Ciem
08-17-2007, 11:17 PM
Cast of Characters: Workaholic Mom (I lie about my age, so anything I would write would be a lie), Teenaged Daughter (14), Teenaged Daughter’s Friend (15)
Dates: July 11-13, 2007
Hotel: Grand Californian (Theme Park View!)
Travel method: Personal car
I love reading trip reports, but I’ve never written one of my own. And this won’t be a typical trip report, since most of my time was spent in the hotel and not at the parks! For people who like way too much detail…well, then y'all are at the right place. Plus I may address some of those little questions that most trip reports don’t cover—like where you can plug in for Internet access in the hotel, and where NOT to buy sunscreen!
Raison d'etre
My teenaged daughter chose to celebrate her 14th birthday by taking a friend to Disneyland for a day. Since we live about two hours north of Los Angeles (where both my husband and I work), I decided we’d be better off spending at least a night there because I didn’t want to feel rushed or exhausted driving home (with my commute that happens plenty, but not while I’m driving with my daughter in the car!) We also decided that my husband wasn’t going to go with us. He spends several nights a week in hotel rooms, and he didn’t really want to spend his days off in one too. Plus he’s just a huge snorer, and we would have had to get a two-bedroom suite just so the rest of us could get some sleep. I researched local room options and decided that I wanted to be close to the parks so that I could let the girls walk to the parks while I worked nearby—so that meant that the best option would be a Disney property with wireless access. And once I got online to look at the properties themselves, the only one left standing was the Grand Californian. I’m not sure how we got from one night to two, but I booked two nights for the three of us—we’d arrive early on Wednesday morning and leave late on Friday night, which would give us nearly three days in the parks. Or the girls, anyway. I am one of those people who can’t stand to be away from her computer, and so I planned to work for two full days and just take Friday off to go to Disneyland. I’m not so interested in DCA—perhaps I’ve just heard too much about how there’s not much to do there. I bought three day park hoppers for both girls and a one-day, one-park ticket for me. And both girls had about a hundred dollars cash for spending money and park snacks.
On the road
We left Bakersfield about 6 am and drove an uneventful (and surprisingly uncongested) two-plus hours to Anaheim. Although I grew up in California and visited with my family a couple of times a year while growing up, I had not been back to Disneyland since about 1998, when my daughter was five. (We have photos from overlooking the construction site of what is now Disney’s California Adventure from our room at the Disneyland Pacific Hotel!) My baby has been several times with school groups, so she is familiar with DCA and Downtown Disney. Her friend grew up in Anaheim, so she considers herself a local. And both girls are completely obsessed with Pirates of the Caribbean.
I like to know exactly where I’m headed before I arrive, so I checked out all possible exit options from I-5. Interesting that you can exit the freeway from either the left or the right—I’ve never seen that before. The signs are clear enough and we were able to find the hotel easily. For excessively organized drivers: if you’re coming off of I-5 and driving south down Disneyland Drive, it will be a left turn into the resort (there’s a stoplight) and a right turn into the hotel’s long-term parking lot. Go to the resort, unload your bags, and get your parking pass first.
A lovely touch for my birthday girl: as we stopped to give our name to the gate attendant, she asked, “Where’s Teenaged Daughter?” I gestured behind me, and the attendant smiled and wished my little one (who at 14 isn’t so little anymore, I suppose) a happy birthday. The girls burst into laughter. I hadn’t mentioned to them that I had told anyone, and they were convinced that it was some sort of special Disney magic.
It was only about 8:30 am, so we pulled up under the porte-cochere and went to pick up their park hoppers so the girls could head out to the parks. A nice young CM disappeared with our luggage, and I left the girls with my briefcase in the lobby so that I could park the car—I’m a bit of a cheapskate, so valet parking seemed unnecessary. Self-parking has in-and-out privileges, and it was easy to cross Disneyland Drive from the end of the lot that is directly across from the porte-cochere. I know it’s jaywalking, and I wouldn’t do it with children. But walking all the way to the crosswalk took too long.
There was only one family ahead of us at registration, but the long counter was only staffed by one person, so it was 9:00 am before a second person came out to help us. While I waited to be helped, the girls wandered about the lobby, oohing and aahing at the vast expanse of space and bouncing up and down on the furniture. We were told that our room would be ready at 2:00 and were given a number to call and check on the room’s status. I was very impressed with the way information was organized, as they had ready answers to all my questions. Clearly, they’ve done this before! I called my birthday princess over when the CM asked about her, and he gave her a signed Mickey photo and a birthday button to wear. Again, I just shrugged. Who knew that Disney was omniscient when it came to birthdays? (Maybe the USA PATRIOT Act gives them special access to birthday details...?) In any case, go enjoy your birthday!
