2 Trips, 2 Coasts and so much to plan for 2023

[amazingact21]

I'm so sorry to hear about everything going on with your parents. Sounds like this California trip is much needed. Hopefully, you'll get the time to relax. And, honestly, some of my best trips are ones where I go with the flow. It opens you up for unexpected opportunities.

 

[SEAGULL59]

I agree with everyone and hope you all get some time to relax. Go with the flow sounds perfect and you have enough park days to do that for sure!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Thanks Everone for the well wishes. We are headed back into what is our "new normal" which makes me feel better about the trip.

Today we took a family trip to DSW for some fresh walking shoes. Everyone ended up with 2 pairs! It was not a cheap trip! But Everyone got one pair of good sneakers and then a "fun" pair... Well some more fun than others. We made Morgan find a "nice" pair to wear for concerts and things where she needs to look a little nicer. She is a NOT into fashion! Gwen on the other had picked out a pair of crispy white platform pumas. Oh how they are different.

I was excited to hear that Indian Jones was opening up this weekend! When we went last time, we did go on it, but Gwen was still little and was afraid and I spent most of the ride worried how she was doing. So, I am glad we are going to be able to do it again.

I am also holding my breathe that they don't close Splash Mountain out there until after our trip. It was down for refurbishment when we were there last time. And I would like to ride it at least once before it closes. So, fingers crossed for that!

I am trying to figure out what I am going to wear on this trip. We go to Disney World and you know 99% of the time you are going to be in shorts and tshirts and sweat to death. But San Diego and Anahiem are going to be that in between weather. It will be great, as it won't be too hot. But am I going to want to wear pants? shorts? I am not sure.... Andy and Morgan are solidly in the shorts and t-shirt with long sleeve shirt over. But me and Gwen are thinking capris and short sleeves. But I just don't know.

 

[cstorm65]

So sorry about your parents, will definitely be thinking of them.

I'm excited to see you plan and take this trip. We actually decided to go to Disneyland/LA for the first time at the end of this coming summer. We have no idea on anything out there, so this will be great for me to read!

 

[Jax1023]

Thanks Everone for the well wishes. We are headed back into what is our "new normal" which makes me feel better about the trip.

Today we took a family trip to DSW for some fresh walking shoes. Everyone ended up with 2 pairs! It was not a cheap trip! But Everyone got one pair of good sneakers and then a "fun" pair... Well some more fun than others. We made Morgan find a "nice" pair to wear for concerts and things where she needs to look a little nicer. She is a NOT into fashion! Gwen on the other had picked out a pair of crispy white platform pumas. Oh how they are different.

I was excited to hear that Indian Jones was opening up this weekend! When we went last time, we did go on it, but Gwen was still little and was afraid and I spent most of the ride worried how she was doing. So, I am glad we are going to be able to do it again.

I am also holding my breathe that they don't close Splash Mountain out there until after our trip. It was down for refurbishment when we were there last time. And I would like to ride it at least once before it closes. So, fingers crossed for that!

I am trying to figure out what I am going to wear on this trip. We go to Disney World and you know 99% of the time you are going to be in shorts and tshirts and sweat to death. But San Diego and Anahiem are going to be that in between weather. It will be great, as it won't be too hot. But am I going to want to wear pants? shorts? I am not sure.... Andy and Morgan are solidly in the shorts and t-shirt with long sleeve shirt over. But me and Gwen are thinking capris and short sleeves. But I just don't know.

Bring jackets for night time. We went to Disneyland last august and it’s high 80s during the day, but at night with a breeze, it was feeling chilly.

The world of color dessert party was particularly chilly! Have at least one pair of long pants and a jacket each.

 

[missjackiemcg]

Sounds like this trip is coming right in time! Love the family shoe trip I just got some new platform shoes myself...I love that they're back in style because they're all I wore in high school!

 

[ambula603]

I know the struggle of loved ones fighting cancer (as so many of us do!) so I am glad you have this trip to give your brain a little break, even if it is hard to think about right now. Sometimes those are the best trips - when you have to just trust that everything will work out and if/when it doesn't, those little things don't really matter in the big picture! I LOVE to plan every detail of our trips and I take pride in being efficient. But when I feel the frustration of missing a dining reservation or a bad weather day, I remind myself that some people are dealing with the worst and that is the perspective I need! My sister has terminal cancer and every trip has a "what-if" in the back of my head. But she wants us to travel and enjoy life so we try to do the best we can.

Hugs!

 

[afwdwfan]

I have to be honest, I keep trying to look at stuff and plan for this trip, but with everything, it's hard to even think about it too much. Once we made the decision to keep the trip, I did make a parking reservation and started looking at car rentals for the first half of the trip.

But really, this trip might be a go with the flow trip!!! Which is nice in the sense that I don't feel like we NEED to have too much planned since it is Disneyland.

But we are going! And Man to I need a break!

I can completely feel where you're coming from here. It is definitely going to be a much needed trip. Definitely hard to plan now with everything on your plate, but I know just getting away and getting to have some fun together will be good medicine for you!

