We never want to Leave!

[aussiejen]

So finally got around to starting my TR January 18 - February 18.. Literally went back to work the day after we landed back home in Australia only because I thought we arrived back on a Friday but because of the time difference between the US and Australia, we left on the US on the friday and flew in on the sunday. So here it is.......

Finally after counting down from 130 days it is down to a number of days weve all been longing for. 0 days ! Yes! Our trip is finally here.


So the night before our flight we were still packing lol who would have thought haha. DH always leaves things to the last minute and it annoys me so much...i started packing 2 weeks earlier and he told me that we had plenty of time so i left it. Anyway it was 10pm the night before flying out then all of a sudden midway through packing the whole suburb had a blackout, and according to the council website it was meant to come back at midnight! We were in a right mess with clothes and stuff everywhere... it was mid summer here And so hot. My baby wouldn’t sleep because it was so hot so I actually had to start my car and put the air conditioner on to cool her down.
At 11pm the lights came back on and we quickly packed incase they went out again.

So the morning of our trip we got up at 5:30am for our 6:30am pick up.. all so excited and ready for this much needed trip. The bus arrived at 6:20 to pick us up , we loaded the luggage, ran through the house one more time incase we forgot anything, checked to see if we had our passports and paperwork. And off we went.
We got to the airport at 7:45 due to peak hr traffic. We checked in our luggage and we for breakfast...
finally it was our turn to board our flight, we got to board first because of the kiddies. We put DD flylegs up on the seat so she could relax and get comfy...it was lifesaver as it gaveher more space to lay down without having to sit up the whole flight, so easy to assemble and highly reccomend it...i have heard not all airlines allow it though so if your thinking of getting one, check with the airline first.



The girls settling in before we take off... we had the middle row.



Our meals on our flight were not very appealing.. i hate airplane food...



And before we knew it we were in the air ...



My baby girl was a little restless throughout the flight... its so hard for a little one to sit still for 13hrs in the same spot...after 8 hrs in the air I decided to take her for a walk up n down the isle. She wasnt crying she was just happy to be out of her seat so she was a little excited.. not noisy, well to me anyway.. 5 minutes after walking her a flight attendant approached me and asked me to sit down with my child as others were trying to sleep. I thought it was a little rude as if I thought she was noisy i wouldve sat down straight away with her.. but i did as i was told and sat back down. The rest of the flight was a nightmare trying to get her to sit still... the longest flight in my life. I just wanted it to be over. We finally Landed and got through customs, the customs laws in the US are much more stricter then here in Australia, it took us a good 45mins to get htrough customs there, we collected our bags and met our Lansky driver to take us to our hotel
The Camelot Inn - our room was the Middle level at the front on the right with the 2 balconies.

As soon as we hit out hotel our room wasnt ready as it was only 8am and really checkin wasnt until 2pm. So we hung out and Dennys and had some pancakes and a milkshake while we waited. By 9am we had a call from our hotel reception saying our room was ready.. so glad we didnt have to wait until 2pm. I wanted to shower and change the baby. When we got into our room the two elderst kids and DH were exhausted so wanted to sleep... but not me... i took DD 1 to Downtown Disney for a walk i was too excited!
I highly reccomend this hotel, it wasnt 5 star but clean & convenient. We had the Family Suite and had a view of Harbor Blvd.

 

[mnmrmustard]

First, I know exactly what you mean about the delayed TR. It took me almost exactly 3 months to get mine rolling, RL just pulls you in so many directions when you return from a trip.

Sounds like it was a rough start with that power outage and last minute packing. I’ve only done those long flights back in my Army days when I was young and single. I can’t imagine how tough it would be trying to keep a little one content for 13hrs

Awesome that they had your room ready so early! And a very cool room from the looks of it

Looking forward to hearing your family’s adventure!

 

[aussiejen]

After leaving the elder 2 and DH back at the hotel i was on a mission to head to Downtown Disney and try to find the rose gold ears everyone has been raving about. Walking into Downtown Disney brought back the memories of my very first visit in 2010. Ive been back 4 times already! Anyway i couldn’t believe my eyes when i caught sight of a little stand just outside of World of Disney with the rose gold ears... they were just as pretty as id thought theyd be. So i grabbed 2 pairs , one for each of my princesses. Mission complete!


