Just Another Day in Paradise!: January 2015

What a fun, spontaneous Vacation we had to the Happiest Place on Earth, Universal Studios and the Beach. Just before Christmas Adam found a deal we couldn't pass up, so we jumped on it. We had limited choices on dates and hotels so we knew it would be a little different then what we were used to but we were up for the challenge. I decided for this post rather than separate the pictures into days I'd just put them all together and summarize each day before the picture OVERLOAD. Our hotel had a breakfast every morning, we brought stuff for lunches for everyday except Universal days (they limit what food you can bring in) so we really just had dinners to worry about. It was so nice.

January 9-15, 2015

Friday, January 9th - We woke up early and hit the road at 4 am. It was such a nice drive with the girls sleeping most of the way. I was able to get a couple hours of sleep and then switched with Adam so he could get some shut eye too before our busy day. We drove straight to Universal Studios, getting there before it opened at 10:00 am. The girls had never been and it had been 20 years since Adam and I had been so it was a lot of fun! We enjoyed the entire day there. We ate a "gross" lunch in the park and then the girls were anxious to go see Disneyland so we ate dinner at Denny's across from the park. This got us all so excited for the next day.

Saturday, January 10th - (Before each trip I always do my research on crowds, refurbishments, hours etc. so we knew beforehand that there would be a lot of rides closing on the 12th.) So we decided to brave the Saturday crowds and hit Disneyland before they closed down some of our favorite rides. It also allowed us to catch the tail end of Christmas...so cool! It was a overcast day and rained off and on (my favorite) so the crowds were luckily not too bad. We got there before opening at 8:00 am and stayed until after closing at 11:00 pm. We park hopped a lot and went back and forth between the two parks and hit as much as we could. We ate dinner in the park at the Red Wagon and watched the Fireworks. We had a blast. (New this time was driving and parking at the resort. We usually stay within walking distance but with this deal we stayed 6 miles away. It was a new experience but we were pros by the last day)

Sunday, January 11th - With two full days behind us and three more to look forward too we took the opportunity to sleep in and get caught up on our rest. Then had a very fun, relaxing day at the beach, splashing around, walking on the pier and looking for seashells. Then we spent the rest of the night at Downtown Disney shopping and eating dinner at Rain Forest Cafe'. This was one of my favorite days.

Monday, January 12th - With our deal, we got "buy a day-get a day free" to Universal Studios so we headed back for round two. We had pretty much seen and done everything the first day so we were able to go at a much slower pace today and hit all of our favorites over and over again. This time we left the park and ate lunch at the Panda Express in the mall that is connected to the park (Much better than the food in the park). On our way out, I was star-struck when we saw Mario Lopez filming for Extra. We watched for a while. By the time we were done with lunch and heading back to the park they were packed up and gone. They were there for just a small window, we were lucky to have seen them. After more fun at the park we went back to the hotel and ordered pizza.

Tuesday, January 13th - Another fun-filled day at Disneyland. We used our magic morning and got into the park an hour early and utilized every second. We spent the day going on things we missed, getting my souvenir (silhouettes of the girls-picture below), Marking things off of my "Disneyland bucket list", and hitting all our favorites again. We went across the street to McDonald's for dinner after the park closed. It's always fun to hit the restaurants across from the park because their full of Disneyland guests.

Wednesday, January 14th - Last day at Disneyland. Got to Disneyland early and were one of the first to the "rope drop." Today, we just went on all our favorites over and over again, continued with the bucket list, searched for pressed penny machines (picture below), hit Toontown, watched Fantasmic and then ran for one last ride on Indiana and Pirates. After the park closed, we spent time shopping before catching our tram back to the parking lot. We drove (again) across the street from the park to Tony Roma's for dinner. Each night we just fell into bed and were asleep before our heads even hit the pillow.

Thursday, January 15th - Slept in, then got up, got ready, packed up and hit the road. We drove straight through to Las Vegas and stopped for lunch/dinner at Chili's and then went to the Nike Outlet for a bit and then headed home. What a fantastic Vacation. One of our Favorites!!!

Enough with words...times for Pictures:

We stayed at the Embassey Suites.

Our room was #222. (Family insider)

It was a pretty cool hotel. All the rooms pointed inwards toward the lobby and Atrium.

This is our view of the lobby from our room. We also had another door that led to the balcony with an outside view.

The girls checking out the Atrium and fish. It looked and felt like we were outside but this was indoors. The girls said it reminded them of Pirates.

We had a suite with two rooms. The living room/kitchen

and then the bedroom and bathroom. It was nice having lots of space for three girls to get ready each morning.

Hanging out by our room one night after we couldn't get the key to work. This happened a few times before we realized Adam's phone kept demagnetizing it.

