Obviously not, though.
I thought of this last Sunday but it's slipped my mind the rest of the week until today. If we'd been going, this whole week would have been a fun ramp-up of packing and re-checking plans.
We're fortunate that we have gotten all of our prepaid costs, even the non-refundable stuff, returned, except for $200 (for our LEGOLAND tickets, but I'm being patient because I know it's a busy time for them, and they did refund our prepaid hotel stay, which was significantly more expensive).
When we canceled the trip, I was mostly worried about the money part, to the point that I wasn't actually sad about losing the vacation. You know how when you're in shock-and-act mode, you don't really have a lot of time to process feelings? And Mal has been having the time of his life the past few weeks, so he's completely unconcerned that we're not going to California. When I told him we weren't going to have to fly since we'd canceled the trip, he was SUPER excited.
Even with all of this, and the undeniable fact that we're in the group that can just grouse about the inconvenience of the shutdown, I'm still a little bummed about the loss of this cool "super touristy" trip I'd planned. So may I tell you about it? Okay. Thanks for indulging me.
Saturday, April 18 - I'd booked a midday flight, because my family are all late risers. But they kept pushing it back until we wouldn't get into Los Angeles until 6 PM, so they changed it to, 9:00 AM, as shown above. Due to the fact that we'd canceled a trip to Hawaii (because the property where we were planning to stay is for sale), we had a lot budgeted for airfare and splurged on our first (and likely last, so now probably never) first class tickets!
Also, I'd rented us the perfect "California car," a Ford Mustang convertible! We'd get into Los Angeles around 11:00 AM, after a lovely airplane breakfast, and the first stop would be, of course, Randy's Donuts.
Then we'd drive to Huntington Beach, where Mal could play on the All-Inclusive beach playground near the pier. We'd rent a Surrey for a couple of hours to explore the beach (it has about 7 miles of paved access), and when we'd had our fill of oceanside fun, drive on to Carlsbad. For a late lunch/early dinner, we'd stop by Park 101, which is a family-friendly place with a fun menu and outdoor area where kids can run around (yeah, we still like to have that option). Then, it'd be time to check in to the LEGOLAND California Castle Hotel. We'd spend the rest of the day exploring, playing on the playground there, and maybe even swimming. Although the seasonal high in Carlsbad right now is in the low 60s, the pool is heated.
Sunday, April 19 - Yes, we're right next to LEGOLAND, but it's not time for that yet. Sunday, we'd have breakfast at the hotel, because it's included. Then we'd walk or drive (depending on the status of James's legs) over to the Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch. It's only open two months a year, and I'm guessing the reality of COVID-19 destroyed this year's season. We'd have lunch at the Karl Strauss Brewery at the Pacific Palisades Resort, then drive out to the Leo Carrillo Ranch, a portion of the Spanish-style ranch once owned and renovated/maintained by the actor who played Poncho in the Cisco Kid.
We'd spend the afternoon at the hotel and then for dinner, pick up food at the Veggie Grill and have a picnic at the beach to watch the sunset. Although we'd probably also have to drive through at McDonald's to get Mal something to eat.
Monday, April 20 - LEGOLAND day at last! We'd probably go into the park early, when it opens at 9:30 for hotel guests, and spend half the day there. I was looking forward to trying Bahn Mi (which I recently learned is a food created, as so many other bread-based favorites like fry bread, by colonialism) and Granny's Apple Fries. We might break for rest and recreation at the hotel, or we might soldier on and be done by early afternoon. Then we could just relax the rest of the day.
Tuesday, April 21 - When we visited the American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City, Mal was almost two years old. They had a banjo you could try, but after a while. Mal and James got kicked off because Mal was playing it a bit too... enthusiastically. (I'd left the general vicinity after a couple of minutes and spent the rest of Mal's solo watching an engaging Steve Martin retrospective.)
I was hoping Mal would have tempered his fortissimo for our visit to The Museum of Making Music. After a morning there, we were to drive north toward Anaheim and check in to the Howard Johnson Anaheim Hotel and Water Playground. We had a room that faced Disneyland, specifically the Matternorn. It's a beautifully landscaped hotel with a small water splash area for kids. There are quite a number of interesting restaurants nearby, including Ma's Chinese Islamic Restaurant, whose food looks amazing and also you can't wear shorts because it's very conservative. That would have been a go-to for sure.
Wednesday, April 22 - Our first ever trip to Disneyland! If you're ever going to the Disney Parks in the US, I highly recommend a subscription to Touring Plans. We had the whole day planned out, focusing on things that Mal would like (so James and I would switch off on Hyperspace Mountain and Star Tours, and otherwise avoid "thrill" rides); and including reservations to Oga's Cantina in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, the Droid Depot (where, yeah, you build a remote control droid that interacts with other droids and the environment in Galaxy's Edge), and the non-Star-Wars-themed restaurant Blue Bayou.
Thursday, April 23 - This was to be a rest day. We'd probably go over to Downtown Disney at some point, and otherwise just enjoy down time and hanging out at the hotel.
Friday, April 24 - This was the day for all things Cars: Disney's California Adventure. I didn't make any reservations for this day, but planned to ride Radiator Springs Racers first thing in the morning, and again after dark. They do this really cool thing at sunset in Carsland where they turn on the neon lights along the street while playing "Sh-Boom" (or "Life Would Be a Dream") JUST LIKE IN THE MOVIE. It makes me tear up a little bit thinking about it.
On both Disney days, I'd planned for us to knock out a bunch of stuff early in the day, then go back to the hotel, a less-than-10-minute walk away, for midday, and come back later to experience everything in the dark.
Saturday, April 25 - Our flight kept getting pushed later and later on this day, too, so we weren't actually supposed to fly out of LAX until 6:00 PM. I was pretty excited about that! We planned to go to Bob's Big Boy, the drive up to the Griffith Observatory. Griffith Park is HUGE, and there's another inclusive playground there called Shane's Inspiration.
Then we'd head back to the airport, enjoy a nice dinner on the plane, and hopefully Malcolm would be ready for bed as soon as we got home!
So... that's it. That's the week that would have started tomorrow.
When this first started and we saw that Disneyland was closing, I thought about trying to work it so we could still fly to California, but just stay at the Hyatt Regency in Huntington Beach... but then the restaurants all closed. So we canceled our flight. Turns out, the Hyatt is closed until June 1, now, anyway. Hyatt seems to have closed most of their resort-style properties, because there is just too much to attract people in one common space, I guess.
Keeping the family safe is our first priority, obviously, so staying home is better than the alternative or taking unnecessary travel and exposing ourselves or others to illness. But, man, that was going to be a fun week.
Maybe some day.🙂
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