Disneyland et al: a trip report

Itinerary:

On Friday, we loaded up our SUV with snacks, clothes, kids, and DVDs and drove to Bakersfield. The next day we slept late and wandered down to Dolphin's Cove in Anaheim. We stayed there for a week - 2 days at Disneyland, 1 at California adventure, 1 at the La Brea Tar Pits, 1 in a limo in Hollywood, 1 at Universal, and the last we just left and drive down to Sea World. The next day we spent at Legoland, and after the park closed at 6, we drove to Sacramento. We got home Monday night at 10.

Playful impressions:

Our kids, as a group, were not overly impressed with anything except Legoland. Disney stuff was cool, but the coasters were too scary for the boys, and the boat rides were too tame for the girls. But - with boys aged 5 and 9 and girls aged 11 and 6, we never had to chase a wandering child, had no crying breakdowns in the parks, and lots of laughter all the time.

Our kids determined our schedule. We (Katrina and I) set a target for the time to leave the resort. When the kids were done for the day at the park, we left. That usually meant we spent 5 hours in the park and a total of 1 hour commute time. We would come home, the kids would play on the Wii, we'd have dinner and then once the sun was low in the sky we'd go swim until 9. This worked for us - no strollers, no lockers, and only 1 meal out a day. The kids were happy, and as long as Katrina and I remembered that the trip was for the kids to be happy, and they didn't care about riding every ride, we were happy. I left my laptop at home, Katrina brought her netbook, but we were plugged into the kids almost all the time.

Tips for travelers:

1) Stay local, preferably by somewhere served by an ART (Anaheim Resort Transit) bus. They are reliable, operate whenever the parks are open, and are cheaper for a family of 6 than parking at the Disney parking lot.

2) Get a place with a kitchen. Goodness, how nice. Breakfast? No hour long ordeals at Denny's. We bought some milk and cereal, and the kids were happy. Christian and I made french toast a few times. Dinners were pretty simple, too - a casserole one night, baked potatoes and baked bbq chicken another, takeout Chinese that lasted for leftovers for 2 days. Saved us a bunch of time and frustration (hungry? Get a hot dog from the fridge, kids!) and money, too.

3) The So Cal pass is great. We got 3 days at Disney, plus 1 each at Universal and Sea World for what ended up being about $30/kid/day. No trouble at all.

4) The kids each having their own DVD player in the car was fabulous. We had a 15 hour day in the car on the way down, and everyone was happy. Jake watched Empire Strikes Back 3 times in a row. We got the Phillips, for about $60 each. They're really nice units.

5) Fanny packs rock. I was used to going to grown up theme parks with Katrina, where everyone takes their backpack and leaves it on the far side of the roller coaster. At most of these places, you just keep it with you. With a fanny pack, the kids pack their own snacks, and when they're gone, they're gone. Easy. They aren't heavy, they aren't large, and they aren't expensive.

6) Old kids are awesome and fun. If you are going to Disneyland for the kids, don't take them young enough that you need a stroller. If you are going for you, whatever you want is cool. Our youngest was 5, 43" tall. He could ride almost every ride, walked by himself almost all day, and was able make good souvenir decisions with a little guidance. And he was happy. We did theme parks with babies (4 and 2 years old) and it just wasn't very good. This trip was great.

Impressions of parks:

Disney California is a great park. It reminds me of Disney Sea in Tokyo more than any other park I've been in. The fit and finish of the areas are pretty holistic, with the very notable exception of the disgusting lagoon at Paradise Pier. It's really gross. They've got to find a way to make it not look diseased. California Screamin' is also one of the best coasters I've ever ridden. Fast, lots of vertical, very smooth. When the park is completely built out (there are at least 3 major construction projects underway right now) it will be awesome. Food vending is well thought out, there's lots of open space, and there are some really good rides for everyone.

Disneyland is what it is. I'm not a huge fan - Thunder Mountain is a great ride, Space Mountain is a great ride, but I'm not impressed with the layout, the attention to detail in the different areas of the park, or the food. The food situation is especially bad here. Little shade, few places to sit inside, and little open space. In early May, it's not crowded at all. The summer would be horrific.

Universal Studios was my personal favorite. The Studio Tour is a must-do. It's fantastic. Amazing. 45 minutes of information and entertainment that's exciting for adults and not too scary for the kids. The shows are incredible, the rides are great, and the staff is amazing; really friendly, helpful, kind, all that stuff. They seem really happy to be at work, more so than anywhere else we went. They made the difference for me.

Sea World was really great, too. The mix of shows, zoo exhibits, and rides was a good mix for our kids. It's unfortunate that the best stuff (the Beluga, Dolphin, and Shark encounters) are so much extra. We knew about it, but did not plan to do it. We still had a full day, but if we go back with teens, we'll definitely do one of the extra things. The shows were great, too - the Sea Lion show was the best. Great theatre.

Legoland was the kids' hands-down favorite. We walked in, and spent 45 minutes building cars right away. Then 45 minutes looking at mini USA and the Star Wars models. Then we rode 1 coaster, ate a decent lunch, and split. Aria and I did the Knights Encounter which was really interesting and cool. Katrina took the other kids and did some other rides that were great. We finished the day with the kids shopping at the Lego Store there; each had saved enough for the end of the trip to buy something there. Everyone left happy.

The Limo ride was partially a gift from the grandparents. We were thinking of themed dinners and things, and as we flipped through the brochure, we saw a full-page ad for personal tours. I looked at Katrina, and told her I had never been in a limo. She said she hadn't either. So we brought the decision to the kids, and they thought it would be cool, too. So that's what we did. It was great - in 5.5 hours, we were picked up from the resort, taken to a good spot to see the Hollywood sign, spent almost 2 hours at the Kodak Theatre and walk of fame, drove around to see some celebrity homes and movie locations, and went home. Overall, less than the price of theme park admission, we did all the sight seeing stuff, and got to relax, too.

Great vacation - as good as our big road trip in 2008 to ID and UT or our almost-family vacation to New York and DC last year. No more from me on the topic - Katrina's got a lot more going up on her blog, I think.