Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Day 8 Disneyland



Saturday

Rope drop at Disneyland

We tried the cocoa churro

Splash Mountain (my son chickened out on this one so I missed it, would have been really upset about this, except that we are coming back kid free next year!)
Astroblasters
Toontown houses
The railroad all around the whole park, this was awesome!
Jungle Cruise
Tiki Room
Mark twain Riverboat
Not an attraction but we ran into the Freshbaked crew and got a pic with them, kids were stoked
It’s a small world
Mickeys magical map, this is play, if you were on a time limit would prioritise any other show

Pizza planet again for dinner, this time we sampled some pixar treats that were delicious. Videos will be up in a couple of days.

We saw Gaston, Merida and Tiana (on the boat) today.

Home to finish packing as a 5am wake up call from Mr Incredible again!

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Day 7 Disneyland

Friday
Rope drop at DCA
Radiator Springs Fastpass, so we could go and meet Olaf. The dance off with Starlord and Gamora was next, this was pretty fun, then some attractions
Sorcerers room in the animation building
Turtle Talk with Crush again – it is different every time
Animation academy drawing Edna Mode
Black Panther and Black Widow meet and greet, Loki and Dr Strange joined us for a chat and a photo in the line
Time for ice cream, I wanted a kitchen sink ice cream from Clarabelles, we made the mistake of ordering one each, one could easily feed 2-3 people!
was a delicious treat!
We needed to pack so we started with that, and came back to DCA to do the Trail and eat one last time at the lucky fortune cookery, it is just so nice to eat a healthy meal in the parks. The on to The little mermaid ride, monsters inc, another 20 minute wait, it didn’t ever go down, Heimlichs chew chew train, and an early spot for paint the night parade. As schmoozies closed they brought us three free smoothies which was pretty cool.
Paint the night was both kids favourite show/parade, and it was pretty amazing. 10pm bed, our last park day tomorrow!

Day 6 Disneyland

Thursday
7am rope drop at Disneyland (you can tell which is our favourite park?) and we headed straight to enrol for Jedi training, if you want to do this, do it the minute you get in, spaces fill up.
From the website:
“Please register at the kiosk located outside the exit to Star Wars Launch Bay. If you are unable to locate the registration kiosk, ask a Cast Member for help.”
https:/… Registering to Participate in the Show Younglings who wish to participate in Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple must register before the show. You must be between 4 and 12 years of age to participate.
Registration begins when Disneyland Park opens for the day–including Extra Magic Hour or Magic Morning.
Availability is limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis.
Then off to do some rides before our 10.30 Surfs Up with Mickey breakfast. We rode
Star Tours
Astroblasters
Finding Nemo
Alice In Wonderland (this was our longest wait at 25 minutes, but it never came down below this the whole trip)
Haunted Mansion
It’s a Small World
We took to monorail to Paradise Pier Hotel for the Surfs Up with Mickey brunch, mostly because my son is obsessed with Stitch. The food was fine and the characters were too, it was Mickey, Minnie, Stitch and Daisy. Taking a minute to check out that hotel and the Disneyland Hotel, and that end of downtown Disney.
We returned to the park on the monorail for the Jedi training, this was fun, they loved it! The kids get to train and then fight Darth Vader or Kylo Ren, review here
Back to Disneyland to the Tiki Room, Poohs Adventure, a Woody root beer float from the golden horseshoe
and then I remembered that I wanted to get the kids silhouettes done on Main Street. We had Bonnie, she was awesome, fast, and we watched Pixar Play parade through the window. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCW4WvWfphY
$10 per silhouette
$20 per frame, the frames are beautiful with over 20 hidden mickeys.
4.45 reservation at Blue Bayou for the Fantasmic! Package. We showed up a little early and they could seat us immediately but I asked if we could wait for waterside seating, they said it would be 20 minutes, no problem. 5 minutes later we were seated. The chef came out to make sure our food needs were met, and while I wouldn’t usually pay that much for a simple meal (it was $241 for the four of us – 3 course meal), the food was good and it more than made up for the price to have a cushion and priority seating for Fantasmic. Looking at all of the people sanding for hours before it started, by this stage I was tired and pleased to be seated.
Fantasmic came around, we lined up, sat down and waited, the show was phenomenal. I don’t want to spoil it, but see it, really. It was my highlight of the week, my husbands too.

