Somebody's Gonna Pee in a Cup, West Coast - Link to new TR 1/21

[KatMark]

I'm so far behind and getting ready to leave the office to go home and finish packing for Phoenix tomorrow. But I wanted to catch up on one or two TR's if I could.

Great pictures of the kids with Goofy, Donald, Mickey, Pluto and Minnie at Chef Mickey's. I'd love to get back there...maybe for breakfast some time (just aren't fans of the dinner...but, of course, because you like it ).

That's too funny that DD did not move when the dog got on the monorail.

I totally agree with you on the Grand Floridian. Gorgeous resort...but not just for me.

I will have to mention that Holiday Inn to my DH if we ever go back to Daytona. We are kind of stuck on the Marco side of things now, but you never know.

We've never tried that route home when we used to drive. It was always your first route that we took.

I personally have come to like the FP+ system, but I know it is not for everyone.

I look forward to hearing about Disneyland (and please don't start until I get back next week...I'm already far enough behind ).

 

[afwdwfan]

Sounds like it worked out just fine. Perhaps a new tradition has been born?

I don't know. Maybe. I guess it really just doesn't matter when we eat there as long as we eat there.

I've only been there once. I didn't know about that area.
Sounds like a pretty sweet set up.

I didn't like it the first time. It is way over behind the buffet. It felt like they were leading us off to the side in an out of the way area. At first it seemed like a dark corner off to the side. But it ended up being a great place to sit.

Yeah. Totally get that.
Draw out Disney time as long as you can!

Ah, yes. There's Goofy, and Mickey and Deja vu.

And Goofy still has ketchup on his coat. You'd think they'd keep a spare.

OMG that's hysterical!

It was a memorable moment, for sure.

Pictures is pictures. I'm not complaining.

Good, because complaining wouldn't make it better anyway.

Again... extend that Disney time as long as you can.

It's a little out of my price league, too.
But it doesn't scream Disney, ya know? Other than its proximity to MK.

Definitely a good assessment of it, IMO.

If only you had a smelly diaper in there somewhere then it would've been complete.

There was also a certain part of me that wanted to yell "Hey y'all, watch this!" and then slide down the bannister.

I have two theories here.
1. She was so tired by then that she just didn't care.
2. She instinctively knew that the dog was there for a special reason and accepted it for that.

I like to think it's #2.


Which would account for the smelly diaper.

I like your theory!

Classic 'Dad' response.
"Look Dad! I did this just for you, Dad. Because I love you so much!"
"Uh, huh. Meh."

Yeah, about right. He never gets too excited about anything.

A lot of great shots... but that one's my fave.

If you want to see a cropping suggestion let me know.
If you don't, that's cool too.

DW handles that aspect of things. I just take them from the SD card and post them for the TR.

I think she did crop it though. I know it is printed and in a frame. But I don't have the photographer's eye. That's for sure.

Of course he did! If only you'd caught it on video.

Would have been a good one.

Ugh.
I don't know which is worse.
Traffic jam on the way down, when you're dying to get there.
Or on the way back, when you're dead tired and just want to get home.

Oh geeze. I'm not even sure there's a reasonable way to come up for an answer to that one.

I'm gonna guess there's going to be more likes than dislikes.

Well, of course. I kind of meant I'd mention some of the things I like or dislike in relation of one coast to the other. But of course dislike is a relative term.

If he's telling others, that means he liked it enough to want to tell others.

Good point.

That'll do it. It's tiring being the tour director.

Is that what it is... I think solo might be the way to go...

True. But couldn't you compare that to running out of fastpasses in the old system?

Well... yeah. I guess. Although I never had that problem. I mean, I realized they ran out. But we were always good about doing RD, so we'd often ride the headliners and then also FP them to ride later. So truthfully, we actually end up riding things like Soarin' or RnRC once with FP+ where we typically would ride twice in a day under the old system.

And as for my complaint about not being able to change the time on one of those headliners if you're running late. Well, back in the day, when they didn't used to enforce the return time.... We left DHS with a crying, screaming 2 year old and 2 FP for RnRC in my pocket. We ate lunch, got DW and DS settled in for a nap and I returned that afternoon to use those FP's probably about 2 hours after they expired. That's the kind of flexibility I miss.

I hear that.
I originally had an ADR at a decent time for 50s Prime Time but had to change it... only a few days later.
And it was already booked up solid for that day.

True. But... see previous comment.

Looking forward to it Andy!

I hope I get there soon. I was hoping to type a transition post this week and have yet to even start.

I enjoyed reading your entire TR! Lots of fun - all of the pictures were great as well. I look forward to hearing about Disneyland!

Thank you! And I hope you have a great spring break trip!

 

[afwdwfan]

Don't be ridiculous. Nobody's that stupid.

What are the odds of something like that ever happening?

Sounds like DDP to me.

I think you're correct Dr. Oblivious.

D'oh! Still, I like the idea of treating DDP with an extended monorail ride.

Oh, the ails a loop on the monorail can cure...

You mean you don't live in a marble mansion in a gated community either?

I've got fences and gates. But I don't think they're the kind they'd be interested in.

Heh. That'll teach 'em.

I kind of felt like I was performing a defiant Homer Simpson act when I did it.

Well...it'll be good for archival purposes.

Hey look! That little toy soldier moved 1/32" to the left this year!

