Disney Dreamers trip - 2009

The Disney Dreamers outside of Universal Studios

..or how we survived a trip of 5 theme parks in 5 days and came out with our sanity.

I just got back from California yesterday. It was a fun but whirlwind week. To give a bit of a background, the Disney Dreamers is the brainchild of my boss and another owner of C&R Inc. You see, once a year Silverwood opens up the park to adults and children with disabilities called, "Night of Stars." Well, this got my boss to thinking. Why couldn't we take a bunch of the people we work with to some place better than Silverwood? Why not Disneyland?

By the end of May, my boss approached the rest of us and told us that she thought we could pull it off. June, July, August, and September are all spent fund-raising with yard sales, benefit concerts, raffles, and so on. October hits, and many of us realize that it is actually happening. We are going to Disneyland...only to find out that my boss got a package deal that included Universal Studios, Knott's Berry Farm, and Sea World. To cut down on the length of this entry, I'll just give highlights from here on.


Sunday: Woke up at 2:30, picked up PJ (friend of me and Misti, also a worker at C&R) and Toby. Arrived in John Wayne Airport and drove to the Fairfield Inn Marriott. Many of us took off to see Disneyland that night and ended up staying for the awesome Fireworks display/Disney Villain show.


Monday: Woke up around 7 a.m. and took Toby to breakfast at Millie's. Spent the day running around Disneyland park.


Tuesday: Woke up around 7 a.m. again and started our day off at Disneyland before heading over to California Adventures. Went back to Disneyland in the afternoon and then had dinner at Medieval Times. Lucky for us, our knight (the Red Knight) was the eventual champion.


Wednesday: Woke up at 6 a.m. to drive to Sea World in San Diego. Unfortunately, most of our drivers got lost on the way so we didn't get into the park until late. We hit rush hour traffic on the way back so it took a bit longer to get to the hotel. Went to Downtown Disney with Toby and PJ where we ate Mexican food at Torilla Jo's.



Thursday: Had another early morning as we had to drive to Universal Studios. Had a great time at the park (Highly recommend the Simpsons Ride as well as the Jurassic Park Ride). We tried to leave early so that we could get back in time for a basketball pre-season game (Lakers versus Nuggets), but we hit the bulk of rush hour traffic. 2 hours to go a distance of 45 miles (approximately). Got to the show about half time and watched the Lakers destroy the Nuggets in the second half.

Fast And Furious on the Hollywood Tram Ride

Me with Curious George: Pirate Monkey

Friday: Today we got to sleep in until about 7 a.m. since we were going to Knott's Berry Farm (just down the road from Medieval Times). By this time, we were pretty much theme parked out. Many of our participants were very tired/exhausted and just ready to get home.



Saturday: Woke up at 5 a.m. to get ready to head to the airport and fly back home. Home sweet home.

All-in-all, it was a wonderful week. I had a great time hanging with Toby who was just awesome everywhere we went.