After checking out the other end of DTD i turned back and headed for World of Disney.. i love all the stuff in that shop. Wish we had one in Australia, i got myself a spirit jersey and the little one a Disney jacket as it was getting a little cold.
we headed back to our room because DD1 has fallen asleep in the pram so i had a small shut eye with everyone else.
By about 5pm everyone had woken and were hungry so we showered & headed to Dennys for Dinner...OMG the food there was great! This became our regular eat in resturant whilst we were there..
As you walk inside the doors at Dennys there was a man making balloon characters and he gave DD1 a Minnie mouse balloon.....After our meal we all headed to DTD to walk off all the food we just ate....We were back in our room by 9pm ready for an early night because we wanted to get to Disney as early as we could the next day for our first day. Bring on the Magic!


Heres the view from our room.. i loved the location and would stay there again. the staff were great and friendly.




Forgot to add that Before we left Australia i ordered a gift bag from Disneys floral & gifts and had it delivered to our room before we arrived....so here it is...it was filled with lots of yummy Disney treats and drinks in the yellow part at the bottom, water & powerade.
The kids loved the sweets.




Well that was a great first day .....bring on tomorrow our first Disney Day ......I wasnt sure if i would be able to sleep i was so excited

 

[Jaina]

Excited that you got to start your TR! I can't imagine a flight that long with a baby that age. I'm so glad you survived!!

 

[aussiejen]

Day 2 of our Magical trip.... So the morning started at 4.30am for me as thats what time DD1 woke up but it didnt matter because today we were going to Disney! While we were at DTD lastnight we grabbed a heap of park maps as requested from loads of people back in Australia, and i studied them so i knew where i wanted to go first....i was hoping for Peter Pan first as it is my favourite ride of all time.
I woke everyone else up at 6.30am, we got ready and went to Dennys for Pancakes for breakfast and i needed my morning coffee or 2. lol. I must say the pancakes were delicious and really filling.
After breakfast we basically power walked to the Security line , had our bags checked & proceeded to the Ticket box for our tickets for the next 15 days..... This seemed like a slow process, probably because we saw everyone else rushing past us to enter the most Magical place on earth..... DL.
After getting our tickets & entered the front gates we noticed the boards up all the way down Main street, it was a shock at fisrt but in no way did it take away the Magic, it did get a little squishy at times but hey who cares , we were in Disneyland.



Stopped at Starbucks to grab a coffee...and just ousdie on a stand were these pickles....is this an American thing, eating pickles like this ? because nowhere in Australia that ive seen them sell pickles like this...i found it interesting and took a photo because my boss loves pickles but from the jar and i sent it to her.




Walking towards the castle and feeling like im home. As we walked through the castle i dont remember ever taking much notice of just what the inside looked like. The architecture is just beautiful.






We noticed that Peter Pan ride was already 45min wait so early in the morning...so we decided to give it a miss just for now and come back to it later.
We then headed to the Teacups, it was another ride we could all ride. the wait was only 15 minutes wait and doable with the baby. Must i say DD1 absolutely loved this ride so much she squealed and laughed the whole time, as soon as we got off we lined up for it again straight away, this ride ended up her favourite ride and squealed with excitement everytime we walked past it throughout the remainder of the trip, it made me teary seeing the excitement in her eyes everytime. And that is where her love of all things Disney begins.




After the teacups my son wanted to ride the matterhorn, DH, DD & DS rode this twice in a row the loved it. Then we did the Nemo ride.

I then wated to go over to DCA to check out the renovations & what was happening after hearing about it on these boards.

 

[aussiejen]

First, I know exactly what you mean about the delayed TR. It took me almost exactly 3 months to get mine rolling, RL just pulls you in so many directions when you return from a trip.
the saying is true that as you get older time flies...

Sounds like it was a rough start with that power outage and last minute packing. I’ve only done those long flights back in my Army days when I was young and single. I can’t imagine how tough it would be trying to keep a little one content for 13hrs

lol most of the time im always prepared before time ....DH thinks he has all the time in the world lol hopefully he has learnt his lesson to be prepared.

