Our California Adventure with two days at Disneyland, the ElCapitan and the Walt Disney FamilyMuseum
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cinder-ellah
A Dream is a Wish your heart makes......
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Great trip report !
Glad you had a good time and sounds like you did a lot !
Glad you had a good time and sounds like you did a lot !
Thursday, February 18
We left Santa Barbara around 9 to head up the coast. This was my husband and mine favorite day of the trip and my children's least favorite. The drive up rite 1 is beautiful. We made three major stops. One to see the elephant seals ( wow they are huge and wow they can move), one to see the waterfall at Julia Pfeiffer Burns state park, and one Pfeiffer big sur park to see the General a 100 year old coastal redwood. The nice thing is if you pay for parking at one state park you can go into all of the them that day. The waterfall was a bit of a let down because there was not much water. We were awed by this redwood so I can hardly imagine the really big ones in Northern California. Along the drive there are few places to stop for food, gas, and bathrooms so plan ahead. The two parks do have bathrooms. My kids found the drive to be very nerve wracking, but my husband said driving it was not too bad.
We had planned to do the 17 mile drive but by that point the kids would have rebelled. We did stop to see the pretty lighthouse in Monterey and we went to the aquarium for a quick visit (1 hour) and ate a quick dinner. That night we stayed at a hotel right off the highway in Santa Cruz, but we did not do any sightseeing there.
We left Santa Barbara around 9 to head up the coast. This was my husband and mine favorite day of the trip and my children's least favorite. The drive up rite 1 is beautiful. We made three major stops. One to see the elephant seals ( wow they are huge and wow they can move), one to see the waterfall at Julia Pfeiffer Burns state park, and one Pfeiffer big sur park to see the General a 100 year old coastal redwood. The nice thing is if you pay for parking at one state park you can go into all of the them that day. The waterfall was a bit of a let down because there was not much water. We were awed by this redwood so I can hardly imagine the really big ones in Northern California. Along the drive there are few places to stop for food, gas, and bathrooms so plan ahead. The two parks do have bathrooms. My kids found the drive to be very nerve wracking, but my husband said driving it was not too bad.
We had planned to do the 17 mile drive but by that point the kids would have rebelled. We did stop to see the pretty lighthouse in Monterey and we went to the aquarium for a quick visit (1 hour) and ate a quick dinner. That night we stayed at a hotel right off the highway in Santa Cruz, but we did not do any sightseeing there.
Friday, February 19
We got up early to drive San Francisco. We drove up to Twin Peaks at the suggestion of my cousin for a beautiful overview of the city. It was fun later in the weekend to pick out the twin peaks from the tower at the art museum. It was very cold and windy up there, but the view is worth it. The kids were amazed by the paid portapotties up there.
The drive down was twisty and navigation/ driving in San Francisco was doable but crowded.
We then drove to the Presidio which was beautiful and made our second major mistake of the trip. We should have gone to see the Golden Gate Bridge then but we went to the Disney museum first. By the time we left the Disney museum it was raining.
The Disney museum however was not a mistake. What a great way to spend the day. It ended up even being my kids second favorite thing about our trip. My daughter and husband thought we would only be there an hour, but we were there four. We started out downstairs at the bathrooms and the cowboy animator display, which was very nice. My son was entranced with the actual sketches throughout the trip as he wants to be a video game animator. His souvenir for the trip ended up being a very nice and well priced character drawing book.
We then had a good lunch at the cafe at the museum. Prices were not bad and the meals were good. General consensus was that the chili was the best quality for the money.
We then entered the main area of the museum. The detail was amazing. Right down to the elevator detailing. My favorite was the Disneyland model. My husband and son loved the Tiki bird explanation.
Then we drove down Lombard street. Unfortunately it was rainy, but there was no line.
We then checked into our hotel, the Holiday inn express fishermans wharf, which is new, clean, and spacious. They have an excellent breakfast. We returned our car and headed down to fishermans wharf for dinner. We received gift cards to Applebee's for Christmas and we had spent enough on this trip so the next two nights we ate there. It is on the third floor with a great view. They get very busy on weekends. After dinner we went to the musee mechanique to see their collection of old arcade machines: bring lots of quarters.
We got up early to drive San Francisco. We drove up to Twin Peaks at the suggestion of my cousin for a beautiful overview of the city. It was fun later in the weekend to pick out the twin peaks from the tower at the art museum. It was very cold and windy up there, but the view is worth it. The kids were amazed by the paid portapotties up there.
The drive down was twisty and navigation/ driving in San Francisco was doable but crowded.
We then drove to the Presidio which was beautiful and made our second major mistake of the trip. We should have gone to see the Golden Gate Bridge then but we went to the Disney museum first. By the time we left the Disney museum it was raining.
