TR: And now for something completely different - a WDW Family did DLR *(new - 4/15: HK Disneyland)*

[TheMaxRebo]

Yeah... they just have no concept of bad weather there. And if it just rains, they all pretty much shut down.

Cool! Always nice when they try to make the wait easier.

This sounds awesome! I've never heard of a pancake flight before, but I like the concept. I'm glad everyone seemed to find something they liked.

That really is a cool effect. Looks like a fun hour at the beach.

Definitely felt like a place that wants families to come and probably has people that come fairly regularly, was a fun place.

The flight was especially great so we could try a few of their different options given we only had the one visit there

Definitely had fun at the beach. Not something we do very often at home - was a bit surprised how much the kids, especially Olivia loved it

Breakfast looks delicious! I'm sure I would have tried a pancake flight!

Love all the beach pictures, sounds/looks like such a nice time!

Definitely a fun idea of having the pancake flight especially with all the unique options they have - and helps minimize the risk of ordering something you are a little unsure but think you might like

Thanks! Definitely was a fun time

A pancake flight! Super jealous, that looks absolutely delicious.

Your beach day looks like a lot of fun! I couldn't stop laughing at that little clip of Emma dealing with the undercurrents-so glad you included that!

Definitely loved the concept of the flight - was fun to try things especially with Olivia and Peter getting even more different pancakes

Definitely was fun at the beach! Didn't capture it on film but other times the water level would pick up and really knock Emma down. She'd get a little upset but then want to go back out.

OMG that breakfast!!! I have got to go there lol!!! Been waiting for that review lol!!!
Love the pictures at the beach. You had me on the floor laughing about your comment"*WARNING: I must apologies in advance if anyone is blinded by the pastiness that is our northern selves in swimwear shown in the following images*
What a cool image of the sand that the waves made. It looks so haunting!
Your post confirms my thoughts... All kids are the same lol!!! my boys loving rolling around in the waves and look just like Olivia in our last trip to Virginia Beach this past summer. That was their first taste of the ocean and it was so much fun to watch! Watching Olivia brought back some fun memories!!!

haha - definitely a place to check out if you are ever near a snooze. They have multiple locations in California, Colorado, and Arizona I believe.

It was really cool just watching the patterns form as the water would recede back into the ocean

Aw, glad it brought back some nice memories. She really had a blast - while I was worried for safety at times. Guess the nature of kids vs parents.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Great updates! Traveling with 3 kids looks stressful. I am nervous for the first time we have to travel with 2!

I would love to check out one of Michael Symon's restaurants. I'm a big fan of his, and really enjoy watching him on The Chew!

We stayed at an Embassy Suites in Colorado Springs once, and it looks exactly like the pictures you posted, how funny. Maybe they all look the same?

Seeing your pictures of breakfast at Snooze makes me wish we still had one around us (we used to live in Denver and they have a Snooze there). Now I want a pancake flight. Yum!

I'm glad the kids enjoyed the beach!

Definitely is stressful at times traveling with the three (or even the 2 or 1 before that) - definitely glad this time we had plenty of extra time this time!

I've been to other Embassy Suites that looked different but I think this is one of the models they use - overall pretty nice!

haha, seems to be a theme of people wanting a pancake flight. Definitely was fun!

Kids had a blast at the beach - especially Olivia and Emma!

Ha the videos are hilarious! The beach looked amazing.

Thanks! I think they are fun and good memories too! Beach was really nice - we enjoyed it

great report so far. Planning on surprising my girls with a trip to Disneyland in April just hoping for no snow so we don't have to take them out of school.

Thank you! ooh, a surprise trip sounds really fun! Hope the timing works out for you!

Looks like you guys had a great day at the beach!