I am also holding my breathe that they don't close Splash Mountain out there until after our trip. It was down for refurbishment when we were there last time. And I would like to ride it at least once before it closes. So, fingers crossed for that!

I think I saw yesterday that they're saying May? So hopefully you can get a last ride on it! I was in Disney World last week and it was sad seeing Splash behind scaffolding.

 

[Paulaparm]

Wishing your parents well with all the health issues. It stinks watching them get older
Hopefully this trip will be restful (as much as it can be) for you!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Hello Everyone.

I have been MIA for awhile now. At first I was just not feeling "magical" with everything going on. And then my father took a turn for the worse. i don't like bringing things down here, as really these boards are here to make us all happy. But unforantly, the last few weeks have been pretty hard on us. My father's cancer spread too fast and the doctors deemed that the chemo wasn't working fast enough. So, they sent him home on home hospice last Thursday. And sadly, he passed away on Tuesday. It was a very stressful time for us.

I had cancelled our trip when my father was sent home on hospice, as we didn't know how long he had. It was so hard to do for many reasons. Mostly what it represented. but def the right thing to do.

We are finishing up arrangements and plans. And have started planning a nice memorial for my father this Tuesday. Really highlighting the things he liked.

But once we had most of those plans figured out, and the dust settled just a TINY bit. I realized that we would have all of the girls spring break to be sitting around sad. SOOOO, Andy and i talked and I started to look at the possibility of still going to Disneyland.

And we ARE!!! I am so happy that we are still able to make this work. We had to cut out the San Diego portion of the trip. And we had to book connecting flights to get there instead of direct flights. But we were able to book flights with the same points as before, which is amazing.

I am looking forward to getting away. I now need it even MORE than before.

I will post what our new plans are so far. I am a bit all over the place with the planning for obvious reason but thankfully Disneyland is a bit more laid back.

 

[disneyAndi14]

I’m so sorry for your loss, what a stressful time for you all!
Really happy you can have a getaway after all, it will soothe the soul for sure!

 

[SEAGULL59]

Prayers and hugs to your family. So sorry for your loss.

 

[Isabelle12345]

I am so sorry for your loss

 

[NJlauren]

I am so sorry for your loss, and I hope Disneyland brings you some peace and joy during this difficult time.

 

[DLo]

So sorry for your loss. I lost my father to cancer too. Cancer sucks ! Prayers lifted for your family .

Glad you are still able to go to DL.

 

[jgl130]

I’ve lurked on your reports for years and love your story telling. I’m so sorry for your loss. May you keep your happy memories with your father close to your heart!

 

[JenLovesMM]

So sorry for you loss. What a stressful time you all have had, I am glad to hear that you guys will still go on a trip to a place that makes you happy. Can't wait to hear how it goes.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Oh, no! I'm so very sorry for your loss. Sending you virtual hugs.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Happy Stuff!

Thank You from the bottom of my heart for your kind words. I truely appricate it! it was a rough day for me, My mom is still in a lot of pain and piled on with everything else, it was just a heavy day.

I am currently sitting in the dark because Gwen wants to see the lightning better while we are under a tornado warning... Now, New Jersey tornado warnings aren't REAL warnings... but Gwen is enjoying the lightning.

BUT I am here to talk happy things! Looking towards some happy memories to be made!!!

We are now leaving next Saturday bright and early! Like flight leaves at 5:00 AM. We have a connecting in Dallas but we are going to Santa Ana from there. Which that airport is 15 minutes from Disneyland!!! And we will be there till the following Saturday. So a full week!

I purchased the 5 day tickets cause that is what you can purchase. And then I was going to just purchase a one day ticket for the 6th day, but when I did that I couldn't make a park reservation for like 2 weeks later. So, I ended up doing a 2 day pass as well. So, we have 7 days of the park!!! The first day we will be getting in around noon, so we can go in and just wander as we feel until we are too tired. Which will be good so we don't try to just go to sleep once we get there.

Our first Park day will be Easter Sunday. I was able to some how get World of Color Dessert Party tickets for Sunday. So, that will be a nice "special thing for Easter. I probably said it here before, but we really enjoyed the dessert party last time.

I have alerts set up to try and get something for lamplight lounge at some point and for Trader Sam's. we will see if I can get something. We can always try walk up when we are there.

I have to decide how and when we are going to tell the girls. We told them that we had to cancel obviously. And they were bummed but understood why. So, they should be fairly excited when we tell them. We are probably going to wait till after the memorial services, which are on Tuesday.

It will be interesting, normally I would start to pack this weekend, but that is probably not happening. So it will be a bit of a mad rush. BUT I did at least start to order a few things that we needed before things had gotten bad. So, I think / hope I am in fairly good shape.

I ended up booking the same hotel we had before but had to do it directly with them this time around, which was fine. So, we will be staying at Farfield Inn Marriott. Hopefully it will be nice enough.

But I guess that is really it. I just hope we can have fun and relax, which I think we can do with how long we will be there.

 

[cstorm65]

So sorry to hear about your dad. Sending prayers your way from us!

So glad you are still able to get to Disneyland with your family!