The Disney museum however was not a mistake. What a great way to spend the day. It ended up even being my kids second favorite thing about our trip. My daughter and husband thought we would only be there an hour, but we were there four. We started out downstairs at the bathrooms and the cowboy animator display, which was very nice. My son was entranced with the actual sketches throughout the trip as he wants to be a video game animator. His souvenir for the trip ended up being a very nice and well priced character drawing book.
We then had a good lunch at the cafe at the museum. Prices were not bad and the meals were good. General consensus was that the chili was the best quality for the money.
We then entered the main area of the museum. The detail was amazing. Right down to the elevator detailing. My favorite was the Disneyland model. My husband and son loved the Tiki bird explanation.
Then we drove down Lombard street. Unfortunately it was rainy, but there was no line.
We then checked into our hotel, the Holiday inn express fishermans wharf, which is new, clean, and spacious. They have an excellent breakfast. We returned our car and headed down to fishermans wharf for dinner. We received gift cards to Applebee's for Christmas and we had spent enough on this trip so the next two nights we ate there. It is on the third floor with a great view. They get very busy on weekends. After dinner we went to the musee mechanique to see their collection of old arcade machines: bring lots of quarters.
Saturday, February 20
We got up early to meet my cousin for our tour of San Francisco.
We started with an easy cable car ride. That early in the morning it was not too crowded. My husband rode holding onto the outside and we rode inside. We then did a walking tour of the Union square area and went to Grace Cathedral. We then took a bus to Japantown for my children to shop and sightsee.
Afterwards we took a train? to near golden gate park and stopped for lunch on the way. We really enjoyed the Academy of Sciences. Make sure you get tickets for the planetarium if you are interested. The show we saw was very good. We were disappointed in the 3D rainforest show in the other theater. The rainforest and aquarium were excellent. Then we walked through the park to the art museum to go up in their tower. The tower does not require museum admission. The view from the tower is beautiful. It was fun to see twin peaks from the city.
By this point we were exhausted, some took multiple muni options to get back to Fishermans wharf for another meal at Applebee's and a little shopping.
We got up early to meet my cousin for our tour of San Francisco.
We started with an easy cable car ride. That early in the morning it was not too crowded. My husband rode holding onto the outside and we rode inside. We then did a walking tour of the Union square area and went to Grace Cathedral. We then took a bus to Japantown for my children to shop and sightsee.
Afterwards we took a train? to near golden gate park and stopped for lunch on the way. We really enjoyed the Academy of Sciences. Make sure you get tickets for the planetarium if you are interested. The show we saw was very good. We were disappointed in the 3D rainforest show in the other theater. The rainforest and aquarium were excellent. Then we walked through the park to the art museum to go up in their tower. The tower does not require museum admission. The view from the tower is beautiful. It was fun to see twin peaks from the city.
By this point we were exhausted, some took multiple muni options to get back to Fishermans wharf for another meal at Applebee's and a little shopping.
Sunday, February 21
We stayed by the water all day on Sunday. We started out watching the sea lions on pier 39 for almost a half hour. They were very fun to watch. Then we went to the Exploratorium. First impressions were underwhelming, but after an early lunch, when we really explored the museum we were impressed. We only had about an hour and a half and the kids wished we had stayed longer.
We could not stay longer because we had Alcatraz reservations. The Alcatraz audio tour is definitely worth your time and make sure to do the video on your way in as it really explains what you will see.
After Alcatraz we headed back to our hotel where they had stored our luggage after we checked out. We had previously arranged transportation from Pleasant Limo to our airport hotel for our early flight out of Oakland airport on Monday. The town car we were picked up in was nice and the service was good and well worth the extra money. The hotel was just a place to sleep
Monday, February 22
The flights went well. We were not impressed with the convenience of getting food at the Pheonix airport, but we had plenty of time.
We stayed by the water all day on Sunday. We started out watching the sea lions on pier 39 for almost a half hour. They were very fun to watch. Then we went to the Exploratorium. First impressions were underwhelming, but after an early lunch, when we really explored the museum we were impressed. We only had about an hour and a half and the kids wished we had stayed longer.
We could not stay longer because we had Alcatraz reservations. The Alcatraz audio tour is definitely worth your time and make sure to do the video on your way in as it really explains what you will see.
After Alcatraz we headed back to our hotel where they had stored our luggage after we checked out. We had previously arranged transportation from Pleasant Limo to our airport hotel for our early flight out of Oakland airport on Monday. The town car we were picked up in was nice and the service was good and well worth the extra money. The hotel was just a place to sleep
Monday, February 22
The flights went well. We were not impressed with the convenience of getting food at the Pheonix airport, but we had plenty of time.
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