Anaheim

It takes a lot of getting used to, this big tank on the Mercedes. We're all the way to Anaheim on 2.5 tanks of gas. Fill up near Chico, then again south of San Luis Obispo. Here in Anaheim, we still have a half-tank. You could almost forget you need gas!

Disneyland Highlights:

• M spent the morning in the Princess Pavillion. She got her hair done, her face painted as Marie (the Disneyland Paris white cat mascot) and wore her Cinderella dress all day in the park (with shorts and a t-shirt discreetly hidden underneath!)

• On another day, M returned to the Princess Pavillion with Mom to take part in the Coronation ceremony.
  
• Both R and M were chosen in the same session of Jedi Training Academy. They wore Jedi robes, learned to use their lightsabers, and each battled either Darth Vader (M) or Darth Maul (R) to ultimate victory. They loved it.
  
• Watched Indiana Jones fight villains in the ramparts above Adventureland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• We rode ALL the rides. Both sides of the Matterhorn. Space Mountain, everything. EVERYthing.
  
• Tuesday's dinner at the Blue Bayou was nice. They've upgraded the dining experience (and the price) since our 2004 trip. It was worth it. The wait staff was attentive in proportion to the price, so that was a fair trade-off. We rode Pirates, then exited straight into the restaurant. C had salmon, I had jambalaya (a LOT of it!). The kids both had Mac-and-cheese that was exquisite. Drinks came with light-up Tinkerbelle or Captain Hook clip on lapel pins. Neat. Dessert was a boat-shaped chocolate chip cookie with a scoop of ice cream that held up a drinking straw mast onto which was attached a fancy ships sail made from the hard stuff inside a jawbreaker. Clever!
  
• M's new rides (now that she's tall enough) included:
• Indiana Jones
• Space Mountain
• California Screamin' (California Adventure)
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
  
• R's new ride was Indiana Jones. He was lucky enough, on our second ride, to get to sit behind the wheel of the jeep. For him, that was full immersion in the ride experience.
  
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• Everybody was trading pins with Cast Members this trip. Seems there were fewer traders in the park than we remembered. No matter; we still found lots of good ones. M was the most aggressive trader. She just about turned her pin collection over, weeding out basic and unremarkable pins for a nice collection of Stitch pins.
  
• Cast Member Pat talked to us on our last day, just as we were happily coming off the Matterhorn. She chatted to us about the fun we were having. Then, to our surprise, she wrote us a 'silver bullet' fastpass for ANY ride, gave us each "Year of A Million Dreams" limited edition pins, and explained herself by saying "Just trying to make a little magic happen!" So we used the fastpass to take C one last time on her FAVORITE ride: California Soarin' over in Disney California Adventure.
  
• I kept getting approached as if I were a management Cast Member. Probably because I was dressed in business casual all week. It was surprising how many people thought I was on staff just because I wasn't dressed in shorts and white socks like everybody else. Funny thing is, with those golf pants and warm weather button-style shirts, I was cooler than on the day I wore blue jeans and a t-shirt! You know, it made me kind of wish I DID work there.
  
• Saturday Breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen was delightful. Because this was a repeat engagement, the kids knew when to abandon the table for dancing in the center of the restaurant. We required one serving of protein, and otherwise they could eat their fill of whatever. So there was peanut butter and jelly pizza, and cake. Pie and mac-and-cheese. Photos with Jasmine, Chip n' Dale, Pluto and Goofy ensued.

The hotel room was close. The convention center was a five minute walk; the parks were a ten minute walk if the parking lot tram wasn't running. If it was, then there were only four minutes of walking in the ten minute commute. Not that different than our walk from the Paradise Pier hotel back in 2004.

For all the cachet that comes from staying in a Disney property, we had a nice time using the value motel approach. C, who usually prefers more stars on the hotel rating than the Jolly Roger could dish, even said it was a pleasant enough time. This trip, value weighed more heavily than 'effect.' More days in the park were better than a nicer room experience.

We spent Saturday night driving out of LA and up to Monterey. Back for whale watching, dude!