Disneyland Day Three - Stuck Behind a Parade

Day three started very early. When you get a five day pass there is the opportunity to go into the park 1 hour earlier then everyone else on one day. The options for this day included Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. In previous trips regular opening was 9:00a but in the summer things open at 8:00a. This mean that Magic Morning was at 7:00a. After two days of walking constantly, I can tell you that 7:00a is not very magical. Things didn't quite start the way we expected since the hotel breakfast didn't open until 7:00a so we were off to the park on an empty stomach.

I've learned this in the past but Magic Morning is not really the 'line free' time that you would expect. There are a few items to consider.
1) Not all rides are open.
2) The rides that are open aren't running at full capacity.
3) There are a thousand other park goers vying for the same 'typically long lineup' rides that you are.
4) Fast Pass isn't available until the park fully opens at 8:00a.

Long story short, we got in Star Tours and Finding Nemo and suddenly it was 8:00a. It is good that we got two of the rides with longer line ups out of the way though we still had to wait about 20 minutes for each. The true payoff was when we walked over to Fantasy land right at 8:00a. The line ups from Magic Morning had cleared and we managed to get Mr Toad, Snow White and Pinocchio all out of the way. It was now time to head back to main street for a quick breakfast since we were all very hungry by this time.

Breakfast was at the 'secret' Starbucks on Main Street. It's not really a secret but it definitely doesn't look like your typical Starbucks from the outside. It's dressed as an early 1900's cafe and only once you get inside do you find the regular Starbucks fare. On the way we made an attempt to pet one of the horses that drags the street cars around. Callie was quite disappointed that there was a 'no touching the horses' policy in place. Too bad because they look like really nice animals.

After breakfast we tried out the new Space Mountain, now called Hyper Space Mountain. Space Mountain has gone through quite a few image changes in the past decade with musical themes and upgrades. This latest change was definitely the best so far. The roller coast portion stayed the same and there are still lights that look like stars throughout but now they've added in battle scenes from Star Wars. The way they've done it, you almost feel like you are actually in the battle. Very cool. I can't wait until the new Star Wars Land opens in a couple years.

We had a bit more time before lunch so we went down to the Pooh Bear Ride area to see if the characters were there. Callie has had her picture with Pooh Bear every time we've visited and each time brings her Pooh Bear which is now over 11 years old and starting to show his age. The fun part is always when Pooh Bear hugs himself and tries to feed him some honey. The kids enjoyed getting their picture taken with Pooh Bear, Tigger and Eeyore.

We went back to the hotel for an afternoon nap and some time by the pool and then the two families went in different directions. The Kildens had booked a surprise birthday dinner for Kristen at Arial's Grotto and we went to California Adventure for dinner on the pier. Kerry had gone to Fast Pass the Tower of Terror while I did the same for Grizzly River and the plan was to meet back at the bridge near the food. Unfortunately we both got stuck on the wrong side of the Toy Story Parade. It wasn't very long though and we got to watch a parade we weren't planning on seeing.

It was still warm after dinner which was good since our plan was to go on Grizzly River Run which remains my favorite ride. You are strapped onto a giant tube and it takes you to the top of the mountain for a roller coaster like ride down the river. There isn't really a 'dry' option for this ride. Even if you wear a rain coat, you can still get soaked from the bottom up. I think this is why by 8:00p it's pretty easy to get on. Carter and I went and managed to remain somewhat dry. We finished the evening off with a trip to the Tower of Terror. This will be the last chance for us to ride this one because the plan is to turn it into a Gaurdians of the Galaxy theme. There are quite a few rocket scenes in that movie so the elevator equipment should make for a good ride. I hate big drops but will have to try the new ride at least once.

Disneyland Day Two - Some Weird Rabbit

On day two of our trip we decided we would spend the morning in California Adventure which is the park right across from Disneyland. Disneyland, California Adventure and Downtown Disney are all effectively the same place but they have different entrances off the same square and Downtown Disney doesn't require a ticket. Each year we go the security gets a bit tougher and this year they have added metal detectors. They aren't super sensitive since I don't have to take my belt off but they do slow things down a bit.

