Originally Posted By markcanada First in a series . . . these take a while to write! As promised, so begins my trip report of our family’s first ever trip to Disneyland. Those of you who have been following my postings on the board probably know some of the background, but I’ll fill it in over again so as to paint a complete picture. Several years back, my wife and I decided that we would eventually take our kids to Disneyland or Disneyworld, and started saving up some vacation money. We were also collecting Air Miles rewards points, to help with defraying whatever costs we could. About a year ago, we decided that the following year, either in the fall or winter, we would finally take our trip – our youngest would be 5, our oldest would be in Grade 8 so missing a week of school wouldn’t be too difficult, and we hadn’t had a real family vacation in years. And so started the preliminary hours of research into when to go, which other family members would come along, how would we get there, etc. etc. We finally settled on going November 4 to 13th. Once we committed and asked others to commit, we quickly found out who was ready to go and who wasn’t. My brother-in-law and his family, after much indecision, decided they wanted to wait a few more years until their kids were older. Although we always have a great time when we go with them on vacation, this did make the planning a little easier. My wife’s parents also declined, but my mother was interested. So there would be six of us on the trip: myself (Mark – late 30s), my wife Kim (same age), my three kids whom I will call Bart (13), Lisa (8) and Maggie (5), and my mother, who I will refer to as “the little crazy Italian lady.†The most important step – how to get there. We come from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. For those of you who are geographically challenged, think of North Dakota, and then go north of that. We knew we would have to fly, and ticket prices including all taxes typically cost anywhere from $450 to $550 each (all $$ in Canadian unless otherwise indicated). However, with a combination of years of Air Miles, a new Mastercard promotion with WestJet for discounted flights, and continual waiting and waiting for WestJet to post its fall schedules, I managed to book 6 seats in February using our reward miles. I was worried that it would be difficult to get 6 reward seats on one flight, as I had heard that many airlines limit the amount of “free†seats per flight, so I made sure I booked as soon as I could, and it paid off. We saved about $2,400, only paying taxes and landing fees. Next, with hours and hours of reading the Unofficial Guide and Birnbaum’s guide, tour package brochures, scouring the internet for information, checking hotel reviews, etc. we finally decided on HoJo for our stay ($49 US a night for two connecting NDD1 rooms in Building 4, Entertainment Book rate, after exchanging emails with an extremely friendly Willie Simpson) booked on April 1 (yes, I believe in planning ahead!). Willie even knew where Winnipeg was! He apparently travels quite a bit to various tour conventions doing promotional work for the hotel. We also had enough Air Miles for our minivan rental (saved $500), our Legoland passes (saved $313), and one Universal pass. But, best of all, we were able to get five day park hoppers for all of us (once my mother kicked in some of her Air Miles) and saved another $1,100. It came down to about three weeks before we left before we had enough to get the last full ticket, but the last few miles we needed were credited to our account just in time. We had a minor setback just a few months before. The airline changed their schedule which would have had us coming back Sunday night at 11:30 p.m., instead of 8:30 as originally planned. As the kids had school the next day, this wouldn’t do. I called Air Miles and they allowed us to change our flights out and back to one day earlier (Nov. 3 to Nov. 12) without penalty, and in hindsight, this worked out even better for us. Time passed . . . hours spent at LaughingPlace (in case you hadn’t noticed) . . . hours spent running different RideMax itineraries (that program is soooooo cool), getting packing arranged. Whenever my youngest started misbehaving, I would warn her that she better behave or else we would take her grandfather’s pet, “Pearl The Dog,†to Disneyland with us instead of her. She didn’t like when I did this. Finally, the big day was nearly here. I had taken the afternoon off of work on Wednesday the 2nd, but my wife had everything nearly prepared regardless. Just finished off the packing, putting together the binder with all our ticket info, reservations, last minute RideMax itineraries with multiple variations, information sheets on driving routes, shopping, etc., and getting my cameras ready. I went and picked up my mother Wednesday night so we could all go to the airport together the next day. And so it begins . . . . 