Author: eaumaison (Page 24 of 207)

Planning the Trip

We flew in on Sunday, had MTW in the parks, and came home Thursday.  We really packed in a lot of rides during our trip, and it never felt rushed.  Three days for two parks was perfect.  I planned this trip for the off season for low crowds.  I think it worked, since most rides never reached 1 hour wait time, and most were 10-25 minute stand-by lines.

But there was a new ride in Galaxy’s Edge, The Rise of the Resistance, that inflated crowds a bit.  Especially in the morning, because you had to be in the park at exactly opening time in order to get a boarding group for the ride.  So there were massive lines to get through the turnstiles, and then roaming around Main Street prior to rope drop.  I think more locals were visiting than usual, and sticking around until their boarding groups, because of the new ride.  Even so, compared to the previous week and the weekend crowds, we had a relatively low crowd situation.

I also rocked the Fastpass system.  In Disneyland they use kiosks to distribute paper tickets for Fastpass, or you can pay a daily fee per ticket to use the phone app called Maxpass.  We took this option and we certainly got our money’s worth.  We were able to practically walk on to the most popular rides, and using my phone I was able to stack up many Fastpasses as soon as we were eligible to get more.  The Maxpass also lets you keep all the ride and pro-photographers shots from the park.  I had fun collecting those and trying to get some good family shots.

Oh, let me add that a downside to the off-season is that they do a lot of closures for refurbishments.  The biggest disappointment was that the Haunted Mansion was closed.   It’s my favorite attraction and I had even talked with customer service back in November, to try to make sure it would be open when we came.  It usually closes/reopens to remove the holiday overlay, and should have been open for us the last week of January.  But in late December, after we booked, they announced it will stay closed until Spring for major cleaning and repairs.   Dagnabbit!  Other (less important) closures were the Carrousel, Snow White Scary Adventures, Grizzly River Run, the Red Trolley, the canoes and the riverboat.

Sad faces.  Jack bemoaned its closure every time we walked by.

Getting There

(Side note here:  I was SICK.  Like, seriously ill.  I had had a head cold for a week, and then Friday night I got food poisoning or a virus of some kind.  Saturday I had no strength.  Literally, Ben had to pack for me and I could barely sit up on my bed to fold my clothes into the suitcase.  It was miserable.  We thought we might have to cancel the trip.  I slept most of the day and worked on taking in water and simple carbs.  Sunday morning I felt somewhat functional when we woke at 5 AM – meaning I could walk without feeling faint and eat/drink a little more. Still had a stuffy nose and head, but we decided we could continue our trip.  So that first day I was pretty out of it still.)

(PS Ben was amazing at rallying everyone and doing double duty on the kids, plus making sure I was comfortable.  He’s the best!)

We flew Southwest Airlines to California on Sunday into John Wayne airport.  I strongly prefer using this little airport over LAX because of its size and proximity to Anaheim.  We took a ride-share to our hotel with almost no traffic.  When we got to the hotel it was too early to get our room, but they held our luggage so we could explore.

We toured the hotel and then Downtown Disney.  Our vacation package included a free pin and lanyard from the Pin Trader’s shop.  We collected our freebies and thus sparked a collecting quest for Jack (more on that later).  We got burgers for lunch, picked out Mickey treats, and toured the Lego Store.  Needing to sit down, we found the observation deck in the hotel and enjoyed the view until our room was ready.

The room was great (more on that later).  The kids went swimming in the barely warm pool.  After I had a good rest we went out for dinner and dessert again, then back to an early bedtime.  Gotta be rested so we could hit the park early!

The next three days were all park days.  We had park hopper tickets, so we could go back and forth as we pleased   Here’s a rundown of all the attractions we saw:

Monday

• Sleeping Beauty windows in the castle
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Rise of the Resistance
• Space Mountain
• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• It’s a Small World
• Matterhorn
• Pinocchio’s Daring Journey
• Tarzan’s Tree House (I sat out and had a Dole Whip)
• Splash Mountain (Jack and Ben only)
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Big Thunder Mountain
• Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade
• Indiana Jones Adventure
• The Jungle Cruise
• Enchanted Windows at the Emporium