Vacation? Who gets vacation?
With the administrivia handled, I walked the girls through the hotel to Downtown Disney and shooed them on their way so that I could get to work. The hotel lobby has free wireless access, so with a comfy place to sit, I planned to work until my room was ready. The Hearthstone Lounge was empty, and so I went poking around for electricity—although I didn’t need it, I always prefer to plug in when I can and save my battery for when there’s no electricity available. I found a great table in the back of the Lounge that’s separated from the rest of the tables by a partial wall. With the window facing the pool and my back to the bar, it was a nice place to get some work done. Plus, with the wall, it felt like my own little office. I made a few (quiet) phone calls and settled down to work until about lunchtime, checking in via phone with the girls a couple of times to make sure they were fine (there was occasional screaming in the background, so they were clearly having a blast.) The Hearthstone staff kept me supplied with liquid refreshment, and since there was pretty much no one else around, it was a great place to work.
About a quarter to noon I got hungry, so I shut up shop (I travel with a briefcase, a laptop and cords, a wrist rest, a wireless mouse, and writing accoutrement, so packing up is a production) and went over to Whitewater Snacks to get something to eat. Based on reviews I was planning on the nachos, but once I see a burger on a menu it’s pretty hard for me to eat anything else. Indoor seating was pretty full although there were only a couple of people in line and the actual order area, where the drinks and food are, was almost completely empty. This is noteworthy only because I had a couple of dollars in my back pocket and they fell out over by the soda fountain—but a very sweet CM found them and since I was the only one around, she asked me if I’d lost some money. I clutched my back pocket—gone! So she gave them back to me. What a nice gesture! The burger was quite tasty and the fries meh, but it was pleasant to sit on the patio and read out of the blazing hot sun (internet access was iffy here, but I had a couple of books with me). When I was finished, I headed back into the Hearthstone Lounge to plug back in and work until my room was ready. (If you do this, take a coat. I was freezing after two hours of sitting there and had to step outside every half hour or so just to get the blood circulating again.)The girls wandered in just before the room was ready at 2:00, so we went upstairs to spread out. I was surprised they were ready for a break from the parks already, but I was in the middle of something and just wanted to connect to the Internet and finish my project for the day.
Best. Room. EVER.
The room was a complete surprise, as we found that we had been upgraded to a “theme park view”—and did they ever mean it! We were literally inside DCA, directly across from the giant grizzly bear rock at Grizzly River Run with Space Mountain in the distance and folks walking through DCA right below our feet. Granted, the room was a tad small and not particularly well appointed—there was no minibar with expensive goodies, although the refrigerator was free. And the toiletries were adequate, but not four-star quality. (I know, I sound high-maintenance. I’m really not, but for that price I want Dead Sea salt scrubs and Laura Mercier or Molton Brown. I’m just sayin’.)
But with that view, who cared?!
With the glass balcony doors open, we could hear laughing, talking, and music. It was amazing! Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the Internet connection to work at first, and the phone on the desk was also dead, but tech support was able to walk me through the connection process. The girls settled down to watch a movie they’d brought (there is a DVD player in the room), and I sat next to the window, enjoying the sounds of laughter and fun below while I finished up my work day over the next couple of hours.
Sunscreen Alert
The girls took off back to the parks and I went down to the pool for a late afternoon wetdown and poolside layout. It was hot enough that I decided I needed sunscreen, but I’d forgotten to bring any. And with no drugstore nearby, I went into Sephora to pick up a teeny bottle of ridiculously expensive oil-free, citrus-scented Murad stuff that I thought was only $19 until I got to the cashier and discovered it was twice that. A friendly clerk at Basin (I could have sworn it was Lush!) told me that the only other place where you can buy sunscreen at Downtown Disney is the Lego store—they have little bottles for around $6 that would have been just fine. My bad—the sunscreen I bought wasn’t waterproof, so when I got back into the pool my skin turned to a layer of white slime. At least it smelled nice, and I knew my metrosexual husband would appreciate the pricey sunscreen far more than I did.
The girls came back hungry, so we went over to Downtown Disney to get in line for a table at Rainforest Café. While we waited (about an hour) they stopped in Compass Books to browse, and I headed over to Uva for a glass of pinot noir. The girls are both manga addicts so they were quite happy with the selection there, and the hour went by fast. I wandered over to the Disneyland Hotel to look around a bit. I’ve never stayed there, but I have to say that it is in need of refurbishing, particularly after seeing the opulence of the Grand Californian. Even the Paradise Pier, which is serviceable but not very fancy, seemed to be in much better shape. I love hotels, and I stay in them whenever I get the chance to do so, but I don’t think I would want to stay at the Disneyland Hotel if the lobby is any indication of the state of the rooms.