4:45 a.m. Central Standard Time (which is about 2:45 a.m. Pacific time, by the way), the alarm goes off. The kids needed a little prompting to wake up, but once this was done, there was no problem. Final packing, getting things put away in the house, and into the stretch limo at 5:45 (it would have been cruel to ask relatives to drive us at that early of an hour). I said to my wife that the kids will probably remember the limo trip more than anything else, and we could have saved thousands of dollars. Fortunately, I was wrong. 7:00 a.m. The first leg of our journey, a 2 hour flight to Calgary, Alberta (north of Montana), WestJet had all of us in one row. WestJet has inflight personal satellite TV for each seat (Air Canada doesn’t yet, by the way) and whoever invented this must have been a parent, because it sure makes the flight go faster. My middle daughter got a head start on her homework, and everyone was too excited to sleep. We get to Calgary, where we have about 3 hours before our next flight. We clear US customs (means not having to do it in LA) and get settled. The lack of sleep seemed to affect our teenage son the most, as he was more than his usual level of adolescent surliness, and of course, my mother is this doting Italian mother who kept asking him if he wanted something to eat, or something to drink, or some soup, etc, etc. Brought back pleasant memories of when I visited my Italian grandmother, and how you learnt to carry an apple around with you with one bite out of it for your entire visit, so she wouldn’t keep asking you to eat something. Amazing how smothering loving attention can be so downright irritating . . . We then take the second leg of our flight, Calgary to LAX, 3 hours and 5 minutes. It was amazing flying over the mountain ranges. I’m just amazed seeing all the airplanes from around the world at LAX (I’m an airplane freak) as we pull up to the gate at around 1:50 p.m local time. Terminal 3 is definitely showing it’s age, by the way. But the tile pattern in the tunnel to the baggage pickup looks exactly like the background in a scene from the movie “Airplane.†Coincidence? I think not! We catch the National shuttle to Aviation Boulevard. We go past the famous LAX landmark, the elevated restaurant that everyone mistakes for a control tower. Palm trees! Cool! So I go to the counter to check in, no problems. But then they tell me to just “pick a minivan from the lot, the keys are in the doors.†Pick my own? Never heard of this before. So after looking at the Chevy (ugh!) and the Chrysler (ick!), I notice a Toyota Sienna towards the back of the row. Happiness! (I drive a Previa). After long minutes trying to get a duffel bag open, we get out the booster seat, get all the luggage loaded, and off we go! South on Aviation Boulevard, we drive past an airplane museum/restaurant. Wow, is that an F4U-Corsair? We get onto Imperial Boulevard and then the 105. After a few minutes of steady driving, traffic gets heavy and we start to crawl. Doh! But then I hear a voice in my head “Use the Carpool Lane, Mark.†Thanks, Darkbeer! I make an illegal lane change across the double yellow lines (Yes, I know, stupid Canadian), and off we zoom! A minor navigational challenge, in that the distance we travel on each route is in km on my CAA guide, but our American vehicle has an odometer that counts miles (which makes sense, when you think about it), but fortunately, my wife is smarter than I am and quickly does the math in her head, and I exit the car pool lanes well in advance to make our exits onto 605, 91 and I-5. I told my kids I would give a $ to whoever saw a Disneyland sign first (I won . . . I’m starting to figure out why I get such lousy father’s day gifts). We take the exit to Harbour (oops, Canadian spelling, I mean Harbor, of course) and I am pleasantly surprised to see how nice HoJo looks as we pull up by around 3:30. Our rooms were 4209 and 4211 in Building #4, right over the hot tub. Wow, we can see monorail tracks. We see the monorail when it goes by! We hear the train bell! We see the Hollywood Hotel, Space Mountain, and the Matterhorn peak. We go over to Mimi’s for some dinner, back to the hotel where I take the kids for a swim (great pool, but a few degrees warmer wouldn’t hurt). My wife and I go for a walk to the 7-11 down by Katella, pick up a few things for breakfast, and walk back. By 9:00 local time (11:00 our time), we’re all ready for sleep. Unfortunately, there are some loud people in the hot tub and pool still making noise close to midnight, but we expect that this is just a tradeoff for a room with the great view and location. Next day will be our first day at Disneyland . . . (to be continued)
Originally Posted By Misty Ohhh - thank you - I've been waiting for these! It is always great to hear What a first time visitor to DL thinks, especially someone from another continent! You have a good way with words - what do you do for a living? I'm really looking forward to reading the rest!
