast enough that we had time to shop at the airport Disney store for our final souvenirs. I let Tessa pick out one toy/item and she chose a Mulan "Polly Pocket" set. I was surprised that she chose it, as Mulan was never a top fave for her but I guess that meeting at Epcot left an impression. I chose silver Tinkerbell and castle charms for my girls and my niece. Then Tessa saw a rice crispie treat at the counter and begged for it and I gave in. Disney must know that if you are leaving Orlando you are feeling pretty nostalgic about it and are willing to spend money on just one more memory to take home. Finally, we said goodbye to Auntie Heather and split up to our different sections of the airport. After we were through security we had just enough time for lunch. Tessa was being silly while we got our food.

We ate it at the gate to make sure we were visible and ready to board. I thought it was funny to see all the stuff we managed to squeeze onto the back of Phoebe's chair.

The flight home. I think I tried to erase it from my memory because I was about to say it was uneventful. Then I remembered. On the first leg back through Chicago (why oh why did you do that to us???) I sat next to a nice lady and had a good conversation while Tessa played with Mulan. We got the front row but it was still a bit uncomfortable though, because this nice lady was on the larger side and I had to be careful how I sat so as not to rub body parts with her or bump her. I was kinda squished and hot and I guess I got sweaty because when we stood up to de-plane Tessa announced that I smelled stinky. Don't you love the honesty of children? On the second leg from Chicago to Tucson we boarded first and got the front row again thankfully, but as the other passengers boarded they all skipped our row because they were usually in a group. Finally the plane was almost full and a big group of guys boarded, all of them pretty huge, all of them rowdy and loud. They were going to Vegas for a fight. Great. Because they boarded so late they were scattered all over the plane, and you guessed it. One of them sat next to me. Another long flight of being squished and worrying about not touching my fellow passenger. He was nice enough but it took a little effort not to look shocked or uncool as he spoke of his "baby mamas" and such. I don't think he saw Tim for a while across the row and probably figured me sitting with cute little Tessa, I must be one of those "baby mamas" he was so used to. Whatever. Tim got lucky on both flights and had petite little ladies sitting next to him. No fair! As the flight was droning on and I figured we MUST be getting close now, there was a little bit of drama going on in the back of the plane. Apparently a man had collapsed, lost consciousness, and they were looking for any doctors or nurses on the plane. It was actually kind of humorous to watch Tim's seat mate squirm, as she had earlier told him how she was an ICU nurse and was asking questions about Phoebe. Over the course of the flight she had consumed many drinks and at the point of the medical emergency was in no shape to be attending to a patient. She finally piped up to our flight attendant but they informed her they already had someone back there. Phew! After a few minutes the captain came on to the intercom and announced that we would be stopping in Albuquerque to de-board the man who collapsed. I felt for the guy, but C'mon! This was proving to be an even longer day than our arrival. Ugh. We let the guy off and he is met by lights and sirens. He walked off on his own two legs apologizing to everyone along the way. Poor guy. I called our MAW coordinator to let her know about the delay because I had packed our travel info with the name of our transportation company. Smart! She said she'd figure it out and let them know. We were on the ground for about an hour when we finally got back on our way. The pilot came on again and offered everyone a round of drinks on him. It softened the blow, but I'm pretty sure there were a lot of people on that plane who did not need another drink!

Finally we landed and were met by our limo driver who was very nice and excited for us about the trip. He helped gather our luggage and load it up. On the drive home Tim and Tessa had fun playing in the limo.

In this one you can see a shadow of Tim's hand because I played with the exposure.

But it didn't take long before everyone but me conked out for real. Exhausted but happy from our adventures.

 

[All7OfUs]

I've been on a plane with a med. emergency too; scary for sure, and you sure feel for that person! It must be a completely helpless feeling to know you are so far away from medical help.

 

[that's nice]

WOW what a fiasco! I am assuming you flew on Southwest? (I didn't go back to check) I hope that we have 3 seats on a side for our flight. I don't want to be cramped in my seat...

Your time at US has got me worried. What time did you head over to MCO? I wonder if it is even worth trying to hit US on the day we leave. We might be better off hanging at GKTW and taking our time to get back to the airport.

I won't tell anyone that you used your US tix a week later.

The picture of Tessa, Phoebe, and you with Donkey and Shrek is cute!! I have read that the Simpsons ride is a good one.

I think after that day of traveling, I'd be passed out on the limo ride home too.




Sorry my comments are all over the place.