Thanks - definitely was a fun time ... more beach fun coming up!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Chapter 9 - San Diego Day 1 - Part 2
October 11th
Second brunch, Second beach​

After our fun time at the beach we cleaned the kids up as best we could and changed them into clean clothes and headed off to our next meal - that being 2nd brunch of the day, this one at the Pacific Coast Grill. We headed up highway 101 and spotted the restaurant right as we passed it. We got a little confused as there was barricade up where we would have needed to turn in to for the parking lot. We made a u-turn and headed back and realized we could turn into the actual parking lot before the barricade (the road was blocked further down for a street market).

We went in and checked in and then asked if we could sit outside - so the sent us up to the hostess stand on the second floor and were led out to a table with just a great view overlooking the ocean. And Emma needed her sunglasses of course:

There were a number of people on the beach with their dogs - including one who was surfing:

One thing I was excited for at this location was their drink menu - lots of different options and different margaritas. Menus for both:

Judi went with the Cardiff Reef Lava Flow (Cardiff is the area/town the restaurant is located in). It was pretty darn good - and she definitely liked it as she went through 2 of them:

Knowing that I liked the jalapeno margarita at La Cava in EPCOT, I asked the waitress which she preferred between the Cucumber-Jalapeno margarita or the Mango-Habanero Infused one. She said the Cucumber-Jalapeno one was more refreshing so I tried that first. It was refreshing but not a ton of flavor so I decided to try the Mango-Habanero one for my second drink and greatly preferred that. The sweet/spicy nature of it was really good!

I already knew what I was going to get - but they did have quite a number of tasty sounding options on the brunch menu:

And also appreciated that they called the kids menu the "Dependents Menu":

As mentioned during the last post, I decided to get something more savory at first brunch since I knew I was going to get the Churro Waffle here. This was just so darn good - it really did taste like a churro and if possible it was even better than I thought it would be. Here it is in all it's glory:

Judi opted for the Lobster Benedict - and definitely appreciated that it was served with a full lobster tail. She really enjoyed this! We were going to get a side of potatoes but then learned this came with potatoes - and they were really good as well.

Apparently we were bad DISers and didn't get pictures of what the kids ate (though I just talked to Judi and she feels like we did but can't find it on any of the cameras/phones). We got them a Cheeseburger and the Fish and Chips to split and they did ok with them. I remember trying the fish and it was quite good.

All in all it was a great meal. Definitely different than Snooze - this was more of a special occasion place. If I had to pick one I would pick Pacific Coast Grill - though I suspect if we lived out there we would go to Snooze more often due to prices if nothing else.

After 2nd brunch we definitely needed some more beach time so we headed down to La Jolla cove to check that out. We made our way down there and was very glad to find a great parking spot right across the street form the cove. Especially since the only public parking we saw was $30!

When we got out of the car the first thing we noticed was the smell. We thought perhaps just buildings and restaurants in the area had a lot of garbage out or something, but when we got closer we realized what it was. You might be able to make it out in this picture of the cover with the family:

If not you will definitely be able to tell in this picture I took zooming in on the rocks above Peter and Olivia:

Yup - there were tons of seals just hanging out. At time in the water pretty close to where the swimmers were! They were fun to watch, but definitely stank!

The cove area was pretty cool - definitely something different for us. You had to come down these long stairs to get to the beach area and the waves would come all the way up to the stairs so you had to time it right to get down if you had on sandals or anything that you didn't want to get wet.

Olivia again had a ton of fun throwing herself in the waves - though I was more nervous here just as people were more packed in so I was afraid she would be washed into them and also some rocks in the water I thought she might hit - but she did ok and listened whenever I told her to move to safer areas.

It was kind of a neat view too. And Judi managed to capture this neat picture with this bird right above Emma and I (you can get a sense for how crowded it was as well in this photo):

At the far end of the cove there were also these rocky outcropings and caves that Judi took Olivia and Peter to. They also saw some hermit crabs and other sea life in the tide pools - so they enjoyed that:

All-in-all we found it to be a really neat area to check out and definitely something different. I personally preferred the first beach but am glad we got to check both out.