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS: Days 1 & 4

The Red Carpet

Minion Mayhem and Gru's House

4-D Movie Roller Coaster

The end of the ride leads to the carnival from the movie

Adam really liked this ride! Hehe

Cute little Minions

Sadie was SO excited to get her own "Fluffy unicorn"

Calli and Scooby Doo

Our favorite Ride at Universal Studios was Jurassic Park. I have no idea how many times we rode this...at least a dozen.

Me, being the only lame one in my poncho.

Ready to get wet!

So cool.

There was an 80 foot drop at the end. Most of the time we had a boat to ourselves, so we soon learned the best spots to sit in the boat.

Front: The funnest but you get soaked. Middle in the Middle: You stay totally dry!...That was my preferred spot because then I didn't have to wear my awesome poncho.

The Mummy Ride: Our second favorite. It was a mix between Indiana Jones and Space Mountain...Crazy! The girls love the rides that take your picture, so they can do funny poses.

Calli was so nervous to stand by this mummy and get a picture. I think she thought it was going to grab her.

Another favorite ride was the Transformer Ride.

Meeting Bumblebee. He kept throwing Sadie's hair in her face every time we tried to take the picture.

Hollywood

The car from Back to the Future.

Kitt from Knight Rider

Flintstones Car

Can't wait for Harry Potter World to open. We'll have to come back.

I was so excited. I took a few pictures of the construction.

They had a really cool show called Water World. It's rated the #1 show in the World. We went both days.

The girls with two of the cast members. The cast are all on well known current TV shows or movies. The guy on the left is in Divergent.

We also went to the Animal Actor Show. Gentry was sooo excited to meet and pet the dog that

plays "Air Bud"

We also got to see Mario Lopez as he filmed Extra.

Studio Tour Ride

This was my favorite ride. It takes you on a backstage tour of all the back lots, sound stages and locations of where tons of movies have been filmed.

Selfie's while waiting for the tram.

Matching Converse

Some of the cute sets and streets from Movies and TV.

Set for "About a Boy."

Wisteria Lane from Desperate House Wives

They were filming three different shows while we were there. A top secret one set in the 40's, Home and Family and About a Boy. Several times throughout our tour they would flash this screen...

and we would have to be quiet while driving through those areas. We were able to see a few actors, directors, their catering areas and trailers.

40's set for the top secret show.

Catering Area

Trailers

It was exciting!

We also saw

Props from the new Jurassic World, coming out soon

The set from King Kong

and the King Kong 3-D ride which is also a part of the tour

Set from Jaws. He jumps out of the water and scares the crap out of you.

Whosville

from The Grinch with Jim Carrey

Bates Motel

and Norman Bates House. They had an actor there as Norman who carried out a body and put it in the trunk of a car and then "spotted" us and started walking towards the tram with a knife...it was very creepy.

We were also in a simulated rainstorm and flood

and Earthquake in the subway.

One of the coolest parts of the tour was...

the crash site from the movie "War of the Worlds" with Tom Cruise. It was amazing.

Overall, Universal Studios was pretty cool.

THE BEACH & DOWNTOWN DISNEY: Day 3

We went to Newport Beach

So Cute!

Adam LOVES the ocean

Trying to get a Family Selfie

Gentry building a sand castle

This bird kept getting on our blanket and checking out our stuff.

Calli found this shell in the ocean and had Adam dig it out. There was a live slug inside.

The Pier

We saw two seals just below the pier.

After spending a few hours at the beach we went to Downtown Disney and did some shopping and ate dinner.

World of Disney Store

Lego Store

Anna and Elsa's Boutique

Dinner at Rain Forest Cafe'

This was one of my favorite days. It was just so fun being with the family and having no agenda.

DISNEYLAND: Days 2, 5 & 6

FUN AROUND THE PARK

Just some random fun, sights and pictures around the park in no particular order.

Heading to the Parking lot.

Our Family 2015

Calli 17, Sadie 14 and Gentry 11

WE'RE HERE!!!

There was still snow on the castle...

and Christmas and winter could still be found around the park.

This was on Wednesday when we got to the park early enough for rope drop. We were one of the first ones there. As soon as it dropped we all "Power Walked" to Peter Pan. It was so funny watching everyone try to "not run" to the ride. It's amazing how fast this line grows. It went from a 0-45 minute wait within a matter of minutes. We were about 12th in the line. I was so proud of Sadie. She just be-lined it to the ride and got us a spot. I think I may be creating a monster. She was so into everything this year. She became our little travel agent and would announce after each ride our agenda and what we would be going on next or if something was worth the wait or not. It was so funny...my mini me!! Calli was also funny as she would translate all the Spanish announcements for us. Don't let her being in Spanish 3 fool you...As we were getting on Tower they were telling us the rules in Spanish and we asked Calli what they said, and she said "Please put all your potatoes in your pocket." haha! Gentry was our brave little one this year. She started out between Adam and I on the rides and then gradually started riding with Calli and Sadie and then by the end she was hopping on things without a care in the world and even went in a car by herself on Gadgets Coaster.