Dinner was fine—personally, I’m not a fan of the expensive, mass-produced Rainforest Café food—but it was fun to watch the fish in the tank. By the time we were finished it was time for the fireworks, and we had an AMAZING view of them on our balcony. I couldn’t believe that we could just stand out there and watch the skies light up. I checked my e-mail, did some work-related stuff and read the news, and then passed out while listening to the girls giggle about something on the Disney Channel. With the balcony doors closed, we could still hear some noise from DCA but not a lot—and I’m a very light sleeper. I must have been exhausted.
Target to the Rescue!
I woke up at about 5 am and flipped on my computer to get some early work done (did I mention I’m a workaholic?), and I could hear trucks below me and what sounded like a thousand water hoses—with the doors open it was pretty loud, but the morning was so lovely that I wanted to feel the nice breeze and the beautiful sunshine. And my two little lazybones didn’t budge—teenagers! I poked them awake at about 7:00 and reminded them that it was Early Entry, so they needed to get moving. I went for a run (through Downtown Disney, around the resorts, and up Disneyland Drive) for about 45 minutes, and when I came back, they were stumbling out the door and off to the parks. The came back hungry a couple of hours later, so we walked over for some beignets at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen, and once I was out in the heat I decided that I needed better sunscreen or I was going to fry. I scoped out the nearest Target, located a few miles away on the corner of Harbor and Chapman. Mapping it out was a little weird, though. From the Grand Californian, both Google Maps and Mapquest send you back north to Ball Road, under the freeway, and then south down Harbor Blvd. Huh? It seemed a lot easier to just drive south on Disneyland Drive to West and then turn left onto Chapman Avenue. No traffic and no weird detours, and the Target is only a short way away on the right side of the street. I loaded up on water, oil-free WATERPROOF sunscreen (at about $8, a much better deal than the Murad!), and assorted snacks and was back at the hotel in about half an hour so I could get back to work. No, my boss isn’t reading this. I have a tendency to get very wrapped up in my work and I don’t relax easily, even if it’s at the Happiest Place on Earth.
Good cheap food alert: the tacos at Tortilla Jo’s. I was looking for quick, cheap lunchtime eats, and at 1:00 there was no one in line at the window. I got a good soft carne asada taco with guacamole for under $5, and with two tortillas it was plenty. The girls came back for a swim and a movie mid-afternoon, and wandered back and forth between the parks for awhile. With three days to see everything, they were very low-key about bouncing between the parks and the hotel and were riding everything they wanted to without running themselves ragged. I remember as a kid having to force everything into a single day because we never stayed the night, and we were always exhausted and barely functional driving the two hours home to Bakersfield. My brother and I could sleep in the car, but how my parents managed to keep driving after a draining 12 hours having “fun” at Disneyland was a completely unappreciated display of stamina and patience. So thirty years ex post facto, thanks Mom and Dad!
My New Favorite Restaurant
Anyway, the girls came back to the room full of churros and Cokes, so I decided it was time for MY kind of vacation and walked down to Napa Rose, book in hand. I wasn’t hungry really, but a glass of wine sounded great. The prix fixe menu was all about fish—and as you know, fish are friends, not food! So I got a glass of a California Zinfandel—big, slightly peppery flavors, lots of blackberry—and took it outside to the fire pit. There was no one outside, and it was nicely shaded and a perfect spot to read. A few people came and went (a couple with cigarettes, but what could I say? It was outside, and just because I’m not a smoker doesn’t mean that other people can’t indulge), but I was alone for most of my first glass of wine. I decided I’d better order food before my inhibitions deserted me and I started dancing on the tables, so I ordered a bacon-wrapped, panko-crusted asparagus with the most amazing panna cotta I’ve ever had to go with my next glass of wine. It was incredible. As the sun went down and the air cooled slightly, I sat in the shade with an enjoyable book (Scott Berg’s Grand Avenues), a spectacular glass of wine, and unbelievably delicious food…and believe me, all was right with the world. I’d finally landed at the Happiest Place on Earth.
As it began to get dark, a pair of couples came out onto the patio—the men were smoking cigars and talking loudly about country clubs and their stock portfolios, and I just wasn’t up for the smell. So I wished them a good evening and went upstairs to check my e-mail. The girls were getting in a last few times on Tower of Terror before they came in to see the fireworks, and we were all sleeping by 10:30 pm.
Finally--Disneyland!
