Vacation, Day 5: Homeward (Finally!)

Here's my advice: 3 days in Disneyland/DCA is perfect. 4 days, too much.

This was our 4th day in the parks, and we decided ahead of time that we would ride everyone's favorite in each park one more time. It was so empty, however, that we did manage to squeeze a few more in than that, and still left before lunch. (I refused to pay another $12 for a cheeseburger and fries. Just couldn't do it. If you've been there, you know what I mean.)

It was good. It was nice to ride again. But it was even nicer to be home. (And notable that going back to Las Vegas FELT like going home, right?) I was amazed all trip long about how the kids, particularly Kate, when asked where they were from said Las Vegas without hesitation. Everytime I thought, "We are? Oh yeah!" I still feel like a midwesterner, but maybe the kids won't.

It was a great trip, and we all needed and deserved the break from routine. Between the vacation and having company of some kind nearly all April, I think I'm ready to get back to normal. What's normal again?

Disneyland, day 4

Having definitely seen all we needed to of California Adventure, we returned for another full day of Disney fun. We were anticipating the park being much less busy, but there was more of a crowd than we'd thought (and more than on Wednesday, the day we went home). Since we'd seen all the big things on Sunday, we spent the day filling in the gaps and redoing some of our favorites (and redoing, and redoing again). The two most exciting things that happened today were Jedi Training Academy and Bibbidi Boppity Boutique.

The kids both wanted to do the Jedi Training Academy, which is like this show where they train you to be a jedi. Jedi come out and teach the kids how to wield a light saber and they defeat Darth Vader with their strong will. See our 2008 Disney World scrap book for more detail. This version was nearly identical, but scaled to include a larger group of kids. It's amazing how many kids are interested in this stuff, and you can tell it's largely because of the geeky parents like us. Only, some were FAR geekier than others. Including the family that had a manila folder of computer-printed signs that said things like "The force is with JENNA". FYI, they did not all get picked.

See, getting picked is a big deal. There are about 50 kids who want to participate and only 20 or so spots. It's amazing they haven't started selling tickets to this. We're over there sweating it, having told the kids to "go crazy" when they ask for volunteers and to stay in front. Kate (in bright pink) gets chosen right away. Sam, not so much. They move to the other side of the group, and then back, and by the strength of his force, gets chosen at the last minute. Thank goodness. We would have been waiting around for the next group if he'd missed. Sam told us afterwards that since he's done this twice now, he's not really a padawan anymore, but a real jedi. Great.

Bibbidi Boppity Boutique is a phenomenon I'd heard about before our last trip to WDW, but Kate was too young to participate. Basically, you pay tons of money to have them make your daughter into a PRINCESS!!! Fake hair! Makeup! Pixie dust! In addition, you can buy complete princess wardrobes (even in Kate's size, which is pretty tough to find). (Princess dress=$75, in case you were wondering, and that's just the dress.) We stuck with the beauty treatment, and she loved it. I was embarrassed about how much fun this whole thing was for both of us. We didn't do the photo shoot (she actually told me today that she thought that was a mistake), but everywhere she went afterwards castmembers referred to her as "Princess," which of course she loved. Monster creator=me.

Disney California Adventure, Day 3

Oh, and happy birthday to me!

We started our day off later today, having slept a bit later after our late night out. But oh what a beginning! Today was princess breakfast day, and we greeted the morning with 5 of our favorite princess friends at Ariel's Grotto. It was another cool day, so we were again in sweatshirts and jeans. Not very princess-y, but warm. (Incidentally, I did get a free birthday brownie after my breakfast with the princesses, and all of them wished me happy birthday. So see, who says nothing in life is free. Okay, well nothing at Disney is free, but this was given at no additional charge.)

We enjoyed DCA, but huge sections of the park were blocked off for renovation. The new Cars Land opens this summer, so we could peek over the barriers and see what's coming-- looks great. And DCA sorely needs it, in my opinion. By midday we'd seen almost everything we'd wanted to see and definitely everything major in the ride category. We didn't see the show, but we did spend quite a bit of time at the Animator's studio, where Kate talked to Crush the animated turtle, we found out which Disney character we were most like (Kate did this twice because she didn't like the first answer) and we learned to draw Chip (as in Chip and Dale). We had a good time.