Tuesday

• Soarin’ Around the World
• Radiator Springs Racers
• The Little Mermaid
• Toy Story Midway Mania
• Pixar Pal-A-Round (the ferris wheel)
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout
• Star Tours
• Snow White’s Wishing Well
• Sleeping Beauty windows in the castle (again)
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Mad Tea Party (I sat out)
• Explored Toon Town houses
• Gadget’s Go Coaster
• Big Thunder Mountain (again)
• Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run

Wednesday

• Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
• Alice in Wonderland
• Storybrook Land Canal Boats
• It’s a Small World (again)
• Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin x2 (no line)
• Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run (again)
• Rise of the Resistance (again) (just half the ride: it broke down and we were escorted out)
• The Enchanted Tiki Room (with Dole Whips and Floats for all!)
• Tarzan’s Treehouse (again) (just Sam and Ben)
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout (again)
• Monsters, Inc.
•  Soarin’ Around the World (again)
• We spied a resident Disneyland cat!
• Redwood Creek Challenge Trail
• Radiator Springs Racers (again)
• Rise of the Resistance (again) (third time and it worked)
• Splash Mountain x2 (2nd and 3rd time for Jack and Ben only)
• Main Street Cinema (me and Sam)
• World of Color water and light show

So that was a lot!

Last time we came it was for two days.  It felt very luxurious to have three days.  No frantic planning to try to get it all in quickly, no stress when we came upon an extra long wait, we could come back later!

By the end of the first day I felt fully recovered with just that lingering stuffy nose and cough.  Good thing too, for all the walking and crazy rides we did!

Thursday we slept in and got breakfast at the hotel Craftsman Grill.  We did some last minute souvenir shopping in Downtown Disney, then left for the airport as late as possible.  The flight choices were either early morning or mid-afternoon.  So we got to the airport with no security lines to fight, and hours to rest, have lunch, etc.

A straightforward flight home took us from the land of warm palm trees to an icy snowfall.  Ben said he felt ready to go home, but me and the boys were sad to see it end.  It was really a top notch vacation.  Jack and Sam are already talking about what they want to do on their next Disney trip

I have hundreds of photos from the trip.  As I said, I’m going to post it bit by bit.  First coming up in a minute will be a post about the rides and trip overall.  Later this weekend (hopefully) I will post smaller entries about the details.

If you want a preview cause you just can’t wait to see it all, here’s a link to our photo album.

We’re back! We had a magical, merry trip to Disneyland Resort this week.

It was a slam dunk fantastic vacation! We got to do everything we wanted at least once, and often twice. We ate churros every day. We stayed at my dream hotel, the Grand Californian, right in the park.

I have so much to share and journal, with over 300 photos – not counting any from Ben. I’ll probably post in pieces.

For now, I’ll share our first and last photos in the parks.

Entering Disneyland Monday morning.

Watching World of Color to close the park at California Adventure Wednesday night.

We enjoyed a quiet day at home for Ben’s birthday.  He opened presents after breakfast per tradition.

For lunch we all went to the Westminster Alamo to see Spies in Disguise.  You know what, that movie was actually really good!  I mean, for a kids film.  I don’t blindly recommend it.  But the animation was smart, it had great voice acting, the plot was predictable but tight, and had a lot of great jokes and fun set pieces.

Ben indulged in a hearty root stew for dinner.  He made it with dashi and miso, ingredients that the other humans in our house don’t light.  The cats on the other hand…

Then we had ice cream cake from DQ and played card games.

Happy Birthday, Ben!

We had the pleasure of hosting Christmas for the Waterhouse family this year.  It was so fun having everyone come to Denver to celebrate.  Here’s a smattering of pictures from the end of the year.  Sorry, they are totally out of order!

As room parent I planned and ran Jack’s class party.

I got to pop down the hall to say hi to Sam and his class party too.

Zoo Lights with the Waterhouses!  It wasn’t too cold even!

So many presents . . . 

Showing off school work.

Christmas morning, the kids tackled the biggest box under the tree.  I packed a box-in-a-box five deep.  They had to unwrap all of them to get to the tiny paper in the smallest box that said —

We’re going to Disneyland!  Yes, we gifted ourselves a vacation in Disneyland later in January.  Jack has been talking about nothing else since then.

Poor attempt at a group photo

Burgers with the fam on Christmas Eve.

More Zoo Lights!

A picture of Freddy in the Thai Dinner box was turned into this glorious ode to a meme.