Friday was park day for me, but as usual, I was up with the chickens to work and I went for an early run, but this time I went to the weight room downstairs and ran intervals. It isn’t a large gym, but the machines are nice and the room is stocked with water and towels. I got the girls moving and we were at the park shortly after it opened and hit Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Haunted Mansion immediately. The girls were like rats, scurrying in all different directions with no plan of action. (I know, I know—I sound like a control freak. But I didn’t want to waste my time running from one end of the park to another, when we could have taken a more systematic approach to the park layout. Unfortunately for me, I’m just the mom and my argument didn’t work—so the next thing we went on after Haunted Mansion was…Autopia! Because it’s as far away from Haunted Mansion as you can get.)
I have minor blood sugar issues, and so when it’s time for me to eat I need to eat NOW—and Disneyland is not the place to go into diabetic incident. I was so excited about getting into the park that I figured it would be easy to grab some chow once we were there—but it wasn’t and I was feeling a little weird. I ate a banana to keep me functional, but I really needed a meal, so I went in search of anything more substantial while the girls watched the Jedi Training Academy. At fourteen and fifteen they’re way too old, but they totally wanted to be on stage, too! When I came back to where they were standing they were both flirting with Darth Maul, winking at him and blowing kisses his way. The presentation was so much fun to watch, even if my kid couldn’t be up there. We headed over to the Tiki Room, where I had my first-ever Dole Whip, and we did the circuit of Adventureland/New Orleans Square/Frontierland before heading back to Redd Rocket’s Pizza Port for lunch (the girls wanted pasta, which I don’t eat unless I want to take a nice long nap.) The line for Nemo was at least 2 hours! so we didn’t even bother. Both girls are crazy for pirates, so we went through Pirates of the Caribbean a few times.
A snippet from my life: the phone rings. “Do you have a few minutes? I wanted to ask you about…(insert work-related question here.)” I giggled. “Uh, I’m about to walk into Pirates of the Caribbean,” I told him. “No worries,” my colleague said. “Call me when the movie is over.” Dude, I’m at Disneyland. I’ll call you next week, mmmkay?
Momrant Moment
Also, I want to make an apology to other guests: my girls were loud and occasionally rude, and I’m sorry. And not just giggly-teenaged-girl loud, but shouting-teenage-girl loud. Both of them found it perfectly acceptable to shout back at the narration when they had something smarmy to add that they thought would be funny, but it wasn’t. I was mortified. I don’t remember her doing that anywhere else, but I have no way of knowing how my child behaves when she is out with others and I’m not supervising her. At fourteen she’s not a little kid anymore, and I don’t go out with her constantly. I have seen her with her friends when she doesn’t know I’m around and I know she can be loud—but this was appalling. I put a stop to it immediately, but I have no doubt that the two girls had been behaving that way for two days. On a roller coaster it’s expected. On an outdoor ride, it’s not really a problem. On something like Pirates of the Caribbean, yelling “you’re so hot” at the animatronic Johnny Depp (er, Jack Sparrow) is unacceptable, at least to me. As the parent of a teenager, I expect loud and borderline obnoxious behavior from my little princess. I’ve even been known to encourage it in the right venue. A dark ride, however, is not the right venue. Kids are kids are kids, but I did not want the experience of other guests (particularly younger children) ruined by inexcusably rude teenage behavior.
Okay, momrant over.
By early afternoon, I was wiped out, and the girls were clearly tired. We had checked out before leaving the hotel that morning; I put our luggage in storage for the day and made sure that we could leave our car parked in the hotel lot until midnight—but the girls were ready to go home by 4:00 pm and I was awake enough to drive, so we went back to the hotel to retrieve our luggage. While we were waiting for the porter, both girls fell asleep on the comfortable couches in the lobby!
Traffic was heavy on the way home (Los Angeles on a Friday afternoon? Were we nuts?) and I had to stop for chow-n-caffeine at the In-n-Out at Lyons Ave. in Santa Clarita. We were home by about 9:00 pm.
Final Musings--and Thanks for Reading!
If you’ve made it this far, I applaud your stamina! Teenaged girls are a lot of fun to be around, but being responsible for two of them for several days reminds me why I only had one child all those years ago. Still, it was a great trip and I’d do it again—with the same girls, even!—in a heartbeat, and I might even be willing to buy a two-day park hopper and go to both parks. It was good to give the girls a budget and expect them to stick to it. $100 per kid meant that they had to be careful, but they still walked out with sequined ears and a few other trinkets. I really need to spend more time at Napa Rose, drinking my way through the red wine list and eating more from that fantastic menu. Next time, it would be lovely to have company for that part of my trip. Disneyland is a family spot, and as I peoplewatched from Uva and Compass Books, I seemed to be the only solo traveler for miles around. The girls were a blast to be around, but I’m the mom—and it’s not cool to have your mom hanging around all the time. The high points for me? Knowing my daughter’s birthday was just what she wanted; wine and appetizers at Napa Rose; and definitely staying inside the park. You just can’t beat the location and convenience. Low point? An expensive, mediocre dinner at Rainforest Café. And if that’s the low point, then rest assured it was a pretty awesome trip.
