After a short walk from the hotel, we found ourselves outside Disneyland!
High-fiving our way down Main Street!
One thing I knew to expect was to be completely underwhelmed by Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Sleeping Beauty Castle
Pretty but tiny! According to Wikipedia, Sleeping Beauty Castle is 77 feet tall and Cinderella Castle in Walt Disney World is 189 feet tall.
It doesn’t quite have the same presence in the pictures like Cinderella Castle. LOL
Mike posing with the Matterhorn behind him while we wait to buy a PhotoPass+ card. (The PhotoPass+ card allowed us to get all our ride photos.)
Despite the lack of pictures early in the game, Rachel did in fact join us! LOL
Look who we found!!!!!!! LOL
Awww!!!! Look how pretty!!!!!!
Remember THIS?
Remember that one time we found Tink in Florida?!?!
Rachel decided to join the family for some pictures. 🙂
One last picture before heading off to go on some rides!
The plan was for Rachel and me to take Ian on Space Mountain while Mike and Matthew kept themselves busy on a more tame ride.
Space Mountain!!!
I wish you could see his face! The two kids in front crack me up though. LOL
Rachel being a ham! LOL
Ian’s reaction to Space Mountain? Two thumbs up!
Mike and Matthew went on Autopia while we were on Space Mountain. I walked over to watch the ride at the perfect time to catch them driving by (red car)!
Next up: Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
Star Tours – The Adventure Continues
After an unexpectedly wild ride on Star Tours, Mike needed a break so we walked over to Mattherhorn Bobsleds. On our way, we ran into this guy:
Peter Pan!
Rachel and I took Ian AND Matthew on Matterhorn Bobsleds. I still can’t believe Matthew rode it. It wasn’t particularly scary but he was definitely a little gun-shy after his Legoland “I’m going to die experience”. LOL
After Matterhorn, we decided to go on a nice easy ride. “it’s a small world” was just what the doctor ordered!
“The happiest cruise that ever sailed!”
After that, we headed to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which Matthew refused to ride.
Mid-ride selfies!
Next was Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirates had a super long ride, most of it was outdoors and it was hot, and we were all getting tired. This was probably the worst wait we dealt with during our time at Disneyland.
Celebrity sighting! We saw Johnny Depp!!! Ok, not really. LOL
We took a lunch break at this point. We kind of hoped to eat at the Blue Bayou restaurant as it oversees the Pirates ride but they didn’t have an opening until 2-3pmish. Instead, we went to the River Belle Terrace. The food was okay. Ian didn’t really like his food and ended up eating about half of my food.
Mike took Matthew to the bathroom and I took these pictures of Ian without him knowing. Poor buddy was so tired.
Tired boy
Not sure what this was about. LOL
After lunch, we went back to the hotel for naps.
I got myself a Dole Whip on our way out of the park. 🙂
The first order of business after nap time was to go to see Mickey in his house in Toontown. We wanted to say “hi” but we also wanted to take a picture to send to Courtney on her birthday (the next day).
The first time we met Mickey (in Magic Kingdom/Disney World), Matthew was over-the-moon about Mickey. This trip, Ian was all smiles for Mickey. 🙂
After that, we headed over to California Adventure to check out Cars Land, Tower of Terror, and see World of Color.
The rides in Cars Land had ridiculously long lines so mostly we just walked around and checked it out. We planned to make Cars Land our first priority for the next day.
We decided to ride California Screamin’ at this point because it only had something like a 15 minute wait. Ian was balking at the idea of riding it because it had a loop and went upside down. I knew he’d be fine on the ride since going on a loop/upside down is no big deal compared to the big drops. I told him I’d give him $5 if he’d ride it and he accepted. He was super nervous but he did it!
Waiting in line. Nervous and excited.
There we are! Rachel is waving from the 3rd to last row. Me and Ian were directly in front of her (4th row from the last).
Big smiles as we pulled into the station. He loved it! 🙂
He did it!!!
After that, Mr. Brave was ready to ride Tower of Terror. He was really nervous for this one and wasn’t remotely interested in riding it a second time. LOL
Waiting for our elevator to arrive
Ride photos rock. The range of expressions is always entertaining. LOL Ian looks like he’s mildly bored. The guy in the front row on the other side looks absolutely terrified. LOL
After that, we pretty much focused on dinner, a little shopping, and staking spots to watch World of Color.
