Disneyland - Part I

As usual, this post is long overdue... The children and (more importantly) I survived the 13-hour flight from Brisbane to LA. Although they only slept for about 3 hours total, they did as well as could be expected. Julia thought it was such a treat to get virtually unlimited TV-viewing time, which left me free to wrangle monkey-man Liam as he tried to crawl over the seats and out of the plane. Liam is a little ham though when he's got an audience, so once he discovered that he could stand up in the carseat facing the back of his seat and "perform" (i.e. crowing and squealing) for row upon row of people behind him, he was pretty content. He also got some good walking practice as he and Julia and I did laps around the plane...walking down a narrow aisle on a slope in the middle of turbulence is a great way for a 1-yr-old to improve his balance!

No matter how well a flight goes, when you're traveling by yourself with 2 toddlers on a 13-hour flight, you're gonna be completely exhausted by the time you actually get off the plane. It was such a joy to finally clear customs with 2 tired littlies and a lot of luggage and be greeted by my parents who were well-rested (for perhaps the last time on this visit) and ready to help! We somehow managed to get us all on the Disneyland Express and headed straight to the Disneyland Hotel. Julia excitedly chatted with Nana & G-da about seeing Mickey Mouse and Cinderella.

Checking-in

When we got to the hotel (around 10am) they told us our rooms wouldn't be ready till 3pm. I was so ready for a shower and a chance to unload all our stuff, and I must have just looked and sounded incredibly pitiful when I said to the lady, "Is there ANY other room that might be ready now?" She said to wait a minute and then disappeared into the back. When she came back, the manager was with her, and they were both grinning. "I think you'll like this room," she said, and she told us to come with her to just "check and see if it'll work for us."

They ushered us into the elevator and up to the top floor of the hotel. Down at the end of one hall, beyond all of the ordinary hotel-room doors was a set of dark wooden double doors and a doorbell. She pressed the doorbell, opened the door, and as "A Pirate's Life for Me" played on the doorbell, she showed us into the Pirates of the Carribean Suite. As we all stared wide-eyed and grinning, they gave us the tour of the penthouse suite.

Our entry hall

Looking from the entry hall into the living area with banquet table, chandelier, fireplace, bar...oh yeah, and a lot of the actual props from the Pirates of the Carribean movie (e.g. Jack Sparrow's gun). Basically the only thing missing was Johnny Depp himself!


The living room

Part of the view from mine and Julia's bedroom (looking down you could see the pool). From our living room we could see the fireworks each night, and the balcony went around the whole place. I didn't get any photos of the master bedroom but it was massive!

As we walked around we kept waiting for the "catch", but there wasn't one. I never win anything, and suddenly we'd been upgraded from the most basic room to the nicest suite in the hotel (which we were told normally rents for $7000/night!) at no extra charge! When we asked why we were so lucky, the manager said. "We just like to make a little magic!" Welcome to Disneyland!!!!

After we got over the awe and shock of the suite, we headed to Downtown Disneyland for lunch at Brennan's. Julia slept through a delicious meal, but Liam enjoyed his lunch and lots of people-watching from our patio seats.

Sharing his grilled cheese with G-da

By the time we actually entered the Disneyland park, though, both children were sound asleep...
It actually worked out well though, because we walked all around while they slept, getting our bearings and scoping out the best toddler-friendly rides for when they woke up. More on that soon....