Coming up next - some resting! and then dinner in the Gas Lamp district.

TTFN

 

[missangelalexis]

Second brunch looks so delicious. I would have had a hard time deciding what too eat with so many yummy things on the menu! Glad you both enjoyed your beverages too.

Awesome seeing the seals! Not so awesome about the smell though

I'm glad you had fun, it looks like an interesting place!

 

[DisMom1981]

Oh- crime brûlée French toast. Yum.
Love the name dependent's menu.

 

[annie170]

Two brunches sound like a great day to me! Judi's Lobster Benedict looked fantastic! Actually, I think I would have had a hard time choosing by the looks of that menu.

How cool to be that close to seals! Didn't realize they had a smell to them. Great timing on the picture with the bird. I love when stuff like that happens.

 

[Volunteer]

As mentioned during the last post, I decided to get something more savory at first brunch since I knew I was going to get the Churro Waffle here. This was just so darn good - it really did taste like a churro and if possible it was even better than I thought it would be. Here it is in all it's glory:

Not going to lie, this picture inspired me to eat a waffle for lunch. It was good, but probably not as good as yours!

 

[horse11]

Again you got my mouth watering with Judi's selection at Pacific Coast Grill. That Lobster Benedict looks amazing!!!
Love the pictures of the beach!!! Wow to see seals must have been Awesome!!!
My boys as well as myself would have loved exploring the caves around the cove. That looks like soooo much fun!!!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Second brunch looks so delicious. I would have had a hard time deciding what too eat with so many yummy things on the menu! Glad you both enjoyed your beverages too.

Awesome seeing the seals! Not so awesome about the smell though

I'm glad you had fun, it looks like an interesting place!

Definitely a number of good things on the brunch menu and we saw at other tables people getting non-brunch things (like sushi, etc.) that looked really good too!

It was just unexpected - though I am sure some more research would have informed us of that. Kinda funny thinking back to looking all around for what the smell was and then being like ... well, that makes sense

Oh- crime brûlée French toast. Yum.
Love the name dependent's menu.

Always love when places have fun with the menus - especially kids menus. There was a great note on the kids menu at the place we ate the next day! (what a tease, right?)

Two brunches sound like a great day to me! Judi's Lobster Benedict looked fantastic! Actually, I think I would have had a hard time choosing by the looks of that menu.

How cool to be that close to seals! Didn't realize they had a smell to them. Great timing on the picture with the bird. I love when stuff like that happens.

In doing research for places to eat in San Diego I came up with a lot of bunch places so only way to fit more than one in was to do two in one day ... I mean, if we had to take one for the team, so be it

Well, at least I am assuming it was the seals that the smell was coming from - definitely strongest in that area and I think makes sense.

I got one really great timing picture during one of the parades at Disneyland - so that is something to look forward to! (gotta love a good tease like that )

Not going to lie, this picture inspired me to eat a waffle for lunch. It was good, but probably not as good as yours!

Glad I could help you determine what to have for lunch! We don't to it often but definitely enjoy having breakfast foods for other meals. Actually, I usually don't eat breakfast (just a granola bar in the car or something) so I think I have breakfast foods at times other than breakfast more than I have them at breakfast times.

Again you got my mouth watering with Judi's selection at Pacific Coast Grill. That Lobster Benedict looks amazing!!!
Love the pictures of the beach!!! Wow to see seals must have been Awesome!!!
My boys as well as myself would have loved exploring the caves around the cove. That looks like soooo much fun!!!

Judi was really happy with her choice - all the food there was quite good. Good food, good drinks, a view of dogs surfing ... what else do you need?

I stayed with Emma so didn't get to see the caves up close myself but the older kids definitely had fun!

 

[NJlauren]

So behind on TRs! I'm not sure if I comment on the 1st brunch, but both brunches looked amazing I love the idea of two with the time change and all! Yum!

Parking is crazy out there huh? $30 is fine if your staying 24 hours (that's he NY in me). But for 2 or 3 hours crazy!