The fun part of going first thing in the morning is that there is often a character waiting for you right at the entrance for pictures. California Adventure always seems to get the 'less popular' characters and today it was some odd looking rabbit. Callie knew his name was Oswald and I recognized him as that character that was created around the same time as Mickey. Poor guy. In a different world maybe they sing songs of Oswald instead of M-I-C-K-E-Y, M-O-U-S-E.

As soon as we got in we Fast Passed Radiator Springs Racers and then went to Soarin, previously known as Soarin Over California. They've made it more worldly now and have simplified the name so they can switch out the scenes more often. I think they took some of the footage from Flyin Over Canada and you could tell they had higher quality footage with the new show. The only thing I missed was the smells that they had with the old version. When you flew over an orange orchid it smelt like oranges. I don't think that there were any smells now. (Except the feet of the people above you.)

We spent the next couple hours hitting rides on the Paradise Pier. This included Arial, the Rockets, Jumpin Jellyfish and Goofy's Fly School. Each of us took turns avoiding rides we weren't very interested in. I avoided the Jumpin Jelly fish since it doesn't really do anything and Callie made a good effort of trying out Goofy's Fly school but as soon as we got close and she saw the roller coaster esque hill at the start she jumped off pretty quickly.

Our fast past for Radiator Springs Racers was ready so we walked over to Cars Land. This has to be one of the most elaborate rides in the entire world. The ride itself has scenes from the movie and ends with a high speed race where you are banking at a very high degree. The ride itself is surrounded by manufactured mountains which includes my favourite scene which is a waterfall with a bridge. Not quite full scale but the way they do the perspective it looks amazing.

After the ride we headed back to Paradise Pier where we had Fast Passed California Screamin. This is a very fast paced roller coaster that includes a section where it goes upside down and Carter and Kerry had been talking about it for months. He will now be talking about it for years. Things didn't go well with his first attempt as he chickened out and decided not to go on. As we decided who would go next he got up the nerve and tried again. Success!!! Of course he screamed the whole way and took two hours to fully calm down. Never again.

As we left Callie got in line to see Jesse who was a character that in previous years has absolutely terrified her. Now they are good friends. Jesse left early but still walked down the line and gave everyone a hug. Carter also picked up a new stuffed animal to hug. This time it's a bear from the Grizzly River Run area that he has named brownie. Kerry and the kids then took one more ride on Soarin while I scoped out my next sweet purchase.

In the evening we decided to skip Disneyland and do California Adventure again. We had an early day planned the next day and felt a quick tour of Bugs Land would be a good way to finish off the day. We did Flick's Flyers, the angry lady bugs, bumper bugs, and Heimlich's Chew Chew train and finished off with Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. We thought about going on the new Luigi's Tire ride. The old one was some giant floating tire bumper cars but was very slow and not very exciting. Unfortunately they replaced it with yet another tea cup style ride. I think they could have done better.

Tomorrow will be an early day as we have our Magic Morning opportunity which has us start at 7:00a.

Disneyland Day One - A Very Long Day

Our first full day at Disneyland started early. We were up at 6:30a and went for breakfast at our hotel around 7:00a. We've gotten smart about the hotels we pick now. Free breakfast is important. It saves us $30 or $40 and saves us time too since we just have to walk from our room. This hotel has the best one so far with eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, hash browns and more.

The park opens at 8:00a throughout the summer and the most important rule at Disneyland is to get there early. The lines are surprisingly long getting in but once everyone spreads out in the park the lines are very short. We headed to Adventure Land to start which includes Splash Mountain. Kerry did this to me one my first trip with Indiana Jones. They take the new guys to one of the biggest scariest rides because the line is short. Ryan did not like his first ride and I don't think Kristen plans on going on it again either. They were both great the rest of the day though and kept trying new ones.

Ride number two was my nemesis. The Pooh Bear ride. Callie always has us go on it at least a half dozen times. At least the line is always short. Kristen and Ryan enjoyed it as well so I know we'll be back.

Ride three was the Haunted Mansion. I wasn't really expecting Kristen to want to go but she seemed to enjoy the challenge and found it more fun then scary.