Originally Posted By mickeymeg <It is always great to hear What a first time visitor to DL thinks, especially someone from another continent! > um...I am pretty sure Canada is on the same continent, North America is a pretty big place.
Originally Posted By markcanada Thanks for the encouraging feedback. Will definitely get working on the next installments. LOL re: Canada being on a different "continent". Maybe Misty thought we were Australian? No doubt just a typo. What do I do for a living? Well, by education, I have a Master's Degree in Social Work, but for the past four years I have been working in health research, statistics, and analysis in government, so I do a lot of number crunching and report writing. Admittedly, it also allows me high speed access at work, so rather than take long coffee or lunch breaks, I like to quickly scan my favourite boards during "mini-breaks" throughout the day. BTW, I really like LP because of the way unread messages are flagged, and you are taken right to where you left off in a thread to the new messages. One of the best features, IMHO.
Originally Posted By Misty Hah! That's funny - when I was typing that I was thinking you were from Australia! OF COURSE you are from Canada.....
Originally Posted By grumpster I look forward to the rest of your report. I was at HoJo's the 10th to the 13th. I met a lot of people from Canada when I was in the pool area, curious to know if one of them was you. I'm horrible with names BTW.
Originally Posted By markcanada We were in the pool/hot tub area from about 2:00 to 4:00 on the 11th, but mainly in the pool playing with the beach ball. Hard to know if we met or not . . . not everyone uses their "on-line" names when they meet.
Originally Posted By grumpster We may have met. My five year old daughter latches on to others her age and we were down there at roughly the same time, just about every day we were there. That beach ball lasted the entire time we were there, surprisingly. I'm Rob BTW.
Originally Posted By markcanada I think I remember. My five year old mostly went over to the kiddie pool, but I think I remember seeing another five year old around in the shallow end of the mail pool. I think we might have tossed the beach ball over to you when we were done with it. BTW, that beach ball was there the night of the 3rd and seemed to be there all week. Either it is one durable puppy, or the hotel replaces it when it disappears or breaks . . .
Originally Posted By Darkbeer If you guys had a great time at HoJo's, can I recommend that you place a review at TripAdvisor.com <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g29092-d75680-Reviews-Howard_Johnson_Plaza_Hotel_Anaheim-Anaheim_California.html" target="_blank">http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hot el_Review-g29092-d75680-Reviews-Howard_Johnson_Plaza_Hotel_Anaheim-Anaheim_California.html</a> I know that HoJo's would appreciate it!
Originally Posted By markcanada I submitted it a few days ago. Mostly very positive, only very slight negatives (more to come in next trip report . . .)
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 What a great report Your description of your son and mother at the airport really made me laugh
Originally Posted By markcanada By the end of the trip, I had bestowed upon her the name of "little crazy Italian lady". I think I'm out of the will.
Originally Posted By chickendumpling <<But then they tell me to just “pick a minivan from the lot, the keys are in the doors.†Pick my own? Never heard of this before. So after looking at the Chevy (ugh!) and the Chrysler (ick!)>> Hey Now! The Chrysler they offered you must not have been the cool-as-a-minivan-can-possibly-be 2005 Stow-n-Go model like I have. Still looking for your DCA report.... I bet Darkbeer is too.