Dates: July 11-13, 2007
Hotel: Grand Californian (Theme Park View!)
Travel method: Personal car
I love reading trip reports, but I’ve never written one of my own. And this won’t be a typical trip report, since most of my time was spent in the hotel and not at the parks! For people who like way too much detail…well, then y'all are at the right place. Plus I may address some of those little questions that most trip reports don’t cover—like where you can plug in for Internet access in the hotel, and where NOT to buy sunscreen!
Raison d'etre
My teenaged daughter chose to celebrate her 14th birthday by taking a friend to Disneyland for a day. Since we live about two hours north of Los Angeles (where both my husband and I work), I decided we’d be better off spending at least a night there because I didn’t want to feel rushed or exhausted driving home (with my commute that happens plenty, but not while I’m driving with my daughter in the car!) We also decided that my husband wasn’t going to go with us. He spends several nights a week in hotel rooms, and he didn’t really want to spend his days off in one too. Plus he’s just a huge snorer, and we would have had to get a two-bedroom suite just so the rest of us could get some sleep. I researched local room options and decided that I wanted to be close to the parks so that I could let the girls walk to the parks while I worked nearby—so that meant that the best option would be a Disney property with wireless access. And once I got online to look at the properties themselves, the only one left standing was the Grand Californian. I’m not sure how we got from one night to two, but I booked two nights for the three of us—we’d arrive early on Wednesday morning and leave late on Friday night, which would give us nearly three days in the parks. Or the girls, anyway. I am one of those people who can’t stand to be away from her computer, and so I planned to work for two full days and just take Friday off to go to Disneyland. I’m not so interested in DCA—perhaps I’ve just heard too much about how there’s not much to do there. I bought three day park hoppers for both girls and a one-day, one-park ticket for me. And both girls had about a hundred dollars cash for spending money and park snacks.
On the road
We left Bakersfield about 6 am and drove an uneventful (and surprisingly uncongested) two-plus hours to Anaheim. Although I grew up in California and visited with my family a couple of times a year while growing up, I had not been back to Disneyland since about 1998, when my daughter was five. (We have photos from overlooking the construction site of what is now Disney’s California Adventure from our room at the Disneyland Pacific Hotel!) My baby has been several times with school groups, so she is familiar with DCA and Downtown Disney. Her friend grew up in Anaheim, so she considers herself a local. And both girls are completely obsessed with Pirates of the Caribbean.
I like to know exactly where I’m headed before I arrive, so I checked out all possible exit options from I-5. Interesting that you can exit the freeway from either the left or the right—I’ve never seen that before. The signs are clear enough and we were able to find the hotel easily. For excessively organized drivers: if you’re coming off of I-5 and driving south down Disneyland Drive, it will be a left turn into the resort (there’s a stoplight) and a right turn into the hotel’s long-term parking lot. Go to the resort, unload your bags, and get your parking pass first.
A lovely touch for my birthday girl: as we stopped to give our name to the gate attendant, she asked, “Where’s Teenaged Daughter?” I gestured behind me, and the attendant smiled and wished my little one (who at 14 isn’t so little anymore, I suppose) a happy birthday. The girls burst into laughter. I hadn’t mentioned to them that I had told anyone, and they were convinced that it was some sort of special Disney magic.
It was only about 8:30 am, so we pulled up under the porte-cochere and went to pick up their park hoppers so the girls could head out to the parks. A nice young CM disappeared with our luggage, and I left the girls with my briefcase in the lobby so that I could park the car—I’m a bit of a cheapskate, so valet parking seemed unnecessary. Self-parking has in-and-out privileges, and it was easy to cross Disneyland Drive from the end of the lot that is directly across from the porte-cochere. I know it’s jaywalking, and I wouldn’t do it with children. But walking all the way to the crosswalk took too long.
There was only one family ahead of us at registration, but the long counter was only staffed by one person, so it was 9:00 am before a second person came out to help us. While I waited to be helped, the girls wandered about the lobby, oohing and aahing at the vast expanse of space and bouncing up and down on the furniture. We were told that our room would be ready at 2:00 and were given a number to call and check on the room’s status. I was very impressed with the way information was organized, as they had ready answers to all my questions. Clearly, they’ve done this before! I called my birthday princess over when the CM asked about her, and he gave her a signed Mickey photo and a birthday button to wear. Again, I just shrugged. Who knew that Disney was omniscient when it came to birthdays? (Maybe the USA PATRIOT Act gives them special access to birthday details...?) In any case, go enjoy your birthday!
Vacation? Who gets vacation?
