Lollipop's Mom
<font color=teal>Special trip with your little one
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2004
Cast.. Me (mom), 32 yrs & Meg (mature 8.5 yrs). Both LOVE Disney and Hollywood.This was our dream trip!
I have bolded some of the main places and things if you are just wanting to skim through it and find certain reviews.
Day 1....
January 7th -8th - woke up to a horrific snow storm! We had to drive 2.5 hrs to Seattle (much much cheaper to fly from Seattle than Vancouver). I decided we better leave early and try and beat the snow.
When we got to the border (which is only 3 mins from our house), we had no problem crossing. The guard seemed more concerned about our safety than our id. We were the only people at the border. The drive down was pretty horrible until we were past Burlington. After that, it was clear skies and smooth sailing.
This was our first time in Seattle, and Meg got a kick out of seeing the Space Needle. We arrived at the Seatac Skyway Inn at about 1pm. This is not a bad little budget motel. I decided to go no frills for this night, plus I found a great deal on hotels.com . $39 for the night, and it included 7 days parking! Couldnt beat that! I also had booked a room for the night we returned, on the 16th, because our flight was getting in really late. I was pleasantly surprised at how clean and safe it was. I was expecting the worst. It was a no-frills room with a decent (newer) 27tv (channel selection was bad about 7 channels), There was a fridge/microwave (but no coffee maker). Very small basic room with 1 queen bed, small table and chairs. It was clean and the locks were very secure, so that is all that mattered to me! When we arrived to check in, the girl did TRY to charge me another $25 for 4 extra days parking. I got a calendar out and showed her we actually only owed for ONE day with the way it worked. She argued a bit, and I had to literally count the days for her and prove it. She said that our $39 rate was a mistake and they were not making any money from us. Well, really not my problem! That was the only bad experience at this motel. We were on the bottom floor and the walls are paper thin. I was expecting this, so wasnt overly worried. We decided to take a short ride up the street and find something to bring back to the room for dinner. We ended up in Fred Meyer and decided to get some tv dinners to microwave. We never buy tv dinners so this was a fun treat for us! We also bought some facial mask and decided to have a spa treatment in the room. Also grabbed some microwave popcorn for later on.
At about 8pm we decided to try and go to sleep, as we had booked the aiport shuttle for 4am, meaning we had to get up at 3am. Well to my shock and surprise, Meg fell asleep at 8:15pm. I was so happy! I snuggled in next to her and couldnt sleep, but didnt care, as she was my bigger concern. At about 9pm guess what happened? She woke up! Yep a nice 30 min nap, then she woke up excited! I tried to lay quiet and get her back to sleep, but was not going to happen. We flipped on the tv and made popcorn, and there was a cute movie on that we had never seen. While we were watching the movie, some loud and obnoxious neighbours (big group of loud men) checked into the room next door. They were obviously drunk and were having a belching contest. Gross!! I knew this wasnt the type of motel where we could really call and complain, so just dealt with it. Well in the middle of the movie a blockbuster commercial came on (the one where they are saying No More Late Fees, No More Late Fees) and Meg says Mommy, are they saying No More Yankees?. I started laughing, which caused her to start YELLING NO MORE YANKEES! NO MORE YANKEES! Joking around about how she thought that is what they were saying on the commercial. Well DEAD SILENCE next door. I just realized that we were in a crappy area of Seattle, and my daughter is yelling No more Yankees next door to a room full of drunk Americans. LMAO! (ps. Hope I did not offend any Americans with this story it was completely harmless and just too funny - I had to share it). The movie ended at 1030pm. Now it was time to try and go back to sleep. We were just falling asleep and they started the belching contest again. Somehow we managed to sleep and the wakeup call came in on time at 3am. I had a quick shower and realized - THERE IS NO HAIR DRYER!!! Eeeeek!!!! I told Meg not to shower I would just pull her hair back (its waist length and would never dry!). We were getting dressed, etc and the phone rings at 330am. Its the front desk. They tell me that they have to leave with the shuttle at 3:45am or 4:15am, because someone booked it for 3:45. With a 6am flight I figured we better race and get on the 3:45 one. You have never seen 2 girls get their stuff packed up and out the door so quickly. I left with wet hair that I pinned back quickly, and Meg didnt even have hers brushed. I did it on the shuttle. We breezed through check-in at the airport, as I had used web check in and printed boarding passes at home. The line up was HUGE for people without boarding passes! I was so grateful that I did this at home. We were first through security and to our gate by 4:30am. I desperately needed coffee. DESPERATELY needed one! Was anything open? NOPE! Everything was shut and not opening until 5am. Grrrrrrrrr. Finally a place opened and we grabbed a coffee and a juice, and a couple of muffins ($12 ouch). We just got all comfy waiting for the plane and they announced the gate had changed. So up we get and move across to the other side of the airport, and in the process Meg spilled OJ all over herself! Nice! Meg does not like to be dirty she gets embarrassed if there is something on her clothes and is now quite upset. I got out the napkins and cleaned her up, then just zipped up her track jacket and covered it up. Happy kid again. We boarded and our flight left on time. Flight was about 2 hours. We flew on Alaska Air. We had beverage service and we also got the most delicious hot apple danishes! YUM! Flight arrived into LAX 10 mins early. It took forever to get our luggage. It didnt come down for nearly 30 mins after we got off the flight. We went outside to meet up with Mary Jo, who was picking us up, but because we were so late, she had to drive around the airport again. We managed to meet up. What an extremely wonderful person she is! Words cannot describe how generous she is!
