Originally Posted By Dabob2 Here, at last, is a much belated trip report for our trip to DLR, Feb. 28 - Mar. 3. Sorry for the delay – it’s a combination of major workload when I got home, coupled with inertia. I like to write a nice detailed TR since I only get to go every couple of years, so I knew it would take a while; you’re either going to feel like you were there with us at DLR, or be bored to tears. Hopefully the former. Cast of characters: Just me (Dave) and spouse Jerry. First trip since Dec. 2003. Let me preface all this by saying part of me was dreading this trip as much as most of me was looking forward to it. That’s because on our last trip in Dec. 2003 I had the first (and worst) episode in an ongoing still-mysterious health problem that continues to dog me, though less so than previously. We were in the Napa Rose and everything was fine till I started feeling vaugely bad... vaguely nauseous then starting to feel hot… then worse... then worse... then sweating… then worse… 10 minutes later I had passed out cold and a minute or two after that was looking up from the floor at a very worried Jerry and an EMT who just happened to be eating there too calling for an ambulance. Spent the night in the fabulous Anaheim Medical Center. I was fine, but it was the first episode of now nearly 2 1/2 years of some mysterious condition that no one has been able to fully put their finger on. I’ve been tested for dozens of things (including a pancreatic cancer scare - scariest two weeks of my life. Luckily that growth seems to be benign; if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be here typing this to you now – that’s how fast pancreatic cancer gets you), and the closest we’ve gotten is via a neurologist who believes that my sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are out of balance. I’m taking a med to temper the parasympathetic system (especially the vagus nerve). It has made the episodes less frequent and less severe, but hasn’t ended them. And, of course, I wish I knew the root of WHY the systems were out of balance, if indeed that’s what it is. Why this was worrisome for DLR was that one of the symptoms the episodes brings on is fatigue. And there’s kind of a chicken-and-egg relationship between the fatigue and the other symptoms. In other words, if I get the other symptoms (nausea, chest discomfort, sometimes dizziness), I will definitely have fatigue too. But if I exert myself too much it seems I am more likely to get the symptoms. I have a sedentary job , so most days I’m not doing that much physically; it’s actually on previous vacations (in ’04 and ‘05) that I’ve seemed to bring on stronger episodes by being more active, as one is on vacation. And, of course, a DLR vacation, wonderful as it is, involves a lot of walking, standing in line, etc., is normally tiring and is the kind of thing that I feared could bring stronger episodes on. Not to mention it being the first place it happened to me. So as excited as I was about getting back to the DLR for the 50th celebration, I was a bit apprehensive at the same time. Jerry and I agreed that we would ALWAYS take a break in the middle of the day, whether I felt like I needed it or not, go back to the room and take a nap, then go back to the parks later. I hoped that would do the trick. Happily, it did. I’d always been a “do the parks till you drop†kind of guy - certainly on the typical winter 10-6 hours, we’d just go from opening to closing. But I didn’t trust that I could do that this time. So for the first time we scheduled four days at DLR, with mid-day breaks. The fact that DL would be open till 8:00 instead of the usual winter 6:00 would help. In the event, when we first got to DLR, I did get fatigued way easier than I should have early on, which was worrisome... but I ended up getting stronger as the week went on, to my very pleasant surprise. And I’m happy to report: no major episodes, minor ones only (which I get at home anyway). Sorry if this is already long-winded, but it was a big part of our mindset on the trip, and such a big relief that it went off without a hitch. Anyway, we’d actually started our vacation 4 days earlier, flying from NY to Las Vegas. Won’t go into a lot of details here, except to say that my two favorite things we did there were the Cirque du Soleil show and the pinball museum, which I found out about right here on LP! (And thanks to the Vegas LP’ers who clued me in). It’s not really a museum, it’s just a storefront with row after row of pinball machines from the 50’s (maybe even earlier) to the 90’s, including some that I played in my college student center and various local arcades. Of course, I had to play those familiar machines... it was total deja vu when the Elton John machine gave that loud, oh-so-satisfying TOCK!!! when reaching a high