Mickey magic

The kids had no idea where we were going for Spring break, until the morning that we left…when I presented them with Mickey Mouse pancakes and asked them where they thought we were going!?

They both guessed DISNEYLAND right away!

I was so impressed. How do they even know about Disneyland???? I mean, yes, we have been once before (two years ago), so it’s not like they’ve never heard of it, but still…it’s hardly on their radar. We have never discussed it, and they don’t have friends who have gone recently, so it must just be one of those KID THINGS that gets imprinted in your brain.

In any event, it was a really fun way to tell them and they were THRILLED. As soon as they were done with breakfast we packed up the car and left!

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Leading up to the trip I had done a bit of prep. First off, I bought the kids a Disney shirt for each day we were spending at the park. I wanted them to be properly festive, but I didn’t want to be tempted to spend $$$ on cute clothes there. Target for the win!

I also made and packed a bunch of food. I’m talking FULL ON COOLER status. Plus two bags of snacks. No joke, we had a major grocery haul. But that’s the perk of driving your own car. The banana chocolate chip muffins shown above fed the entire family breakfast all four mornings. And thanks to all the other snacks I packed (popcorn, banana chips, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, oatmeal bars, apples, carrots, and celery, cuties, bananas, etc.), we spend very little on the kids throughout the entire vacay. I even went so far as to package up three sunbutter and jelly sandwiches so we really only bought them dinners.

We stopped twice on the way down for quick bathroom/gas breaks, so the LA traffic was basically the only thing that slowed us down. The DVD player in the car has been 100% worth it.

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I rented as many DVDs from the library as possible and before we knew it, we were pulling into the Disneyland Resort!

We looked at a few different options for where to stay, but ended up choosing to be on Disney property for a few reasons.

First off, you can walk to the park super easily. And you get to go through downtown Disney, which has good food/dessert/coffee options.

Second, they have a pool.

Third, you gets some awesome perks. Like “magic hour” which is early access to the park. But most importantly, they were offering a fantastic promotion at the time we booked it, which was a FREE third day at the park (after paying for two days). NO BRAINER.

This allowed us to enjoy the park in a super mellow way.

We spent the first day doing every single thing we wanted, for 12 straight hours, but we were never racing around or pushing the kids to the extreme…because we knew we had two more days.

The second and third days we got to repeat all our favorite rides, a few times over, and see the parades AGAIN…and then leave before dinner to get some pool time in before the evening arrived.

Kyle and I purposefully went into the vacation without any agenda so that we had the flexibility to change our minds in the moment and decide what would be best given the kids’ moods, and as a result, it was 100% fun. No meltdowns AT ALL. And we did it all without a stroller of any kind!

There’s seriously something magical that happens at Disneyland.

Now that I’ve gotten those details out of the way, here are some pictures along with a few of the meals we ate.

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For the first night, we walked to Catal Restaurant in downtown Disney.

We had just come from the pool after a long drive, so any food would have been good, but this place exceeded our expectations. It was probably the best food we had all vacation long!

Kyle and I got a bunch of things to share, starting with the suckling pig.

These were the tortilla frites, which were like deep fried chunks of tortilla española (a potato and egg dish). SO GOOD.

The seared ahi bruschetta was good but not as outstanding as the other dishes (also a bit too spicy for my liking).

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And last but not least, roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon.

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The kids both got steak with potatoes (mashed for her, fried for him) and broccoli. I honestly don’t know what they liked the best!! [Yes, V has a sty because of course she woke up with it on the morning of a long car ride so I couldn’t treat it – luckily it didn’t bother her at all]

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We stopped at this stellar place on the way home and OMG. This chocolate covered peanut butter graham cracker insanity is maybe the best dessert I’ve ever had in my life. RIDICULOUS. Don’t worry, we ended up going back three more times so I could get my fill. 😛

Day 1 started bright and early with a 6 am alarm clock. Yes, we are THOSE crazy people who work out even when on vacation.

Kyle and I did our own exercise routines (we are both still using the Nike Training Club app on a regular basis) while the kids ate breakfast. I fed them muffins, cuties, and cheese and by the time we were showered and ready to go, the park was just about to open. Perfect timing. It also meant Mr. P’s milk dose was out of the way. We switched his peanut dose to the evening for the vacation as well, so he had 12 hours of dose free living to enjoy.

I will never be able to put into words the sheer JOY that we all felt all vacation long.

We made an appointment for V’s birthday at the Bippity Boppity Boutique which meant a “fairy godmother” did her hair and nails and she was OVER THE MOON.

I was tearing up the whole time. It was the sweetest.

Even with the hour long appointment we had still managed to do a ton of rides before noon!

We ended up getting fried chicken for lunch at the Plaza Inn, near the turn around at the end of Main Street. Salty deliciousness! I shared a bit with the kids, although they had sunbutter & jelly sandwiches, so they didn’t need much else.

