Disneyland - Non-park Day

Besides our arrival and departure days, we were in the parks every day but Thursday.   We started our rest day with brunch at our hotel's character breakfast:  Surf's Up with Mickey and Pals.  The pals included Minnie, Daisy, Stitch, and Pluto.

Stitch may beat out Pluto as Will's favorite character.  He loved meeting him at Ohana in November, and was excited to see him this day.  Stitch did not disappoint -  being quite the ornery one with Will's napkin.

We didn't get to meet Pluto this day actually.  He had to leave before he met everyone in our section.  Not sure if it was because it was getting late, or because he had previously knocked over a server's drink tray.  Oops!

After stocking up on souvenirs at the World of Disney store, we swam a little and then I headed to the spa for a pedicure while the guys swam and showered for our nice dinner.   We were so excited that our friends Lauren and Jesse drove up from San Diego to see us so we could catch up while we were "in the area."   Our dinner at the Napa Rose was delicious!   And Will was on good behavior, so he was rewarded with this pirate treasure box full of chocolate cake.

After dinner, we let Will take some coins to make a wish in the fountain.  He was mesmerized all week by the various fountains and water features in Downtown Disney as we walked to/from the parks.

The day was a delightful opportunity to rest our bodies and our minds from the park.  Not sure if it was the dinner of chocolate milk, orange juice, two bites of pasta, and a chocolate cake - or if it was something else - but Will did get sick overnight.  He handled it like a champ, considering how rare it is that he throws up.  I just thought he was using the toilet until he came to get me out of bed saying he needed help cleaning up a mess.  After putting him in clean pajamas, he slept a few more hours until the alarm waking us for our last day in the parks.  Luckily his tummy was feeling fine, and he was tired but ready to go.

Disney Califorinia Adventure - 4th Park Day

On Wednesday it was early hour again at Disney California Adventure.  Instead of spending 40 of the first 60 minutes at Radiator Springs Racers, we went straight to Toy Story Midway Mania which doesn't have Fastpass at DL, but has always been one of our favorites at WDW.  We rode it twice and then headed over to Cars Land to ride the smaller rides and take pictures and get Racers Fastpasses for later in the day.  I'd read that a good safety tip was to take a picture of your child each morning so if you get separated, you have a photo of them in that day's outfit.  I was really excited that Will chose his orange shirt that day since he would be so easy to spot in a crowd.  Oddly, we ended up on the same general schedule as a family that had 6 children.   All 8 family members were wearing orange shirts that day to keep themselves together. 

Back over at Paradise Pier, we took a spin on Mickey's Fun Wheel.  It was a ferris wheel, but it was mostly a load and unload.  The view were great though.  Not sure if you can see it in the upper middle of this picture, but there is a "mountain" carving that looks like a grizzly bear that goes with their water ride.  The ride was closed but we walked through the area and enjoyed the scenery.

One of Will's favorite parts of the parks was the carousels.  One of Jason's favorite parts was the beer!  Disneyland doesn't sell alcohol but DCA sells wine and beer. That beer was very refreshing on hot afternoons with lunch and snacks.  By 5:30 we had finished all of the rides on DCA (except two that we decided to skip) and headed back to DL to cross off a few more things like a night ride on BTMRR and our first trip on Matterhorn.   Perhaps the best part of the day was that Will finally got to buy a few souvenirs:  a Cars racer and a blue light saber!   All of us ended up getting a light saber (red for Jason and purple for me).  You'll have to stay tuned for a fun Photopass picture of the three of us with our light sabers in front of the castle!

Disneyland Park - 3rd Park Day

On Tuesday, I was expecting it to be nice and quiet at Disneyland Park.  It was not.  It ended up feeling like the busiest day.  We got in line before the park opened and the line was already halfway across the Esplanade.  That was our first clue.  Since we had already done Frontierland and Tomorrowland on Sunday, we headed to Fantasyland to check off some of those rides.  Dumbo was first up!  I got to share with Will and Jason had to ride by himself.

 

If the Dumbo line was long, the Frozen Reception with Elsa and Anna was absurd!  By the time we walked to Fantasyland, the line for the princesses was already backed up to the castle.  I snapped this picture of Olaf.   It looks like he threw a snowball at the woman below him.  She's got a funny look on her face.  We didn't intend to meet them, so it wasn't a problem for us except to navigate all the people crowding the limited space behind the castle. 

After the Fantasyland lines got backed up too much for us, we headed over to Autopia to ride the race car.  It was a horirble back-up as well since they had one of the tracks shut down.  It really took us a while to get into a rhythm that day. 

This last picture makes me laugh.  We are riding in a "Wild Animal" cage on the Casey Jr. Train.  No surprise that Will chose the cage to put us in!  This ride and the Storybook Canal boat both go the same route through Storybook Land, but on the train you just enjoy the view from above the land and the fun of riding in the train.  On the boats, you get a better feel for the story that the narrator is telling you as you sail through the land.

Disney California Adventure - 2nd Park Day

On our second full day in the parks, we started with the other Disney hotel guests at Early Morning Hour at Disney California Adventure.  We were part of the crowd heading straight to Cars Land to ride the very popular Radiator Springs Racers since the queue for this ride can get to 2+ hours during the rest of the day.

 

Cars Lands was beautiful and lots of fun.  Will was a little scared of the twists and turns of RSR, though, so we made our next stop Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, a whip ride that plays a catchy tune.   Will LOVED that one and we went on it two more times while waiting for Jason to pull a RSR Fastpass for later.   We ended up riding RSR several more times during the week - and like BTMRR he ended up loving it.

