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View Full Version : Trip report 2/19-2/25



dalhar35
03-05-2005, 08:46 AM
Day one, part one

We awoke at 03:45 at a friends house in Sacramento after driving 5 hours the night before from our home near Eureka. The kids were still really tired but when I told them it was time to go to Disneyland the smiles and energy levels suddenly appeared. Everyone showered and got ready and we wakened our host 5 minutes before we needed to leave. SMF is only 5 minutes from their house. We arrived at SMF and unloaded and began the wait in line.There were about 100 people in the united line. After a bit a guy came through telling people if they were waiting for international they were in the wrong line-that thinned out about 25 people. The guy united had going up and down the line helping people was a riot-he made the wait enjoyable, A little Indian(India) guy with a handlebar mustache. One lady complained about someone he had brought forward and he kept badgering her from then on about her inhaler and the need to not freak out. My Duaghters(12,11,8) were enjoying the whole experience as this was their first flight. Of course my wife was with us as well as my Mom. My Dad died from Cancer last February, so I really wanted Mom to come with us and not be home alone at this time. We preceded through the security checkpoint which was very easy at SMF. The TSA lady helped us out alot as everyone had carry-on luggage and the girls were a little confused as to what was supposed to happen-of course my failing to tell them anything couldn't have accounted for that ;) We made it to the gate and had an hour wait for the plane-it's departure was 06:30 with arrival in LAX at 7:52. Finally we boarded the plane and Mom was two rows ahead of us, but a nice young lady agreed to switch with her so us 6 took up one whole row-(757 with 3 seats on each side). My 11 year old if the Drama queen and she was really nervous about taking off. She held my wife's hand. My 8 yr old is the daredevil and she had her face firmly stuck in the window most of the trip. The flight was good until we got close to LA where their were numerous thunderstorms and since we were listening to the pilot talk to the tower we heard him request course changes 3 times to avoid really violent thunder cells. Turbulence increased quite a bit and I noticed Drama Queen was holding Mom's hand again. Finally we landed about 15 minutes late and preceded to get our luggage. The wait there was about 30 minutes, but we spent our time watching some unruly 6 year old repeatedly throw his stuff animal on the laggage carousal and his mom repeatedly climbing onto it to retrieve the animal. Amazes me the lack of control some parents have over their children. Finally our luggage arrived intact and we proceeded to the Green markers signifying the bus pick up area. The coach to Disneyland arrived every hour on the hour and it was now 8:45 so we had to wait 15 minutes-at 09:15 I called the coach 800 # and was told because of the rain they were running late and he would tell his driver we were waiting at united-They had to pick a group up at Alaska first. I guess United is the last pick-up. A wait of another 10 minutes followed with our Bus finally arriving. We loaded up and the coach took off towards Disneyland. The other group was going to the DLH also so that was the only stop. It rained most of the way and one of the windshield wipers made a loud noise everytime it swung towards the outside of the coach. I watched the poor driver try to adjust the wiper speed, but since it was the one in front of him he had to keep it going while it was raining. We started singing the Eddie Rabbit song "Drivin' with the rythim of the rain." After about 40 minutes or so we started noticing the signs for Dsineyland and everyone was sitting up a little straighter in their seats. Soom the Disneyland Hotel came into view and the girls were ecstatic. We unloaded and tipped the driver($1 per bag) and proceeded to walk towards the entrance while trying to take it all in. They had two express check-in terminals going and a nice lady motioned us over to one. She proceeded to check us in and informed us our room's would not be ready until 3:00. She gave us our Disney dollars-$150 per room was nice. We then went to bell services and stored all our luggage. I typically like to be in charge and lead everyone-from my Army and correctional Officer past, but I had promised my wife I would let the girls set the pace and agenda this trip----it was hard! We had a huddle and the girls wanted to walk through downtown disney first. We started our stroll down DD stopping at ESPN sports Zone(still closed) and Compass books. We crossed over to Rainforest Cafe and the girls said they were hungry and wanted to eat there. We agreed and made reservations-after looking around for about 10 minutes our names were called and we proceeded upstairs to be seated. We had an excellent server named Rachel-which is my 8 yr old's name also. The only opther rainforest cafe we had been to was in SF and this one was a little nicer. I ordered a spicy pasta(name??) and it was very bland-would not order this again. We had the big appetizer and the blue crab dip was heavenly. everything else was pretty good and Rachel went out of her way to interact and help the girls-extra olives and cherries. After lunch we left and continued our stroll down DD. We ended up at Build-a-Bear workshop and the girls decided to get bears. It was so fun watching them pick out their new friends. The whole process is really fun and the girls had a great time. Rachel got her Kitty completely done and went over to the counter to get her kitty's birth certificate. We continued atching the other two girls when Rachel returned with her kitty in a box. I asked her how she got the box and she said it was all paid for. I asked her who paid for it and she didn't know. After we finished the other two birth certificates we alked to the counter to pay for the animals. All of Rachel's barcodes for the outfits and accessories were missing and she said she had thrown them away. The girl behid the counter had to look up everything Rachel had put on her kitty. We left Build-a-bear with three new members of the family-A KArate Bunny, A Pajama Kitty and a Skating Kitty. We decided to go back and see if the room was ready. The guy at check-in told us our rooms still weren't ready, but they did have two others we could have.Our rooms were upgraded to the Sierra tower with a pool view, and the one's ready we could have were in the Bonita tower with a city view. I told the guy we would gladly wait for the Pool view upgraded rooms. We stored the Animals with our luggage and decided to go check out the grounds around the DLH. Will continue report in awhile after some tea and maybe a nap. :)

Earkid
03-05-2005, 07:58 PM
Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip!!

One friendly little suggestion, paragraphs are your friend. It makes the report easier to read. :D