Mickey’s Fun Wheel looked really cool all lit up. In this video, you can hear the Disneyland fireworks going off behind us. Have I mentioned how close the two park are to each other? LOL
http://youtu.be/_atoXfjHwWw
World of Color is a light and water show in Paradise Bay in California Adventure. We were off to the side so we didn’t have a straight-on view of the projections and I don’t think they video’d so great. They were more clear in person. I think the boys were just “eh” on it but I really liked the show. I’m a pretty big Disney nerd and love the music so it was right up my alley. 🙂
http://youtu.be/2416I5fq580
http://youtu.be/KEVOcbbQwwU
http://youtu.be/1MaHNUnyMoA
http://youtu.be/TVaVpG31Zik
http://youtu.be/YT_hEudsmHo
After the show was over, we shuffled out of the park and went back to our hotel room. From the hotel balcony, I took this picture looking back towards the Disneyland pedestrian entrance and California Adventure. On the far left, the building with blue lights and white letters is the Tower of Terror. And in the middle of the picture, you can see Mickey’s Fun Wheel lit up purple and pink.
After that it was time for bed because we had another full day of Disneyland ahead of us!
The next morning (also: Mike’s birthday!), we were all up pretty early since we were still on East Coast time. We chilled in the room until it was time to go down to one of the restaurants for breakfast.
The hotel room had a box of Legos which Matthew was thrilled about!
http://youtu.be/1BRO9yfqHpE
One of the sculptures in the restaurant – the beater of the mixer actually turned. 🙂
After breakfast, Mike started loading up the suitcases into the car while the boys and I walked around the hotel a bit.
http://youtu.be/Y9IUgQ1A8Us
The mini-figure display behind the front desk was super cool.
http://youtu.be/vqLx2aUSwDI
http://youtu.be/_4CULowlaGs
http://youtu.be/ChAr7USGx2s
After Mike was a little more settled, we took the boys back to the room to change into their clothes for the day and do one last sweep of the room for miscellaneous belongings.
READY TO GO!!!!
One last time down the elevator. LOL
http://youtu.be/lkKF7gCmO4M
Mike took the last of the bags down to the car and I took the boys over to take some pictures in their fancy Legoland shirts.
We had so much time to wait until the gates opened. LOL We chilled outside and listened to the music, went back to the hotel to buy admission tickets, to let the kids play on the pirate ship, used the bathrooms, etc.
http://youtu.be/4cMT2z93I1M
Once the gates opened, we were able to get early entry via a special entrance for Legoland Hotel visitors only. We hurried off to the one ride that I heard got really backed up – Sky Cruiser.
After that, we just kind of looked at or went on whatever ride caught our eye. We didn’t have much of a plan. LOL
The LEGO Movie Experience was super cool. They had the full basement set used during the movie. It was insanely cool. The employee running the attraction said that the master builders were asked to build parts of the set and had no idea it was going to be used in the movie.
Leaning in the background is the tube that Emmett passes through when he goes from the LEGO universe into the basement scene.
After that, Mike and Matthew rode a jungle safari ride while Ian and I went on a dragon roller coaster.
My personal favorite was Driving School where kids get to drive around in LEGO cars in a street environment. There were traffic signals, stop signs, and lines on the road. It was pretty cool and the kids got a paper driver license as they exited!
http://youtu.be/eet4bEwje_I
Another fun ride was Police & Fire Academy where you race other families to put out the “fire” in the buildings. We were first to put out the fire!
They’ve got their game faces on. Time to kick some fire BUTT!!!!!
After lunch, I took the boys on the LEGO TECHNIC Coaster. Matthew swore he was going to die the whole ride (literally screaming “OH MY GOSH I’M GOING TO DIE” the entire time) but Ian and I had fun. 🙂
Hands up and big smiles as we pull past Mike
Look at that big smile on Matthew’s face!
Which is why it was so damn funny when I saw this was our ride photo. Needless to say, I had to buy it. The expression on Matthew’s face is absolutely priceless. LOL
He said he loved it so we rode it again right after.
Waiting in line a second time – big smiles all around!
So, while we were waiting in line for the roller coaster the second time, a little boy in line in front of Ian asked Ian what his shirt said. Ian told him “Ian” and I explained that it was his name and told the boy that Matthew’s shirt read “Matthew”. The boy’s mom complimented us on the shirts and asked where I got them. I told her that I had ordered them from Etsy before our vacation at which point Ian started his “technically, we’re on vacation” story that he told 100 million times while on vacation. The mom said they were on vacation as well and I asked where they were from. She responded “Buffalo” and I responded “us too!!” LOL Turns out they live about 10-15 minutes away from us. What a small world! What are the chances that the only people we make small talk with at Legoland are from the same city?!?!?
http://youtu.be/Euporhi5oeM
We also checked out Miniland USA which had reproductions of 7 areas o the US all made out of LEGO bricks. It’s hard to realize how big some of the buildings are but many of them were taller than Mike and he’s 6’3″.