Fun time at both beaches! So far looking like a great trip!

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

We have Sea Lion caves here in Oregon, and I always dread that field trip, because it does smell. It is less noticeable on a windy day, so I would assume the smell was from the Seals or the birds that hang out there.

The food looks so good. I would probably go churro waffle, but the lobster eggs benedict looks crazy good.

I grew up in Northern California and never spent any time in San Diego (I think we went once as a child, but I don't remember it). Your TR is making me want to visit there.

 

[afwdwfan]

We went in and checked in and then asked if we could sit outside - so the sent us up to the hostess stand on the second floor and were led out to a table with just a great view overlooking the ocean.

Definitely a nice view. I always love the outside seating when we can find a place to eat on the beach.

There were a number of people on the beach with their dogs - including one who was surfing:

That is awesome!

And also appreciated that they called the kids menu the "Dependents Menu":

Very appropriate. I'm glad you enjoyed both of your brunches.

Yup - there were tons of seals just hanging out. At time in the water pretty close to where the swimmers were! They were fun to watch, but definitely stank!

It really would be kind of cool to be that close to seals in their natural environment. Then again, I've seen enough shark week to know that where there's seals...

 

[TheMaxRebo]

So behind on TRs! I'm not sure if I comment on the 1st brunch, but both brunches looked amazing I love the idea of two with the time change and all! Yum!

Parking is crazy out there huh? $30 is fine if your staying 24 hours (that's he NY in me). But for 2 or 3 hours crazy!

Fun time at both beaches! So far looking like a great trip!

No worries - amazing how quickly one can get behind on TRs! Definitely glad we were able to fit in both brunch places as I really wanted to hit up both .... doing them both in one day was an added bonus!

Yeah, we are also used to high parking prices from NYC so I think that is why the price at the first location didn't seem so bad, but a bit of sticker shock for the second!

definitely fun at the beaches - actually, I think more than I was expecting, so glad it worked out!

We have Sea Lion caves here in Oregon, and I always dread that field trip, because it does smell. It is less noticeable on a windy day, so I would assume the smell was from the Seals or the birds that hang out there.

The food looks so good. I would probably go churro waffle, but the lobster eggs benedict looks crazy good.

I grew up in Northern California and never spent any time in San Diego (I think we went once as a child, but I don't remember it). Your TR is making me want to visit there.

I can see that being an interesting field trip! Figured it was from the fauna in the area and just the sea and everything. I think it was just so shocking and unexpected when we got out of the car that it really hit us hard.

Lots of good sounding things on the menu and it worked out great that Judi and I each got one savory / one sweet thing at each place and could share to some extent.

We really enjoyed San Diego (some more fun coming up) - lots to do and we also liked some of the smaller towns we stopped at on the way up to Disneyland from San Diego (also, coming up)

Definitely a nice view. I always love the outside seating when we can find a place to eat on the beach.

That is awesome!

Very appropriate. I'm glad you enjoyed both of your brunches.

It really would be kind of cool to be that close to seals in their natural environment. Then again, I've seen enough shark week to know that where there's seals...

I am a big fan of al fresco dining in general, even up where we live and even if not the best view, so being able to do it at the beach was awesome! The surfing dog just being that extra bonus!

That's true - I assume that sharks aren't a huge issue given how many people were in the water, but you never know! Actually, kinda glad I didn't think about this at the time

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Chapter 10 - San Diego Day 1 - Part 3
October 11th
Gas Lamp Dinner​

After visiting our second beach of the day we headed back to the hotel to clean-up and rest up. It felt like we found half the beach in Emma's swim diaper, and then the other half when Olivia took her shower. Definitely felt good to take it easy for a big and just relax in the air conditioning.