We had Fast Passed Indian Jones earlier and went back at our assigned time. This is one of the few rides that Ryan is too short to go on so Corey waited while the rest of us took our turn. It's a very elaborate jeep ride which lot's of sharp turns and well done scenes from the movie. Once we were done Corey went on with Carmen and the rest of us wandered about. Callie and Kristen were lucky enough to find Aladdin, Jasmine and the Genie. A great photo opportunity. I don't think we've had pictures with them before.

The ride we knew that Ryan was going to like was the Jungle Cruise and we weren't disappointed. It was just a short wait and his favorite part was the snakes in the trees. I think this was one of the first years that Callie and Carter have realized that the zebra surrounded by the lions was not actually 'just sleeping'. We tried to leave Adventure Land and go to Fantasy Land around the back which is my favourite short cut because it's so quiet, but it's closed for the new Star Wars area construction. That should be a great place to visit when complete..

We finished the afternoon in Fantasy Land with rides on the Carousel and the Tea Cups. It was incredibly hot by mid afternoon and we'd already been there for six hours so I was happy to head back to the hotel for a swim and a nap. Disneyland in the summer time is an incredibly busy place by the afternoon. Everywhere you look there are at least 100 people in your direct line of site. Too many people.

Before we did head back to the hotel though we stopped off at Downtown Disney. As mentioned in my last post, Carter wanted to spend all his money on the first night and this included a stop at Ride Makers. (Though this one was on us since we owed him something from being a trooper during his recent surgery.) Ride Makers was exactly the kind of money trap that I thought it was going to be. I knew remote control was going to be more money but I didn't realize that batteries were not included. In this case a $29 rechargeable battery pack. We did not let Carter pimp things up. We are a stock car family.

At every restaurant we've stopped at for the past week they've asked us if there was any special occasions. Each time we've mentioned that Callie and Kristen have their birthday coming up on the 7th and this time it worked. We were at the Rain Forest Cafe and we got a couple of cupcakes delivered to the table. This was on top of the 'Volcano' that we had already ordered. (A giant brownie and ice cream dessert.) It's a good thing we only really have two meals on these trips. A breakfast, snacks around lunch and then dinner. It's very easy to over eat.

We finished off the evening in Tomorrow Land with Cory's family checking out Hyperspace Mountain while we did a bit of shopping. We followed that up with Buzz Light Year and then "It's a Small World" just before the fireworks started. We got off just as they were starting and the exit to the ride is front row for the show. Some people of course try to stop on the bridge of the exit to watch but the usher you off pretty quickly. Their favourite phrase was "We can see you!".

A very long first day.

Disneyland Bound

On Monday we left on a three day journey to Disneyland.  I will admit that if we were to assign value to our time, it probably isn't worth it but we do save some money and if you consider the hotel time as part of your holiday it can still be a lot of fun. This year we were travelling with Kerry's brother Corey and his family. Our first destination was Medford. It's about an 11 hour drive and it means we've got about half the trip out of the way on the first day. We left at 4:30a and arrived in the mid afternoon. The hotel was nice and the best part was the Country Bear restaurant right in the parking lot. Made for an easy dinner and very well priced.

We're driving down in two cars and we left at different times but somehow, when we were about an hour out of Medford I looked over and saw the Kilden family coming onto the freeway from an off ramp. Almost 1,000 km and somehow we ended up at the same location at the same time and we noticed each other. Our day two destination was Stockton California. Like most places with a 'reputation' there are different views of what the city looks like. Our hotel was in an area with shopping and didn't look too bad but we did see some rougher areas on our way in. The hotel looked nice but for some reason the service was lacking. Our room only had two hand towels and no bath towels.

Day two consisted of about 6 hours of driving and day three was scheduled to be about the same but Los Angeles had something different to say about that. Travel was great for the first four hours but the last hour took closer to three. Just when we thought traffic was clearing up we'd end up stopped for construction or an accident. For the most part the other cars behaved but we had a few texting close calls. How people feel they can text and drive on a six lane highway is beyond me. We made it to the hotel around 2:30p which was too early to check in so we headed to the Garden Walk which is a strip mall near the park and had dinner at Bubba Gumps.

We checked into our hotel after dinner and the kids decided where everyone was going to sleep. We are staying in the Residence Inn near the park and our place has room to sleep 8 and a full kitchen. This will save us some money on food and the kids enjoy being with their cousins. (For now. We'll check in on day 5.) We've stayed here a few times before because the hotel also takes dogs. That adventure was a few years ago. We finished the day off with a quick trip to downtown Disney where Carter was ready to spend all his money at once. I managed to make him think about it for the night. We'll be back.