 

[yinyanggirls]

I've been on a plane with a med. emergency too; scary for sure, and you sure feel for that person! It must be a completely helpless feeling to know you are so far away from medical help.

I would be horrified if it were me. I wasn't mad at the guy or anything. Just SOOOOO tired.

WOW what a fiasco! I am assuming you flew on Southwest? (I didn't go back to check) I hope that we have 3 seats on a side for our flight. I don't want to be cramped in my seat...

Yes we were on SWA. All of our planes had 3 seat per side, so you guys will be lucky. With our family of four we decided the best way to tackle it was one parent and one kid on each side. If we got lucky we would have had no one sitting in the third seat, but all of the flights were full, so no such luck.

 

[blessedmom4]

Melissa,

As always I am late to read your wonderful adventures; however, I LOVED your last day of adventures at US! I am confused/surprised we aren't supposed to use the tickets past our "official" MAW trip, WHY, I wonder? They are a gift to the Wish family, aren't they?

THANK YOU for sharing your wonderful, beautiful family with us. I can't believe that 6 months have already passed, I am sure you can't either!

I finally started Lisa's MAW PTR...now I just hope we get to go as planned.

Thank you for sharing your incredible trip and memories with us all, I have loved it.

Take care of yourself and your pretty princesses!

Blessings,
Judy

 

[cantwaittoseemickey]

What a flight home! You guys had a rough one. I love the Universal pictures. You timed the one picture great with the roller coaster coming I can't believe how empty the park was.

That limo ride looks familiar So inviting after such a long day!

 

[yinyanggirls]

Well, I had to request my TR get re-opened so after a little delay I do have a couple of final posts to share. Hey, I got all way through a TWO WEEK trip report, and it only took me six months!





We were traveling to CA in Sept '10 for a family wedding and decided that since Phoebe's bday is in Sept it was the perfect time to use our 3 Give-a-Day vouchers. It was our family of four, my parents and Tim's sister and her daughter. Someone gave my dad a paid ticket when we were at the counter so he only had to buy one ticket, we only had to buy Tessa's and my SIL had passes.

As soon as we were inside, I wanted to see if we could take a peek at the Wish lounge here and the person attending to it was very welcoming. Of course, there were no wish families in there at the moment. My SIL is a pretty big Disney fan so I thought she'd be impressed to see a place that the vast majority of Disney visitors don't get to see. Neither she or Tim acted like they wanted to go in, barely sticking there heads in to see it. I guess they were just anxious to get moving into the rest of the park. My parents and I took a few pics of Phoebe in this Wish Lounge.

It was definitely different, a bit smaller than WDW, but still luxurious and comfy. They also had a really neat collage on one wall, which was the genie picture, made out of tons of tiny photos of wish kids. So cool!

We got in line for the fairies and thought it was interesting that in CA their meeting spot is outdoors. They have flowers and knick knacks that are larger than the average human to make you feel very small. (Notice that we had the opportunity to wear a couple more of our Big Give outfits on this trip. We actually had too many to wear on the Wish Trip thanks to the awesome DISers who made them!!!)

When we were walking past the the Matterhorn we couldn't resist because the line was almost non existent. Poor Phoebe's eyes almost popped out of her head! Tessa however, asked to go again.

We hit up Small World and a few other rides. We originally asked them for the wheelchair boat, having used that one in WDW, but this one is weird. It has the passenger in the wheelchair sitting by themselves. As soon as we saw it we apologized and told them that wasn't going to work. The person in the wheelchair behind us was happy.

Eventually we headed over to New Orleans because I had made a special reservation at Blue Bayou for lunch. I've been to Disneyland countless times in my life, growing up in Orange County, but had never set foot inside the restaurant. This is the one that you ride past on the boat during the Pirates of the Caribbean. We couldn't get a waterside table but it was still so pretty inside. Tessa and her cousin were so antsy and Phoebe fell asleep, as usual, so as far as meals go it was pretty typical. The food was good, if a bit pricey, and they brought out a little sundae for Phoebe's bday. They don't sing though, because of the ride.

On to more rides...the Haunted Mansion was closed in prep for Halloween, but I took a pic because I'm still a bit amazed that the two parks have such different houses.

We found Tiana near the riverboat and after a short performance we were thankfully toward the front of the line to meet her. Tessa was entranced and Tiana gave them Mardi gras beads.

We met Woody and Jessie randomly walking around and they were very sweet to spend a few extra moments with Phoebe. Her cousin was thrilled that we caught their eye too.

Tea party seemed to be the fave ride again, along with Dumbo and Small World of course. (Note Phoebe required a change of clothes. Why can't just one day at Disney be uneventful in the childcare dept?)