We rode a handful of other rides. The boys spent a while on some playgrounds too. LOL While they played on one playground, I got apple fries: fried apple sticks with cinnamon and sugar with whipped cream on top. They were okay. I don’t feel the need to have them ever again. LOL
We went back to check out Driving School on more time.
After that we did a handful of other favorite rides then headed out of the park. We were all pretty tired and we had a couple hour drive to Anaheim ahead of us. Matthew shed some heartbroken tears as we left the park and walked to the car but recovered quickly knowing that we were heading towards Disneyland.
On the drive, we watched a helicopter land right next to the highway (that’s the ocean right past it too).
We saw the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana that was advertising a Mythbusters exhibit.
I saw signs for LA and got super excited! LOL
We saw Angels Stadium in Anaheim.
Not long after seeing the stadium, we got off the highway and made our way to our hotel for the Disneyland portion of the visit.
I intentionally booked a hotel close to the parks but I was still kind of shocked at how close we were. I took the picture below from the door to the hotel lobby before going to check us in. Behind the green traffic light in the middle of the picture is the pedestrian walk way to Disneyland (you can kind of faintly see “Disneyland” on the sign). The elevated bridge is the monorail track.
So, so, so close. There is basically nothing to compare that to in Disney World where eeeeeeverythiiiiing is a looooooooooong walk. We basically could walk down Main Street in Disneyland, out of the park, out the pedestrian exit, across the street, and to our room within 10 minutes. That is NOTHING when you compare it to Disney World. Waiting for a bus back to your hotel can take 30 minutes (or more) and then you have a 20-30 minute ride to your hotel.
After we got checked in and our luggage brought to our room, we walked to Downtown Disney to eat dinner.
Again, the proximity of the parks is ridiculously convenient. As we walked to dinner, we had Disneyland on our right:
And on our left, Disney California Adventure:
We ate Mike’s not-so-birthday-y dinner at Tortilla Jo’s. It was okay. As tends to happen on our vacations, we were so tired and hungry that pretty much anything would have been acceptable. LOL
After dinner, we looked in a few shops but headed back to the room kind of quickly. We were tired after a long day at Legoland.
California Adventure all lit up Hollywood Studios-like. 😉
Mike and I chilled in the room while the boys slept and we waited for Rachel to arrive on her airport shuttle. After a while I started to hear some noises so I opened the door and found….
Disneyland fireworks!
http://youtu.be/ue29bJBVncU
Since Rachel was watching the fireworks from the shuttle, it wasn’t long before she joined us in the room and we all went to bed.
Next up: DISNEYLAND!!!
Since we hadn’t been able to get into a room, we decided to go to the beach. We initially went to a camping only beach in error (who knew that was a thing?!?!) and then were directed further south to a portion of the beach that we could access.
The boys posing beside our rental car. This beach had a sand parking lot and the road was marked with street parking as well.
http://youtu.be/oK0nnVKlUpo
http://youtu.be/AyROTo2Rm14
(Sorry its turned the wrong way)
http://youtu.be/3jfnpNW8Hqc
They look like tiny black specks in the water but those were surfers. 🙂
I took this video to text to my family shortly before we left the beach:
http://youtu.be/y78bG1gijog
Around this time, I got the call that our room was ready so we decided to leave the beach, go settle into our room, check out the pool, then go to dinner.
Walking back to the car.
One last look back.
I can’t remember the name of the place we ate at that night. Some Italian place not too far from our hotel. 🙂
What a West Coast dinner time looks like on an East Coast boy that had been up since 4AM Eastern. We went back to our room after this and everyone went to sleep right away!
And this concludes day 1 of our vacation!
After lunch, we went to our hotel to check in. We knew we couldn’t get into our room yet but we knew we could get the ball rolling so that once a room WAS ready, we were all set to go.
How do I explain the Legoland Hotel? It was like an explosion of color and noise. LOL I have never been anywhere that so clearly catered to children. They have that nailed. As an adult, you definitely feel like the third wheel. It was an awesome hotel and the boys LOVED it.
Behind the reception desk, there was a wall of mini-figures. An oversized mini-figure rides back and forth in front of them on a bike with magnifying glasses in the wheels.
Directly behind the reception desk is a seating area with a Lego pit behind it. I love the little touches like this. It keeps the kids occupied while their 3rd-wheel-adult-servants(parents) take care of business.
Right beside the lobby is a pirate ship play area and a lounge with tons of seating. It was nice to let the kids play while we sat back and relaxed.
In the lounge, they had this set used in the closing credits of the Lego Movie. It was super cool!
Ian had his picture taken with this Lego knight. Matthew was being a little shy.
We stepped outside on the covered patio for one of the restaurants and found…..LEGOLAND CALIFORNIA!