I guess you can skip that Arizona trip for the Big Hole In The Ground, then.

Well, we might just take the kids!

I don't know. He might actually be more inclined to enjoy that. But the farthest west he's ever been is Nebraska. And the farthest south he'd ever been before this trip was Tennessee. So it might be like moving a mountain to get him all the way out there.

Sounds like a winner to me. I generally don't care where I stay as long as the rooms are clean and they have a breakfast available, but I have to admit...if the prices are comparable, I'll generally lean towards HIE just for the cinnamon rolls.

I like clean rooms. But as someone who used to travel all the time for work, I learned to just stick to chains if possible just to help decrease the uncertainty factor. I actually received a Christmas card in 2007 from the folks at HIE thanking me for being in the top 1% of their customers that year.

Those are some absolutely fantastic photos!

Thanks. DW took them, but thanks anyway!

It was probably the DOT's fault.

It was. What kind of idiot thought 2 northbound lanes was sufficient?

I'm guessing we saw eye-to-eye on a lot of these.

We have a word for that, too. It's called "vacation".

Good point.

So...you like flexibility and options?

Just kidding, I know what you mean. I still haven't experienced FP+, so I don't know what it's like. I do know that the old FP system would sometimes get annoying because the return time would be later than I wanted, or they'd run out of FP's. I'd love to not have to plan dining reservations so far out but with the crowds I've accepted it as a necessary evil. I'm sure there are pluses and minuses with it like everything else.

Yeah, I get the need for it. But when comparing to the simplicity of planning for DL, it really makes me miss the old days at WDW.

Great beach photos!!

DW took them, but thanks. I was sitting up on the balcony staying warm.

Thanks for the report Andy. I enjoyed following along.

Thanks for reading along!

 

[pkondz]

There was also a certain part of me that wanted to yell "Hey y'all, watch this!" and then slide down the bannister.

Well, of course. I kind of meant I'd mention some of the things I like or dislike in relation of one coast to the other. But of course dislike is a relative term.

I can see it now.
"I'm going to compare these two rides. West coast was like while east coast was more "

And as for my complaint about not being able to change the time on one of those headliners if you're running late. Well, back in the day, when they didn't used to enforce the return time.... We left DHS with a crying, screaming 2 year old and 2 FP for RnRC in my pocket. We ate lunch, got DW and DS settled in for a nap and I returned that afternoon to use those FP's probably about 2 hours after they expired. That's the kind of flexibility I miss.

Excellent point. And it's probably the biggest knock against the new system.
Then again, they might've cracked down on return times anyway.
But it was nice to get fastpasses for rides then come back in the late afternoon/evening and bypass all the long lines.

 

[MEK]

It's cool that you switched things up bit and went to Chef Mickey's on a different day. Cute pictures of the kids with the characters. Love it!

I love that comment about Lake Michigan. It probably makes you wonder why the heck you didn't just spend your last night at Disney.

I love the beach pictures. They are just stunning. I think the trip was worth it for the pictures alone.

I hear ya on the tight scheduling. That is why I always leave some wiggle room in my schedule - but mostly in the form of non ADR days. I find that the meals take a lot of time and that can be annoying.

I am really looking forward to your DL trip and I promise to keep up better because I don't have any vacations planned for awhile.

 

[afwdwfan]

I just started your trip report and am really enjoying it so far. I can relate to what you said here. We have traveled with extended family before and it is like herding turtles. For some reason everything seems to take longer when there are more opinions in the decision making process.

It really didn't have much to do with differing opinions. I think we were really always on point and on the same page. I just can't put my finger on what exactly our issue was this time around, but it just felt like we weren't moving efficiently.

When we went to Disney with our daughter, son-in-law and two children age 3 and 5 at the time, in Feb of 2013, our daughter felt like there was never enough down time. We had all done the dining plan for the first time ever, and too much time was spent getting to our ADR's. As a result of that trip, she decided to never travel with family again - well, actually, she invited DH and I but not the other extended family. And we would only be together for three days of their trip. The rest of the time they wanted to be on their own schedule. So this last January that is what we did. And it worked out well. I still think our daughter would be happiest if no other family member came with them, but the limited time together worked out pretty good. If the youngest one wasn't still having melt downs, it would have been better.

Oh wow... I don't mind the extended family trips at all. I actually enjoy them. This time, MiL and FiL were just kind of along for the ride and willing to do whatever we wanted so the indecision factor didn't slow us down. They went where I went. I really think it might have been more because instead of a divide and conquer technique that we're used to, we had a lot more down time doing rider swaps. That really slowed us down more than we'd planned, I think.

Typically when we've done extended family trips with my parents and sisters, everyone is a Disney vet. So we would maybe do headliners and meals together and then everybody would split up. Maybe in the same park, maybe separate parks, maybe back at the resort. The biggest thing is that we could take turns with the kids. Someone could take the kids for a while so we could hit some of the height restriction rides, so we really never even used Rider Swap until this trip.

Even when it was just DW and I, we'd do it that way... that's how we worked Disneyland, actually.

By the way, we have found that the new fp system actually helped with these multi-family trips because it took away some of the "what should we do next" and added the option of breaking into groups to meet again for the next fp.

I agree. It is nice to kind of outline the agenda. But if you've got a 1 pm FP+ for TSMM and things get bogged down in the morning, it can make for a stressful day...

Enjoyed your trip report!