With the administrivia handled, I walked the girls through the hotel to Downtown Disney and shooed them on their way so that I could get to work. The hotel lobby has free wireless access, so with a comfy place to sit, I planned to work until my room was ready. The Hearthstone Lounge was empty, and so I went poking around for electricity—although I didn’t need it, I always prefer to plug in when I can and save my battery for when there’s no electricity available. I found a great table in the back of the Lounge that’s separated from the rest of the tables by a partial wall. With the window facing the pool and my back to the bar, it was a nice place to get some work done. Plus, with the wall, it felt like my own little office. I made a few (quiet) phone calls and settled down to work until about lunchtime, checking in via phone with the girls a couple of times to make sure they were fine (there was occasional screaming in the background, so they were clearly having a blast.) The Hearthstone staff kept me supplied with liquid refreshment, and since there was pretty much no one else around, it was a great place to work.
About a quarter to noon I got hungry, so I shut up shop (I travel with a briefcase, a laptop and cords, a wrist rest, a wireless mouse, and writing accoutrement, so packing up is a production) and went over to Whitewater Snacks to get something to eat. Based on reviews I was planning on the nachos, but once I see a burger on a menu it’s pretty hard for me to eat anything else. Indoor seating was pretty full although there were only a couple of people in line and the actual order area, where the drinks and food are, was almost completely empty. This is noteworthy only because I had a couple of dollars in my back pocket and they fell out over by the soda fountain—but a very sweet CM found them and since I was the only one around, she asked me if I’d lost some money. I clutched my back pocket—gone! So she gave them back to me. What a nice gesture! The burger was quite tasty and the fries meh, but it was pleasant to sit on the patio and read out of the blazing hot sun (internet access was iffy here, but I had a couple of books with me). When I was finished, I headed back into the Hearthstone Lounge to plug back in and work until my room was ready. (If you do this, take a coat. I was freezing after two hours of sitting there and had to step outside every half hour or so just to get the blood circulating again.)The girls wandered in just before the room was ready at 2:00, so we went upstairs to spread out. I was surprised they were ready for a break from the parks already, but I was in the middle of something and just wanted to connect to the Internet and finish my project for the day.
Best. Room. EVER.
The room was a complete surprise, as we found that we had been upgraded to a “theme park view”—and did they ever mean it! We were literally inside DCA, directly across from the giant grizzly bear rock at Grizzly River Run with Space Mountain in the distance and folks walking through DCA right below our feet. Granted, the room was a tad small and not particularly well appointed—there was no minibar with expensive goodies, although the refrigerator was free. And the toiletries were adequate, but not four-star quality. (I know, I sound high-maintenance. I’m really not, but for that price I want Dead Sea salt scrubs and Laura Mercier or Molton Brown. I’m just sayin’.)
But with that view, who cared?!
With the glass balcony doors open, we could hear laughing, talking, and music. It was amazing! Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the Internet connection to work at first, and the phone on the desk was also dead, but tech support was able to walk me through the connection process. The girls settled down to watch a movie they’d brought (there is a DVD player in the room), and I sat next to the window, enjoying the sounds of laughter and fun below while I finished up my work day over the next couple of hours.
Sunscreen Alert
The girls took off back to the parks and I went down to the pool for a late afternoon wetdown and poolside layout. It was hot enough that I decided I needed sunscreen, but I’d forgotten to bring any. And with no drugstore nearby, I went into Sephora to pick up a teeny bottle of ridiculously expensive oil-free, citrus-scented Murad stuff that I thought was only $19 until I got to the cashier and discovered it was twice that. A friendly clerk at Basin (I could have sworn it was Lush!) told me that the only other place where you can buy sunscreen at Downtown Disney is the Lego store—they have little bottles for around $6 that would have been just fine. My bad—the sunscreen I bought wasn’t waterproof, so when I got back into the pool my skin turned to a layer of white slime. At least it smelled nice, and I knew my metrosexual husband would appreciate the pricey sunscreen far more than I did.
The girls came back hungry, so we went over to Downtown Disney to get in line for a table at Rainforest Café. While we waited (about an hour) they stopped in Compass Books to browse, and I headed over to Uva for a glass of pinot noir. The girls are both manga addicts so they were quite happy with the selection there, and the hour went by fast. I wandered over to the Disneyland Hotel to look around a bit. I’ve never stayed there, but I have to say that it is in need of refurbishing, particularly after seeing the opulence of the Grand Californian. Even the Paradise Pier, which is serviceable but not very fancy, seemed to be in much better shape. I love hotels, and I stay in them whenever I get the chance to do so, but I don’t think I would want to stay at the Disneyland Hotel if the lobby is any indication of the state of the rooms.
