- Joined
- Aug 18, 1999
To all who come to this happy (trip report) place:
We recently returned from a 5-night trip to the happiest place on Earth and I would to share this adventure with you.
A little backstory is required this time.
Back in November last year, an opportunity came up for our daughter Kira, to go on a school trip to New York City during their May long-weekend break. There were about 40 kids plus chaperones going on this trip. They spent their lunch hours and a few weekends getting together to plan for their trip from January until May. In the days before they were due to fly, Westjest airlines was set to go on a pilot strike. They didn't actually strike but in their preparations for this possible strike, they cancelled hundreds of flights and one of them just so happened to be their NYC flight. We found out just a few short hours before we were to head to the airport. By that night, they were able to rebook all of the kids on an Air Canada flight the next day, so they would still get to go, but they would lose a day.
We were to meet at the US departures area by 10:30am for their 2:30pm flight to Newark. Once group photos were done and everyone organized themselves into their pods with their leaders, all of the parents said good-bye while the kids went off to the Air Canada desk to check-in all together. Once they had their boarding passes, they would then head in to US Customs and security. Well, while we were grouping together, Kira's pod leader told me that they weren't all confirmed on the fight yet, so while the parents trickled out, I refused to leave. Rob asked me when I wanted to leave and I replied "Not until they all have their boarding passes in hand."
I knew that if you are not confirmed on a flight, there is a chance you will not be on the flight. I felt bad because Rob was missing work but my gut told me to stick around. Well, as they started to check-in, many of the kids were not receiving their boarding passes. Apparently, their system had not transferred all of their bookings yet and over half the kids still weren't confirmed on the flight. Since the airlines have a 90 minute deadline for international flights (due to customs) they decided that by that deadline, if they all didn't have their boarding passes, then the trip would be cancelled. They were all troopers and held out until the last minute but in the end, it was cancelled.
Kira was thrilled that we stayed because she was back in jammies, playing her video game on the couch before any of the other parents were able to get back to the airport to pick up their kids.
She was bummed but she took it like a champ.
We decided the next day that we would take her to NYC ourselves. Rob has never been there and I've been there a few times but only for a day or two before a cruise. She was done with her exams by the 21st of June, so we planned a 5-night trip, leaving on the 23rd. I spent the next month researching the crap out of NYC. I planned to see everything that she was supposed to see on her school trip and more! I had notes in my phone with history, facts, and trivia about every place we were going to visit. I memorized the subway system, knew all of our stops, bought Yankees tickets, Broadway tickets, 9/11 Museum tickets, Statue of Liberty Pedestal tickets and more! Tom Delgado & Jon Barr became my best friends.
Then this happened....
New York got hit with wildfire smoke. This was nothing new to us. Living in Calgary, we deal with smoke from British Columbia all the time. Some weeks, it's so bad that we can't even go outside. While the worst of it was done by the time we were to leave, the air quality was still not great. Kira and I are allergic to smoke and she has asthma. We joked that for whatever reason, the universe was telling Kira to stay away from New York.
With just under two weeks to go, I made the decision to postpone our NYC trip and go to Disneyland instead.
I had been itching to get back for awhile now. It had been just over four years since our last visit, flights were still available and I got a fantastic rate for an on-site hotel! Rob had already gotten the time off, my brother was already taking care of our two doggies. It just made sense.
So, now you know how this trip came about, let's get this sucker started, shall we?
We recently returned from a 5-night trip to the happiest place on Earth and I would to share this adventure with you.
A little backstory is required this time.
Back in November last year, an opportunity came up for our daughter Kira, to go on a school trip to New York City during their May long-weekend break. There were about 40 kids plus chaperones going on this trip. They spent their lunch hours and a few weekends getting together to plan for their trip from January until May. In the days before they were due to fly, Westjest airlines was set to go on a pilot strike. They didn't actually strike but in their preparations for this possible strike, they cancelled hundreds of flights and one of them just so happened to be their NYC flight. We found out just a few short hours before we were to head to the airport. By that night, they were able to rebook all of the kids on an Air Canada flight the next day, so they would still get to go, but they would lose a day.
We were to meet at the US departures area by 10:30am for their 2:30pm flight to Newark. Once group photos were done and everyone organized themselves into their pods with their leaders, all of the parents said good-bye while the kids went off to the Air Canada desk to check-in all together. Once they had their boarding passes, they would then head in to US Customs and security. Well, while we were grouping together, Kira's pod leader told me that they weren't all confirmed on the fight yet, so while the parents trickled out, I refused to leave. Rob asked me when I wanted to leave and I replied "Not until they all have their boarding passes in hand."
I knew that if you are not confirmed on a flight, there is a chance you will not be on the flight. I felt bad because Rob was missing work but my gut told me to stick around. Well, as they started to check-in, many of the kids were not receiving their boarding passes. Apparently, their system had not transferred all of their bookings yet and over half the kids still weren't confirmed on the flight. Since the airlines have a 90 minute deadline for international flights (due to customs) they decided that by that deadline, if they all didn't have their boarding passes, then the trip would be cancelled. They were all troopers and held out until the last minute but in the end, it was cancelled.
Kira was thrilled that we stayed because she was back in jammies, playing her video game on the couch before any of the other parents were able to get back to the airport to pick up their kids.
She was bummed but she took it like a champ.We decided the next day that we would take her to NYC ourselves. Rob has never been there and I've been there a few times but only for a day or two before a cruise. She was done with her exams by the 21st of June, so we planned a 5-night trip, leaving on the 23rd. I spent the next month researching the crap out of NYC. I planned to see everything that she was supposed to see on her school trip and more! I had notes in my phone with history, facts, and trivia about every place we were going to visit. I memorized the subway system, knew all of our stops, bought Yankees tickets, Broadway tickets, 9/11 Museum tickets, Statue of Liberty Pedestal tickets and more! Tom Delgado & Jon Barr became my best friends.
Then this happened....
New York got hit with wildfire smoke. This was nothing new to us. Living in Calgary, we deal with smoke from British Columbia all the time. Some weeks, it's so bad that we can't even go outside. While the worst of it was done by the time we were to leave, the air quality was still not great. Kira and I are allergic to smoke and she has asthma. We joked that for whatever reason, the universe was telling Kira to stay away from New York.
With just under two weeks to go, I made the decision to postpone our NYC trip and go to Disneyland instead.
I had been itching to get back for awhile now. It had been just over four years since our last visit, flights were still available and I got a fantastic rate for an on-site hotel! Rob had already gotten the time off, my brother was already taking care of our two doggies. It just made sense.
So, now you know how this trip came about, let's get this sucker started, shall we?
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I mean, I took plenty of them, more than most normal human beings but for me, I was not in the zone. Especially that first day, it was Rob and Kira who reminded me about taking photos of certain things. I think my brain was still scrambled with all of that NYC stuff. 
Sigh. I miss the Grand! On our last trip we stayed at the BW at the cross walk and while the location is fantastic for offsite, it's no Grand Californian ;-) Unfortunately was not able to snag a room with our points at the 7 month mark (shocker) but I'm hopeful now that the DLH has dvc villas we can get in there for our next trip - or snag the Grand because everyone wants to stay at the DLH 
