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!
Day 2/3 Jan 8/9
We arrived at the Four Points Sheraton Fulleton. From the outside it looks like quite a nice hotel. Big lobby with a pretty staircase and chandelier. What it lacked was service! Here we are, a mom and young daughter with 2 suitcases and 2 carry-ons, and no bellmen in sight. We loaded stuff onto a rolling luggage cart and went inside. No smiles from the girl checking us in, no feeling of being welcome. I had a feeling this was going to be only worth the $12/nt that we paid. Check-in was smooth and we use cash, not credit cards, and all they needed was a piece of photo id and $25 deposit (room was pre-paid with hotwire). We were able to check in early, which was nice, and they were able to give us a fridge which we needed. I had done a grocery order from Albertsons and it had been delivered about 15 mins before we got there. It was the best $33. I spent! All of our milk, cereal, coffee cream, margarine, juice boxes, chips, granola bars, fruit, cookies,etc were delivered and the price of delivery (9.95) ended up being the best 10 bucks spent!!! We were not near ANY grocery stores, fast food places nothing!! It was almost like a deserted location for a person without a rental car (more about this later in the reports). Quick note..Albertsons.com will deliver any amount you want, but vons will only deliver an order that is at least $50 before delivery fee ($9.95 as well). Also, Albertsons has better delivery windows of time. We went up the elevator to our 2nd floor room (room 237) and felt like we walked a half a mile to find our room. Once out of the lobby it felt like we were back in the Seatac Skyway Inn. It was very motel like, and corridors were exterior like a motel. I was afraid to open the door and look into the room. We had to walk all along the front of the hotel (I mean motel), through a set of glass doors, then down around another corner, and then through another set of glass doors, then finally found our room around another corner. This walk got pretty old after a day at Disney .but thats another trip report story.
We were happy with our room. Was nicely decorated. It seemed clean and the beds were comfy. Our fridge was not in the room, so we decided to wait for it to be delivered and unpack a bit before heading to Disneyland. An hour later, still no fridge. I called and they said it was delivered, but I said well it hasnt!. Turns out they delivered it to 137, not 237. Within 10 mins we had a fridge. I called the front desk and asked when the next Disney shuttle left and she said Oh you just missed the last one about 25 mins ago. The LAST one? Huh? This was the 11:30am shuttle. I said well when is the next one?. Turns out there was no next one. They do 2 or 3 shuttles in the morning, depending on the day of the week, and then do 2 or 3 in the evening, starting at 6pm. They also come back about 45 mins before the park closing, so if we were going to watch fantasmic or the fireworks, we would not be able to. I was NOT impressed. Tired and a bit grumpy I let into them on the phone. I felt a little silly afterwards, but geez .you advertise that you have a shuttle and its only a morning/evening shuttle? The only way we could get there was a cab ride, or to walk nearly a mile to a bus stop. Of course, being on a budge, forking over 20 bucks for a cab was not making me a happy camper, but its just one of those things you have to do. So we grabbed our belt packs and tickets and rain ponchos and went downstairs. I apologized to the front desk clerk for getting angry (I felt kind bad its not her fault the hotel isnt running a proper shuttle system) and had her call us a cab. We went outside to wait and a black Lincoln towncar pulled up. He asked if we were the ones going to DL. I said yes, but was only needing a cab, but turns out this guy has towncar service for the same price as a cab. What a beautiful car, and what a perfect way to get to DL on our first day. I got his card, as he was so nice and also said he could take us to Hollywood later in the week for $70. I wasnt sure of my budget right then and there, so told him I would call him on Mon/Tues to book him if needed.
We got out and had to put our ponchos on right away. It was drizzling rain and not too hard (yet!). We gave our ticket voucher at the window and this cast member had ZERO personality. I got the impression the last thing she wanted to be doing was working in the miserable weather on a Saturday. There was some kind of a problem with our voucher number not matching the computer, and she had to get help from her supervisor. 10 mins later we had tickets in our hands (we had 6 day hoppers!) and were heading to the DL gates!