The weather was gorgeous enough for the kids to change into shorts for the rest of the day…

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The afternoon was full of rides, the parade, and more rides…

P took this one 🙂

We ate dinner at the Bengal BBQ, across from the Jungle Cruise (P’s fave ride!). It was okay, but definitely amusement park fare. We got 8 kabobs to share as a family (plus a rice bowl). The bacon wrapped asparagus was the winner for sure. The sauces on the others were way overpowering. Even V wasn’t a fan and she likes e v e r y t h i n g.

After dinner we went on one last ride before calling it a day. We stopped in to get a few more treats from Marceline’s Confectionary on the way home (in addition to the peanut butter one that I got again). I go big on vacation. Bigger than my usual big. 😛

We gave the kids a bath, gave P his doses, and within 5 minutes of their heads hitting their pillows they were OUT. It didn’t even matter that we were all in one room! Kyle and I watched TV at normal volume, ate our chocolate, and chatted away…all the while the kids snoozed away two feet from us. Ha!

Same routine the next morning, although I will say, my exercise routine was decidedly less rigorous because I realized we were doing several miles of walking in the park.

Still, we each did our thing while the kids ate (muffins, fruit and cheese again) and once we were ready, we set off for round two.

I had replenished the bag with new snacks and a change of clothes the previous night, so the morning was very streamlined. Kyle and I grabbed Starbucks first thing, but it seemed like someone else was in need of the caffeine…

In truth, this didn’t last long. As soon as we boarded the first ride he was all bright eyes and bushy tail.

Do you guys know how many times I’ve been to Disneyland?

Kyle and I were trying to figure it out. I’m guessing close to 50. I used to go a lot as a kid because my G-ma lived in Newport Beach, which is a hop skip and a jump away from Anaheim (even if you factor in LA traffic!). And then I went several times while attending UCLA and the years that I lived in Santa Monica after…plus random field trips over the years (Girl Scouts, band performances, etc). All of that is to say I know the park VERY well. And believe it or not, I think this was my first time on the Alice and Wonderland ride! We all loved it.

Later on we met up with some friends who we knew were overlapping with us at Disneyland. The kids were ECSTATIC about this “surprise” encounter. We did It’s a Small World with them before their lunch reservation, and then later in the day we met up again for the Tiki Room, Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blaster and the parade.

Hi Mickey!!!

Look at this! We went on the Matterhorn together!

For the record, I looove rollercoasters, but even after P begged the entire first day, I was still putting it off because (a) I wanted to stay together as a family and V wasn’t tall enough and (b) I really didn’t think he knew what he was getting in for.

But after enjoying the goofy go go coaster in toon town I decided maybe it would be alright to try it. So Kyle took V on some repeats of her faves (Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and Peter Pan) while I introduced my big boy to the yeti in the Swiss Alps. 🙂

He told her alllll about it over lunch.

She was so enthralled we decided to try Thunder Mountain as a family (she is tall enough for that one by a hair). Success(ish)! She liked it ok, but didn’t want to do it again.

We decided to call it a day around 4 so that we could go back and swim i the hotel pool. I was desperate for a kombucha and felt like my prayers were answered when I spotted this through the Jamba Juice window.

It was exactly what I needed.

I don’t have any more photos from the day because my phone was dead, so I left it to charge in the room, but it was just as well since I was in the pool playing with the kids anyway.

Rather than get everyone back in (semi presentable) shape for a dinner out, we decided to order food at the hotel’s poolside cafe.

This is me, bleary eyed from a day in the sun and salt water, with unwashed hair, but feeling the happiest I have ever felt. Ever.

We ordered hamburgers and fries for the kids (they had been waiting for burgers all vacation long) and a few things for me and Kyle to share, including…

A bento box with buffalo wings, tempura green beans (MY FAVEEEE), garlic edamame, and potstickers.

Kalua pork nachos.

And a shrimp salad (my second fave – I was sooo happy to get something green!).

This is why it’s good to have no plan. Because sometimes the best things fall into place when you just let them.

We let them watch some TV after bathtime (had to kill 20 minutes between Pattycakes’ peanut and milk doses)…but as soon as the lights were off…

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ZZZZZZ.

Last day of Disney!

If you are wondering if three days in a row at Disneyland is too many the answer is no. It’s still 100% magical. I continued to tear up seeing things through their eyes throughout the day, even though, YES, it was the same parade as the day before and the day before. There is just something that happens when you hear the music play and your kids are beaming…

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This is why they call it the happiest place on Earth.

Also known as the saltiest place on Earth. HOLY $%^.

I finally tracked down the famous (infamous?) turkey leg and it was just as big and just as insane as you thing it’s going to be. Vacation mode.

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We asked the kids to pick which rides they wanted to go on before we left and once we had tackled them all AND THEN SOME…we said goodbye to the park and went back to play in the pool again.

I think this was one of the best trips we have ever been on.

We ended up grabbing take out from a place called Splitsville in downtown Disney because I knew that once we were all exhausted from playing in the pool, we wouldn’t want to go back out. Sure enough, we wound up eating naked on the hotel room floor with towels as picnic blankets. And it was perfect.

We got three veggie and rice bowls to share – one with tofu, one with salmon, and one with chicken. We were all fighting over the broccoli – ha!

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Finished off strong.

Adios Disneyland! Until next time!