We eventually decided we needed to get going for our dinner reservation (don't worry, wasn't a third brunch). We were heading down to the Gas Lamp district of San Diego. From our hotel it took close to 1/2 hour to get down to that area near the restaurant and park. Definitely have to say I liked this area - just seemed like a cool place to hand out - saw trolly/light rail go buy and lots of restaurants and bars. Definitely could see us spending time there if we lived in that area.

During the drive down both Emma and Peter fell asleep. Our reservation was for 6:30 which is 9:30 EST so with that and all the excitement of the day, not surprised they fell asleep. So we loaded them up in the stroller and walked to our destination - which was the Double Standard Kitchenetta located on 6th Avenue. When we arrived, Olivia wanted to sit outside, but they only had small tables and we didn't think the stroller would really fit - so we were sat inside, though they had their large garage door like windows open so definitely had a nice inside/outside feel to it.

The place had neat decor with some modern elements but also bookshelves crammed with books and stuff like that. Apparently I didn't get a lot of pictures of the restaurant so you will have to take my word for it. The menu is a mix of appetizers, small plates, pizzas, entrees, and sides. We decided to get a pizza as that is what Olivia wanted and then just share a few other things.

But first... the wine! We decided to get a rose since it was still a bit hot with the windows open and generally we like Cotes de Rhone wines, so thought this was a good option. I have to say their wine list was pretty good with a number of nice options at reasonable prices. We were quite happy with our choice - nice and crisp and not sweet but with a bit of strawberry notes. Olivia also enjoyed me taking her picture through the wine glass:

One of the best things we got was theCrispy Cauliower (house made bacon, apple cider glaze, sultana, bread crumbs, grana padano .... though we got the bacon on the side). Just lots of good flavor going on here:

We also ordered the Arugula & Watermelon salad (marinated feta, pistachio biscotti, heirloom tomato, basil vinaigrette). I love a watermelon salad and this one was quite good - appologies as we only realized part way through we hadn't taken pictures yet:

and the House Made Porcini Mushroom Ravioli (true porcini-champagne black true cream) which was definitely yummy (not very photogenic though):

And the pizza was really good - we didn't get through much of it and took a lot of it back to the hotel:

During the meal Peter woke up, but not very hungry, so he went onto the banquet seating and we had a little blanket to put on him. Shortly after Olivia fell asleep with him as well:

Emma stirred too at one point and then fell asleep while I held her (you can see a bit of the restaurant decor in this picture too):

One other memorable part of dinner was a couple that was seated a few tables away from us (not sure if they were a couple-couple or just friends), and the girl apparently wanted everyone in the restaurant to hear her conversation based on how loud she was. Based on said conversation she also appeared to be quite high-maintenance so I found myself feeling for the guy a bit.

Overall we like dinner quite a bit but found the place to not be super kid friendly and I think more a place Judi and I would hang out on date night or with friends or something.

We headed out now with three sleeping kids (I carried Emma and Judi pushed Peter and Olivia in the stroller) and were in bed by 10pm - had a very full day planned for the next day!

Coming up - Safari park and beer ... followed by more beer!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Chapter 11 - San Diego Day 2 - Part 1
October 12th
The (other) San Diego Zoo - I ain't Lion ;o)​

Originally, the plans for this day were to take it easy in the morning and then head out to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park around lunch time. However, with the weather being warmer than expected and fears for crowds given that it was Columbus Day we decided to head out earlier and change our dinner plans to be for lunch (more on that later)

First we had to get ready. We had started to put Emma's hair in pig tails a Peter wanted in on that as well:

One thing that was nice about the Embassy Suites was that it came with an included cooked-to-order breakfast. So we headed down to the lobby to get some food. Emma was in a smiley mood that morning as we got settled:

The kids mostly had yogurt and bagels with cream cheese (one of Emma's favorites - both to eat and to make a mess with). I opted for an omlette with some homefries ... both were pretty good and definitely better than a typical "free" breakfast:

On the way out the kids spent some more time looking at the koy fish in the pond. We thought there was to be feeding time at 8am but we either missed it or the plans changed. Still, it was fun watching them as they wound there way through the pond that at times went under bridges, etc.:

We then loaded up and headed North about 1/2 hour and arrived at the San Diego Safari Park just after 9am which is when then opened. Crowds didn't seem so bad and we hoped it would stay that way. Spoiler alert - it totally stayed at basically no crowds as we found out California doesn't celebrate Columbus Day so there is not holiday there. Where we live has a high Italian population so Columbus Day is one of the biggest days of the year with tons of parades and celebrations so it didn't even dawn on us that other areas didn't celebrate .... definitely not complaining!