Meg was dancing and jumping up and down like a kid going to Disneyland (oh wait she WAS a kid going to Disneyland!). We walked in and I started to cry. I felt like a total idiot! Then Meg saw the castle and started to scream and cry people were looking at us and were probably realizing These are NOT locals ... LOL. Of course, the camera photo dude saw us coming and immediately was taking photos and handing us the slips to get our photos later (which we never did go see or pick up we both had gotten off a plane and were tired, hair everywhere the last thing we wanted was a photo of it! LOL). Oh yah forgot to mention. At the hotel we realized we had lost our hairbrush! I figured it was somewhere on the plane or in the airport. We only had one with us, so we decided to buy something in DL to use. (more on this later).
So we walked through the castle and the crowds were very light for what I was expecting on a Saturday. The Snow White ride had no one in line so we just headed for that. We were very anxious to get on any ride. Cute ride. We then just walked a bit. We came to Small World and I knew it was going to close on Monday for refurb, so we went on it next. I loved all the Xmas decorations, even though we were not into Xmas at this point, it was still neat to see it. Meg loved this ride! There was quite a bit of water in the boats when we stepped in.
I had on my new Ryka walking shoes, and they kept my feet warm and dry through all of the rain. One problem stupid stupid me did not wear these in before coming to DL. Yep you guessed it. BLISTERS. OUCH OUCH OUCH. I HATE these shoes. LOL!!! Meg had on her pink converse hi-tops and her feet were a bit wet. Now one thing you need to know about Meg she wears pink converse hi-tops with everything dresses, skirts, jeans, shorts .the kid lives in them, so I did not bring another pair of shoes for her just a pair of flip flops for the pool. Big mistake (read about it on the 2nd-3rd day at DL!).
We then went to toon town where Meg met her fave ride Gadgets Go Coaster. She loved this and went on it about 5 times in a row.
We wandered over towards Splash Mtn area and went on a few rides along the way. We were a bit hungry and grabbed a quick bite at the Stage Door Café around 4pm. We shared some chicken fingers and the large order of fries that comes with them. We also bought a coke. This came to about $9.50. The large order of fries consisted of about 15 fries in the bottom of a cardboard Disney thingy with 4 chicken strips on top. Definitely felt ripped off. Food was ok but nothing special. We tried finding a hairbrush all over Disney - not sold anywhere. We went to World of Disney at DTD and found one! I paid $7 for a folding Tinkerbell hairbrush! Ouch! Oh well...it came in handy in my belt pack later in the week and is a great souvienier.
At this point we were getting tired. We had been up since 3am with only 3 hrs sleep prior to that, and really tired. It was raining harder and Fantasmic was cancelled, so we decided to do a few rides and looked in a couple of shops, and hit the 6pm shuttle back to the hotel. This hotel advertises that DL is 4.5 miles away and 5 minutes. NOT! Try a 16-20 min drive depending on traffic and at least 10 miles. It felt like a LONG walk back to the room, and even though we were only on the 2nd floor, we decided to use the elevator. My feet hurt so badly, Megs were wet, and we were exhausted. We got on the elevator and pushed 2. We ended up on the 3rd floor. We pushed 2 again and ended up on the first floor. One more try .. back up to the 3rd. It was skipping our floor! We thought we were on the TOT ride! So we decided to go back to floor 1 and advise the front desk, and it stopped on 2, so we hopped off quick! Our room felt so far away. I walked in bare feet to the room and the rain had come in so hard, that the walkways were soaked. We had a bowl of cereal for dinner and put on tv. Guess what? Tv wasnt working. I called the front desk . Took nearly a ½ hour for someone to come up. Part of the pay box on top that controls the tv was not plugged in properly or something. We watched 2 mins of tv and fell asleep. This was about 8:45pm. We woke up the next morning at 9am. I have never slept so solid in my life! I didnt even move I dont think! We were refreshed for the next day .then looked out the window and saw one of the biggest rain storms we had ever seen
Day 2/3 Jan 8/9
