The Magic Kingdom
Who isn't excited to go to Disneyland? Every time we told someone we were headed to California, they would ask us if we were going to Disneyland. I was excited for N to be there for the first time and for the rest of us to try new things and enjoy classics together. Adventureland, Frontierland, Tommorowland, New Orleans Square.
And then it got hot. At this point I was very grateful our hotel, Camelot Inn, was so close to the park entrance. We had a great time cooling off in the swimming pool and had a great rest of the day. We finally made it to Fantasyland to ride some of those must sees and eat dinner. Pinocchio's Village Haus restaurant was D's favorite place to eat because "those little pizzas was so good!" I'll have to keep that in mind before reserving spots at character dinning again. Lol.
The new parade and fireworks shows are magnificent. It was so fun to be there during the Diamond Celebration. Disney sure does know how to do details and market their product! The only problem was, if you wanted a great view of the parade, you had to sit there and save it for 3 hours. N and I saved a spot approximately 45 min ahead of time and hubby and I took turns lifting the children up for a better view. There were tears. Darn. It didn't help that the children were up way past their bedtime. Dan took K and D back to the hotel while M insisted on riding more rides and N insisted on staying with mommy. She fell asleep on my shoulder as soon as the fireworks were over. Guess where the 3 of us watched fireworks from? The Astro Orbiter! What a fun experience that was! After riding that and Finding Nemo's Submarine Voyage and It's a Small World (all with N asleep on my shoulder), I convinced M it was time to walk back to the hotel. By the time we made it to City Hall she asked to stop and rest... just in time to watch the 11pm parade. She had a terrific seat and absolutely loved it. She walked under her own power back to the hotel (since Dan had used the stroller to take K and D back and I was carrying the asleep 2-year-old) and fell right to sleep after telling Dan what we did. I couldn't believe a 5-year-old could do that! I guess she was really motivated!
We loved Disney's California Adventure. Spending an entire day there was a blast. Of course we had to ride Toy Story Midway Mania first after getting our Radiator Springs Racers Fast Passes. During the day there were lots of firsts, including our family's first time with the Tower of Terror. I could not believe how much K loved it! Once was enough for me but she went with both Dan and I and probably would have gone again if we had asked her too!
California Adventure seemed less crowded to us and we took advantage of that to ride the Grizzly River Run to cool off and we explored parts of the park we had never been on before. We were super impressed with the Aladdin show and lucked out getting priority seating last minute -- supposedly due to N wearing her Elsa dress. World of Color was better than we expected and it was super easy to ride the Little Mermaid over and over with the kids who wanted to do that while the show was on.
Knott's
Husband had been to Knott's Berry Farm years ago but this was the first time for everyone else. It was a big hit! Our son says Knott's was his favorite place to go on our trip. M says the Huff and Puff ride was her favorite ride the entire trip and the log ride at Knott's was way better than at Disney. I am so glad my children enjoyed a place both my parents have pictures of visiting when they were children. And Knott's is less than half the price of Disney. Note taken! We will be more than happy to visit Camp Snoopy and Ghost Town again. I've had lots of questions about our trip and people seem most surprised to hear how much my little ones enjoyed Knott's. Don't worry, I was a little surprised too. I wasn't expecting it to be my son's favorite day!
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