As a special birthday treat, Stuart got us reservations at the Wine Country Trattoria (one of the sit-down restaurants at DCA), which offers a package that includes VIP seating for the World of Color show. I am always skeptical about night-time shows, but this one was really amazing. We were right in front, and the kids and I wore our ponchos to keep dry from all the water spray. I really can't say enough how much we liked it. The kids listed it as their best part of the day, and I agree!

Other favorites were Toy Story Midway Mania (me, mostly), Goofy's Sky School, and Soarin' over California.

Disneyland, Day 2

We had a great day at Disneyland. Unlike our last trip to Disney World, when Sam was 5 and Kate 2, we all agreed easily on what to do and see and had a great time. The only thing that didn't cooperate was the weather-- it was colder and cloudier than we expected! We followed our touring plan and got through most of the big rides at Disney by lunchtime.

The one ride Kate refused to go on was the Haunted Mansion-- between the name and the two entry rooms, she'd had it. No problem, I just backed out of line with her (which was a bit of a challenge). We ended up escaping with a nice man in a wheelchair who had ridden and quite enjoyed it. He and several castmembers came out of character to encourage her that it was more silly than scary, but she wasn't buying it. He was a pin collector and gave her a neat Tinkerbell pin to cheer her up. What a great guy.

Sam's funniest moment of the day was at Indiana Jones. That was the ride both kids listed at the top of their list of to-dos, so we headed there as soon as it opened. The whole thing is structured around the temple of the forbidden eye, and they give careful instructions that anyone looking at the eye will be headed for DOOM! Well, naturally, everyone is headed for doom, this is the point of the ride. But my sweet rule follower Sam took it to heart, and when I looked at him mid-ride, he had his head down and his hands hiding his face. I thought he must be either scared or sick (either seemed possible), but when we got off he said it was because he wasn't supposed to look at the eye. He missed the whole thing! So, we arranged to go back on it later (thanks to Stu, king of the fast pass). Kate, however, had had enough Indy, so we ended up doing the jungle cruise every time Sam wanted to go on it (which was a lot). Woo. Jungle Cruise.

We went back to the hotel for swimming and nap, though by the time we went swimming, the front was coming in and it was pretty cold. Too cold for me to get in a swimsuit, I'll tell you that. At one point I was actually using a pool towel to cover my legs. Brrr. We had to rest up though, because we wanted to see the LATE showing of Fantasmic (at 10:30). It was really fun being out at the park after dark. The kids did a great job of enjoying their late night and never complained once about feet hurting or being too tired to walk. Kate's dogs were barking a bit on the walk back to the hotel, but at 11:30 PM, I can't blame her!

A big hit for Sam was being able to drive his OWN car at the Autotopia. He was SO excited to qualify to be solo, you'd have thought that he had turned 16! He was a very cautious driver, I must say, so I hope that this is foreshadowing! Kate and I drove together behind him, with Stuart bringing up the rear. It's pretty slow going on the Autotopia, but it was fun.

Up early (6 am!) to be in line first to get in at Disneyland!

Ice cream shaped like Mickey!

Teamwork on Tom Sawyer's Island

Pluto and friends

A happy driver!

My dancing queen. There was a swing band on the Tomorrowland stage when we were eating, and Kate just had to join in!

Vacation: Day 1

After a riveting soccer game (Kate scored a goal!), we piled in the car and headed to southern California for a long-awaited date with the Mouse. Finally!

We went to the pool, then to downtown Disney for dinner. Now we're to bed to get up early tomorrow for rides, rides and more rides!

Bathing beauty

Beach decor, Mickey style. (PS:There is a very friendly note indicating that should one of your beach ball pillows go missing, they will charge $60 to your room.)

Awesome slide!

Italian for dinner at Downtown Disney. We mostly wanted someplace WARM!

This is the closest we got to Mickey ears. These are one souvenir that is only worn at Disney, and not for long, IMHO.