Dinner was fine—personally, I’m not a fan of the expensive, mass-produced Rainforest Café food—but it was fun to watch the fish in the tank. By the time we were finished it was time for the fireworks, and we had an AMAZING view of them on our balcony. I couldn’t believe that we could just stand out there and watch the skies light up. I checked my e-mail, did some work-related stuff and read the news, and then passed out while listening to the girls giggle about something on the Disney Channel. With the balcony doors closed, we could still hear some noise from DCA but not a lot—and I’m a very light sleeper. I must have been exhausted.
Target to the Rescue!
I woke up at about 5 am and flipped on my computer to get some early work done (did I mention I’m a workaholic?), and I could hear trucks below me and what sounded like a thousand water hoses—with the doors open it was pretty loud, but the morning was so lovely that I wanted to feel the nice breeze and the beautiful sunshine. And my two little lazybones didn’t budge—teenagers! I poked them awake at about 7:00 and reminded them that it was Early Entry, so they needed to get moving. I went for a run (through Downtown Disney, around the resorts, and up Disneyland Drive) for about 45 minutes, and when I came back, they were stumbling out the door and off to the parks. The came back hungry a couple of hours later, so we walked over for some beignets at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen, and once I was out in the heat I decided that I needed better sunscreen or I was going to fry. I scoped out the nearest Target, located a few miles away on the corner of Harbor and Chapman. Mapping it out was a little weird, though. From the Grand Californian, both Google Maps and Mapquest send you back north to Ball Road, under the freeway, and then south down Harbor Blvd. Huh? It seemed a lot easier to just drive south on Disneyland Drive to West and then turn left onto Chapman Avenue. No traffic and no weird detours, and the Target is only a short way away on the right side of the street. I loaded up on water, oil-free WATERPROOF sunscreen (at about $8, a much better deal than the Murad!), and assorted snacks and was back at the hotel in about half an hour so I could get back to work. No, my boss isn’t reading this. I have a tendency to get very wrapped up in my work and I don’t relax easily, even if it’s at the Happiest Place on Earth.
Good cheap food alert: the tacos at Tortilla Jo’s. I was looking for quick, cheap lunchtime eats, and at 1:00 there was no one in line at the window. I got a good soft carne asada taco with guacamole for under $5, and with two tortillas it was plenty. The girls came back for a swim and a movie mid-afternoon, and wandered back and forth between the parks for awhile. With three days to see everything, they were very low-key about bouncing between the parks and the hotel and were riding everything they wanted to without running themselves ragged. I remember as a kid having to force everything into a single day because we never stayed the night, and we were always exhausted and barely functional driving the two hours home to Bakersfield. My brother and I could sleep in the car, but how my parents managed to keep driving after a draining 12 hours having “fun” at Disneyland was a completely unappreciated display of stamina and patience. So thirty years ex post facto, thanks Mom and Dad!
My New Favorite Restaurant
Anyway, the girls came back to the room full of churros and Cokes, so I decided it was time for MY kind of vacation and walked down to Napa Rose, book in hand. I wasn’t hungry really, but a glass of wine sounded great. The prix fixe menu was all about fish—and as you know, fish are friends, not food! So I got a glass of a California Zinfandel—big, slightly peppery flavors, lots of blackberry—and took it outside to the fire pit. There was no one outside, and it was nicely shaded and a perfect spot to read. A few people came and went (a couple with cigarettes, but what could I say? It was outside, and just because I’m not a smoker doesn’t mean that other people can’t indulge), but I was alone for most of my first glass of wine. I decided I’d better order food before my inhibitions deserted me and I started dancing on the tables, so I ordered a bacon-wrapped, panko-crusted asparagus with the most amazing panna cotta I’ve ever had to go with my next glass of wine. It was incredible. As the sun went down and the air cooled slightly, I sat in the shade with an enjoyable book (Scott Berg’s Grand Avenues), a spectacular glass of wine, and unbelievably delicious food…and believe me, all was right with the world. I’d finally landed at the Happiest Place on Earth.
As it began to get dark, a pair of couples came out onto the patio—the men were smoking cigars and talking loudly about country clubs and their stock portfolios, and I just wasn’t up for the smell. So I wished them a good evening and went upstairs to check my e-mail. The girls were getting in a last few times on Tower of Terror before they came in to see the fireworks, and we were all sleeping by 10:30 pm.
Finally--Disneyland!
Friday was park day for me, but as usual, I was up with the chickens to work and I went for an early run, but this time I went to the weight room downstairs and ran intervals. It isn’t a large gym, but the machines are nice and the room is stocked with water and towels. I got the girls moving and we were at the park shortly after it opened and hit Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Haunted Mansion immediately. The girls were like rats, scurrying in all different directions with no plan of action. (I know, I know—I sound like a control freak. But I didn’t want to waste my time running from one end of the park to another, when we could have taken a more systematic approach to the park layout. Unfortunately for me, I’m just the mom and my argument didn’t work—so the next thing we went on after Haunted Mansion was…Autopia! Because it’s as far away from Haunted Mansion as you can get.)
