Just Mom and Me at Disneyland - *Updated with Final Thoughts 2/26 * About This Page:

[Tink and co.]

Just Mom and me at Disneyland
Cast of Characters
Me---I’m the mom, certified Disney Nut
Jack---My nine year old son, baby of the family, lover of legos, collector of stains, drinker of coffee
Janice---My good friend since the first grade
Jenny---My cousin and good friend

This trip was born over the summer this year, and I blame it entirely on my good, old (as in I’ve known her since first grade, she’s not eighty ) friend Janice. She came to visit us over the 4th of July week, and while visiting let it slip that she lived only ten minutes from Legoland and had 2 empty bedrooms at her house just waiting for company. Now, I’ve known all along where Janice lived and how many spare rooms she had, but we’d never taken her up on her generous offer, because five of us in her single adult household just didn’t seem fair. I was afraid we wouldn’t be friends for very long if she had to put up with us for any length of time.

Anywho, shortly after Janice left, I started checking Dings! And looking for discounted Legoland tickets online, and decided Jack and I should take a short trip when we were out of school in November. Now, I have two other children, but they’d be in school, and I asked DH if he wanted to be included, and got a firm “no.” So, it was a trip. I can’t stand to go to Southern California without a visit to Disneyland Resort.. So, I checked on one day park hoppers, and found that it wasn’t much more to go to the parks for two days so why not. I didn’t fancy driving the hour between Janice’s house and Disneyland more than once, so I booked a room at the Candy Cane Inn for two nights. I also decided it was important to do a little family visiting, and made plans to drop in on my 90 year old great aunt Martha. I spoke with my cousin and let her know we were coming, and she said to call her back when we had everything firmed up, so she could take some time off and join us in the parks.

A couple of weeks later, I happened to be looking at the Disneyland Website one evening and clicked on the link to all the special Halloween Time doings. I did a quick check of the calendar and decided if I bumped our trip up a week, we could see all the seasonal stuff! I perused the Legoland site as well and discovered that they had a “Brick or Treat” event that was included with your admission. A few websites later and I had booked airfare, rented a car, changed our reservation at the Candy Cane, and purchased tickets for both parks. WooHoo! I’m going to Disneyland!

[Lemap760]

Great start Rebecca.

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Rebecca More please

[MickeyMAC]

Great start, looking forward to more.

[chezp]

Great start Rebecca. Looking forward to reading more.

[Tink and co.]

Just Mom and me at Disneyland
Cast of Characters
Me---I’m the mom, certified Disney Nut
Jack---My nine year old son, baby of the family, lover of legos, collector of stains, drinker of coffee
Janice---My good friend since the first grade
Jenny---My cousin and good friend

We had only one bump while preparing for our trip, and that was major fires in Southern California, particularly in San Diego county, as in surrounding Janice’s house and closing Legoland. We had a couple of tense days (nothing compared to residents) and created a plan B that would have us staying at Jenny’s house and skipping Legoland in exchange for an extra day at Disneyland. After many anxious discussions with Janice, the night before we left everything seemed like it was going to work out. She wasn’t evacuated and her house was okay. So, back to plan A. We packed our bag, made sure DH and the girls had groceries and clean clothes. We made a list of all appointments/activities for DH, and went to bed early. But I didn’t sleep a wink. Well, maybe about four hours worth of winks, but certainly not enough to feel well rested. As anyone who knows me well can tell you, I’m a girl who needs her sleep. :grin: I’m pretty sure I was just way too excited!
DH dropped us off at the airport at 5:30 am for our 7:00 am flight. We expected a line for checking bags which has been our usual experience at this time of day. However, I’d forgotten it was a Saturday, so we didn’t have any line at all! Security was virtually empty as well, so we were at our gate before 6:00am. Jack was hungry, so we hit the coffee bar in the airport where he had a decaf Mocha and an apple fritter, and I had hot chocolate and a cinnamon roll. We were flying on Southwest for the first time in a long time, and I’d read that boarding procedures had changed. Well, they haven’t changed at our local airport. There was much jockeying for position in the A line, and as usual, it brought out the worst in several people. Jack was worried about us getting seats together, but I assured him we were in A group, so no problems. The gate clerk announced that there were only 43 people on our flight and everyone would get a good seat in hopes of calming some of the folks down, but it didn’t make much difference. In any case, we had a whole row to ourselves, and a smooth flight down. We were only offered coffee or orange juice during the flight, no cup of water even. So, I arrived at LAX thirsty! Our first stop was the newsstand for a bottle of water. Our suitcase arrived quickly, and we walked outside to find our car rental shuttle waiting for us.
A short ride later, we arrived at the lot and we’d signed up for Budget’s Fastbreak service, so we checked a screen which told us to choose any car from category 6. In category 6 we found several convertibles and SUVs. I was stoked, apparently we’d received an upgrade. After trying out several, we settled on a sporty little red number and drove it to the check out gate. Where I was promptly told I was to choose from category 2. :sad: So I had to back out , park the car and try again. This time we chose a red Pontiac of some sort, and when I got to the checkout lane (a different one this time), I explained that the monitor said category 6. She checked it over and said, that I indeed had received an upgrade, but since I was returning the car to a small satellite location, I couldn’t take a specialty car. That made a little more sense.
We were soon on our way to my Aunt Martha’s house in Redondo Beach. We arrived in about 20 minutes, and were soon visiting with all sorts of relatives. Jenny’s son (who’s a student at UCLA) even stopped by. We had a lovely morning catching up. About 1:00 we left to find some lunch as we were starving after having eaten breakfast so early. We found a Togo’s sandwich shop on our way to the 405 and stopped for a bite. I had a turkey sandwich with cranberries, and Jack had tuna. And then we were on our way. A little over an hour later we arrived at Janice’s house.
We unloaded the car, and were amazed at how “unsmoky” the air was. We’d driven by a still smoking Camp Pendleton and had expected smoky air when we got out of the car. Janice explained that the wind had shifted and it was their first “unsmoky” day in nearly a week. We headed in the house and engaged in another round of catching up (well, Jack had been visited out, so he vegged in front of cartoons while we talked). Janice’s parents called and offered to take us out to dinner, which I was very happy about, as I hadn’t seen them since my wedding nearly 16 years ago!
We had a yummy dinner at a little local Italian restaurant, and that’s when fatigue began to set in. Not long after dinner, we were heading off to bed. We needed to be well-rested for our big adventure at Legoland the next day! So far, our little trip is off to a fantastic start…

Up next, our Brick or Treat adventure at Legoland…

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update! Glad you made it safely, and everything is still on plan with all the fires going on! More please

[Lemap760]

Glad you travel day went well and the house is smoke free.

[mcc0313]

Great start....really interested in how the trip was since DL and Legoland are on the itiniary (sp?) for 2009....

[chezp]

Great update - I'm glad to hear things were smoke free. Shame about the not-to-be upgrade on the rental car though.

[DyanKJ130]

Great start!! Glad the fires were easing up some and there was no smoke when you arrived. Can't wait to hear more

[Chrissi]

Great start! Sorry to hear about the upgrade issue, though. That stinks!

[PrincessSharon]

Great start! Sorry you missed out on the upgrade. Glad you enjoyed your visit and had an unsmoky day. Looking forward to more!

[loobyoxlip]

Brick or Treat? That's cute.

Bummer you didn't get to cruise around in the little sporty car

[zacksmom_1993]

Great start! I can't wait to hear about the "Brick or Treat." Even at 14, Zack's quite the Lego maniac. Remember that commercial?