Spring Break 2022 - A Trip to Disneyland - Day Three

Kerry and the kids didn't get back to the hotel room until just before 1:00a but that didn't adjust our start time for the next day. Ordinarily Disneyland and California Adventure Park have varying start times where you can sometimes get in to the park early if you have a five day pass or they open at different times from each other. Right now every day is a 7:30a ticket counter open and an 8:00a park open. We were excited for today which is March 17th and St.Patrick's day. We've never been in the park on a holiday date and were looking forward to see what was different. It ended up being fairly low key with lots of green food.

Our first ride of the day was Space Mountain. I think it's my favourite roller coaster ride that I'm willing to do. Perhaps tied with Big Thunder. Both of them are fast but not too many drops. I find my head gets left behind on the drops and it takes a while to recover. We also did Buzz Lightyear as well as the Astro Orbiter. Most Disney rides are sized for adults but this one was not designed for two adults in one rocket. We should have clued in when they asked if we wanted our own rocket. With two people each of you is crushed together for the whole ride. I recommend going solo. 

Our next ride was Autopia which are some gas powered go karts on a track. I really feel they should go battery operated just for the smell but I imagine it's easier to keep cars gassed up during the day than swapping batteries. Maybe they could charge from the road. This was another ride where we realized how big Carter has gotten since we last went on vacation. The last time, I had to do most of the steering and he could just reach the pedal. At least now he can reach the pedal though based on the steering I'm a little worried about driver training in two and a half years.

So apparently Carter wasn't the only one to not heed the "Hang on to your hats and glasses" rule though in my defense, I put them in my pocket on the Indian Jones ride to keep them safe but they still managed to fall out on the ride. I had my reading glasses in one pocket and my sunglasses in the other and unfortunately the sunglasses were the ones to fall out. The reading glasses are dollar store and the sunglasses were not. It was at this time that I learned about the lost hat from yesterday. Apparently it was going to be a family secret but once I lost my glasses the truth came out.

We took another detour to Galaxy's Edge to see if R2 was around but no luck. It was at this point that I was reminded about my Fuzzy Tonton experience from a few years ago. When Galaxy's Edge first opened we went to the Cantina and had strange drinks. One was a drink with a foam that was intended to burn your lips. It did this but I left the foam mostly until last and had it all at once. It made my whole chest go numb and I walked back to the hotel room on my own. In hindsight I probably should have had an escort. Will have to go back there and try something less dangerous.

We took another trip to the Pooh Bear ride and this time the characters were out. Previously my favourite part of character shots were the lead up. The kids would walk up to the characters and I would get plenty of shots as they got to hug and interact before the formal shot. Things are a bit different right now and the Characters are often just in the background. No touching. Probably working out well for the dry cleaning bills for the costumes but not quite the same experience. We got pictures with Pooh Bear and Eeyore. 

We went back to the hotel so the family could recover from their late night before heading back to California Adventure park again. First we stopped by the Avengers Campus where Carter and I had a giant chicken sandwich. It was mostly chicken and not much sandwich. The tater tots were a nice touch. We also stopped by the Pacific Wharf where Kerry and Callie had soup in a bowl. I still don't quite understand how you can have a wharf and not have Fish and Chips as an option. They have fish tacos but not Fish and Chips. 

We're at the point in our trip where we're trying to mark off each ride to make sure we've gone on each one at least once. Goofy's Sky School is like the Mouse Trap ride at the PNE in Vancouver. It's a roller coaster but tries to scare you by seeming to be on the verge of falling off the tracks at all times. The scare tactic works. I refer to this ride as a 'close your eyes' ride. Its got ups and downs and sharp turns. This is as extreme as I'm willing to go. There is also a full roller coaster at the park that I've done once but never again. It goes up side down and is one of Kerry and Carter's favourites. 

I finished the day with a ride on Monster's Inc with Mike and Sully. I still refer to it as the Drew Carey ride because they just repurposed the taxis from the tour of Hollywood ride and added a bunch of doors. Speaking of doors, if you are not a wheel's person I don't think I can be friends with you. Even after seeing all the doors on this ride, which aren't really doors because they don't open, there are clearly more wheels on earth than doors. Every door on the ride had wheels where they we hanging plus there were plenty of wheels on all the roller coasters with no doors. Clearly the answer is wheels. 

Spring Break 2022 - A Trip to Disneyland - Day Two

Our second day started in California Adventure Park which is a second park across from Disneyland. The line up to get in was much more manageable. We really like this park but it does have fewer rides and a very different feel from Disneyland. Entry was the same process as yesterday where they opened the gates at 7:30a and let us get part way into the park for the 8:00a opening. Our destination was the new 'Web Slingers' ride which is based on the Tom Holland version of Spiderman. When we lined up we figured everyone was headed straight there but we were surprised that many headed to Cars instead.

