I'm Going to Disneyla... Wait A Minute!

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Sometimes I wonder if I'm personally trying to maintain Disney's stock price with my Disney paycheck. I went to see Treasure Planet (which I enjoyed — but sadly, was one of the few Oscar^®-nominated films I saw in 2002. Lilo & Stitch was another.). Within a recent two-week span, I saw the touring Broadway versions of AIDA and The Lion King, and Disney-owned Miramax's film Chicago. So when Dan and I had to scramble to plan a vacation before March 2 (that's another story), and decided there were few potentially warm, domestic, non-Florida destinations, we ended up settling on Los Angeles.

Not so bad, were it not that Dan, a once (and future?) Disney Cast Member, wanted to see Disney's California Adventure. Fine, we can stay TWO NIGHTS of our week at Disney, and then we're moving on. I mean, I can see the castle at Magic Kingdom in Florida from my office's parking lot. I didn't necessarily want to stare at its California sister from my vacation-hotel room.

Two advantages of working for Disney: free Park admission, and (often) hotel discounts. So at least the Park part is covered. I called the reservation center, and got all that was available: two nights at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel, at $129 a night (plus a $7/night "resort fee"), for a Downtown Disney-view room. We decided to hunt closer to downtown L.A. for the remainder of the week.

Feb. 1 rolled around, and I read that there were new, lower rates for Cast Members at Disneyland hotels, and more available nights. So I called back, and was given $99 a night for our two nights at the Grand, and a choice of views: Grizzly Peak or Coaster. (We went for the mountain view.) Then I added on three nights (at $69 each!) at the Disneyland Hotel — again, with Park view. Part of me says this is sick-and-wrong — I'm now spending my entire vacation away from Disney, by sleeping on Disney property. But considering that the 2-diamond Travelodge in Santa Monica I had selected was $60 a night, it was hard to pass up a 3-diamond stay at Disney.

Boy, do I have vacation-itis in a bad way....