I have minor blood sugar issues, and so when it’s time for me to eat I need to eat NOW—and Disneyland is not the place to go into diabetic incident. I was so excited about getting into the park that I figured it would be easy to grab some chow once we were there—but it wasn’t and I was feeling a little weird. I ate a banana to keep me functional, but I really needed a meal, so I went in search of anything more substantial while the girls watched the Jedi Training Academy. At fourteen and fifteen they’re way too old, but they totally wanted to be on stage, too! When I came back to where they were standing they were both flirting with Darth Maul, winking at him and blowing kisses his way. The presentation was so much fun to watch, even if my kid couldn’t be up there. We headed over to the Tiki Room, where I had my first-ever Dole Whip, and we did the circuit of Adventureland/New Orleans Square/Frontierland before heading back to Redd Rocket’s Pizza Port for lunch (the girls wanted pasta, which I don’t eat unless I want to take a nice long nap.) The line for Nemo was at least 2 hours! so we didn’t even bother. Both girls are crazy for pirates, so we went through Pirates of the Caribbean a few times.
A snippet from my life: the phone rings. “Do you have a few minutes? I wanted to ask you about…(insert work-related question here.)” I giggled. “Uh, I’m about to walk into Pirates of the Caribbean,” I told him. “No worries,” my colleague said. “Call me when the movie is over.” Dude, I’m at Disneyland. I’ll call you next week, mmmkay?
Momrant Moment
Also, I want to make an apology to other guests: my girls were loud and occasionally rude, and I’m sorry. And not just giggly-teenaged-girl loud, but shouting-teenage-girl loud. Both of them found it perfectly acceptable to shout back at the narration when they had something smarmy to add that they thought would be funny, but it wasn’t. I was mortified. I don’t remember her doing that anywhere else, but I have no way of knowing how my child behaves when she is out with others and I’m not supervising her. At fourteen she’s not a little kid anymore, and I don’t go out with her constantly. I have seen her with her friends when she doesn’t know I’m around and I know she can be loud—but this was appalling. I put a stop to it immediately, but I have no doubt that the two girls had been behaving that way for two days. On a roller coaster it’s expected. On an outdoor ride, it’s not really a problem. On something like Pirates of the Caribbean, yelling “you’re so hot” at the animatronic Johnny Depp (er, Jack Sparrow) is unacceptable, at least to me. As the parent of a teenager, I expect loud and borderline obnoxious behavior from my little princess. I’ve even been known to encourage it in the right venue. A dark ride, however, is not the right venue. Kids are kids are kids, but I did not want the experience of other guests (particularly younger children) ruined by inexcusably rude teenage behavior.
Okay, momrant over.
By early afternoon, I was wiped out, and the girls were clearly tired. We had checked out before leaving the hotel that morning; I put our luggage in storage for the day and made sure that we could leave our car parked in the hotel lot until midnight—but the girls were ready to go home by 4:00 pm and I was awake enough to drive, so we went back to the hotel to retrieve our luggage. While we were waiting for the porter, both girls fell asleep on the comfortable couches in the lobby!
Traffic was heavy on the way home (Los Angeles on a Friday afternoon? Were we nuts?) and I had to stop for chow-n-caffeine at the In-n-Out at Lyons Ave. in Santa Clarita. We were home by about 9:00 pm.
Final Musings--and Thanks for Reading!
If you’ve made it this far, I applaud your stamina! Teenaged girls are a lot of fun to be around, but being responsible for two of them for several days reminds me why I only had one child all those years ago. Still, it was a great trip and I’d do it again—with the same girls, even!—in a heartbeat, and I might even be willing to buy a two-day park hopper and go to both parks. It was good to give the girls a budget and expect them to stick to it. $100 per kid meant that they had to be careful, but they still walked out with sequined ears and a few other trinkets. I really need to spend more time at Napa Rose, drinking my way through the red wine list and eating more from that fantastic menu. Next time, it would be lovely to have company for that part of my trip. Disneyland is a family spot, and as I peoplewatched from Uva and Compass Books, I seemed to be the only solo traveler for miles around. The girls were a blast to be around, but I’m the mom—and it’s not cool to have your mom hanging around all the time. The high points for me? Knowing my daughter’s birthday was just what she wanted; wine and appetizers at Napa Rose; and definitely staying inside the park. You just can’t beat the location and convenience. Low point? An expensive, mediocre dinner at Rainforest Café. And if that’s the low point, then rest assured it was a pretty awesome trip.