We drove to Anaheim and Meg fell asleep in the back of the car. Mary Jo pointed out some neat sights and then drove us to see Disneyland from the street. She had also brought Meg a brand new DL rain poncho, as she was sure we were going to be needing it! She then treated us to breakfast at the Rainforest Café in DTD. I had the tonga toast (Delicious!!!), Meg had the waffles (she loved them!) and Mary Jo had some sort of tortilla egg thingy not sure what it was, but it was huge we probably could have all shared it and it would be enough! She only got halfway through it, but did say it was amazing! We loved all of the animals and the atmosphere. We had been to a RC in the Vancouver area a few years ago, but this one was waaaaay better. A definate must-do!
After brekkie we drove up to our hotel in Fullerton. We had gotten that hotwire deal of $12/night at the Sheraton Four Points Fullerton. Mary Jo helped us unload our bags and we said our goodbyes. Meg and I were anxious to get into the room, unpack and head to Disneyland!
Next report the hotel and first day at Disney!
I have bolded some of the main places and things if you are just wanting to skim through it and find certain reviews.
Day 1....
January 7th -8th - woke up to a horrific snow storm! We had to drive 2.5 hrs to Seattle (much much cheaper to fly from Seattle than Vancouver). I decided we better leave early and try and beat the snow.
When we got to the border (which is only 3 mins from our house), we had no problem crossing. The guard seemed more concerned about our safety than our id. We were the only people at the border. The drive down was pretty horrible until we were past Burlington. After that, it was clear skies and smooth sailing.
This was our first time in Seattle, and Meg got a kick out of seeing the Space Needle. We arrived at the Seatac Skyway Inn at about 1pm. This is not a bad little budget motel. I decided to go no frills for this night, plus I found a great deal on hotels.com . $39 for the night, and it included 7 days parking! Couldnt beat that! I also had booked a room for the night we returned, on the 16th, because our flight was getting in really late. I was pleasantly surprised at how clean and safe it was. I was expecting the worst. It was a no-frills room with a decent (newer) 27tv (channel selection was bad about 7 channels), There was a fridge/microwave (but no coffee maker). Very small basic room with 1 queen bed, small table and chairs. It was clean and the locks were very secure, so that is all that mattered to me! When we arrived to check in, the girl did TRY to charge me another $25 for 4 extra days parking. I got a calendar out and showed her we actually only owed for ONE day with the way it worked. She argued a bit, and I had to literally count the days for her and prove it. She said that our $39 rate was a mistake and they were not making any money from us. Well, really not my problem! That was the only bad experience at this motel. We were on the bottom floor and the walls are paper thin. I was expecting this, so wasnt overly worried. We decided to take a short ride up the street and find something to bring back to the room for dinner. We ended up in Fred Meyer and decided to get some tv dinners to microwave. We never buy tv dinners so this was a fun treat for us! We also bought some facial mask and decided to have a spa treatment in the room. Also grabbed some microwave popcorn for later on.