Thanks!

Actually, a great way to end a trip! Well for you and your family. With the way TH ended, don't think DS would be thrilled by my choice

It is a great way to end it. Surely he'll grow to enjoy them over the course of the trip???

You got some great shots with the characters. Even better that they came by again! I don't remember if we've ever stayed long enough at a Character meal to see if they came by around again. But always wondered if the characters remembered you and would skip tables to go to new tables.

Actually I didn't mention this... but when we ate at Garden Grill they came by the second time. Mickey stopped by briefly the second time around, but Chip and Dale skipped us. They clearly remembered us and moved on. At CM, they stopped and gave us full attention once again.

This is cute. The only cute thing i've seen of Frozen. Wow so much hatred coming out of my mouth!

Let it go!!!!

Don't think you missed much. It was nice (I think I took pics of it), but the waterfall really made the Poly, IMO.

Seems fair from what I've seen. It looks nice from the pictures I've seen, but not all that impressive.

Oh yeah... you're one of those high class GF people now too, aren't you?

But I'll admit, I do think the villas look pretty awesome. I could probably stand to stay there. Not sure I could stomach the cost of paying out of pocket for a regular resort room though.

Yay glad she was fine with the dog down by her stroller.

It was a relief that she didn't freak out!

Beautiful!

This is such a cool picture. Very artistic!

Thanks. I'm no photographer though. It was all DW. I was chillin on the balcony.

I know the drive probably is boring, but the way you lay it out like this, this sounds like it would be a very cool road trip.

It isn't a bad drive at all. We just hadn't been the other way so we thought it might be fun to see some different sights.

The worst part though, is the Atlanta to Orlando stretch. Atlanta is about the halfway point for us. And once you get south of Atlanta, there just isn't a whole lot to see except for billboards for peanuts, peaches and XXX stores.

I'm cool with making ADR's 6 months out. Mainly due to the fact that DH is looking at menus as early as 11 months out. But i'm so with you on FP+. I hate that you can't choose more FP's until all 3 are gone. And we found out this trip (I probably should have researched better ) that if we skip or miss a FP and don't delete it, the system still sees it as an unused FP so we could never add a third FP. I wish they could make it so that it automatically deletes if you do forget to delete it yourself.

Ok, I don't mind making an ADR that far out. I just hate the lack of flexibility it causes when they change park hours and then you can't change your ADR accordingly.

We didn't run into that problem with the FP+... this is the first I've heard of it! I know for a fact that I booked a 4th FP+ for all of us when we didn't all get our bands scanned for one of the original 3. Now, the time window was definitely up, but we didn't all use all of our earlier FP+.

Yaaaas! Excited about this

Me too!

 

[afwdwfan]

I'm so far behind and getting ready to leave the office to go home and finish packing for Phoenix tomorrow. But I wanted to catch up on one or two TR's if I could.

And you chose mine? I'm honored!

Great pictures of the kids with Goofy, Donald, Mickey, Pluto and Minnie at Chef Mickey's. I'd love to get back there...maybe for breakfast some time (just aren't fans of the dinner...but, of course, because you like it ).

You know, I wouldn't just rave about the dinner. I mean it is a Disney buffet. I've got no complaints about the food, but I'm not going to be scrambling to get an ADR because the food there is just that memorable. We're there for the characters. I'd probably prefer breakfast, honestly, because it is cheaper. That's why an arrival day "brunch" there is really ideal! But we just go with what fits the schedule better.

That's too funny that DD did not move when the dog got on the monorail.

I know. I'm glad that she was ok with it.

I totally agree with you on the Grand Floridian. Gorgeous resort...but not just for me.

I will have to mention that Holiday Inn to my DH if we ever go back to Daytona. We are kind of stuck on the Marco side of things now, but you never know.

I'm with you there. I prefer the Gulf side to the Atlantic side any time. And I don't know what the in season rate would be for this hotel, I'm sure much higher. But it was a nice hotel. Nothing fancy, had a pool and beachfront access. If I wanted to spend a week on the beach, I'd stay there.

We've never tried that route home when we used to drive. It was always your first route that we took.

Yeah, that would definitely make more sense for you. We're located between I-65 and I-74 where we live, so it really doesn't make much difference coming one way or the other, but definitely wouldn't be an efficient way for you to go.

I personally have come to like the FP+ system, but I know it is not for everyone.

Don't get me wrong. I like it. And I like it a lot more than I expected to. But it still has some flaws and some things that I just don't like about it.

I look forward to hearing about Disneyland (and please don't start until I get back next week...I'm already far enough behind ).

I'll try to wait...

I can see it now.
"I'm going to compare these two rides. West coast was like while east coast was more "

See, now you've got it!

Excellent point. And it's probably the biggest knock against the new system.
Then again, they might've cracked down on return times anyway.
But it was nice to get fastpasses for rides then come back in the late afternoon/evening and bypass all the long lines.

Well, they did crack down on that for a few months before they rolled out FP+. But I miss those days.

It's cool that you switched things up bit and went to Chef Mickey's on a different day. Cute pictures of the kids with the characters. Love it!

Thanks! I'm just glad we got to eat there. The kids love it and it is a fun place to eat.

I love that comment about Lake Michigan. It probably makes you wonder why the heck you didn't just spend your last night at Disney.