It was ridiculously close to the park gate. I literally took this from the fence surrounding the outdoor dining.
[After that, we headed out to find a beach which will be my next post.]
Once we got the call that our room was ready, we hurried back to check out our room. I had requested a pirate themed room and it was SO. COOL.
Most of the room’s decor was made out of Legos. I cannot imagine how much time it took to build all the models used in every room of the hotel.
Everything was pirate themed including the carpeting (also used in the hallways/public areas) and the wallpaper.
One of the advantages to staying in the Legoland Hotel is that each child gets treasure hunt to receive a prize in the safe inside the room. The boys received a Lego magazine and one small Lego set each. It was fun finding the answers to all the clues!
The boys had bunk beds in their own separate room AND had their own television!
Even the bathroom was themed!
We also visited the outdoor pool but I didn’t take any pictures. It had zero depth entry at one end and it had oversized floating/rubber Lego bricks to build with in the water.
The most fun parts of the hotel? The disco elevator and the whoopee cushion flooring! LOL
http://youtu.be/_7vsZQBraY4
http://youtu.be/NDmys-VrOO8
The funniest part was that each family wanted to ride the elevator alone (because they wanted to dance, but NOT with strangers). It meant people were waiting a while for an empty elevator. We rode the elevator so many times and I think I took video nearly every time so be prepared for more when I post our day 2 pictures and videos. LOL
Beach pictures are up next. To be continued…
Our journey to California began with a 6AM flight. I planned the flights to make the most of our day in San Diego but holy moly, is 6AM a rough time to begin traveling. LOL We had to leave ridiculously early for the airport. I think mom picked us up at 4:30AM? LOL
Excited yet barely awake
Our flight was delayed leaving Buffalo in order to give the flight crew the required number of hours of rest. Obviously we can’t really complain about that but the delay meant we were going to be cutting it REALLY close on catching our connection. In fact, the agent that checked us in for our flight and took our bags said “let’s hope your connection is delayed too.” That’s never a good sign. LOL
Almost time to board!!!
When we landed in Dulles, our connection was already boarding. We were able to get off the plane quickly and run to the next gate. Thankfully the next gate wasn’t too far away and we were able to board. There were only a handful of people that got on after us though. LOL
Hot and sweaty from running but we made it!!!
Our flight to San Diego was pretty peaceful. The boys were easily entertained which was nice. I sat across the way in an aisle seat. My row had an empty middle seat so I had plenty of room.
Matthew took a nap on Mike.
All 3 boys watched tv, played on their electronics, and worked on puzzle books.
Soon we were landing in San Diego. The approach into the city was interesting. I love flying into a new city and seeing everything from the air. While landing, Mike and the boys had a gorgeous view of the harbor and coastline while I had a less exciting desert/mountain view. LOL
We have arrived! Why hello palm trees!
We were a little nervous about whether our bags made it onto our flight in Dulles. Since we had to hustle to get to the plane, it seemed like there may be a good chance our bags may not have made it. To our relief, the bags showed up on the carousel!
After we collected our belongings, we headed outside to find a shuttle to the rental car company. Of course, there were roughly 3208439843 people waiting for shuttles, the kids weren’t being wonderful about staying with us, and Ian was having difficulty controlling one of the suitcases we needed him to pull. That plus the early start to the day and not yet having had lunch lead to some cranky moments. LOL
Happy kids, not-so-happy husband. LOL
Mr. Crankypants
At this point in our journey, it started to sprinkle a little bit. “Why is this noteworthy”, you ask? Well, California is in the middle of a drought and San Diego only receives about 10 inches of rain per year. Of course it just so happens to freakin’ rain the second we land. What are the odds? LOL Honestly, the rain really wasn’t that bad at all. I just thought it was funny. 🙂
We caught a shuttle more quickly than we expected and were soon on our way to getting a car. The route to the rental car took us past the harbor where we could see an enormous aircraft carrier (USS Midway).
After we got to the rental car agency, Mike and Matthew went inside to get a car. Ian and I babysat the luggage and people/airplane watched (planes were taking off basically right over our heads, it was nuts).
A surfer out of water. Wonder where he was going?
After we got our car, Mike had to grab carseats for the boys. Due to California law, Matthew was required to sit in a 5-point harness seat which he found extremely insulting. He eventually adjusted but swore he was never coming back to California until he was big enough to sit in a booster seat. LOL
Once we were settled in the car, we were off to lunch and to check into our hotel.
Lunch turned out to be In-n-Out Burger. It was the first time we ever had it but it was very similar to Five Guys. It was good but really nothing special. The line of people inside and the traffic in the drive through was crazy. Thankfully, we got our food quickly because we were all STARVING!
After that, we checked into the hotel and went to explore the beach. To be continued….