Sunday, July 22, 2018

Universal Studios

Wednesday
Unfortunately for us all, my son couldn’t get to sleep, so the 5am wake up call (from Mr Incredible no less) was not appreciated. We grabbed a Lyft (using a Bubble Bum for my son as he isn’t 8) at 6 and got to universal early, second in line. Because we bought our tickets online we got early entry into The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which was fun! We went straight to Ollivanders where the kids chose wands, and went around the Wizarding world doing magic. We tried Butterbeer which we have wanted to do forever! Review here
The kids did not love Flight of the Hippogriff, which set the tone for the attractions for the rest of the day. The studio tour was pretty good, glad we did it, and so was the Jurassic Park ride, despite my sons tears, by this stage he was so tired. We strolled around the lands, met Blue, and Bart Simpson, and were ready to go. Honestly, after being in a Disney bubble it was really abrasive, staff shouting at people about how to queue etc, I wasn’t a great fan.
We grabbed a lyft to Hollywood Blvd, the kids wanted to go to Sweet! Hollywood and also see Rupaul’s star on the walk of fame, I don’t love Hollywood, but I do love that sweet shop, and I also love Rupaul, so we did that, and jumped in a Lyft back to the Disney Bubble by 2.30, just before the traffic started picking up. Home by 4, a tired kid, there was no way we were hitting a park tonight, so we got some Mexican food delivered (used Uber eats), ate and had an early night.




Friday, July 20, 2018

Day 4 Disneyland



Tuesday

We all slept in this morning, and because that never happens, I allowed it. My husband went to get a tattoo this morning so I took the kids to DCA, we didn’t get to the park until 9.30.  Pixar Pier had just opened on Saturday and we thought it best to go back in the morning as when we went previously in the afternoon it was CRAZY busy! 

There was about 4 people in the queue for Adorable Snowman so we stopped there and got a few lemon dole whips, reviewed here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIzzteVFbqk  and walked down to the Incredicoaster (no desire to go on it) and saw that the Jack Jack Cookie Num Nums queue had 2 people in it (we really didn’t queue for more than 15 mins for anything on this trip, not food, not snacks and not attractions, it definitely added to my joy) so we grabbed one of those to share, and it was AMAZING! Reviewed here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1x_xe4iSJs&t=14s We saw Elastagirl and Frozone but the queue was crazy, and we had an 11o’clock appointment at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, so we went to Disneyland. Walking to our appointment, early as ever we spotted Jasmine and Aladdin by Snow Whites Grotto  and jumped in line, Jasmine is one of my favourites so I grabbed a selfie with them and the kids as well as the standard full length photos.





11am Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, after making my reservation 60 days out, I was told that the longer the day goes on, the later they run, yep, we waited, in aircon at least. This was a very special event, both kids loved it! Reviewed here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ii37khE_jE&t=55s


We mobile ordered at the Jolly Holiday Café, we all enjoyed our meal, by 1p it was getting so crowded and heating up, we went back to our room to chill, and wait for my husband. At 3 we went to downtown disney and did some shopping. Back to Dca and the Lucky Fortune Cookery for dinner, and also mobile ordered some Pixarfest cake to share for dessert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPkY2ymiA6M&t=3s  .  We saw Donald Duck, and rode the little mermaid.  Heading back for an early night as we were headed out to Universal tomorrow.