No kidding! Well, truthfully, we were planning to stay farther north that evening so we would have a shorter drive on Saturday. And maybe we should have.

I love the beach pictures. They are just stunning. I think the trip was worth it for the pictures alone.

DW took them, but thanks. I agree, she did a good job.

I hear ya on the tight scheduling. That is why I always leave some wiggle room in my schedule - but mostly in the form of non ADR days. I find that the meals take a lot of time and that can be annoying.

Oh yeah. They definitely do. But we always seem to have a hard time just paring the ADR list down to one per day.

I am really looking forward to your DL trip and I promise to keep up better because I don't have any vacations planned for awhile.

Thanks! I don't have anything planned either. We really want to find something budget friendly to do for a week this summer though.

 

[momabbate]

What a great visit! Thank you for sharing. You have some amazing stories from this trip. Can't wait to read about the West Coast!

 

[afwdwfan]

Thanks for following along. And I've been working on my transition post this evening while I'm watching basketball...

 

[afwdwfan]

Stay Classy, San Diego!


I know. I took the easy way out on the title of this update. But seriously… ever since I first saw Anchorman in the theater, I can’t even think of San Diego without that line popping into my head.


Well, the other variation of that line pops into my head too, but I didn’t think that was Dis appropriate.


I’m sure the people of San Diego are probably as annoyed by tourists saying that as the employees at Caesar’s Palace in Vegas are by guests asking if it is the real Caesar’s Palace.


Not that I’ve ever said either of those lines in either location…




Anyway, here is kind of a recap for those who have been here from the beginning of this TR. As you may remember, I started on the Disney World portion of this TR shortly after we returned and then I was posting some live updates from California.


You know, while I still had a phone.



After we returned home from Disney World, it was just a few days before Christmas. So the bulk of our time between trips was spent rushing from one family Christmas party to another. As you can imagine, those 3 weeks really flew by, even though we had some excitement to look forward to!


But we had some hiccups along the way as well.


We were scheduled to have our furnace checked and serviced while DW was off work between Christmas and New Years. Her office closes that week, mine unfortunately doesn’t.


They found some problems and we needed a new furnace. This wasn’t a huge surprise. Our furnace was actually nearly 30 years old. But still running strong so I hated to replace it prematurely. I know it isn’t as efficient as a new one, but I figure if it has lasted that long it is more durable than anything they’ll ever put in it’s place. Basically it needed some parts that are no longer made… it was still operational but we were on borrowed time. The company who serviced our system used to be locally owned, but had been absorbed by a larger company a few years ago. We’d been frustrated with the customer service since then, but we trusted our service tech, which is the only reason why we stayed with them. When we call now, it goes into a call center halfway across the state… just not as local as the business used to be.


And our service appointment was actually supposed to be in September. They didn’t show, DW called and the lady had no record of our appointment and they couldn’t get us in until December… so there was that too.


Since we were frustrated and on the verge of ditching them for another service provider anyway we decided to get a second opinion and quotes from some other companies.


I told them we intended to get other quotes from the get go. They sent someone out to do the quote. And he talked big and showed me how much the unit costs and how much he was discounting it for me since I’ve been a customer and done their service plan for several years. And he was even going to knock off some more to make sure he keeps my business and give me an absolute bottom dollar price.


Yeah, the second place I called was the local company that my parents use now and they beat the rock bottom, extra special hush hush deal by $1200. We went with B. And for the record are very happy so far.


Regardless how much it cost, it was a kick in the pants to have that extra expense right at that point in time, but we ended up having the new furnace installed the day before we left for California.


In other exciting news over our month between trips, the kids caught the flu in the week leading up to New Years. That was no fun either. We at least managed to avoid the stomach bug… that time anyway. But we were pretty concerned about our well being for our trip west. Truthfully, I was kind of actually hoping I’d just get sick then too so I’d have plenty of time to get over it before we left. My biggest fear was getting sick about the time we left or when we got out there. Thankfully within about a week’s time, both kids were on the mend and back to normal. And I never got sick.


So far.


I’ve been lucky this flu season aside from a little bit of a cold just after we returned home from California.


But that brings us to New Years Day… old man here is helping put laundry away and pack some bags for our trip. I bent over to pick up a sock or something and threw my back out. I’d done it before, but this was by far the worst I’ve ever hurt it. With New Years being a Thursday, I put up with it for a few days before I could see the doctor, unable to walk more than about 25% normal speed because I could only take baby steps. I finally went to the doctor and ended up being prescribed a steroid, muscle relaxer and painkiller. Thankfully the meds quickly took the edge off and I was able to walk somewhat normally within a few days. By the time we left for our trip, I was moving like normal with just some slight discomfort.


I wasn’t sure how sitting in an airplane seat for a few hours would affect me. I would still be taking the steroids for the first 4 days of our trip, but I was glad to also have the muscle relaxer and painkiller with me if I needed them at Disneyland. I didn’t want to be slowed down once we got there!



As for the rest of what little free time we had in between trips, we were busy catching up on things and preparing for being gone another week.



***********



Our flight was scheduled to leave Indianapolis at 5:35 Saturday morning. Being that this was the first time traveling with the kids, we wanted to be plenty early. We live about 45 minutes from the airport and DW’s parents offered to drive us so we wouldn’t have to pay for parking.