Awesome that they had your room ready so early! And a very cool room from the looks of it
I know, i was dreading the wait if we had to wait until 2pm.....just wanted to freshen up & change my DD1

Looking forward to hearing your family’s adventure!

 

[aussiejen]

Excited that you got to start your TR! I can't imagine a flight that long with a baby that age. I'm so glad you survived!!

I was really dreading the flight back believe me haha but it wasnt too bad as DD1 had a window seat...

 

[aussiejen]

Day 2 continued............

So we decided to head to DCA to check out the renovations & changes everyone on here is talking about....and to see Carsland & the Aerial ride as they were both being built lastime we were here.




The kids wanted to ride Car Racers first so we made our way down there and we saw Lightening McQueen outside the Cozy Cones Motel, Geez the cones are so adorable ...we did get a picture with him but not sure what ive done with it....
]Did i mention the weather was perfect for us, the sun was out and it was nice and warm during the day...not once did it rain the whole 15 days we were there...
My first thought on Cars Land is that it looked exactly like the movie... I really like it.
The racers line was 90min wait....but they eventually got to ride it while went for a walk around with DD1, i was just happy to sit down and watch everyone and hear what they had to say about the parks , rides & food etc...as long as i was in Disney i dont care...The atmosphere was so good.

 

[aussiejen]

Finally once the wait was over for Car Rcers we went to bugslands so DD1 could ride a few rides, i was pleasantly surprised that she could ride as many rides as she did considering her age...And even thoug DH isnt much of a Disney fan he enjoyed taking her on most rides, actually it was like a tug of war because both my 2 elder kids & DH all wanted to share the expresrience with DD1 unfortunately at the same time





She loved the Toy Story Mania ride and loved wearing the glasses..it was a big thing for her. They novelties to see while your waiting inline makes the wait a little faster.



From memory the day went quite fast and by about 5pm we were a little exhauasted after the early morning start, all the food and drinks during the day & all the excitement. We called it a night since we dd have 9 more days of Disney so plenty of time to do the things we didnt get to do today. but before leaving the parks we had to buy DD1 a balloon as everytime she saw one throughout the park.


We headed back to the hotel and decided to make a trip to Walmart for some groceries like cereal, milk, munchies to take to the park, souvenirs etc.
We ordered a uber which only took 10mins to get there. the kids had a little giggle at how big the serving sizes of the foods here like cereals, chips, drinks etc....we spent a good 2 hours in Walmart just walking around checking out everything.

I fell inlove with these oreos yummy , we cant get them in Australia and they were to die for, you guys have the best food over there. I brought 2 pks back with me and they were gone within a week haha seriously the best biscuits ever.... sorry to go on about them but they were great lol

And DD 11 came across these glasses for DD1 and she didnt take them off the whole ride back to the hotel lol theyre so cute!

We had a great time in Walmart lol the locals there probably thought we were crazy because we were laughing the whole time we were there ... lol
We got to the hotel and ordered uber eats as we were too tired to go out... we had chinese and once again it was mouth watering. Just so delicious. To be continued....... day 3 coming up

 

[aussiejen]

Day 3 already and so much to do. I loved just standing out on the balcony of a morning and watching everyone going to Disney for the day. This particular morning I noticed a bride to be with her bridesmaids i assumed.

Disney is no way just for kids! The adults probably outweigh the kids haha...
So another reason i love to visit the US is for the shopping. The outlets in LA are amazing, im actually jealous that you guys have so much more variety then i do back home. Lastnight when we used the uber driver to take us to Walmart he gave us his card so we asked him to pick us up today and take us to the Citadel outlets.

We arrived there at 9.30am and asked the driver if he could pick us up at 4pm, only becasue we had the baby and i know how restless she can get sometimes and at this stage she wasnt walking yet either. I was prepared for a great shopping day, i very rarely get time to shop for myself as i always spending on the kids & put myself last , but today i was going to spoil myself....something im not used to doing.
I went straight to the customer service desk to get my discount card for further savings.....


