With just a few short weeks till school starts, we decided to take a quick drive up to explore Disneyland. The kids were pretty excited about it, and we spent some time picking out the rides and characters that we were most excited about. On the way up, we had lunch in San Clemente, and then continued on to our hotel in time to enjoy the pool and then get a Hawaiian inspired dinner at Roy’s. We settled on one day at Disneyland Park, and one day at Disney California Adventure, which worked out perfectly. Our day at Disneyland was packed full, we were there and waiting when the “rope dropped” and the park was declared open for the day. We hit lots of the classics like Dumbo, Peter Pan and Small World, as well as some faster rides like Space Mountain (currently Star Wars themed and renamed Hyperspace Mountain) and Thunder Mountain Railroad. We really lucked out with our character visits as well – three of the most important were waiting for us at the entrance to Toon Town with almost no lines (Pluto, Minnie and Mickey). We finished the day with the Electric Light Parade and then the fireworks show. We were all wiped out by the time we made it back to the hotel!
Day two was a bit more relaxed. Neither kiddo was too interested in the Star Wars or Marvel themed rides, so we had less ground to cover. The Goofy’s Flying School roller coaster and the Cars Themed Radiator Springs Racing rides were the top favorites. The Ferris Wheel turned out to be much scarier than we expected, and we couldn’t get either kiddo to join Mom and Dad on the Incredicoaster (which is the only upside down coaster in either park). Everyone was ready to depart by about dinner time, which got us home and to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour.
Just a few days after that adventure, we got a visit from Grandma and Grandpa! We were excited to show them our new town and all our favorite places. We also explored Balboa Park for the first time, including the Fleet Science Museum. Can’t wait to continue our visit next week.