The ride itself was fun but not our favourite. It's based on the premise that some spider bots have gotten out of control and you need to help Peter capture them. The fun part is that you use your hands to shoot webs and you can capture them with a web or pull things around to crush them. The ride senses your hand movements and does a great job of knowing where you are trying to shoot. It's a 3D ride so there are a lot of screens and reminded me of a Universal Studios ride. The thing I ended up not liking was that I was so busy trying to shoot spiders I don't really know what happened.

After Web Slingers we had a bit of time before our next Genie Pass so Kerry and Carter got in line for Guardians of the Galaxy. It's a giant elevator so lots of up and down. I don't mind the up but am not a fan of the down. Unfortunately three of the six elevators were out of order so the lineup was much longer than advertised. They ended up having to give up part way through so we could get to our next ride in time. Callie and I wandered Avengers Campus which has a very different feel during the day and she found Antman. The good thing about the distance to the characters is she gets good selfies.

We wandered the board walk a bit and checked out the Bakery tour which is where Disney makes all of their Sour Dough bread. They referred to the 'starter' as the 'Mother Dough' which apparently is how they do sour dough even on a mass scale. I'm picturing a giant mason jar in a fridge though I suspect it's a bit more sophisticated than that. We also took a ride on the Ferris Wheel. It's 160 feet tall at the peak and a great way to see both parks from the air. There are two types of baskets. One is fixed and the other randomly falls on a smaller loop. We went with the non falling version.

For dinner we went to the Cheesecake Factory which is just outside the park. I had been previously when in San Diego but the family had never been before. Carter indicated their menu had an 'obscene' number of options. Ordinarily this would be risky but it was very busy so hopefully not too much food sitting around waiting to be ordered. Carter was impressed with his chicken burger sliders. We of course had cheesecake for desert. I'm glad we are getting in lots of steps during the day. They ranged from 400 to 1600 calories per slice. 

After our break back at the hotel we headed back to the park and got on the "It's a Small World" ride. I'm assuming Disney has decided it's a 'classic' and will never significantly change. Despite being the slowest boat ride ever and taking up a ton of space it appears to be much like it looked when it was first built. The animatronics are very rudimentary and by the end you don't want to ever hear that song again. Somehow we still go back every time we come. I suppose it helps that the lineup is typically very short, mainly because so many people fit on each boat. 

We took a quick detour over to "Galaxy's Edge" as I wanted to get some close up shots of R2D2. Unfortunately he was no longer in one of the shops like he was last time we were here. The attendant indicated he was 'unavailable' implying perhaps he comes out as a character. Will have to keep trying. I'd like some good closeup pictures as a friend and I are attempting to build one. If he does show up for pictures I'll have to explain why I'm trying to get pictures of his under carriage. There are several similar droids around but none are quite the same as R2.

We did a quick ride on Big Thunder Mountain and I finished my evening with the Matterhorn before heading back to the hotel. 11:00p is about my limit. Kerry and the kids stuck around and did a few rides including Splash Mountain. You want to try to make that your last ride before going back to the hotel because there is a good chance you will get very wet. Also despite us starting every ride saying 'Hang on to your hats and glasses' Carter failed to heed our warnings and lost his hat on Splash. He had it in the picture at the big drop and then it was gone.

Spring Break 2022 - A Trip to Disneyland - Day One

We got up early for our first day which was going to be at Disneyland. The park opens at 8:00a but if you want to get in one of the big rides early you need to be there by about 7:00a. The park is fully open with no mask restriction but things aren't quite back to normal. You had to sign-up well in advance and the days we are here are actually 'full'. The one restriction was that you had to stay in your designated park until at least 1:00p. They opened the gates at 7:30a and we made it down to Main Street and waited for full opening at 8:00a.

Our first ride was 'Rise of the Resistance' and it did not disappoint. The line up starts off fairly normal but there are several staging areas before you even start the ride so it felt like the ride was over 10 minutes long. The staff are all in character and we were quickly taken over by the 'First Order'. At one point you get to walk through the hanger bay of a Star Destroyer. Those are life sized storm troopers ushering you on to your destination. My favorite part was the battle scene where you are flying under life sized Imperial Walkers. We definitely want to make it back on that ride.

Disney has gone a direction I'm not trilled about. I always liked that they had a 'Fast Pass' option that was open to everyone. There was no pass that allowed you to buy your way to the front of the line. That has changed with their new 'Genie' pass that 'opens doors'. I don't like it but of course we had to get it. It allows us to sign up for the shorter line throughout the day. We figure we'll get to use it about 4-6 times each day. Our first ride was 'Smuggler's Run'. Still a great ride but paled in comparison to 'Rise of the Resistance'.