They came over Friday night and slept in the living room and we got up at 3:00 and were on the road by 3:15. We easily got checked in and through security. We grabbed some snacks and water and even as early as we got there, we didn’t wait at the gate for long at all before boarding.


DW and the kids sat on the right side of the aisle. I was in the aisle seat right across from them. This is how we ended up being seated for all of our flights. We got on the plane and things were ok at first. But DD decided she didn’t want to sit in her seat. She wanted DW to hold her.


Then she wanted snacks… right now!!!



Oh, you have fruit snacks for me? No! I want Pretzels!


Do you think I’m stupid??? Don’t even try to give me Cheerios!


What is that? A pretzel? No, I want a fruit snack!



Literally, no matter what we’d offer her, she wanted something else. The. Whole. Flight.



She also wanted her tray table down all the time. And didn’t care what the flight attendants said. We tried to use the threat that they’d kick her off the plane and even that didn’t phase her.


In the end, whatever DD wanted at any point in time during any of our flights, we didn’t have. They don’t allow bags that large in the cabin. She was a real PITA on the plane. It wasn’t horrible, and I don’t think she made a lot of noise and distracted others for the most part… at least I hope not. But she made DW’s flights a living hell.


No, I wasn’t completely off the hook. She came and sat on my lap some, but she’d always sit with me for a few minutes and then want mommy.


You know… whichever parent didn’t have her is who she wanted.


She did end up falling asleep in DW’s lap eventually so it didn’t work out too horribly. DS had the window seat and he crashed shortly after take off, so DW was able to put up the armrests and stretch across all the seats with the kids.


We were racing the sun across the sky, staying just ahead and in the dark. I spent most of the flight reading, but I managed to close my eyes at one point and get a little bit of sleep for a few minutes. That is when the excitement started.


I had drifted off and was out cold. All of a sudden, I felt someone grab my shoulder. I woke up in a panic, just in time to see the guy who had grabbed my shoulder pass out on the floor of the plane.


Freaked me out!


Apparently, the guy was diabetic and had gotten out of his seat to head for the lavatory. He just flat out passed out momentarily and ended up grabbing me on his way down. There was a doctor the row in front of me fortunately, and one of the flight attendants was a medic so they were quick to attend to him and get him back on his feet and back to his seat.


We landed on time for our layover in Phoenix and a medic came on board to escort this man off the plane before the rest of us could get up. We had about a 50 minute layover, and really didn’t have any time to waste by the time we got off the plane. We made a quick restroom stop and found the gate for our connecting flight just as it was time to board.


The second flight was shorter. Thankfully. And the sun was up. Not that sleep was even a consideration for me anymore after the adrenaline surge on the first flight.


DD did even worse on this flight than the first one. She absolutely freaked out because we didn’t have the movie she wanted to watch saved on any of the devices we had with us. I don’t even remember what movie it was she wanted, but we had Planes Fire and Rescue and Frozen. Which are 2 big time favorites in our house and watched on heavy rotation. We also had a couple of others, and she wanted none of them. She did cry and I’m sure caused a distraction for a while. Thankfully DW got her to calm down after maybe 5 or 10 minutes, but it definitely felt much longer than that!!!


We landed in San Diego at just a little after 9 am and I was thrilled to be leaving the airport! No more planes for a week anyway!


We had reserved a rental car with Alamo. All the rental places (I believe all of them) in San Diego are off site. We waited maybe 10 minutes and got on a shuttle to the rental place. Once there, we waited maybe 5 minutes to check in. I’d done the online check-in, but of course they tried to upsell anyway. Once I made it clear that I didn’t want anything I hadn’t already signed up for we were out the door and had our choice of any full size car we wanted.


I chose a Dodge Charger because it looked like it had the bigger trunk of any of them. And we needed every cubic inch of trunk space available to us!


I pulled out my GPS, which I had preprogrammed the hotel’s address into before we left and plugged it in. We headed out of the parking garage, and of course the GPS hadn’t picked up a satellite signal yet.


That’s alright. I know the hotel is somewhere south of here… we’ll just consult the car’s compass…




Where the @*$% is the #&*% compass!?!?!?!?



For the record, I never did find a compass anywhere. I thought that was standard equipment in the modern automobile?



I’m pretty good with directions. If I drive somewhere, I’m perfectly fine. I can find my way around and I always have a pretty good sense of direction. But when I get out of a plane after being dropped into a new locale… I’m a little disoriented and it takes me a while to gain my bearings.


We could see that the airport was to our right. And I concluded that we were east of the airport since I also saw water to my right so we continued driving along. We drove several blocks and the GPS still hadn’t found the satellites yet.


I had DW look the hotel up on her phone and literally at the exact time she found it, the GPS finally caught up with us. We were going the right direction, but just a couple of blocks east of where we needed to be.


All in all, it wasn’t too bad, but I wanted to pull over and wait on the GPS or one of us to pull it up on our phones, and there was literally nowhere I could find to stop. We just had to keep on driving along. All the street parking was full and I couldn’t really see anywhere to pull over out of the way aside from pay parking lots. I wasn’t too impressed and I figured at that point that we wouldn’t be going anywhere that we wouldn’t have to pay for parking. We ended up deciding to just leave the car at the hotel since we’d have plenty to do within walking distance.


Eventually, we arrived at our hotel. I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to check in or not since it was so early, but luckily our room was ready.


