To view more photos, follow this link to my Facebook photo album: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/album.php?aid=200341&id=650696549&ref=mf
and Brenda's FB Album: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/album.php?aid=199333&id=705116223
First off, the kids did not know we were going. They were told a few days before that we were going on a plane to see Nana, but we were NOT going to Victoria. We told them it was a surprise, and they were content with that. They never once tried to guess where we were going - even when I asked them to guess. They just replied "It's a surprise!" and left the issue there. I think this was a good way to go. We did not have to deal with the constant questions and chatter that would have resulted from them knowing, and they did not have a chance to build up all sorts of expectations about the park.
The big reveal happened as our car came to a stop outside the park on the way to the hotel. The kids were sound asleep, but we woke them up and told them to look out the window. Their reaction was not what we expected. The true excitement and enthusiastic response came about 10 min later, after they had a chance to process our big surprise. Ethan's responses were completely unrelated and random. I have no idea where his thoughts were! Maybe still in dreamland!
We were in the park by 1 pm! We stopped in the hotel long enough to change into shorts and t-shirts, and grabbed some sandwiches from the local 7-11.Ryan's Mom Brenda (Nana) met us around 7 pm after flying in from Victoria.
I priced out how much it would cost to rent a second stroller at the park:$15 a day! So, instead of renting, we bought a second umbrella stroller for $40 and saved some money (and we get to keep the stroller!) The other bonus to buying vs. renting is that you can take the kids right back to the hotel in the stroller, and not have to make them walk. I think all airlines offer 'gatecheck' for strollers so you can also use them in the airport and right up to the door of the plane. I think this was a great way to go. By the end of each day, I think we had walked at least 10 km. That is way too much for most kids to handle. (BTW, I love the stroller we got. It's from Sears, and has comfortable padded handles which are taller than most umbrella strollers. It also has a sun canopy. It was really was really easy to steer too. Overall, a great buy!)
Our first stops, once in the park, were to the City hall to ask for some '1st visit' buttons (free! they also give out stickers and several other buttons), and a quick gift shop visit to buy some autograph books and a pressed coin holder for the pressed coins we planned to (and did) collect over the trip. The characters like using 'sharpie' pens to sign with, so I packed a couple of brightly coloured pens and we were prepared to collect autographs of any characters we might come across! We then proceeded to check out the rides that the kids were most excited about. The 'Dumbo' ride was top of the list, but, since it had a really long line, we chose to make the 'Casey Jr. Circus Train' our inaugural ride instead.
Meeting the characters was one of my goals for this trip. I'm glad we made it a priority, because the kids are still talking about their times with the characters. I think it was a real highlight for them. When Evelyn met Princess Aurora, (Sleeping Beauty), she was wearing her Tinkerbell costume. 'Aurora' told Evelyn that Tinkerbell was one of her best friends. In her quiet play tonight, Evelyn remembered this small comment and made sure that she included a small picture of Sleeping Beauty in the little home she had constructed for her little Tinkerbell figure. Her thought was 'If Princess Aurora and Tinkerbell are best friends, then Tinkerbell will want to have a picture of her friend in her house'.
I think one of the key things that allowed us to have so much interaction with the park's Cast Members was that we sought out the experiences, and volunteered or joined in when the opportunities arose. It helps that our kids are very extroverted and love to be the centre of attention! They danced in the 'Dance party' parade, got their photos taken with multiple strangers (mostly for scavenger hunts, and for Japanese tourists), Evelyn got to do a word scramble while waiting for a parade, Ethan got to be a young Jedi Padawan in the Jedi Academy, They danced with 'Stitch', hugged and met and enjoyed almost 20 characters, made many little friends while waiting in lines, and they took every opportunity to meet and chat with other kids and adults. Through them, we discovered that a large portion of the park's visitors were from Canada! I guess we were not the only Canucks who wanted to escape the winter for a few days! We found that we ran into the same little friends a few times as we waited in line-ups and again at the airport. It made being in such a large crowd feel more like a community.We took the kids on many rides. Ethan, at exactly 40" with his shoes on, JUST made the height requirement for many rides. I saw many kids turned away because they were just half a cm shorter than he was. So, measure your kids, and consider postponing your trip until they reach that magic number! He would have been so disappointed to have to sit out on so many rides. Disney does, however have a 'rider switch' option on many of these rides. This allows one adult to wait with a child who can not ride, while another takes an older child on (or rides on their own) then, when the first rider is done, they can switch and the second person gets to go to the front of the line. This greatly reduces wait times for the second person, so both adults can enjoy the ride. I took advantage of the 'Single Rider' option on some rides. By asking the cast member at the line entrance, you get a ticket that allows you to walk to the front of the line and only have to wait a few minutes. You then fill in an empty seat that is not filled by the groups wanting to ride together. This is the way to go! It's even faster than the 'Fastpass' option on many rides.
