In September we went to Disneyland. My kids are the perfect age for it. Jackson and Lincoln are young enough they still loved it and got really excited about everything. Harrison was old enough that he could go on most of the rides and didn't really get scared. It was so fun. We've been the past when our kids were younger but this was a completely different experience. We had so much fun! We stayed at a hotel that was across the street from the entrance so we just walked there which was so nice. The shuttle and parking are such a pain in the butt that I really don't want to stay anywhere farther away ever again. We had originally planned to go 3 days and maybe a do a day at the beach. We ended up upgrading to 4 day passes and a day at the beach because the price wasn't that much more for 4 days.
The first night we got there Lincoln and Harrison wanted to swim even though it was 65 degrees and dark. Jackson was smart and realized that swimming in freezing cold is not a fun way to start a vacation. He just couldn't wait to get his first taste of Disney magic. Jackson and I walked down to Downtown Disney and ate an ice cream bigger than Jackson's face. It was really fun to have some one on one time with Jackson.
The first day we went to California Adventure. We got there before the parked opened and waited for the magical rope drop. We waited surrounded by a million people just as excited to start their Disney day as we were. When the rope finally dropped we ran to our first stop, Pixar Pier. Pixar Pier was a complete ghost town and we were able to walk onto all of the rides in the area in the first 2 hours were there. Later that day it felt like we were walking on the surface of the sun it was so hot! We went to some indoor movies and shows to try to get out of the heat. We headed to some of the bigger rides after our little break in the AC. Harrison was so brave and went on everything he was tall enough to go on his favorite ride was guardians of the galaxy. Jackson and Lincoln loved the Incredicoaster. The Halloween and fall decorations were so fun, cars land all decked out for Halloween at night was my favorite thing in the park. We stayed until about 930 and then headed back to the hotel warn out from our first really fun day at Disney.
We started our second day bright and early and ran to Disneyland before the rope drop. It felt like running of the bulls with a very real threat of being tampled, we ran to fantasy land to try to be the first in line for Peter Pan. Peter pan is still my favorite ride at Disneyland but we've finally outgrown fantasy land. We dutifully went on every ride in the stupid land because you know FOMO.
We felt like we walked onto a different planet as we walked into Star Wars land. Everything in the land is authentic Star Wars right down to the droid powered trash collecting carts. Harrison doesn't love a lot about star wars but he loves Chewbacca. We found the Millennium Falcon where Chew stood at his post. Harrison was excited to see him that he yelled at the top of his lungs for the entire park to hear "Chewiebacca" Chewie couldn't resist something so cute and he immediately abandoned the other people bothering him and came over to talk to Bubba. Bubba chatted away and Chew responded in his typical growls. It was so hot when we were in star wars land that I legit thought we would die. It was 98 degrees and standing on all of that concrete made it feel like we were headed down to hell. Not even Disney magic could quite compensate for the heat that day.
We had originally planned to go to Disneyland Monday through Thursday and then go to the beach on Friday. The forecast said it would be 100 degrees on Wednesday so we abandoned that misery and thought we have more fun at the beach. We booked a whale watching adventure out of Newport Beach. I was excited for the whale watching adventure but it surpassed my expectations. We were able to get so close to some dolphins we could have reached up and touched them. My boys had a great time hanging over the edge of the boat watching the dolphins. We didn't see any whales unfortunately but we did see some seals. The boat ride was so cold!! I was so glad we wore jeans and jackets because it seriously felt like the North Pole when the boat was moving fast. After our whale watching excursion we spent part of the day on the beach. The water felt like it melted straight from an iceberg and the waves were gigantic so we didn't spend much time in the water. The kids played in the sand and just relaxed. The wind was cold and it was freezing in a swimsuit even dry on the beach. We didn't last very long. As we were leaving Harrison said one of the top ten funniest things he's ever said. We were brushing off sand before getting into the van and he pulled a handful of sand out of his pocket and then said "There's sand in my pocket. What's in my other pocket? It's a mystery!! Oh I was wrong it's sand" His delivery was perfect and we all laughed about it for long time.
After returning to from the beach we went to dinner at a pirate themed dinner theater. We were served food while we watched a pirate show. The show was funny and the kids really enjoyed it. Harrison didn't realize that it was pretend and he was awfully concerned and a little scared of the pirates. After I told him it was just pretend he calmed down a lot and started to like the show and laugh at all the jokes.
The next two days we went back to Disneyland. We had originally planned to go to California Adventure for one more day but decided we'd seen enough of that park and went to Disneyland instead. The crowds weren't bad at all M, T, and Th. Friday was kind of packed. Disney set a crowd limit for their parks and you had to make reservations. Friday was fully booked and at max capacity. It was hard to walk at times and to even find seating at meals. Splash mountain was everyone's favorite ride because it was so incredibly hot the entire time we were there. We went on that the most and enjoy the haunted mansion Nightmare Before Christmas.
We drove home on Saturday. The trip was really fun and it wasn't busy at all. September was a good time to go for crowds the weekend was the only day it got busy. People are still worried about COVID and there were no annual passes available so it was a ton of fun. We walked on rides and saw and rode everything we wanted to more than once. The kids had so much fun Harrison asks me constantly when are we going back to Disneyland? Having older kids is so much fun they didn't complain or asked to be carried once, they ran from ride to ride and had a blast. They enjoyed the whole experience and Jordan and I for the most part didn't experience the typical parent misery but pretend that it was the most amazing vacation of you life of Disneyland, we just had a lot of fun. The heat was the only part that was truly terrible but the rest was a ton of fun.
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