Thursday, July 19, 2018

Day 3 Disneyland


Monday

Rope drop at Disneyland, straight to Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters and then Star Tours, but today was not about rides, it became about character interactions.  We went to all of the places that the app said that there would be characters that we wanted to meet.

We did have 10.30 reservatiions at Minnies breakfast at the Plaza, where the food was the best of all the breakfasts we attended, it also had LOADS of characters, and the cast members were soooo lovely.  The chef was fantastic and gave us the best vegan/GF breakfast of the trip. Today we met

Alice in wonderland

The Evil Queen

Cinderella

Ariel

Snow White

Aurora

Tinkerbell

Peter Pan

Mary Poppins

Minnie Mouse

Eeyore

Chip

Hook

Tigger

Pooh

Fairy Godmother

Max

Rafiki

Dale

Cruella De Vil

Chewbacca

Rey

Kylo Ren

The kids made a video of what to expect at character interactions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNukOhGq0-Q

Those autograph books were getting full! It was getting hot and crowded so we went back to the hotel for a swim and an hour of rest as we were hoping to see the fireworks tonight.

5.00 reservation at the carnation café, while they had options that suited us, the food wasn’t really that great, wouldn’t go back. Walking out caught the Pixar play parade again. Took off to DCA and got in line for the Animation Academy, we drew Groot! This made me very happy! Afterwards we did Turtle Talk with Crush, which was surprisingly cool. Went to schmoozies  to try some of the Pixarfest offerings which were delicious, the kids reviewed them here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ITzDXUTCDM Went back to Disneyland for the fireworks, boy was it packed! Lots of people with their kids on their shoulders which wasn’t great after waiting so long for them to start, only to find a toddler giant in your direct view. The fireworks were amazing, I loved them, they made me laugh and cry, so magical.  Off to bed, we were all exhausted.







Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Day 2 Disneyland


Sunday

We hit the park for rope drop, this morning we had plans to meet some friends from LA for a character breakfast at Storytellers at 11, so we just wanted to do some rides and head out.  We rode
Indiana Jones
Pirates of the Caribbean
Poohs Adventure ride
Canal boat ride
Jungle Cruise

We also got deep into pin trading which took up a lot of time and was a lot of fun, checking for pins and soaking up the magic were wonderful.

11am Storyteller café critters breakfast, to be honest, if this was just about the breakfast and not the company we kept, I would have been disappointed, but fortunately all of the character meals have been changed up, so I won’t talk too much about it. The most important thing which is still valid is, if you have food allergies or preferences, speak to the chef, they will make GF DF waffles and sometimes pancakes and sometimes a tofu scramble. We saw Pluto, Chip, Dale, Kenai, for autographs and cuddles.


 After brunch we hung out on our balcony watching the park, and decided to go to Trader Sams.  I have never taken my kids to a bar, although it was outside and families are welcome, I wasn’t sure how it would go. It went fabulously, we all had a great time, and ended up back in the park dinner.



We mobile ordered Bengal BBQ, and it really catered for all of us, another great meal.


 We were all tired so we went over to our favourite spot for the Pixar Play parade, my kids weren’t that bothered about watching it, but by the end of the trip we had seen it 4 times!  We all really enjoyed it. We go to the front of the King/Queens restroom for our viewing spot, as it fills up last and the cast members all look your way as the other side is a wall.



Another day done, rope drop in the morning.

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Day 1 Disneyland


We are 2 adults on either side of 40 husband is vegan and gf (allergies), I am vegetarian and gf intolerant, 9yo daughter with anaphylaxis to some tree nuts, and 7yo son who is vegetarian, we are tricky to feed!
                        
Our trip was 8 days at Anaheim (we split to LA for one day in the middle), 7 days in Waikiki and 4 days at Disney Aulani to finish.  It was a truly amazing experience, I feel so lucky to have had it.

We got tourist T mobile sim cards, I love taking my sim card out and becoming uncontactable to my normal life.