The day went so fast, we literally shopped till we dropped lol, my feet were so sore but i was satisfied with my buys, but this mission wasnt completed yet! I will be back . Heres a pick of our shopping haha


We arrived at the hotel about 5:30pm and we were hungry so decided to try out ihop, so we dumped our bags inthe room and headed to ihop 2 minutes away.




I just loved the walk on harbor blvd , everybody was happy and cheerful. Still couldn’t believe we were actually here in Disney in a different country, the feeling is surreal.

 

[aussiejen]

After dinner we took a walk to DTD to have a look around and to pass time.







I would’ve really liked to have got this to take home.. it was gorgeous. ...





We grabbed a coffee from starbucks and headed back to the room for an early night because tomorrow was a Disney day..

 

[aussiejen]

Day 4........ was yet another early start. Who sleeps in at Disney right? !
The kids were up & early and very excited to say the least, so was i ...lol
Must say that anyone that lives anywhere near Disney are so lucky. I wish we could visit more often but with each trip costing tens of thousands it is impossible atm.

Anyway lets start this day off. DD1 woke up happy today which is such a bonus. Makes my life easier lol
We all got ready put DD1 in the pram and headed for Disney.



The line for security checks was quite long this morning , Some mornings we worked out that it depends whos checking the bags, some check every little pokcet and others just breeze through the bags.
We entered the gates and did which was to become our morning ritual- Starbucks for my morning coffee, i need my morning coffee to function. i suppose its like my addiction.
Once i received my coffee fix we walked towards the castle and headed for ......bet you cant guess, thats right the Teacups. haha DD1 squealed with excitement as we parked up her pram and then she realised what we were doing... Our days normally started this way from here on in.
DD1 Laughed and clapped her hands as soon as she sat down n the teacup .



DH taking pic of me lol.. i took more photos on my phone then he did on the camera, lucky i took my phone with me..



DD1 wasnt really into the characters at this stage....they scared her.
She would wave at them from a distance but as soon as we got closer she changed her mind..






Today was a day full of rides and food. Im not sure why i didnt take many pics this day ???

 

[aussiejen]

So we have allowed for 2 rest days on this trip, so thatmeans days where we just spend at the pool. hang out and relax because lets be honest A day at Disney is a massive day of walking, standing & rushing, it takes it out of you. And we still have 9 more Disney days left, we also nee dto fit in Universal Studios day & we want to visit the Ontario Outlets so thats a whole day there.

Today there was no rushing to get up & get ready...Actually today was the first day DD1 slept in till 7.30am, and i did too. I just spent so time ut on the balcony watching everyone heading to Disney as i usually do. We were all up by 9am, had breakfast in the room, Go our swimmers on and headed for the pool. It was a nice day out and quite warm, i was surprised. We had the pool area all to ourselves for about an hour then another couple of families joined us.



So this is DS playing with DD1 before we go for a swim.lol



So we spent a couple of hours at the pool, then we worked up an appetite swimming so we decided to go to the famous Dennys for lunch. I am going to miss this resturant when we leave. the deserts are to die for and so cheap!




We left Dennys with a full tummy so we were all happy again... I wanted to check out Walgreens & CVS down the road so we headed down there to have a look and see what they had, this is my 5th trip to the US and havent been into a Walgreens once. We brought a few souvenirs for back home and some munchies, i found these M&Ms that we cant get back home.
The coffee ones we delicious, i really wish i had brought more...


On our way back we were deciding which day we were going to do Universal Studios and the kids were really keen to go tomorrow so we had seen the ticket place under the Grand Legacy Hotel and called in there on our walk back to see pricing & transport. We decided on the VIP Passes as we only had one day there and didnt really want to wait in long lines with the baby. The bus was to pick us up at 8 am the following morning....... We headed to DTD for a look around in World Of Disney to pick up a few things for the ladies back at work
We had an early night this night ready for the big day to Universal Studios. I have been there before with the kids but DH hasnt been before so he was looking forward to it.