Minnie Ears!

What beautiful girls. They are so photogenic.

Sleeping Beauty Castle

Calli's best friend Hannah Mabey just happened to be on her family vacation at Disneyland the exact same time.

They were so excited when they found each other.

Gentry and Sophie Mabey

On one of the days we gave them a couple hours to just run off on their own. They had a blast.

Sword in the Stone

Statue and Plague of Walt...just because I think it's cool.

and my all time favorite sign!!

Toon Town

The railroad leaving Toon Town Station

Sun setting on Paradise Pier in California Adventure.

Eating the World's best Corn dogs while waiting for the Fireworks!

and Dole Whips.

Just a random picture while waiting in line for Jungle Cruise. I love finding the transitions from land to land. This was from Aladdins Oasis to Adventure land.

I love the Partners Statue

and all the cute statues around it.

Adam and Calli, just kicking it.

Story book Canal

Calli getting a lift from Bo.

Fun with hats

RIDES:

We hit Splash Mountain 5 times on Saturday before it closed for the week

I hope the mother and daughter behind us didn't want to purchase this picture of Adam with his fingers up his nose. haha

Then we got the brilliant idea to answer Calli's date for Junior Prom.

1st try: Our papers folded, we weren't sure where to look and the writing was too light. haha

2nd Try: Nailed it!

It was soo funny. People would have thought we were crazy if they could have seen us on that ride. As we were riding through we kept practicing. 1, 2, 3 lean...1,2,3 lean. We were laughing so hard. But it turned out way cute!

We also hit Haunted Mansion Holiday before they closed it to take all the Christmas stuff out.

It was awesome! I had never seen it decorated for the holidays.

They go all out. Didn't even look like the same ride.

Jack

Look, my name is on the nice list, and it's even spelled with a Y. Calli's name was on a list too but the picture was too blurry.

It's a small world was also still decked out for the Holidays.

Buzz

Winie the Pooh

Goofy's sky school. This one scares me and the girls think it's hilarious.

Mater. The girls loved all going together so that gave Adam and I a chance to go on a lot together.

Space Mountain

Alice in Wonderland

Teacups

Grizzly Run: Bring on the wet

Radiator Springs

Talking to Crush

Lots and lots of Screamin'

Petting Zoo and Ranch

Gadget Coaster.

Gentry was riding all by herself. I can't tell if she looks more excited or nervous.

The new Arandale land on Storybook Canal.

Carousel

Thunder Mountain Railroad...at night

And Tower of Terror...lots!

CHARACTERS:

The older my girls get, the less enthused they are about the characters. But I did get them to pose with a few!

SHOWS & ATTRACTIONS:

Freeze the Night: A Frozen Family Dance Party

Fireworks and Fantasmic

Waiting for Fantasmic to start.

Peter Pan and Captain Hook

Evil Queen

Maleficent

Mickey

Water Show

Characters Parade on the Mark Twain

BUCKET LIST:

I always go to Disneyland with a new bucket list of things we want to do and see that we or the girls haven't done before. Here's some of the cool things we did this time.

We found the Abominable Snowman's Footprint

We sat on "the bench." This has been on my bucket list for years, but the bench is NEVER empty...but it was today and I jumped at it. There's nothing special about this bench, it's just on mainstreet. I've just always wanted to sit on it. Check

Showed the girls the "Lilly Belle" This is small train that Walt built for his backyard years before Disneyland that he named after his wife.

Silhouettes on Main Street. I am so in love with these. I've wanted to them for a while but we just never slowed down enough to make it happen...it happened this time!

Finally, got the girls to Tom Sawyer Island. Another thing I've been wanting to do but we never slow down long enough to do it. We finally did it and the girls loved it.

The mysterious ship mast's in New Orleans that can only be seen from the top of Tom Sawyer's Island. Check

The girls loved exploring all the caves and we found the treasure.

Just a quick shot of the canoes by Tom Sawyers island. This is actually something the girls have never done yet, because it only runs during the summer months.

The search for Pressed Pennies. We did pretty good and almost filled up our map.

Shadow Picture with Mickey ears...Check and so cute!

I had read (during all my research) that each popcorn turner is different so we had to check them all out this time...yep, they are.

Showed the girls the bench that Walt was sitting on when he got the idea of Disneyland.

and then took a tour of the Museum with tons of cool pictures and artifacts.

Map of Disneyland

the Capital

and "the vault" This building used to be a working bank within Disneyland. It soon after changed to the museum but one of the banks original vaults still stands.