We stayed at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, and I have to say, it was very nice! The hotel is made of 2 towers, with a pool and recreation area between the 2 of them on the 2nd floor roof. Our room was in the southern tower with a north facing room. We overlooked the pool area and could see out beyond the hotel overlooking Seaport Village and the bay.


















Unfortunately, these are the only hotel pictures we got. And we didn't even take the camera with us, so there's nothing but phone pictures for this trip.




We unpacked the bags with the clothes we brought for our time in San Diego and settled into our room. We’d had a full day of travel already, finally settled into our home for 3 nights, and it was still not even 11 am. The only thing we need to do in relation to the conference today is pick up badges at the Convention Center.



What should we do now??

 

[SarahDisney]

Then she wanted snacks… right now!!!



Oh, you have fruit snacks for me? No! I want Pretzels!


Do you think I’m stupid??? Don’t even try to give me Cheerios!


What is that? A pretzel? No, I want a fruit snack!



Literally, no matter what we’d offer her, she wanted something else. The. Whole. Flight.

That sounds like a delight. Really ... I'm sure you had tons of fun with that.
Now I see why you don't really want to fly with her again any time soon.

I had drifted off and was out cold. All of a sudden, I felt someone grab my shoulder. I woke up in a panic, just in time to see the guy who had grabbed my shoulder pass out on the floor of the plane.


Freaked me out!


Apparently, the guy was diabetic and had gotten out of his seat to head for the lavatory. He just flat out passed out momentarily and ended up grabbing me on his way down. There was a doctor the row in front of me fortunately, and one of the flight attendants was a medic so they were quick to attend to him and get him back on his feet and back to his seat.

That's a little crazy ... totally don't blame you for being freaked out!
It's good that there were people around to help.
I would have been looking around hoping there was someone else who could help ... (thankfully, I don't have to worry about that much longer ... my CPR certification expires next week and I'm not planning to renew it, so after next week I won't be able to help people). Although I would like to think that I'm that person who would scream as loud as possible "Is anyone here a doctor or nurse?" But I'd probably wait until after I freaked out.

For the record, I never did find a compass anywhere. I thought that was standard equipment in the modern automobile?

I don't drive, so I'm probably the worst person to ask, but ... I have never in my life heard of cars having compasses. Is this actually a thing? I don't know if either of my family's cars has one. I just have a compass on my phone ... but I'm guessing that if you could have taken our your phone, you would have just consulted the GPS on your phone.

The view from the hotel room looks really nice!

 

[afwdwfan]

That sounds like a delight. Really ... I'm sure you had tons of fun with that.
Now I see why you don't really want to fly with her again any time soon.

Oh, it was just brutal.

That's a little crazy ... totally don't blame you for being freaked out!
It's good that there were people around to help.
I would have been looking around hoping there was someone else who could help ... (thankfully, I don't have to worry about that much longer ... my CPR certification expires next week and I'm not planning to renew it, so after next week I won't be able to help people). Although I would like to think that I'm that person who would scream as loud as possible "Is anyone here a doctor or nurse?" But I'd probably wait until after I freaked out.

I've got no training. And I just woke up so by the time I shook off the cobwebs and realized what was happening, someone was already yelling for a doctor and help was swarming. I held a medkit for the flight attendant... that was my contribution.

I don't drive, so I'm probably the worst person to ask, but ... I have never in my life heard of cars having compasses. Is this actually a thing? I don't know if either of my family's cars has one. I just have a compass on my phone ... but I'm guessing that if you could have taken our your phone, you would have just consulted the GPS on your phone.

Yeah, most of them do anymore. Either a digital readout on the mirror or radio or the instrument cluster. I sure couldn't find one anywhere on that Charger though.

The view from the hotel room looks really nice!

I really liked our view. We couldn't get a good picture of it with the phones, but it was beautiful at night.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We got on the plane and things were ok at first. But DD decided she didn’t want to sit in her seat. She wanted DW to hold her.


Then she wanted snacks… right now!!!



Oh, you have fruit snacks for me? No! I want Pretzels!


Do you think I’m stupid??? Don’t even try to give me Cheerios!


What is that? A pretzel? No, I want a fruit snack!



Literally, no matter what we’d offer her, she wanted something else. The. Whole. Flight.

It is really hard to deal with when you are stuck in an airplane seat.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

I know. I took the easy way out on the title of this update. But seriously… ever since I first saw Anchorman in the theater, I can’t even think of San Diego without that line popping into my head.


Well, the other variation of that line pops into my head too, but I didn’t think that was Dis appropriate.

I can completely understand this feeling, and totally approve.

You know, while I still had a phone.

I think your phone and my video camera are sharing some great stories in Heaven's sports bar right now.

Yeah, the second place I called was the local company that my parents use now and they beat the rock bottom, extra special hush hush deal by $1200. We went with B. And for the record are very happy so far.

Ugh. Sounds like a pain to deal with that whole situation. Our big Christmas present was a replacement microwave for the one that crapped out on us. It's such a letdown. Yay...we're back to where we were.

I bent over to pick up a sock or something and threw my back out.

Don't feel bad. I mean, that could happen to anyone.

Oh, you have fruit snacks for me? No! I want Pretzels!


Do you think I’m stupid??? Don’t even try to give me Cheerios!


What is that? A pretzel? No, I want a fruit snack!

And TSA confiscated your taser, didn't they?