Callie insisted our next ride be Pooh Bear. At least we didn't have to there first like on previous trips. We would ordinarily go to Pirates next but it was closed for refurbishment. We're somewhat surprised at how many rides are closed right now. I had hoped they would have used their one year of downtime to do all this maintenance work but maybe they didn't get as much done as they wanted or maybe it was all done and they are just all due for maintenance at a similar time. Instead we went over to Tom Sawyers island which we often don't make it to.

We finished up Disneyland with Star Tours and Splash Mountain. Splash Mountain is going to be rebranded in the next couple years so this will probably be the last time we get to ride it as it was originally designed. It's based on 'Song of the South' which is wildly racist and although none of that comes across in the ride, Disney has still decided to change things up. I don't recall what they plan to do but it doesn't hurt to refresh things. They do that on many of their rides. I kind of hope they keep 'Zippity Do Dah' but that might go too.

After a rest at the hotel we headed back to the park. This is where you have the option of going back to the park you started at or switching. We decided we would switch to California Adventure. The weather is absolutely perfect for me. It's been about 12 degrees in the morning which is just warm enough to not wear a jacket until it warms up. It gets up to 25 or 28 during the peak of the day which we spend by the pool and then it cools down again when we return. There is also no risk of rain while we are here.

Although we weren't planning on any rides, we were excited to be checking out the new Avengers Campus which is where Disney is setting up their Marvel rides. It took over the old 'Bugs Land' which is a bit sad. I miss the Heimlich Chew Chew train. The new area looks great. We saw Thor, Loki and Ant Man and the lighting was great at night. Our plan is to go to the new 'Web Slingers' ride first thing tomorrow. We noticed there are new rules for interacting with characters. All hands off which is why Thor and Lok were on a balcony and Ant Man was in the back of a truck.

We took advantage of our special pass to book the Toy Story ride. I was surprised when Callie said she didn't want to ride with me because I was too competitive. The ride involves shooting imaginary balls at targets to get a score. I'm happy to say I managed to get high score for the family. Having said that I was no where close to high score for the month or even the hour. Not sure how they do it. I think I need to up my accuracy and find more of the bonus plates. Carter had to ride with me and he wasn't happy he couldn't beat me. He wants a rematch.

Disneyland has a great policy for the end of the evening. All rides are open right up until the minute closing. If you can make it to the line in time, they will let you finish the ride regardless of how long it takes to get through everyone. We managed to get to the Cars ride with only a couple minutes to spare. At one point there was no one in line behind us though a few did show up a bit later. The Cars ride is a lot of fun at night and the weather was great for it. It gets quite fast and is outside. Wouldn't want to do it in the rain.

Day one ended with us being some of the last people to exit the park. We got to walk through Avengers Campus with no one around and got some fun pictures of the park empty. Close out is only 10:00p for California Adventure so I think we were leaving around 10:45p. Disneyland is open until midnight which might be too late for me. Tomorrow we switch things up and start in California Adventure and end in Disneyland. 

Spring Break 2022 - A Trip to Disneyland - Travel Days

It's been over two years since the Schwab family left Canada for a vacation. Our last planned trip was to New Orleans with a road trip to Orlando for Spring Break in 2020. Unfortunately that was cancelled at the last minute for reasons I'm choosing not to mention here. This Spring international travel remained confusing so we had two trips planned. A local trip to Tofino and an out of country trip to Anaheim. We weren't able to decide until late February when it looked like testing requirements for getting back into the country had eased enough that it wouldn't be too much of a hassle. Disneyland was our destination.

It was Day Light Savings Spring Forward so it was going to be a very early rise for us. We got up at 4:00a which was technically 3:00a and were on the road by 5:20a. Our plan was to drive because we didn't want to risk testing positive for anything and not being able to get on a plane. Crossing the border was easy with no lineup though we were a bit rusty and got in trouble from the border guard for not pulling up to the line properly. Our day one destination was Redding California where we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. Carter and I went down to the pool where we realized he had grown about 8 inches since the last time he was in a pool. Touching bottom was a lot easier.

We got up earlier for our second day of travel with Anaheim being our final destination. The hotel provided breakfast which wasn't too bad. The guy making the food did not have the demeanor of a professional chef and the bacon had been deep fried until it was black but it was surprisingly good. We got on the road and made our typical stops at random fast food places and rest stops. One noticable difference for the rest stops was that they were no longer the manacured lawns that I remembered. The water shortage is hitting California bad with signs indicating they were no longer watering. The right decision but still a bit sad.