 

[aussiejen]

Universal Studios day! We were up really early today for the 8am pick up and it was freezing cold, we all rugged up. We got to where we were to wait for the bus by 7.50am.
By 8.10am the bus still hadnt turned up and i was hoping they hadnt forgotton us.....Finally by 8.15 the bus was here, with about 10 other people on it.
The drive seemed to go on forever, there was lots of traffic on the way and DD1 was becoming restless. On the way i took a photo of the Yellow school bus which the kids thought was awsome because we only see them in movies, we dont have them in Australia.

And we saw the Hollywood sign from a distance.. a very far distance.


We arrived at Universal about 10am, the driver gave us a run down on where he thinks we should go first in the park and where to meet back up at the end of the day and what time. We had till 5pm to enjoy the park.



The Simpsons ride was great , we all loved it, probably my favourite ride in this park.


DD1 Playing in the waiting area for DH & DS to get off the Jurassic park ride.
I thought this was a great idea.



DS checking out Harry Potter side
The building were exactly like in the movies...


When DD1 saw this massive donut she had to have it. From memory it was about $6. So we all sat down , i had a coffee the kiddies had a drink and we all shared the donut... It wasnt the nicest donut ive had and probably wouldnt buy it again but it was something different.


to be continued..................

 

[aussiejen]

Needless to say everyone had alot of fun today....It didnt take long for us to complete all the rides and it was pretty quiet, personally i love a crowd, some people cant stand them but i love it when its crowded.
I probably wouldnt do Universal again when we come back. The kids saw alot of characters and the lines werent long to get a photo.
Krusty land was great, really colourful & alot to see.




The bus trip home was eventful to say the least , DD1 decided she had had enough 30mins into the trip back and cried most of the way, i felt so bad for the other people on the bus because everyone had had a big day and was tired. Some were even trying to sleep....i was so embarrassed.
I was so happy to see our hotel and never felt more relieved to get to the room to bath and settle her. We were all hungry by this stage as it was nearly 8pm and we decided on the way back that were going to try the biggest pizza in Anaheim apparently....when the delivery guy knocked on the door i was not expecting the pizza to actually be that big....i mean it was massive compared to what we have back in Australia, the box just fit through the door way.
DS could not believe his eyes either, now lets just hope it tastes as good as it looks!
It passed the test and tasted awesome, we tried our hardest to finish it but just couldnt....it was so big even the 4 of us couldnt eat it all.




After dinner we all settled in to watch a little tv and prepare for another shopping day tomorrow at the Ontario outlets this time.
I brought this loud speaker for the kids back home lol...just kidding...

 

[aussiejen]

Today was another shopping day ....just a few pics of todays adventure.....Ontario outlets was alot quieter then Citadel outlets. We hired DD1 one of those little red car push carts to keep her occupied ...Didnt take many pics today.....

Heres a pic of the gift shop in Camelot Inn....has lots of Disney stuff ...very friendly



So we went for dinner at the Sahara Lebanese resturant as DH is lebanese and was missing the food.... it was delicious and tastes so good. It was a good 10 minute driver from our hotel.


I took a pic of this coffee in i think it was 7/11, sorry, we dont have this back home and i love the idea as i am a huge coffee fan...i would love to have this back in Australia.
And ofcourse they had my favouriteMint Oreos, so i had to buy a packet. to have with my coffee after our meal.

 

[aussiejen]

So today was our 3rd Disney day.....today i took loads more photos as ive been slack the past few days....
DH was in a car accident last yr and injured his back so he got up early and i thuoght he got up to go get som emilk or something from the shop downstairs but 30mins later he can back with a motor scooter, you could hire them from our hotel..
Anyway off we went for another funfilled day at Disney.


DD1 wasnt real sure about the carousel lol....we did end up riding this a quite a bit....We got to ride Jingles too...


And today i got to ride my favourite ride ...Peter Pan...DH couldnt understand why it is my favourite ride. I just love it for some reason..its magical.

The kids on Winnie the Pooh, this ride is sort of tucked away from everything and we had to check out the app to know how to get to it.....



We ate brunch at the Red Rose tavern, the pizza was so good here... My kids & DH were all addicted to the maccaroni & cheese in DL..DH ordered as a side with nearly every meal.
The kids mealas were great value that i ordered them sometimes myself.



And look who we saw as we walked out of lunch