Some rides were too intense for the kids. We took them both on 'Space Mountain'. Yes, our kids have been on a major roller coaster - in the dark! What a great ride! The kids had a different opinion though. They liked the stars and 'going into outer space' but found it too fast for their tastes. The other attraction that was too much for them was a bit of a surprise. In the 'Bugs Life' area of California Adventure, there is a 4D movie attraction. (Evelyn LOVES 'Bugs life' right now, and was really excited to spend time in this area of the park) This particular attraction had the bugs teaching us humans about insects. The 3D movie was cool, but the added 4D elements were more than the kids could take. At one point, large spiders were lowered from the ceiling of the theater, and the benches we sat on had little 'cockroaches' scurry under our bottoms, and the stinger of another insect poked out of the bench into our backs at another point. Ethan had to leave part way through. The massive spiders dropping from the ceiling did him in, and he was screaming! The entire theatre and antechamber where we waited for the performance was built to look like it was a hole under the dirt. So, just sitting in the space made one feel a little creepy to begin with! This attraction should have a disclaimer that anyone under about 8 should probably not partake. Maybe even 10 yrs old should be a minimum age.On the flip side, we all enjoyed the Peter Pan ride, the Muppet 4D attraction, the Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Nemo, Dumbo, Jungle Cruise, Small World, Carousels, Chew Chew Train and several other rides. Overall though, our focus of the trip was more on the entertainment and characters than the rides. When we return when the kids are older, we will focus more on the rides. I think the kids favorite ride was a slow moving train in the shape of a fat caterpillar from 'Bugs life'. The big feature of this slow moving ride was that it had scents to go with the massive, chewed food that we drove past, and at the end, the caterpillar burped. This was only enjoyed by the kids. The rest of us tolerated it - 4 times! because they thought it was so great.
One of the favorite things we did was watching the fireworks. They are SO GOOD! At one point, Evelyn (in her 'little teenager' voice) exclaimed "Seriously, am I dreaming!?" They really were wonderful.
My personal favorite activity was getting the kids makeovers at the 'Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique'. Reservations can be made over the phone in advance. Evelyn wore the Snow White costume that her Nana made for her, and Ethan wore a 'knight' costume we found at Chapters. They were styled and primped and doted over for about an hour. At then end, Ethan was knighted and given a cool shield with "Sir Ethan" printed on it and a sword (his favorite part was the sword!). Evelyn was presented with the makeup, hairbrushes and nail polish that was used for her makeover in a neat little backpack. The 'prince' makeover that Ethan got was not advertised anywhere, but it did exist! There were actually 3 little boys being done while we were there.
I loved seeing the excitement and pleasure that shone from Evelyn's face during the whole process. Ethan scowled most of the time, but never once protested. This makes me think he secretly enjoyed having his hair styled and glittered! Afterward, the kids got so much attention in lineups and all over the park.Another highlight was the Character Breakfast we enjoyed with Mickey, Minnie, Stich, Pluto, and Goofy. The food was great, and we got to spend an extended time visiting each character. Ethan was quite ill for this meal. He had a fever and refused to eat. Even that was not enough to keep him from enjoying being sniffed by Stitch and hugged by Goofy.
The 'Pixar Play Parade' in California Adventure was another highlight. This is such a fun parade and featured most of the kids favorite characters. It seems that the Disneyland park presents a very abbreviated version of their parade in the off season. It's 'Dance Party Parade' was disappointing to me, but I think that was mostly because I really loved the full scale parade with it's elaborate floats that we saw on our first visit.
We tried to schedule low-key, indoor activities in the afternoon. The Hollywood back lot area of California Adventure was well suited for this. There are several theatrical productions available there. The kids seemed to need this down time and were refreshed after spending some time there, or outside the park for a couple hours.
Outside the parks is the 'Downtown Disney' shopping area. We visited this area on our last day. It has the largest Disney store that carries almost every item that is offered in the other stores in the park. It's sort of a one stop shopping location. There is also a Build a Bear store that has costumes of major Disney and Pixar characters for their bears. I think this is the only location that they sell these costumes. There was some really cute things there. For older boys, there is also a store where they can build their own RC racing car. For the 8+ crowd, this seemed to be a 'must visit' location.
Another 'must visit' store is tucked away near the inside entrance to DL. This store allows you to design your own mouse ears hat. I enjoyed seeing what everyone decided would best represent them. Ethan's ears were lenticular (moving image) ears on a tie-died hat with 'Lightening McQueen' and 'Wall-E' decals. Evelyn chose furry, hot pink ears on a hot pink, furry trimmed hat, with decals of a castle and Tinkerbell. Ryan chose classic black felt ears on a black hat with a 'pirates' decal, Brenda chose black ears with pink rhinestones on a black hat with a 'mouse ear' gem decal. I chose pink ears with a flower gemstone design on a white hat with a Minnie Mouse and pink flower decal. This was way more fun than just picking ears off the rack. I think it is the only location that allows you to design your hat.Our hotel room was pretty ideal. It had bunkbeds and a sofabed in one partitioned area, and a king sized bed in the main room. The drawback was that the hotel was much farther from the park than I understood. It took us about 15 min to walk to the security check point from the hotel. I estimate it was about 1.5 km away. The Howard Johnson hotel across from the park has rooms with a similar set up, and is much closer. I think I will try there next time we come. I had hoped we would be close enough that we could easily stop in to drop off shopping bags or take a nap.
One annoying security measure is a check point you must go through before entering the plaza between the parks. They look in every bag to check for...? Who knows!? They do not post any sort of information saying what they are looking for, or if you have the right to refuse inspection. I gathered they were looking for glass bottles (forbidden in the park) any alcohol, and ? bombs or guns? This sort of check point seems to be common in the US. I guess when you give people the right to bear arms, these sorts of measures become necessary!
Overall, we could have used one more day in the parks. But we only left a handful of things undone. Getting out of the winter was such a nice break. I am so glad that we decided to do this trip!
