This fall, we went to Disneyland for the second time as parents. The first time we went was nearly two years ago and it was a bit too early for the kids to really appreciate it. This trip was a relatively quick, so we didn't stop to visit a lot of friends like we usually do when we're down in So Cal. We drove down at midnight and ended up at our hotel early in the morning. We went fancy for this trip and stayed at the Grand Californian.. Disney does hospitality well and we were luckily able to check into our room early.
TV to amuse the kids while checking in
Even Jad got a room key!
We arrived on the morning of our 9th wedding anniversary!
Since we had spent the night driving but had to hit the ground running, we tag-teamed on childcare. First, Nik took the kids to Downtown Disney to explore while Jad and I napped in the room. We reconvened when Jad woke up and when Jad took his second nap, I took the kids to the pool. In spite of this summer's successful swim lessons, Kai was pretty freaked out in the pool.
The best free diversion at Downtown Disney is the Lego Store..
.. perhaps they know that you'll probably end up buying something if you hang out there :P
Sora loves the water and kept saying that she was a mermaid (rolls eyes)
Happy as long as he was in the kiddie pool.. completely different story in the other pool
Eventually Nik and Jad showed up. It was Jad's first pool experience and he immediately made friends with some of the older kids in the kiddie pool
In the evening, we debated leaving the resort to have a "nice" anniversary dinner, but tiredness (and laziness) prevailed, and we opted to not leave and stayed at Downtown Disney. Since all the sit down restaurants had a wait, we decided to eat at a fast casual Cajun place.. it was definitely okay :P, but at least we saved our sanity.
Family selfie. Sora was so tired that she fell asleep sitting next to Kai
Happy anniversary! (plus baby)
The next day was spent at Disneyland. After a few choice photo ops, Sora, Jad, and I immediately made a beeline for the princess meet and greet, while Nik and Kai headed over to Tomorrowland. Sora was so excited to the meet the princesses, but when the moment arrived, she was starstruck and nervous, and couldn't smile for the camera. It was hilarious.
In between meeting Ariel and Cinderella, she literally was jumping up and down and said, "I'm so happy!" But the pictures.. >_<
All better now that there isn't a princess in proximity!
We still avoided the dark, indoor rides, but we managed to ride a number of other essential Disneyland rides like the teacups and Dumbo. We stopped by to say hello and take a picture with Mickey and Minnie.
Sora was quite pleased that her horse had a pink bow
Jungle Cruise! Jad was clearly running out of steam at this point..
.. so we went back to the hotel to have him nap while the kids did some Halloween crafts and trick-or-treating. They also ran into Dale in the lobby! And since Dale's not a princess, Sora managed to smile! :)
We went back to Disneyland after Jad's nap to meet Rapunzel (one of the benefits of staying at the resort)
For some reason, Kai was fixated on taking the monorail, so we had to ride the monorail as we were leaving the park
When planning this trip, we decide that it might be a good idea to have a recovery day in between Disneyland and California Adventure. So on Saturday we took the day off. Unfortunately, by then, we could already tell that Kai was getting a little bit sick and cranky. Luckily we always travel with meds. While Nik stayed with Jad during his morning nap, I took the kids out to Downtown Disney and just for fun, the kids wore their Halloween costumes.
Hanging out at the Disney store..
.. fishing coins out of the fountain was also entertaining, and we eventually ended up back at the Lego Store
Once Jad woke up and with a whole Saturday ahead of us, we decided to go to Downtown Anaheim to check out their fall festival (after the other day's trauma, Kai was done with pool). There were silly carnival games and lots of arts and crafts for the kids. We grabbed lunch at a Japanese place and managed to connect with Eui, who we'd not seen in years.
Jad loved meeting Auntie Eui!
I was so impressed by the arts and crafts section of the festival. Paints, stamps, pipe cleaners, glitter.. all set out and free for kids to use
Our one pre-planned social activity for this trip was meeting my UCLA friends. It's hard to pass up seeing Sabrina and Kane when they live only 10 minutes away from Disneyland. :) As usual, the Uyeharas made us feel right at home and there was lots of food to be had. So nice to see everyone and see everyone's littles, though Kari is not so little anymore! At the rate she's going, by our next visit, she may be bigger than me!
Baby Kari (circa December 2008)
.. and now off to a Halloween party. What a difference 10 years makes!
Outnumbered by kids and chaos! (poor Kai was so exhausted)
On the next day's agenda was California Adventure. Since we were staying at the Grand Californian, we were able to enter the park at 7 am, an hour before it opened to the public. When Jad woke up before the kids, I took the opportunity to go on a powerwalk with him around the park.
Totally empty!
The kids eventually woke up and Nik and I switched places. He went with the kids to the park while I stayed at the hotel with napping Jad. The first item on the agenda was to meet Anna and Elsa. After a few misfires, initially there was no Elsa and then while waiting in line to meet Elsa, they literally stopped the line in front of Sora, she finally got to meet the princesses and Olaf. Same deadpan face, unfortunately. :P
We headed over to Radiator Springs, but the kids were unimpressed since Kai was sick and both kids were exhuasted. By that time, we had already checked out of our hotel room, so taking the kids back to the room to nap wasn't an option and we had to make the kids nap in the stroller. They wouldn't settle in the double stroller since they were fighting too much and eventually we had to separate them in two strollers. Kai fell asleep relatively easily, but I made at least three circuits around the park to get Sora to nap.
Radiator Springs.. meh
The hard fought naptime.. I think it lasted only 30 minutes tops
After the kids woke up, we managed to go on a few more rides while waiting for the main event..
.. the parade! The Paint the Night parade was probably the only thing the kids really remembered from our last Disneyland trip, so of course we had to do it again. We staked out a good spot an hour before the parade started by Cathay Circle. Even by adult standards, it was a long and painful wait. The saving grace was that Jad fell asleep in the carrier and the kids were pretty well distracted while watching a movie on the tablet.
When the parade started, Sora was excited and dancing, and waved to all of the floats. On the other hand, poor, sick Kai looked like he could barely keep his eyes open. Remarkably Jad slept through the entire thing. O_o
Yay for modern conveniences.. how did parents do this before??
When the parade ended, Sora was like, "that's it??" I guess with more than an hour's worth of anticipation, she expected more. :P We then hustled out of the park, and saw a little bit of the fireworks show above Disneyland. The kids didn't want to stay long to watch the fireworks with the loud noises, so we headed back to the Grand Californian.
From there, we picked up our luggage from the claim check, got our car from the valet, and then began the long drive home. The drive home was peaceful and uneventful. At 10 pm, it was already late and after a long day at California Adventure, everyone passed out almost immediately, and we arrived home in time to get a little bit of rest in our own beds.
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