We met the princesses, but I have to say after meeting them at WDW this was much less exciting. Maybe it was me, but these princesses seemed to be less "in character". Maybe it was just the line.

I had to copy this from the photopass shot, because it was just too funny.

After dinner we separated from Tim, SIL and the little kids who wanted to hit a few more rides as quickly as possible. We heard the parade coming and found a spot in the wheelchair section. It became packed very quickly and after we danced in the street we were too far from the wheel chair. Phoebe's legs were giving out but had we sat down we would have been trampled. Eventually I had to put her on my shoulders until the parade ended and some of the people cleared out. Phoebe loved it and having a front row seat was great, even if exhausting for mom!

We looked around for a final ride before the park closed and Buzz was close and the line was short. Phoebe was scared at first but by the end of the ride she seemed to enjoy it so I suggested we go again. The cast members let us go through the ride to save the wheelchair hassle and we ended up squeezing in three rides total. Phoebe loved it! Even my parents seemed to be having fun. We made our way to the front of the castle and met up with Tim and the others. I corraled a passerby into snapping a group photo of us. I have to laugh because I had no idea that either of the kids were making these faces. Tessa proudly told me after we took it that she made a mean face. Ah, kids. It was a great day, and such a fun reminder of the amazing trip we had in April. It wasn't the same, and no trip in the future will be, but so fun to relive some memories here and there.

 

[Christy729]

Thanks for the update! I'm glad you did it! I just love the photos of the girls on the teacups, priceless!

I have read EVERY.SINGLE.POST. from the trip and pre-trip. I'm kind of sad to see it come to an end.

I have seen you mention Facebook and I would love to "friend" you! If that's okay, would you message me your connection?

Great Trip Report!

 

[blessedmom4]

How EXCITED I am to log on and see you are updating again! I LOVED reading along and have missed your wonderful stories and pictures. I can't wait to read more!

 

[yinyanggirls]

Well, let's see if I can drag this report just a tiny bit longer. I read that they are adding a Legoland Florida so I thought some info would helpful even though we visited CA.

When we left GKTW they gave Phoebe a "World Passport" to visit pretty much every amusement park in the world, other than the ones we had just visited, for free with the same family members who were on the original wish trip. We had wanted to visit some parks last Sept. when we went to Disneyland, but with the family wedding and all the relatives visiting there just wasn't enough time. Phoebe had a week off of school in Feb. and Tessa had two days off (for "Rodeo Days" as they call it in Tucson, rather than "President's Day") so we decided to take advantage of no one else having those days off and go to San Diego.

We left Weds. afternoon and got to our hotel after bedtime. The girls were pretty hyper when we arrived because of course, they had been asleep for the last couple hours of our 6 hr drive to SD. Oh, and the hotel. Sigh, The hotel. I decided to try something new, after recommendations from a few friends. I "named" my price of $65/nt for a 4 star hotel thinking certainly it would get rejected and I would either lower it to a 3 star or raise my bid. It was accepted. I was shocked at first. Then I opened my confirmation email which gave the website to the hotel that accepted our price. http://www.westgatehotel.com/ Go ahead. I dare you to click on it. But when you do, remember that my children usually have leaky diapers or car sickness on vacations and my husband's idea of dressing up is wearing one of the nicer Harley Tshirts. Okay, now go click.


That was my reaction when I saw the first photo on the website. Oh, no. This is a serious mistake. Why was I so greedy that I thought I needed to try for a 4 star? A 3 star sounded SO much better all of a sudden. Then I started reading the details of the hotel and I got annoyed enough with the whole process that I wasn't so scared for them anymore.

They don't have a pool. WHAT??? They don't have a pool. What hotel, especially a 4 star, doesn't have a pool? Okay, fine, maybe Tessa won't flip out over that. Maybe. It doesn't have a breakfast included because it has a 4 star restaurant inside. Yeah, like we're going to go sit in a 4 star restaurant for breakfast. HA! So add the cost and hassle of buying breakfast somewhere every morning. Then I read (not on the website, mind you, but on a review site) that the only parking available is $19/nt valet. We were warned that every lot downtown was about the same price and street parking was non existent. So add breakfast and parking to our room fee and we're at around 100/nt anyway. Grrrr. I'm not sure I'll try the name my price again. Maybe I'll offer 20 for a 3 star. The best part is that on Priceline they only ask you how many adults are staying. Nothing about kids. So I assume (the dangerous word right there!) that all rooms booked by them will have the option of a king or two doubles/queens. When I called the hotel before we left to verify things I requested a double and was informed that cost 20 more per night. I tried to be very polite when I expressed my displeasure at this announcement. I was transfered to a manager who proceeded to tell me that I was SOL because they were close to filling up that night and she was confident that someone would be willing to pay that fee, therefore she would not waive it for me. I said "Fine. I'll pack an air mattress". And I did.