We got into town around 5:30a and had plenty of time to check into our hotel, buy groceries and make a trip to Downtown Disney which doesn't require a ticket to get in. I noticed a few things;

1) I've not seen this many people in one place in over two years.

2) Most people weren't wearing masks.

3) There was no snide remarks from either side. People that wanted to wear masks could and those that didn't want to wear them didn't have to.

4) The Disney staff was generally wearing masks even thought it wasn't mandatory.

After a dinner of pizza, pretzels and churros we headed back to the room to rest before day one. 

Callie's Dance Competition

It has been over two years since we were last able to see Callie dance as part of her after school dance lessons. We have managed to see a school recital and she often brings her dance home with her but this was the first full costume dance in a while. This year Callie has joined the competitive dance team with Panorama dance school. It means at least an extra dance night each week and often some additional practices as they get closer to the competition. (It also means a few more costumes to purchase.)

We didn't see the actual competition and instead got to see all the dancers that were scheduled to compete for Panorama. Barb and Reg were down to visit and I had to put on real pants. (We don't leave the house for formal events very often these past few years.) It was an enjoyable experience. They had the competition a few weeks later and her Jazz team came in third and her lyrical team came in first!

Omicron Christmas

Christmas was almost going to be normal this year and then it wasn't. Covid numbers were stable, the in-laws were planning on coming and then chaos erupted. We had a significant rainfall event in the fall that took out every major highway in southern BC. There was no way for Barb and Reg to get from Oliver to Surrey and it looked like it would be January before they could travel here again. By mid December they managed to open Highway 3 for non-essential travel however the Coquihalla was still only for trucks so it was going to be very busy. They decided to postpone their trip until the new year so we had a quieter Christmas than we were expecting. 

We started in late November with a trip to the Christmas Tree farm. This is the fam in many of the Hallmark movies and this year there was an expected shortage of trees so we made sure to go on the first weekend. They had a new lot which was good because it was full of Noble Firs however it was bad because they hadn't put down proper trail materials. It was very muddy. We found the perfect tree in the farthest corner of the farthest lot and it took at least 5 minutes to cut it down. I think the saw was dull. I may have also tried to cut it very low to the ground at its thickest point. Still a fun experience.

Christmas was on Saturday this year so I worked the week before. On one of my days I met the family at the Christmas Market downtown. This is the annual German Christmas Market. It's always very busy so with Covid, you had to book a time to mange the crowds. This worked out quite well because you didn't have the same peaks as you normally would. They might book like this for future years too. We never buy anything but food. It's a very expensive dinner. The only problem this year was it was one degree and raining. The other event we went to was Glow in Abbotsford. One of the  greenhouses sets up an assortment of Christmas lights and with Covid, you get to drive through. Donuts included.

For the first time in several years we also had a white Christmas.  I think I've only had a couple since I've moved here from Prince George. Usually our snow comes in the January/February timeframe but there was a deep freeze across Western Canada and we were down to minus 15. We had 10 cm in the week leading up to Christmas and then got another 20 cm on Christmas Day. I don't mind shovelling when I only have to do it a few times a year. The cold also meant this years snow was very fluffy. Ordinarily Lower Mainland snow is very wet and heavy.

Christmas was subdued with only immediate family. Oliver was not super thrilled about his Christmas sweater. This one had four legs and was a big too short for him. He didn't like having his rear legs in the sweater. For the first time in many years we went to Corey and Carmen's house for Christmas dinner. We usually host but this year they volunteered to host. Might have been because there were less people. :) We also hosted our annual fondue. It went well however we were short one pot because Barb and Reg didn't come down so I had to buy one last minute. Unfortunately it didn't perform so we all had to share one pot. Still fun!

 

Kids Recitals

Carter signed up for band in grade seven which meant he has the opportunity to take the band stream in high school. They do band every second day alternating with PE. His instrument is the tenor saxophone which is one of the larger versions of a saxophone. His teacher is Mister Ho who runs a jazz club in non covid years and he likes having saxophones available. Callie had a flute which doesn't really lend itself well to jazz. We got to go to the winter recital before Omicron hit. Always fun to see how Mister Ho interacts with the kids. He really enjoys teaching them.

Callie has dance classes 5 days a week and still finds the time to be a student teacher on Saturday's and do school dance twice a week. That's on top of the fact that she is a dance instructor at school to the grade nine class. She's very good at the dancing as well as the choreography. Covid cancelled the 2020 version of the winter dance festival but we managed to get it in for 2021 before Omicron hit. Callie was in one live dance and they also showed her dance from 2020 on video. Both were excellent. Looking forward to hopefully having a proper recital in May for her studio dance classes.