Disneyland 2014 Recap

A couple of weeks ago we got to take a fun vacation with my parents. Instead of presents this Christmas they gifted us with a trip to Disneyland. A way better gift if you ask me! We went the week before Fern’s birthday, so it was a birthday present for her as well and seriously…what better place to spend your birthday than the happiest place on earth?

I warn you in advance…there are a lot of photos. Mainly gratuitous character photo opps, because my girl loves her some Disney characters. But, I think they’re super adorable…though I am obviously biased.

Let’s start off with Day 1…

We arrived at our hotel first – Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel – and it was just as magical as I had imagined. For some reason I completely failed to take any photos of the hotel, but seriously…it’s amazing and I kind of want to live there. This was the second time I’d ever stayed at a Disney resort hotel (the first time was at The Boardwalk when we went to Disney World last year) and pretty much I’ve been ruined for all other hotels for the rest of eternity. Oh…and just a little aside before I start, but Disney did not pay for any of this trip by the way in case you were wondering – just my incredibly generous parents. Best gift ever.

Anyway, The Grand Californian is connected to California Adventure, so we started off there and the very first thing we happened upon was Minnie Mouse…Fern’s absolute favorite (you can see a video of it here). She was over the moon excited. She could barely contain her excitement as we waited in line then after she got her turn to say hello and hug and kiss her (multiple times) I told her to say goodbye because other kids needed to visit with Minnie. Fern grabbed Minnie’s hand and said, “OK Minnie. Let’s go!” and started pulling her along with us. It was the sweetest!

We basically just meandered around a lot that first day, because none of us (aside from my parents) had been to California Adventure before. We did ride on the Mater ride in Cars Land which was super fun for Fern…pretty much as exciting as a ride can get when you’re pregnant and hanging out with a two-year-old. We just had fun taking in all the sites and sounds.

We also went to the Bug’s Life section of California Adventure which was pretty “meh” in my opinion. We didn’t watch the Bug’s Life interactive movie ride which I’ve heard is cool, but all the other stuff there just wasn’t my cup of tea. Probably because I was never a super big fan of the movie. I didn’t see it until adulthood, so I think I missed the magical window for that one. There are some kiddie rides there, but nothing worth writing home about…at least in my opinion. The lines are short though!

We got a late start our first day, so we didn’t have much time before Fern was ready for a nap. She was so pooped every day from all the running around! It was SO nice staying at The Grand Californian because we could just run back to take naps and rest whenever we needed to. Totally ideal when you’re doing Disneyland with a toddler. We’ve gone before and just toughed it out through nap times and it’s not the worst thing in the world – especially if you’re only going for the day –  but this was so much better. I was pretty tired too being pregnant…not sure I would’ve wanted to go too much later in my pregnancy. My legs were SO tired after three days and Craig had a hurt knee so he was thankful for breaks too.

In the evening we went over to Disneyland and my dad and Craig rode on fun “grownup rides” while my mom and I hung out with Fern. It was nice since I couldn’t go on a whole lot – but the guys did take breaks to go on some kiddie rides with us too. Small World was still decked out for Christmas and it was insane! I’d never been near the holidays before so I’d never seen it, but seriously the entire ride was like Christmas incarnate and the outside looked so cool all lit up! I actually think it was Craig’s first time going on it, because he had only been to Disneyland once and that was in junior high (the most unmagical time in life to ever go).

Fern got to ride the teacups with her Grandma and I for the first time. Much faster than I remember. I think I’m just old though. We didn’t spin the wheel, because too much spinning while pregnant probably isn’t a good idea, but it was still fun because you still get to spin…just without the puking part.

And more character photo opps…

That first night after we got done with all our park hopping we came back and put Fern to bed and then had a night cap downstairs. The Grand Californian is like an incredibly cool log cabin – decked out in craftsman style with cozy furnishings and fireplaces and it was the perfect place to just hang out. Hot chocolate for me :). P.S. Vacationing with grandparents is seriously the best. Built-in babysitters? Amazing. I never want to vacation without them, because honestly that wouldn’t really feel like a vacation.

Day 2…

We went to a character breakfast and it was pretty much the highlight of Fern’s life. Eating Mickey Mouse waffles and getting to see all her favorite characters at the same time? Basically heaven. We went to the breakfast at the Paradise Pier Hotel, because it’s the only character breakfast where you can meet Mickey. All the other characters are a surprise, but since Mickey is notoriously difficult to get a photo with we went for this one and it didn’t disappoint. Minnie, Pluto and Daisy all showed up too!

Fern with Pluto: “Mama! He has whi-kers!”

She was particularly excited to meet Daisy. She kind of has a thing for her and brought her little Daisy doll from home everywhere with us on our trip. She wasn’t as into some of the characters, but she could’ve hung out with Daisy and Minnie all day long. The breakfast was fun because all the characters make the rounds throughout the restaurant and visit each table individually so the kids get a chance to really interact. Fern got to get up and dance with Daisy which she was pretty stoked about.