We spent the first day doing Cars Land and It's a Bugs Life kiddie rides then had late lunch at Wine Country Trattoria where we finally got to relax our feet and fill our bellies. In the late afternoon we made it to Hollywood Land just in time to see the Pixar Parade.   I may have mentioned previously how much Will and I love parades. :-)   This one was lots of fun and included our favorites from Monsters, Inc; Incredibles; Toy Story; and Cars. 

The evening entertainment at DCA is World of Color - a water and light show that plays clips of various Disney movies.  We had tickets from our Wine Country lunch that got us reserved standing in the first section beyond the splash zone.  It was windy that night, so we ended up being in the spray zone!

After the show and the park cleared, we picked up sandwiches for dinner and headed back to the hotel.  My only complaint about our hotel was the slow elevators.  Since Will was asleep and we didn't want to stand around waiting for the elevator, we retired to the hotel bar with our sandwiches and enjoyed a few drinks.

The week we were in the parks was still considered the off season, so the hours were only 10-8 (9-8 for hotel guests) and we had decent crowd levels.  I was glad that we didn't have to get up too early to make it to the parks before open.  (#1 Disney tip:  MUST be there when they open to avoid crowds.)  The downside was just the number of signature rides down for refurbishment like Pirates of the Caribbean and It's a Small World.

Disneyland Park - First Full Day

We started bright and early at 8 a.m. when the park opened on Sunday morning.  First stop was Starbucks on Main Street, and I couldn't resist getting a picture of my drink and Snow White's castle.  Many people who have been to WDW where Cinderella's castle is much larger and more dramatic are underwhelmed with the DL castle.  I have to agree that it's not as awe-inspiring, but it's cute! 

Crowds were light as we headed to our first attraction:  the newly reopened Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which just completed a 14 month rehab.  It was awesome, and I thought the ride and details were better than WDW's.   This is one of Will's favorite rides (and he chose it in advance as our first ride), but he was scared by all the new, realistic details like a mine explosion.  He warmed up after another ride and we ended up riding at least 6 times over the course of the week.

 

To get over the initial shock of BTMRR, we headed over to Tomorrowland for some of Will's favorite rides.  We took two spins on Astro Orbiters (a Dumbo-like rocket ship ride) and then watched Jedi Training Academy where some very big Star Wars fans battled Darth Vader.  It was May the Fourth, after all, so the number of costumes was pretty high.  Jason got his afternoon snack in this fun souvenir bucket.

Back in Frontierland and Critter Country, we had lunch and met Winnie the Pooh and friends while waiting for our Splash Mountain Fast Pass return time.  Will had Tigger in stitches thanks to the way he handed him the autograph book and Sharpie. 

After our Splash Mountain drenching, we headed back to the hotel to swim and rest before dinner.  The pool had a cool water slide but it was three stories tall and the wind made it chilly to wait in line.  We made it back to the park just in time for the evening parade "Soundsational" to kick off.  Will and I are big parade fans, so I was glad we caught it on the first day in case we wanted to watch it again. We had dinner reservations at Cafe Orleans, though, so we didn't linger once the parade passed us.

 

At dinner, I made sure we ordered their two signature items:  pommes frites and the Monte Cristo sandwich.  The fries were delicious and the sandwich was good -- if you like your ham and turkey sandwiched in funnel cake.  :-)   It was a lot of fun to try, and since dinner came with a baked on dessert, there was no need to order anything else the rest of the night!  Will fell asleep waiting for our table, so he slept through dinner and the fireworks and woke up only briefly during the night.

Disneyland - Arrival Day

Since our last three vacations were to Walt Disney World, we decided to shake things up with a trip to the other coast and see Disneyland in California!  Actually, Will was finally tall enough to ride the newest addition to the parks:  Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land.  I saw an advertisement for Cars Land's grand opening on the in-room TV on our first trip to WDW in September 2012.  I wanted to go to DL the next year for Will's 4th birthday but I was worried he wouldn't be tall enough, so we went back to WDW instead.  Good thing, because he was half an inch too short last year at this time.   This year, he was two inches taller and ready to ride!

It took us most of Saturday to get to Orange County, so after unpacking our bags at Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel, we walked across the parking lot to Disneyland Hotel for a character dinner at Goofy's Kitchen.  Will got the hang of the autograph books and character meals at our Christmas trip so we went for it again.  I wasn't excited about having to eat a buffet dinner, but it was what fit our schedule.  Except for dessert, the food wasn't very tasty (even though it was plentiful), but there was a chance to meet Goofy, Peter Pan, Pluto, Chip, Minnie and Mulan in less than two hours.

After dinner, we walked back to our hotel in time to catch Disneyland's fireworks show from our pool deck.   I'm really glad we got to see and hear them that night so that we only had to see them in park one other time before I got my fill. 

William and Liam

When I picked up Will from school the other evening, I ran into his friend, Liam, and his mom.  Will has recently been referring to Liam as his "Best Friend Forever" which makes me giggle every time.  I got distracted talking to Liam's mom and didn't notice at first that the boys were standing at the infant room door.  I had totally forgotten that Liam has a new baby sister, Emma, who is in that room now.  

I had to get a picture of the boys where they met. They both started on the same day as 3 month old babies in August 2009. Their cribs were right next to each other WILL and then LIAM. When I looked at the name signs at first, I was so confused: why did William get two beds?! Then I saw there was already a tiny little fella in the second crib.  The boys will be separated next year for the first time.  We only live 10 minutes apart from each other,  but we're in two different school districts so the boys won't be in the same schools.