Goodbye Rondo, Hello Sportage

After 9 years and 160,000 kilometres it was time for us to get a new car. The Rondo was still going pretty strong but we were looking to get a new car within the next year and 12 days before our trip to Disneyland the air conditioning broke. We also had quite a bit of service items that needed to be attended to. Rather than a $1,200 bill and any number of additional items that may have come up in the next  year we decided it made sense to take a look at moving up our plans. (We realize it was likely cheaper to fix and repair for another 5 years but new cars are fun too.)

We had already been checking out another Kia called the Sportage and after a couple days of test drives with a few others in the same class we made our decision. We probably would have gone with the Suburu Forester if we had unlimited funds but cost was a consideration we had to factor in. This one isn't a seven seater and it isn't fully loaded like the Rondo but 9 years later and most of the extra features from the Rondo are now standard. The only thing we have left to do is to replace the Disney family. Luckily we are headed there in a few days.

Summer in Prince George

The school district that Kerry, Callie and Carter are in has a rule that states that the last day of work for Kerry must be a Friday so the last day of school must be a Thursday. This year, July 1st was a Friday so the last Friday of June was a week before. As per tradition we go to Lheidli T'enneh Memorial Park. (Formally known as Fort George Park and no, I don't know how to pronounce it.) As per usual it was a great place to stop for lunch, watch a few dancers and enjoy the sunshine. The kids also got to get their picture with the RCMP bear.

Once we were done with Canada Day at the park we went to GG's house for a visit. It was fun to see her as she met us at the door wearing her Canada Day hat. You can't quite see it in the picture but it was a picture of the Canada Flag from the front page of the paper that she had turned into a hat. Even at 94 she continues to be full of life. She always has treats for the kids and this year we surprised her with a new puzzle. We helped her with the outside and got her started in the middle but left the rest for her. 1000 pieces. I think she was happy. ;)

One of our favourite things to do when visiting Prince George is to go out to West Lake where our family has property. As soon as Carter finds out we are leaving for Prince George he goes to get his fishing rod. It's a small plastic one but with the right bait he was able to catch his first fish that didn't catch him. The last fish he took stole his fishing rod. In this case the right bait was a piece of hot dog. Not quite big enough to eat but bigger than the minnows we were catching with the nets. I think we need to get him a tackle box for Christmas.

While we were there we also decided to take Oliver for his first hike. Our destination was the Fort George Canyon trail. I didn't have proper shoes due to a shoe mishap that happened in Oliver so we could only go about half way. I was fully expecting to have to carry Oliver most of the way since he was only 3 1/2 months old but he was a great hiker. As long as one or two people were in front of him he walked the whole way. I think if we had done the full 10k instead of just 6k he probably would have done the whole thing. Good to know as we like to go on family hikes.

Silver Sage's 20th Anniversary

At the end of June we departed on our annual trip to visit family in Prince George. Ordinarily we do the trip to Oliver for family on a different weekend but this year we had to go there first to help out at the Silver Sage Winery's 20th anniversary. This has always been one of Kerry's favourite wineries because of the people that serve you during the tasting. It's best when the owners family are the ones doing it because they have a one liner for every one of their wines that always makes you laugh. Over time Kerry's parents have developed a relationship with the owners and have volunteered to help out during big events.

The big event this time was their 20th anniversary. A free event for their best customers that included drinks and lot's of food. Reg was helping out serving wine while Kerry and Barb helped out in the kitchen and with setup. I came later with the kids but couldn't avoid helping out as well. Even the kids got involved with carrying food out to the tents. The weather looked like it wanted to rain but things stayed dry and it looked like everyone had a great time.

While we were there we walked across the street to visit some friends of Barb and Reg who own a kayak. In past years we've done it where Kerry and I each take a kid on our lap. Callie is getting too big for that so she got to go out on her own. I was a bit worried when she set off because she only seemed to be able to go straight away from shore but after a few minutes she got the hang of it and had a 45 minute tour of the lake. I think she really enjoyed it.