This was the entrance to the park:

Inside they had a giant map of the park - basically the exact same map that it in the pamphlets to carry with you, just 20x the size:

They did have some Halloween celebrations going on, though most would only come out for later separate ticketed events - but they did have some stuff out like having the gift shopped renamed the Bootique:

Shortly we started coming to some animals, first being different exotic birds. I thought these looked neat and they had some babies with them:

And then a Parrot, followed by an areas with a variety of birds, including a number of flamingos:

We then went to the kids area where there were a lot of animals on displays with a lot of educational information about them. Apparently I thought a turtle and a young deer were worthy of photography:

We then came to a large metal rhinoceros that the kids had a blast climbing on:

They also had various fake animal "homes" that kids could climb into - so pretend burrows (like the one here) or bird nests, etc.:

Then some other lizard type thing the kids climbed on:

Then we came to the Bats area - out front they had a set up where you could "be" a bat:

Inside there were lots of bats to look at and they are definitely fascinating to watch them move and eat, etc. Didn't get a lot of good pictures but at least one to prove we were there:

After this, we headed out more towards the main savanna type area of the park. At one spot you did get a really good view of the park on an outlook before heading down to it via stairs or elevator. The balloon was similar to the Characters in Flight they have at Downtown Disney - but was an extra cost (the park it set up with fairly low entrance price but then a lot of "extras" you can add on - though we didn't add much on given it was our first time there):

We then walked by the Lion enclosure and I must say the number of lions they have and the level or movement they did (at least while we were there) puts the lions on the Safar at Animal Kingdom to shame. Plus you just felt a lot closer to them, as you can tell from the one photo with Olivia in the foreground:

And one gif of three of the lions hanging out together:

After this we headed to do the tram out into the savannah ... but will cover that next update

TTFN

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

I am from Oregon and we do not celebrate Columbus Day. Instead, there is an Indigenous People's Day, that is celebrated the same day, although, that still hasn't caught on much here. You can do a quick internet search and see the history. Since it is a federal holiday, banks still close and there is no mail. Glad you got light crowds at the park. Love the lion pictures and the picture of the kids being a bat.

 

[missangelalexis]

It amazes me how sand gets literally everywhere..maybe you're supposed to consider it a free souvenir?

Love that picture of Olivia in the wine glass!

Aww, all the kids were pooped! But I guess that made for a peaceful dinner!

Peter in pigtails!! He's going to kill you for that one in a few years

Glad you lucked out in not seeing Columbus Day crowds!

Such great pics at the Safari Park, the kids sure do look happy.

 

[ljcrochet]

Being from New York, I would have expected crowds at the zoo on columbus day. Looks like you had fun.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Your two brunches looked fantastic! I think your brunch at Pacific Coast Grill appeals to me more, but I am a sucker for awesome pancakes!

A day at the beach sounds perfect during a California vacation. I'm glad you found an inexpensive place to park!

Your dinner looks INCREDIBLE! I'm not always a cauliflower fan, but your appetizer looks absolutely delicious. I'm drooling!

What a fun day at the Safari park! I'm sure it was much less crowded than the San Diego Zoo and it looks like there were lots of great animals to see!

 

[NJlauren]

I had no idea Columbus Day wasn't celebrated everywhere.... I should take note of this for the future....

Food looked good and dinner and breakfast! The zoo looks really cool! Can't wait to see some more!