Spring Break 2014: The Rest of Disneyland

More photos from our trip



Will's first roller coaster ride - Gadget's Go Coaster.  He loved it!


Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters


Robert smoked me on the Buzz ride - his score was 276k, mine was 125k.  Ouch!


Autopia.  We need to work on our kids' driving skills - it was a bumpy ride, but lots of fun.


Fastpasses for Soarin' - we ended up riding it twice


Tuck & Roll's Drive Em' Buggies


Some snuggles with my girl while waiting in line for the Monsters, Inc. ride


Pixar Parade


Toy Story Midway Mania - another family favorite!


Robert didn't beat me as badly on this one


Mad Tea Party - you can't go to Disneyland and not ride the teacups!


Princess Mouse Ears

Spring Break 2014: Meeting Disney Characters

One of the kids' favorite parts of a Disney trip is meeting different characters.  We only had one character meal on this trip, so we didn't have as many interactions as the last trip, but we still got to meet some favorites.

Minnie


Ariel


Sleeping Beauty


Belle


Snow White (definitely a favorite)


Mater


Red from Cars


Sully


Will really wanted to see Randall from Monsters, Inc., but he isn't one of the popular characters, so we were trying to manage expectations.  Fortunately we saw this image of Randall in an area near the Monsters Inc. ride that sufficed!


You might also note no pictures with the characters from Frozen.  The wait in that line was usually 2-3 hours - no way we were doing that.  We kind of just hustled the kids past that area when we were nearby.  We'll try to meet them next time!

Spring Break 2014: Cars Land

There is one ride everyone visiting Disneyland wants to try - Radiator Springs Racers.  Robert and Will rode it twice, and Claire and I went 3 times.  :)


Most of the lines were pretty reasonable, but this one takes a little planning.  We got in line to enter the California Adventure park about 30 minutes before opening.  They soon started letting people in, but you are held at "Rope Drop" until the actual opening time.  As soon as they start letting people through the gates, the lines begins forming for the RSR Fast Passes (and all RSR Fast Passes for the day are usually gone within 1 1/2 hours of park opening!), so once we were through, Robert got in the Fast Pass line.  The kids and I strolled around until rope drop, then we went and rode the other two rides in Cars Land while Robert got our RSR passes.  The entire Cars Land is incredible - you really feel like you stepped into the Cars movie.








Our first stop was Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, where you ride around "Mater's Junkyard" in the baby tractors from the first Cars movie.  They whip you around, and it was a lot of fun.


We walked down to Luigi's Flying Tires, and once again, we were able to get on quickly.  Will was still a little cranky that morning - it was a lot to take in, but he perked up after the ride started.




By then Robert had our fast passes in hand, and we saw more of the rest of the park before coming back to RSR for our 12:30 return time.  Finally, it was our turn.  We were all so excited!


It was worth the wait - Disney did a great job incorporating the themes from the movie and making a thrilling ride that adults and kids can enjoy.  Will barely made the 40" height cut off (we knew he was close, so he wore his boots to give him a little boost), so I'm glad we waited to make our visit until he was able to ride with us!

Since we enjoyed RSR so much, we scrapped our plan to begin Day 3 at Disneyland and started the morning again at California Adventure.  This time the kids and I went ahead and got in line for the main attraction while Robert got the fast passes, and we still had a 40 minute wait even though we headed straight over as soon as the park opened.  Robert had time to get on through the single rider line while he was waiting for us.

Ready for Ride #2




By the time our fast pass return time rolled around, Will was done with being on a schedule and chose to sit and have a snack with his daddy while Claire and I went for one last ride, just the girls!


Overall, the Cars Land area was a big hit with our whole family!

Spring Break 2014: Disneyland!

Our first family Spring Break trip will be hard to top!  Now that Claire is in school, we really want to take advantage of these times when we can spend an extended amount of family time together.  We talked about a few options for vacations, and the kids kept saying they wanted to go back to San Diego, so we combined a few days in SD with a quick trip to Disneyland.

Planning our trip to Disneyland was SO much easier than the planning for our trip to Walt Disney World in 2012.  There are only a few hotels on the property, two parks instead of four, and it didn't require waking up at 5 am 180 days out to get a reservation for a meal with the Disney Princesses!  We stayed at the Grand Californian, which is a short walk to Downtown Disney and to both parks.  We loved it - and actually preferred it to WDW at this stage with young kids.

We flew to LAX on Tuesday, March 11.  Claire and Will were so excited to be on our way!


Will found a good seat while waiting for our rental minivan to show up.


We drove to Anaheim, got checked in, and we were at Disneyland within a few hours of landing.  Claire had her autograph book ready before we were even inside the gates.


Ready for some fun!


We got our PhotoPass and autograph book for Will, and then we were ready for our first ride.  The kids went straight for the first ride they saw - the Astro Orbiter.








The first ride of many to come!

"Alien Worlds and Androids"

On March 1st, the kids and I went down to the Witte Museum to check out their new exhibit, "Alien Worlds and Androids".  The kids enjoyed seeing Iron Man and video from the robotic rover that is exploring Mars.




Spying on the groundhogs


Will always has to try out at least one saddle in the South Texas Heritage Center.


Will's favorite part of the day - chasing the ducks down by the riverbank!


Fun day at the Witte!

February Randoms

A wrap-up of February:

A busy day for Claire - we spent the morning at Kiddie Park, then went to a classmate's birthday party.  Their backyard was a kid wonderland - trampoline, zip line, kiddie coaster, jungle gym...she had a great time!


Girls' night out - we did a progressive dinner at a few restaurants to celebrate a couple of birthdays.  This was the main course - we ordered several small plates at Feast to share.  The food was delicious, and the company was even better.  Such a fun night!


I finally organized our collection of kid art supplies.  I repurposed an armoire in our guest room.  It's nice to have everything in one place and easily accessible!


Jeremy Camp at the rodeo with Ryan and Jill - fun night!


Will set up a booby trap in the garage with some random bungee cords and a bicycle pump.  He's only 3.  I'm a little afraid of what this will turn into in a few years!


A family day - scooter/bike ride through a local park followed by lunch at Blanco BBQ, including free pony rides!


Clockwise from top left:
1)  Writing practice on the playset
2)  Window marker art
3)  Claire rarely wants to snuggle, so I soaked up some sweet time with my girl at my parents' house
4)  Rainbow rice - worth the mess!


Left - For the 100th day of school, each kid was asked to make and wear a shirt with 100 things on it.  Claire made a shirt with 100 dots in school colors - the gold dots make a "C".
Right - Will and I joined Claire for lunch, and Claire helped Will with his mac & cheese.


Family picnic & movie night - Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2.  Claire fell asleep about 10 minutes after she finished her dinner, so we watched it again the next morning.


Crazy hair day at school - we made it pretty crazy.  What was really funny was how big her hair was after we took out all of the ponytail holders.  She had some massive curls!