We arrived at the Four Points Sheraton Fulleton. From the outside it looks like quite a nice hotel. Big lobby with a pretty staircase and chandelier. What it lacked was service! Here we are, a mom and young daughter with 2 suitcases and 2 carry-ons, and no bellmen in sight. We loaded stuff onto a rolling luggage cart and went inside. No smiles from the girl checking us in, no feeling of being welcome. I had a feeling this was going to be only worth the $12/nt that we paid. Check-in was smooth and we use cash, not credit cards, and all they needed was a piece of photo id and $25 deposit (room was pre-paid with hotwire). We were able to check in early, which was nice, and they were able to give us a fridge which we needed. I had done a grocery order from Albertsons and it had been delivered about 15 mins before we got there. It was the best $33. I spent! All of our milk, cereal, coffee cream, margarine, juice boxes, chips, granola bars, fruit, cookies,etc were delivered and the price of delivery (9.95) ended up being the best 10 bucks spent!!! We were not near ANY grocery stores, fast food places nothing!! It was almost like a deserted location for a person without a rental car (more about this later in the reports). Quick note..Albertsons.com will deliver any amount you want, but vons will only deliver an order that is at least $50 before delivery fee ($9.95 as well). Also, Albertsons has better delivery windows of time. We went up the elevator to our 2nd floor room (room 237) and felt like we walked a half a mile to find our room. Once out of the lobby it felt like we were back in the Seatac Skyway Inn. It was very motel like, and corridors were exterior like a motel. I was afraid to open the door and look into the room. We had to walk all along the front of the hotel (I mean motel), through a set of glass doors, then down around another corner, and then through another set of glass doors, then finally found our room around another corner. This walk got pretty old after a day at Disney .but thats another trip report story.
We were happy with our room. Was nicely decorated. It seemed clean and the beds were comfy. Our fridge was not in the room, so we decided to wait for it to be delivered and unpack a bit before heading to Disneyland. An hour later, still no fridge. I called and they said it was delivered, but I said well it hasnt!. Turns out they delivered it to 137, not 237. Within 10 mins we had a fridge. I called the front desk and asked when the next Disney shuttle left and she said Oh you just missed the last one about 25 mins ago. The LAST one? Huh? This was the 11:30am shuttle. I said well when is the next one?. Turns out there was no next one. They do 2 or 3 shuttles in the morning, depending on the day of the week, and then do 2 or 3 in the evening, starting at 6pm. They also come back about 45 mins before the park closing, so if we were going to watch fantasmic or the fireworks, we would not be able to. I was NOT impressed. Tired and a bit grumpy I let into them on the phone. I felt a little silly afterwards, but geez .you advertise that you have a shuttle and its only a morning/evening shuttle? The only way we could get there was a cab ride, or to walk nearly a mile to a bus stop. Of course, being on a budge, forking over 20 bucks for a cab was not making me a happy camper, but its just one of those things you have to do. So we grabbed our belt packs and tickets and rain ponchos and went downstairs. I apologized to the front desk clerk for getting angry (I felt kind bad its not her fault the hotel isnt running a proper shuttle system) and had her call us a cab. We went outside to wait and a black Lincoln towncar pulled up. He asked if we were the ones going to DL. I said yes, but was only needing a cab, but turns out this guy has towncar service for the same price as a cab. What a beautiful car, and what a perfect way to get to DL on our first day. I got his card, as he was so nice and also said he could take us to Hollywood later in the week for $70. I wasnt sure of my budget right then and there, so told him I would call him on Mon/Tues to book him if needed.
We got out and had to put our ponchos on right away. It was drizzling rain and not too hard (yet!). We gave our ticket voucher at the window and this cast member had ZERO personality. I got the impression the last thing she wanted to be doing was working in the miserable weather on a Saturday. There was some kind of a problem with our voucher number not matching the computer, and she had to get help from her supervisor. 10 mins later we had tickets in our hands (we had 6 day hoppers!) and were heading to the DL gates!