…and Minnie again. Never gets old for Fern. When she hugged Minnie, she snuggled in close and said, “Minnie, pat my back.” Minnie also saved Fern from grabbing her birthday cupcake candle while we were singing “Happy Birthday” and I was too busy taking a photo to notice. Fail on my part, but Minnie was awesome.

Not completely sure about Mickey…

One of the many dance breaks with Mickey and his pals. Fern hopped around like a crazy, little bunny.

After that it was back to Disneyland to see it during the day…far more magical in my opinion. Also, photo opps out front with all the family.

This area right in California Adventure was one of our favorite places, because it’s where Ariel’s Undersea Adventure ride is. We enjoyed churros and rode it like 8,000,000 times (OK…only like 15 times). It was Fern’s favorite ride of all and every morning and nap time when she would wake up, the first thing she would say was, “I manna go to Dissy-land. I manna go ride the Ariel ride.” This ride was great because the line is so short! The longest I think we waited was five minutes, so we just rode it over and over.

I will say that this ride caused us some nightmare/bed time issues once we got home though. Fern has never seen the movie, so she wasn’t too familiar with Ursula, but I think seeing her as a big animatronic creature was a bit scary for her. She didn’t seem scared when we rode it, but once we got home, she kept talking about it and saying, “Mama, I don’t like the sea witch. I don’t like Ursula.” She woke in the night multiple times the first few days were were back, crying and saying, “I don’t like the sea witch. She’s gonna get me.” We were able to eventually talk her down and she seems to have forgotten about it now, but mostly because we haven’t talked about our trip since. Maybe eventually it’ll be OK, but we’re still waiting a bit. The ride definitely isn’t a scary one, but for some reason it just impacted her.

Taking another rest with Mama in the hotel room…

The Haggen Daz ice cream shop in Downtown Disney was our favorite. Seriously…how did I not know Haggen Daz ice cream was so amazing? I’d only ever had the ice cream bars, but seriously…so good. The rocky road was the best I’ve ever had in my entire life. Fern got to have her first cone all to herself – mint chocolate chip and she was obviously a fan. We couldn’t have pried it out of her hands no matter how hard we tried. She had a death grip on that thing!

More California Adventure at night. I’m so bummed I couldn’t go on the rollercoaster or the Tower of Terror. Next time. My dad and Craig rode it multiple times though.

The Toy Story ride was probably my favorite. You get to shoot things and it keeps score. I was totally dominating Craig and being all cocky about it, but then he came back and wasted me. Pride comes before a fall apparently. Too bad the line for this ride is so obscenely long and there are no Fast Passes. We only rode it once, but I would’ve gone over and over if the wait hadn’t been so crazy.

Our last day was spent soaking up last minute visits with the characters and taking it easy. We were all pretty wiped out from all the walking. Plus, like I said before…Fern couldn’t possibly have too much character action. She’s obsessed.

These photos of Fern introducing Daisy to Daisy are maybe my most favorite from the trip. Fern was SO excited to show her. “Same, same Daisy!” I bet Daisy was pretty stoked too. Honestly, it’s got to be a bit of a downer to always be overshadowed by Minnie. Daisy gets no love. But, she certainly got plenty from Fern.

There’s a great little area in Frontier Land that I highly recommend if you have little ones. There’s a petting zoo and they had cowboys and someone playing old timey piano tunes and a bunch of off-the-beaten-path characters. It was a nice place to take a break and relax. And Fern got to dance with Clarabelle Cow, which is always a good time.

And that was the end of our trip…at least the end of all the photo taking. I probably have some more on my big camera, but honestly I took most photos with my iPhone since it’s way more convenient. I tried to focus on not documenting everything anyway though, because I wanted to just enjoy our time and I feel like it was successful.

I love Disneyland. I was totally not this big of a Disney fan until we took Fern. Even working for Disney, I was kind of just “meh” about it. But, then we took Fern and seeing the magic through her eyes made it so much fun! It brought back the childhood fun of it for me too. It’s seriously so much more fun when you have a little one to take.

We ended our trip with a quick visit to Intelligentsia in Venice, because Craig was dying for coffee (hadn’t had any in three days) and he’d always wanted to try it out. We had to make at least a little bit of this trip about him! The decaf was the best I’ve ever had, though I know decaf will never compare to regular coffee. I was still impressed.

We also got to have some authentic Mexican food and a little birthday celebration for Fern at my mom’s Tia Angie’s house. She and Fern have close birthdays so it was a double celebration. Always fun to pop in and visit family.

Phew! Longest post ever, but I’m trying to be better at documenting our lives here, because I’m notoriously bad for blogging about trips because I get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of photos. I know I’ll want to look back at these though, so they’re always nice to do.

I’ll be doing a blog post about Disneyland tips and tricks over at Babble/Disney soon, so be on the lookout.

 

Love and the happiest place on earth,

Lauren