Disneyland
“We are going to Disneyland!” I told Pia weeks ago. That was a mistake that I would have to pay for during the following weeks. About 5 times a day she would ask how much longer she would have to wait before it was time to. The frequency of same old question would increase as we got closer to the actual travel date.
On Thursday the 15th of November the day had finally arrived. We left very early in the morning to pickup Miles, Heidi and Heidi’s dad, who had come to stay with them for a few days. An hour later we had arrived at the airport in Albuquerque, where Grego (Heidi’s dad) departed for Seattle while we waited for our plane to Los Angeles (via Phoenix). The two trips were uneventful and once in LA we picked up a rental car (including two toddler seats and the guys were ready to start their adventure:
All that traveling had made the two of the really tired and both fell asleep while we drove down to Anaheim:
In Anaheim we check in at the Annabella Hotel which happens to be right next to Disneyland. Kids got increasingly excited and we had to fight a little battle over some swimming pool usage, because Pia’s dad was silly enough to forget her swimsuit. Nothing that some candy and chips can’t fix …
Friday was dedicated to Disneyland and nothing but Disneyland. We walked over to the park and arrived at the ticket booths a few minutes before Disneyland would open. At precisely 8am the gates opened and we started on our exploration trip. Things were really easy early in the morning, because there were not a lot of visitors. The weather was perfect, a bit chilly in the morning, but filled with sunshine throughout the day. The first ride we hit was Pirates of the Caribbean. Let me stress this: bad, BAD choice for a first ride. The ride is pretty dark and in parts scary for little children. So, both Miles and Pia decided right after that they did not like, although Pia changed her mind later on, played Ms. Brave and declared that she liked the ride. We continued on and hit almost every major attraction in the park. The Mad Tea Party was certainly one of the kids favorites.
After a quick lunch we continued on our quest to cover the entire park. Our initial plan was to leave for a nap around 2pm and then head back to see the parade and fireworks. The kids decided to be real troopers and wanted to continue without a nap. And that’s what we did.
After entering “Mickey’s Toontown” we even got a chance to meet Minnie and Mickey in person. Pia was pretty tired at that point and I think the Mickey-snapshot shows that very clearly …
Even now that they were getting cranky and started to trip over their own feet, they would not stop. We added a few more rides, including a steam-boat-tour and a funny trip in a canoe:
Our final attempts to enter Space Mountain or Finding Nemo: Submarine Voyage were greeted with long, long lines and we did not want to push the kids over the edge by standing in line for an hour.
So, besides those last two rides, I think we hit almost anything that the kids could go on (there were some rides where they were not allowed because of height-restrictions).
Needless to say that both kids slept fabulous that night - they had spent 10 continuous hours in the park and we were proud that both of them had handled it so well.
The next morning we drove up on Highway 1 to Santa Barbara. Heidi wanted to meet some friends up there and we planned to stay another two nights in the SB-area.
As soon as the kids saw the ocean, we were bombarded with “When are going to the beach?”, “I want to go to the beach!” statements. Just after Malibu I had enough of the questions and we stopped quickly to let the kids see the beach and put their toetsies in the sand:
In Santa Barbara we were faced with another mystery: I *know* I had made a reservation at a hotel in Santa Barbara (via Expedia), but the place where we thought we had reservations did not have any records for it. I tried to find out which place we had signed up with and even called the credit card company to see if they had a “hold” charge for any place in Santa Barbara. Nothing turned up, so I have to assume that somehow the Expedia-reservation got lost.
We stayed at the West Beach Inn right next to the harbor. They gave us a deal on a suite that turned out to be a full apartment including a full kitchen (ask for the “North Suite” if you want to check it out yourself).
On Saturday we met Pam and Edwin (and Irma) for lunch at one of the favorite places on the beach. The kids enjoyed to run to and from the ocean while we were having lunch there. And, it’s really nice to see a bunch of dolphins in the surf while you’re enjoying your lunch …
In the evening we joined Heidi’s friends for a really nice dinner at an Italian place in town. The kids stayed home at the hotel with a nanny that we had hired over a babysitting-service (”Mom’s Night Out” - gotta love the name even if it should be “Mom’s or Dad’s Night Out” to be politically correct).
Sunday was a sad, sad day, because Heidi had to find out that her sister had died in her sleep the last night. I decided to give Heidi some time off and took the kids along the beach to a merry-go-round and some playgrounds. In the early afternoon we met up with Heidi, had a quick lunch and then visited another couple who happens to live on a boat in the Santa Barbara harbor.
Monday we made our way back to Albuquerque and everybody was in bed by 9pm after this fun trip.
Brave, brave souls to have made a big trip to Disneyland AND to have allowed the kids to skip their nap!! I’m so sorry that Heidi’s sister passed away. I can’t even begin to imagine. Please tell him I’m thinking of her and hope that she will have strength during these upcoming holidays.