I pre ordered a bunch of groceries through Vons/Pavillion, these were delivered and brought to our room once I had notification of delivery. In the parks I used a combination of ridemax for days we did attractions, and the disneyland app.  We loved ridemax last time, it wasn’t as useful with the kids that don’t love rides, but I have a yearly subscription to use the next time we go in April.

Saturday
Flight from Melbourne, Australia to LAX with United, was fine, and came up just under 14 hours. The boys slept around 1 hour, despite being up since 4am, I felt like this was going to go badly for our first day.  I had packed two little bags at the top of our suitcases, one was ‘we slept and we are hitting the parks’, the other was ‘we did not sleep and we are resting at the pool until our room is ready’, I was certain at this point that we would be headed to the pool and chilling by the water.

We used Karmel shuttle because I assumed that I would be too tired to find the Lyft/Uber spot, the driver was excellent.  Ultimately I don’t like shuttles, it just takes too long.  I thought when I had this part booked through flight centre, that we were getting a car, not a shuttle, not used to booking through agents, much easier to book myself.

We arrived at the Grand Californian Hotel around 10 o’clock, it reminded us of Aulani, it is indeed grand, the lobby is beautiful.  The cast members were lovely, this was true for the entire stay. It was so great to be in the Disney bubble, we really noticed it when we went to Universal for the day, the world is so abrasive out there. We booked a DVC studio by renting points through David’s Vacation Club rentals and it went well, would definitely do that again. While checking in a woman asked where we were from, I had zero brain power so was struggling to understand was what going on, she was checking out from her room and offered us her room to have showers if we wanted. This woman was the pixie dust people talk about! We had showers, and hit the park! We got our room 3 hours later, it was lovely, the fold out bed was super comfortable, we had a park view which brought me endless joy! The pool was lovely, but the thing that let the hotel down was the awful internet and weird plumbing noises.  The pin trading here was lots of fun, and the cast members were always excellent. You can get a wake up call by a Disney character, everywhere I read that you had to contact the concierge to do this, you can do it on your phone, it is automated.
The park, we had a 10 day park hopper which I believe is an Australian thing, that we got through Flight Centre, we exchanged the voucher for tickets at check in at the hotel.  We also bought dining vouchers from Getaway today and exchanged those for tickets at the check in too.



We headed straight to Disneyland, had our photos taken and attached to our ticket, this took a minute, no big deal, but I was in a state, I did not ever want to see that photo! We went straight towards the castle and saw the pineapple churros, and had to try one! Here is the kids reviewing it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNs8n5F-TcM  



We also had a dole whip ( you can split one onto two cups, after the churro my kids didn’t need a whole one each) at the Tiki Room, it was the 55th birthday so there was a celebration button if you bought the tiki cup, which I did. 

We saw Mary Poppins and the band in front of the castle today.
Lunch at Pizza Planet, they have an amazing vegan/GF pizza which tasted as good as the real thing! And we snacked on the carrot cake churro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjUP5YQrr-0

We got our room which called for a nap, while napping the hampers I ordered from Disney Floral and Gifts arrived so I gave them out as we woke up. The kids were excited about the autograph books (side note, the ‘girls’ ones all have photo slips so only fit half of the autographs, we had to buy my daughter a second book as the first one filled fast!) Then we went back to the parks.  Today we rode
The Little Mermaid
Casey Jnr Train
It’s a small world
Tuck n Roll
Heimlichs Chew Chew train
Buzz Astro Blasters
Jungle Cruise
and hung out in the Enchanted Tiki Room https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywd5wNEGokw&t=3s

We wanted to make sure that we spent time in a bugs land because by the time we take the children back, it will be gone!

Dinner we tried mobile ordering, this was amazing! We had dinner at The Lucky Fortune Cookery and Cocina Cucamonga, last time I had their teriyaki tofu and rice and ordered it again, and again ;)
We didn’t stay too late, as we wanted to do rope drop in the morning.