At about 8pm we decided to try and go to sleep, as we had booked the aiport shuttle for 4am, meaning we had to get up at 3am. Well to my shock and surprise, Meg fell asleep at 8:15pm. I was so happy! I snuggled in next to her and couldnt sleep, but didnt care, as she was my bigger concern. At about 9pm guess what happened? She woke up! Yep a nice 30 min nap, then she woke up excited! I tried to lay quiet and get her back to sleep, but was not going to happen. We flipped on the tv and made popcorn, and there was a cute movie on that we had never seen. While we were watching the movie, some loud and obnoxious neighbours (big group of loud men) checked into the room next door. They were obviously drunk and were having a belching contest. Gross!! I knew this wasnt the type of motel where we could really call and complain, so just dealt with it. Well in the middle of the movie a blockbuster commercial came on (the one where they are saying No More Late Fees, No More Late Fees) and Meg says Mommy, are they saying No More Yankees?. I started laughing, which caused her to start YELLING NO MORE YANKEES! NO MORE YANKEES! Joking around about how she thought that is what they were saying on the commercial. Well DEAD SILENCE next door. I just realized that we were in a crappy area of Seattle, and my daughter is yelling No more Yankees next door to a room full of drunk Americans. LMAO! (ps. Hope I did not offend any Americans with this story it was completely harmless and just too funny - I had to share it). The movie ended at 1030pm. Now it was time to try and go back to sleep. We were just falling asleep and they started the belching contest again. Somehow we managed to sleep and the wakeup call came in on time at 3am. I had a quick shower and realized - THERE IS NO HAIR DRYER!!! Eeeeek!!!! I told Meg not to shower I would just pull her hair back (its waist length and would never dry!). We were getting dressed, etc and the phone rings at 330am. Its the front desk. They tell me that they have to leave with the shuttle at 3:45am or 4:15am, because someone booked it for 3:45. With a 6am flight I figured we better race and get on the 3:45 one. You have never seen 2 girls get their stuff packed up and out the door so quickly. I left with wet hair that I pinned back quickly, and Meg didnt even have hers brushed. I did it on the shuttle. We breezed through check-in at the airport, as I had used web check in and printed boarding passes at home. The line up was HUGE for people without boarding passes! I was so grateful that I did this at home. We were first through security and to our gate by 4:30am. I desperately needed coffee. DESPERATELY needed one! Was anything open? NOPE! Everything was shut and not opening until 5am. Grrrrrrrrr. Finally a place opened and we grabbed a coffee and a juice, and a couple of muffins ($12 ouch). We just got all comfy waiting for the plane and they announced the gate had changed. So up we get and move across to the other side of the airport, and in the process Meg spilled OJ all over herself! Nice! Meg does not like to be dirty she gets embarrassed if there is something on her clothes and is now quite upset. I got out the napkins and cleaned her up, then just zipped up her track jacket and covered it up. Happy kid again. We boarded and our flight left on time. Flight was about 2 hours. We flew on Alaska Air. We had beverage service and we also got the most delicious hot apple danishes! YUM! Flight arrived into LAX 10 mins early. It took forever to get our luggage. It didnt come down for nearly 30 mins after we got off the flight. We went outside to meet up with Mary Jo, who was picking us up, but because we were so late, she had to drive around the airport again. We managed to meet up. What an extremely wonderful person she is! Words cannot describe how generous she is!
We drove to Anaheim and Meg fell asleep in the back of the car. Mary Jo pointed out some neat sights and then drove us to see Disneyland from the street. She had also brought Meg a brand new DL rain poncho, as she was sure we were going to be needing it! She then treated us to breakfast at the Rainforest Café in DTD. I had the tonga toast (Delicious!!!), Meg had the waffles (she loved them!) and Mary Jo had some sort of tortilla egg thingy not sure what it was, but it was huge we probably could have all shared it and it would be enough! She only got halfway through it, but did say it was amazing! We loved all of the animals and the atmosphere. We had been to a RC in the Vancouver area a few years ago, but this one was waaaaay better. A definate must-do!
After brekkie we drove up to our hotel in Fullerton. We had gotten that hotwire deal of $12/night at the Sheraton Four Points Fullerton. Mary Jo helped us unload our bags and we said our goodbyes. Meg and I were anxious to get into the room, unpack and head to Disneyland!
Next report the hotel and first day at Disney!