Meg was dancing and jumping up and down like a kid going to Disneyland (oh wait she WAS a kid going to Disneyland!). We walked in and I started to cry. I felt like a total idiot! Then Meg saw the castle and started to scream and cry people were looking at us and were probably realizing These are NOT locals ... LOL. Of course, the camera photo dude saw us coming and immediately was taking photos and handing us the slips to get our photos later (which we never did go see or pick up we both had gotten off a plane and were tired, hair everywhere the last thing we wanted was a photo of it! LOL). Oh yah forgot to mention. At the hotel we realized we had lost our hairbrush! I figured it was somewhere on the plane or in the airport. We only had one with us, so we decided to buy something in DL to use. (more on this later).
So we walked through the castle and the crowds were very light for what I was expecting on a Saturday. The Snow White ride had no one in line so we just headed for that. We were very anxious to get on any ride. Cute ride. We then just walked a bit. We came to Small World and I knew it was going to close on Monday for refurb, so we went on it next. I loved all the Xmas decorations, even though we were not into Xmas at this point, it was still neat to see it. Meg loved this ride! There was quite a bit of water in the boats when we stepped in.
I had on my new Ryka walking shoes, and they kept my feet warm and dry through all of the rain. One problem stupid stupid me did not wear these in before coming to DL. Yep you guessed it. BLISTERS. OUCH OUCH OUCH. I HATE these shoes. LOL!!! Meg had on her pink converse hi-tops and her feet were a bit wet. Now one thing you need to know about Meg she wears pink converse hi-tops with everything dresses, skirts, jeans, shorts .the kid lives in them, so I did not bring another pair of shoes for her just a pair of flip flops for the pool. Big mistake (read about it on the 2nd-3rd day at DL!).
We then went to toon town where Meg met her fave ride Gadgets Go Coaster. She loved this and went on it about 5 times in a row.
We wandered over towards Splash Mtn area and went on a few rides along the way. We were a bit hungry and grabbed a quick bite at the Stage Door Café around 4pm. We shared some chicken fingers and the large order of fries that comes with them. We also bought a coke. This came to about $9.50. The large order of fries consisted of about 15 fries in the bottom of a cardboard Disney thingy with 4 chicken strips on top. Definitely felt ripped off. Food was ok but nothing special. We tried finding a hairbrush all over Disney - not sold anywhere. We went to World of Disney at DTD and found one! I paid $7 for a folding Tinkerbell hairbrush! Ouch! Oh well...it came in handy in my belt pack later in the week and is a great souvienier.
At this point we were getting tired. We had been up since 3am with only 3 hrs sleep prior to that, and really tired. It was raining harder and Fantasmic was cancelled, so we decided to do a few rides and looked in a couple of shops, and hit the 6pm shuttle back to the hotel. This hotel advertises that DL is 4.5 miles away and 5 minutes. NOT! Try a 16-20 min drive depending on traffic and at least 10 miles. It felt like a LONG walk back to the room, and even though we were only on the 2nd floor, we decided to use the elevator. My feet hurt so badly, Megs were wet, and we were exhausted. We got on the elevator and pushed 2. We ended up on the 3rd floor. We pushed 2 again and ended up on the first floor. One more try .. back up to the 3rd. It was skipping our floor! We thought we were on the TOT ride! So we decided to go back to floor 1 and advise the front desk, and it stopped on 2, so we hopped off quick! Our room felt so far away. I walked in bare feet to the room and the rain had come in so hard, that the walkways were soaked. We had a bowl of cereal for dinner and put on tv. Guess what? Tv wasnt working. I called the front desk . Took nearly a ½ hour for someone to come up. Part of the pay box on top that controls the tv was not plugged in properly or something. We watched 2 mins of tv and fell asleep. This was about 8:45pm. We woke up the next morning at 9am. I have never slept so solid in my life! I didnt even move I dont think! We were refreshed for the next day .then looked out the window and saw one of the biggest rain storms we had ever seen
But you guys are having fun so far in spite of your hotel. Honestly though, $12/night is unheard of! Am off to read the next installment...