DD did even worse on this flight than the first one. She absolutely freaked out because we didn’t have the movie she wanted to watch saved on any of the devices we had with us. I don’t even remember what movie it was she wanted, but we had Planes Fire and Rescue and Frozen. Which are 2 big time favorites in our house and watched on heavy rotation. We also had a couple of others, and she wanted none of them. She did cry and I’m sure caused a distraction for a while. Thankfully DW got her to calm down after maybe 5 or 10 minutes, but it definitely felt much longer than that!!!

They could have at least put laughing gas in those masks that drop from the ceiling and let you use it.

I’m pretty good with directions. If I drive somewhere, I’m perfectly fine. I can find my way around and I always have a pretty good sense of direction.

Uh oh. This sounds an awful lot like someone else I know. And it was famous last words in his case.

Unfortunately, these are the only hotel pictures we got.

Looks like a pretty sweet place.

What should we do now??

Lock the kids in the room and hit the town?

 

[franandaj]

I can see where having a working furnace would be a bonus in your neck of the woods! But to have a $1200 hit at that time of the year is a bummer.

Good thing you dodged the sickness bullet, too bad about your back. Good thing it healed up by the time you left.

That's too bad your DD was being so finicky. And that's pretty freaky about the guy fainting right next to your seat!

Good thing you made the flight in Phoenix. I've never changed planes there, is it a very big airport?

The hotel room looks nice enough. That's a very busy area down near Seaport village, and I'm pretty sure there was no place to park without a hefty parking fee.

I think I know what you did next!

 

[Vernie822]

Omg, poor DD on the plane! Or should I say, poor you?! Lol. I'm sure it's such a weird experience for them on a flight sine they really can't go anywhere and are stuck in this huge airplane with a ton of people they don't know! At miles above the earth, of course.

I probably would have peed my pants if someone grabbed my shoulder as I was sleeping and then proceeded to pass out onto the floor of the plane.. holy cow. It's great that there was a doctor right in front of you guys, though. That kind of stuff is so scary.

 

[GAN]

Wow. No doubt you're overlooking Seaport Village -great view! San Diego is our "2nd Home" so glad to hear you visited ....it's a wonderful city.

 

[pkondz]

But seriously… ever since I first saw Anchorman in the theater, I can’t even think of San Diego without that line popping into my head.

I've seen the movie, but I don't even remember that.
I had to Google it and watch a short video.

I guess it just didn't make enough of an impression.

Well, the other variation of that line pops into my head too, but I didn’t think that was Dis appropriate.

Had to look that up too.
Definitely don't want to mention any German words....

I’m sure the people of San Diego are probably as annoyed by tourists saying that as the employees at Caesar’s Palace in Vegas are by guests asking if it is the real Caesar’s Palace.


Not that I’ve ever said either of those lines in either location…

The only problem with that... is there really are people who want to know if it's the original Caesar's Palace.

oy.

You know, while I still had a phone.

A phone? What's that?
A yes! A marvelous disappearing object?

They found some problems and we needed a new furnace.

Oh, boy.
That's always an inexpensive proposition.

I know it isn’t as efficient as a new one, but I figure if it has lasted that long it is more durable than anything they’ll ever put in it’s place.

The problem with ads or people saying "Get it (or I got it) for the efficiency" can't do math.
I especially hear that with scooters and motorcycles.
I spent $5000 on this scooter/bike so I can save money on gas!

Do you have any idea how many years it'll take before you break even?

I get that you had to replace it, don't get me wrong.
Just venting a little.


Or a lot. Whichever.

And our service appointment was actually supposed to be in September. They didn’t show, DW called and the lady had no record of our appointment and they couldn’t get us in until December… so there was that too.

Nice.
And it only took them three months to make it up to you.

Yeah, the second place I called was the local company that my parents use now and they beat the rock bottom, extra special hush hush deal by $1200.

I love it!

we ended up having the new furnace installed the day before we left for California.

Weren't you nervous?
"I think the furnace installation was done right.... at least I hope so... I guess we'll find out when we get back."

I'd be a wreck!

the kids caught the flu in the week leading up to New Years.

Always fun.

Truthfully, I was kind of actually hoping I’d just get sick then too so I’d have plenty of time to get over it before we left.

I get that.
I really do.

My biggest fear was getting sick about the time we left or when we got out there.

I’ve been lucky this flu season aside from a little bit of a cold just after we returned home from California.

after is better.
after is always better.

I did the same thing.
Except I caught a cold and threw my back out afterwards.
You only got it half right.

I bent over to pick up a sock or something and threw my back out.

That's sad. What kind of a man are you?
Can't pick up a sock?
Do you want me to cut your meat for you too?

(Says the guy who threw his back out... reaching for a Kleenex.... no lie.)

unable to walk more than about 25% normal speed because I could only take baby steps.

Oh, I know that feeling.
You, me and Nebo should get together.
Between the three of us, we could make up two thirds of a whole person!

I finally went to the doctor and ended up being prescribed a steroid, muscle relaxer and painkiller.

Huh. I get nothing like that.
I do go to physiotherapy though.

I think the result is identical.
It just takes a few days.

I wasn’t sure how sitting in an airplane seat for a few hours would affect me.

Oh, boy. I know that feeling too.
I was okay with it. You?

Our flight was scheduled to leave Indianapolis at 5:35 Saturday morning

Who the heck makes up these ungodly departure times?