enough score for a free game. Then I played a couple of modern machines like South Park - it’s actually hard to find pinball in NY these days, so the modern ones with all the bells and whistles were fun too. They also had some vintage non-pinball machines, like shooting games and even that creepy singing clown marionette. The only bad thing about this place was it was impossible to find, even with the address. It’s on Tropicana east of the airport, but the mini-mall it’s in doesn’t display their address prominently, and it’s tucked into a back corner with no sign (at least as of late Feb.) If you’re looking for it, it’s about 2 miles east of the airport, north side of Tropicana, in the same mini-mall as a movie theatre multi-plex. At any rate, after 4 days in Vegas, it was time to fly to DLR. We flew into Orange County Airport the morning of the 28th, which I had never flown into before. We heard reports of heavy rain in SoCal that would end in late morning, with ominous reports of more rain due Friday (our only chance to see fireworks!). And sure enough when we got to OC, there were puddles everywhere, but obviously clearing skies. We got our rental car - Jerry is 6’7â€, so we always need a full size, and I couldn’t believe what they gave us was considered full size. They assured us it was; we wouldn’t be driving a lot, so we took it and hit the road. It was pretty dang nice to get into the car and be at DLR in less than a half hour. We checked into the Grand. We first stayed here in 2001, and I considered it then a one-time splurge kind of thing - I’d never had a problem staying in one of the Harbor Blvd. places. But we liked it SO much that we stayed there again in 2003, and opted for it again this year. I justified it partly on the fact that it’s the closest, especially to DCA but even to DL - if I was feeling bad, it would be the closest to be able to go back and lie down. But truth be told I’d have opted for it anyway; we only get to DLR every couple of years, and the feeling of being at a real resort and going straight from “Disney†to “Disney†is worth it to me. Plus, the cards and (especially) the dice were good to me in Vegas, so that took a little of the sting out also. It was still before noon and we didn’t figure we’d be able to get our room yet, but being there early let us get as close to the view we wanted as we could. In both of our earlier stays here, we’d gotten the GRR view, basically looking straight east - great view of GRR, plus Soarin’, the golden gate bridge and the monorail, (now) Tower of Terror, all of HBP to the Hyperion, and even (way around to the left) into DL and Space Mountain. That’s only available in small number of rooms, but I much preferred that view to the Paradise Pier view that they initially put us in last time, which is also “Theme Park View†of course. They again had booked us into a PP view, despite my request, so I asked to be moved. They didn’t have anything in the line we wanted above the 3rd floor, so after juggling a little, our very helpful front desk guy got us into a great room on the 5th floor around the corner from where we were before, facing south. This was also a great view; again, looking straight at GRR, with views of Soarin’, the monorail, TOT, and HPB. But also off to the right, though the hotel itself was partly in the way, you could see the top parts of Screamin’, the Sun Wheel, and Maliboomer. So even though PP isn’t my favorite part of DCA, you sort of had the best of both worlds; mostly a Golden State/HPB view, but some of PP too if you wanted. And PP is pretty after dark. And TOT - which we had a great view of - looks GREAT after dark, especially from the 5th floor of the hotel. That’s all for part 1. Next: we get to DL for the first time in 27 months.
Originally Posted By nevadarebel glad to hear that you haven't had any major episodes. I remember reading your trip report when you got sick and how scary it was for you.
Originally Posted By Lisann22 Same here, glad you were feeling pretty good on this trip. Gotta love the Grand.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Thanks, guys. I wish I could get to the bottom of this dang thing (if my sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are out of balance - WHY are they out of balance??) but it was great to enjoy our DLR vacation and actually feel better as it went along. More to follow!
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 I also remember reading about your last trip. I can understand your nervousness at going back. I'm so glad to hear that you were feeling OK Sounds like you ended up with a great room
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Yeah, it really was. The view of TOT was AMAZING. Better view there than anywhere in the park (on the ground). Thanks for the nice wishes, everyone.