So Weds night we arrive, I check in, Tessa behaves surprisingly well in the lobby and asks very politely for an apple from the bowl on the counter. Tim is driving around the block hoping to get lucky. Nope. So 19 it is. Locate our room and find that the room, while nice, is not nearly as fancy as the lobby and conference rooms on the website, and I breathe a sigh of relief. I already knew the room was big enough for the air mattress from the photos online, and we set that up and got Phoebe to bed. We explored the hotel a bit so that Tessa would get tired again, then we called it a night. The first night we put Tessa in the king with us but the other nights she got the boot.

Tessa enjoying our hotel room set up.

I had contacted Phoebe's birthmother earlier in the week and asked if she wanted to get together. We had a semi-open relationship with her for several years after Phoebe was born, exchanging photos and letters. We "reunited" two years ago and spent a day together, so I wanted to see if she was up for it again. She is married now and has 4 boys or her own! She said she wanted to but was waiting on her husband's work to know for sure, so I decided to plan Legoland as our first day. Wanted to make sure we had a whole day for that and not on the weekend.

We arrived at Legoland one hour after opening. I was so excited when I looked at the car clock and thought we were there at opening! Then Tim dashed my fantasies by telling me he had changed to CA time last night. It's about 30-40 mins from downtown SD so we did alright considering we also had to locate a McD's before getting on the freeway.

I waited at the customer service counter to show them the passport and after a brief wait we were in the park. I remembered vaguely from my previous visit with my niece and nephew that to the left was the stuff geared to younger kids and to the right was the older kid stuff so we headed right. The first ride was a boat type rocket that had a very short line but was complicated from a handicapped perspective. There was a lift that could bring you down the stairs but I told Tim it looked tightly packed away and we might be better off just holding her on the stairs. Then the ride itself has no seat, so he had the fun of holding her up while trying to steer the boat.

Phoebe seemed a bit scared but also enjoyed it. Tessa covered her ears the whole time but loved it.

Next we hit up the main roller coaster at Legoland. We went through the exit and were given a card with a time to return written on it. We also learned later that you could have Guest Services write something on the card so that you don't have to wait at all. I guess it's similar to Disney in that it all depends on who you talk to and how you explain your situation. Thankfully the day we went it was very light crowds. We went and found some little rides with no lines to fill the 30 minute wait then returned. It zig zags a lot and has some pretty steep drops. Both girls looked terrified during the ride but Tessa begged to ride it again. We told her maybe later, hoping she might forget! We went again at the end and I thought I might puke. Most of the rides were very tame and both girls (age 5 and 9) enjoyed them. I would say that much older than 10 for a typical child and you'll lose interest at Legoland. The "Indiana Jones" type ride had a laser gun to shoot but it was pretty cheesy in comparison to anything at Disney or Universal. There was another roller coaster, an entertaining fireman acrobat show, plenty of good food. By the end of the day it had gotten very cold and windy and we were killing time in the building shop where they have Legos you can play with and race. Overall, I'd say it was fun, but I'm not sure I'd pay for the whole family to go again. The ticket prices were 59 and 69 I believe. Yikes!

The park closed at 5 that day but we were ready to go. Tessa kept begging to go back during the trip, and it only would have cost us about 50 total if we did but I just didn't see the same rides being that enjoyable a second day. The guest services people told us that our tickets were no different from the others and we could add a day within the next 9 days for only 10 each, and another parking fee. Maybe I'm too cheap, but even that offer wasn't quite enough to entice me.

On the drive back to downtown, in infamous CA traffic, I was using my handy dandy new smart phone to get directions to a place that I read about for dinner. Everyone was hungry and tired and I decided to let my plans go for a more practical option...Baja Fresh across the street from our hotel. It was quick and decent and everyone was asleep by 9pm.

 

[kayrosek]

Woohoo! Your back! I'm loving hearing about more adventures with your girls. I'm really glad to hear a review of Lego Land. John and I have discussed it several times as Jonnie would probably love it. Cognitively he's probably a good age for it but you confirmed my suspicion that it would probably be pretty boring for the girls, so I'm not sure it would be worth the trip.