Being that this was the first time traveling with the kids,

Which you knew, of course, would be perfectly smooth sailing, right?

Flying, no. But sailing? Sure?

Oh, you have fruit snacks for me? No! I want Pretzels!


Do you think I’m stupid??? Don’t even try to give me Cheerios!


What is that? A pretzel? No, I want a fruit snack!

Give her what she wants man!

And didn’t care what the flight attendants said. We tried to use the threat that they’d kick her off the plane and even that didn’t phase her.

Next time, just put her in with the checked bags.


No?

You know… whichever parent didn’t have her is who she wanted.

Well, of course!
The grass is always greener.

I had drifted off and was out cold. All of a sudden, I felt someone grab my shoulder. I woke up in a panic, just in time to see the guy who had grabbed my shoulder pass out on the floor of the plane.

Holy cow!
Just a little startling!
Nice way to be jolted right out of sleep!

Freaked me out!

I bet!

There was a doctor the row in front of me fortunately, and one of the flight attendants was a medic so they were quick to attend to him and get him back on his feet and back to his seat.

Well, that's good.
I've been on a flight or two where they've asked if there was a doctor on board.
Never did see what the problem was, or even if a doctor showed up.

DD did even worse on this flight than the first one.

Oh, boy.
And you probably thought that wasn't possible, right?

Amazing what a lack of sleep will do to... I was going to say a child, but really it could be anyone.

She did cry and I’m sure caused a distraction for a while. Thankfully DW got her to calm down after maybe 5 or 10 minutes, but it definitely felt much longer than that!!!

Aww. Poor thing.
Did you see that thing that went viral not too long ago about the parents who handed out goody bags to surrounding passengers?
It had candy and earplugs in it I think?

And then I read an article saying that shouldn't be necessary because it's a baby.
We were all there at some point and it's just part of life so accept it.

It is what it is.
I was on a flight from Minneapolis to Winnipeg (about an hour and a half I think)
and this little baby screamed the whole time.
I just felt sorry for the parents.
It's tough because you a) are embarrassed because you think the other passengers hate you and b) you just want to do something, anything to make your child feel better.

I don't envy you one bit my friend.

Just remember that eventually little girls grow up.
and then a whole other set of problems come in!!!

I’d done the online check-in, but of course they tried to upsell anyway.

No! This almost never happens!

I chose a Dodge Charger because it looked like it had the bigger trunk of any of them.

Yeah. For the trunk. Of course.
"Well, there's this minivan... or SUV... or large boring car.... or... what's this? A Charger? I could be like I was in the Daytona 500!!!!!"

For the record, I never did find a compass anywhere. I thought that was standard equipment in the modern automobile?

I've only seldom seen a compass.
I think the opposite. The majority of new cars don't have compasses.

I’m pretty good with directions. If I drive somewhere, I’m perfectly fine. I can find my way around and I always have a pretty good sense of direction. But when I get out of a plane after being dropped into a new locale… I’m a little disoriented and it takes me a while to gain my bearings.

I'm the same way.

We overlooked the pool area and could see out beyond the hotel overlooking Seaport Village and the bay.

Nice view! At least I think it is, from what I can see in your pictures.

What should we do now??

NAP!!!

Thanks for the update!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

In other exciting news over our month between trips, the kids caught the flu in the week leading up to New Years.

Lovely! at least it wasn't right as your trip was starting.

We at least managed to avoid the stomach bug… that time anyway.

Well that is something at least...

And I never got sick.

I bent over to pick up a sock or something and threw my back out.

Then she wanted snacks… right now!!!



Oh, you have fruit snacks for me? No! I want Pretzels!


Do you think I’m stupid??? Don’t even try to give me Cheerios!


What is that? A pretzel? No, I want a fruit snack!



Literally, no matter what we’d offer her, she wanted something else. The. Whole. Flight.

Ah the wonderful nature of 2 yr olds when their sleep pattern has been disrupted.

But she made DW’s flights a living hell.

Your poor poor DW!

All of a sudden, I felt someone grab my shoulder. I woke up in a panic, just in time to see the guy who had grabbed my shoulder pass out on the floor of the plane.

Oh my!

DD did even worse on this flight than the first one.

This is when DH and I would be breaking out the benadryl!

I don’t even remember what movie it was she wanted, but we had Planes Fire and Rescue and Frozen. Which are 2 big time favorites in our house and watched on heavy rotation.

Of coarse because they always find new ways to keep you on your toes.

Where the @*$% is the #&*% compass!?!?!?!?

After the rough flights you just delt with I can imagine that this was particularly frustrating.

 

[RGirl]

Love all the pics from Chef Mickey’s! It sounds like you all had a great time - perfect way to end the trip.

What a great idea to do a quick tour of the resort Christmas decorations.

“It looks like Lake Michigan but bigger waves.”

Wow! Your beach pictures are amazing!

I really appreciated the summary of your thoughts about FP+. I have a feeling I will feel the same way when we finally try it this summer. I love the flexibility and freedom we have at DLR, and adding the scheduled FP to WDW just emphasizes the lack of those things there that much more. I know we will still love WDW and have a great time, but I will be surprised if I come back in love with FP+.

Dang! That was a VERY eventful flight to California!

Glad you made it safely to San Diego - the view from your hotel room is great! I'm so excited to hear all about your time in California.