A better group photo!

After Christmas, puzzles and classic Disney movies.

Ben tried out his new Japanese cooking pot.

Merry Christmas!

Okay, it’s actually Tuesday.

Either way, Freddy was Garfielding hard for this lasagne.

(I have a cold this week. Please don’t judge me for serving Stouffer’s.)

Earlier this month I got to come into Sam’s class and teach the whole first grade about Christmas in Germany, as part of their “Holidays Around the World” unit.  I did this for Jack’s class when he was in first grade, you can see the pictures from that here.

This time I didn’t document nearly as well, so all I have is this picture that the teacher took.  Sam is the one picking his nose.

I brought in most of the same things – clothes, pictures, decorations, and a slide show with pictures and facts.

Then I served some German treats, this time I made stollen and lebkuchen.  A lot of the kids loved it and asked for seconds and thirds!

Like last time, I had the kids make a special message for my German pen pal:

Steffi and I have been excitedly emailing all month about the busy-ness of being a mom during Christmastime.   Her kids loved the video, and in return she sent a few back.  I stitched them together into one movie and added subtitles.

Tomorrow the teachers are going to share it with the first graders, to show that their message went all the way around the world!

It’s been a Christmas-sy weekend!  Friday the kids were off school except for a brief scheduled assessment.  So it was a lazy kind of day.  In the evening Jack brought a friend to the ward Christmas party.  It was nice to get out and chat with people and enjoy some Christmas music.  They had a few small instrumental performances and had the kids sing “Stars Were Gleaming” – much to Jack’s embarrassment, since his friend got to watch him sing. 

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Today we decided to take an adventure downtown for some Christmas cheer.  For extra fun, we took the light rail train.  It was a dreary gray day, but I mostly stayed warm.

Visited the Giving Machine at Writer Square.  

Sam and Ben bought some fancy cheese from an Irish cheesemonger selling Dutch wares at the German market.

All testing the cheese in the Christkindlmarkt Festival Hall.  

I was very tempted to buy all the wurst and potatoes in a variety of forms at the Christkindlmarkt, but it was SOOOO crowded and the lines long.  Instead we went to Mellow Mushroom for a warm meal indoors.  (Notice Sam is piling on the parm while our photo is taken)

I impressed/embarrassed my family with my wealth knowledge for lyrics from radio hits of 1998 and 1998, which seemed to make up the restaurant’s playlist.  Here I’m serenading the boys with a Britney Spears ballad. 

There was a pop-up market in Larimer Square.  Mostly fancy-pants boutique wares.  Jack and I ducked into the festival tent and found an a cappella group singing a Disney medley.  They were really good!

Home again on the train.  Sam tried to play it cool, riding backwards away from us.  But he came back after one stop to share a bench and play Farkle on Ben’s phone. 

Not pictured, they each picked out treat at Rocket Fizz. Sam took a sour apple Blow-Pop, Jack took a Chocolate Frog.

I spent in the afternoon in a bustle getting groceries and picking up Christmas cards and a popcorn tin.  Then I baked cupcakes for my Sunday school class and did laundry while watching Nutcracker.  We had a lovely brief snow, but no build-up on the ground.  To finish the evening we watched Home Alone 2.  The kids were howling with laughter and declared it just as good as the original.

Freddy has a basket:

He likes to be in a high position in the kitchen – close to the food smells and the people.  I installed a basket on the counter to try to keep his fur and feet restrained to one spot, rather than roaming over the whole counter.  It works well and he spends most of his naps there.

Nimbus is more free range with her napping locations.  Unless I have an electric blanket on me.  She purrs so loudly when she’s sharing it with me.

Tonight we were dining on baked potatoes and Freddy was prowling about hoping to sneak a bit of bacon.  While his focus was on the table, we spied Nimbus slowly settling into Freddy’s basket.  The kids howled with laughter, we knew this was going to cause trouble.

Shortly after, Freddy noticed the egregious invasion and was MAD.

But Nimbus was not about to yield to this plebeian.  We had a full-on battle, pitting claims of Territory against Dominance.

They ran to the living room to finish wrestling.  I’m not sure who they think won the battle.  The basket was abandoned.  Thirty minutes later, as I was leaving for book club, I walked by this scene:

Hmm.  No one looks happy.  Perhaps this was the first skirmish of a long war.