Storybook Land Canal

We’ve been really into road trips lately because they’re so much more economical than flying for a family of four. Andrew and I usually don’t mind driving the long distances, but this trip may have exceeded our driving limits. Racking up roughly 1500 miles from Utah to California, making several stops along the way, and staying in a total of 4 different hotels, we were pretty much done with all the driving by the time we were on our way home.

On the first leg of our drive, we discovered that Jadon had a fever. He recovered quickly, but the rest of us were sick within a couple days. Disneyland was our first destination so we ended up being sick for most of our time there. Sadly, we weren’t able to take full advantage of our 3-day park passes and came home early each day with intentions to return but never feeling up to it.

Our previous Disney trips were a hit with the kids so we were excited to return with them. Isabelle has been a home body lately though so she complained about wanting to go home for a good chunk of our time there. We tried to focus more on rides this time around which did not go over well. Our first ride was the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and it kind of scared Isabelle off of many other rides.

Exploring Tom Sawyer’s Island and Tarzan’s Treehouse

Since we were in Disneyland for two days, we had enough time to go through most of what we wanted to do even though they were both half days. We didn’t do as many rides as we had originally planned and we never made it to Toon Town, but I did go on Splash Mountain (for what I remember as my first time) and Jadon bravely accompanied me on the Indiana Jones Adventure. Andrew also got to introduce all of us to Star Tours. For our third day, we went to California Adventure. In hindsight, we probably would have done two days in California Adventure and one day in Disneyland instead since we enjoy the exhibits and shows more than the rides.

Iron Man and Thor at Innoventions

The kids’ favorite ride by far was it’s a small world. They only went on it twice, but they could have been on that all day long. They also enjoyed Tom Sawyer’s Island, Tarzan’s Treehouse, the Enchanted Tiki Room, and Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters in Disneyland. Innoventions was also a very popular spot for us. The kids loved going through the Dream Home and Isabelle was adamant about trying out the virtual Iron Man suit. Since it was one of the only things she really wanted to do, we stood in line for her to do it and she loved it. Andrew also gave it a shot.

California Adventure

In California Adventure, Jadon and I loved watching the Aladdin musical. Like Andrew and me, Jadon’s always been a fan of Aladdin and he enjoys stage productions so we definitely made this a must-see. Isabelle, however, didn’t want to sit through it so Andrew ended up taking her outside soon after it started. We also made sure we caught Disney Junior – Live on Stage. The kids both loved it.

California Adventure – One of the Red Car News Boys blew me a kiss as they passed by

This was an ambitious trip to California that was roughly 10 days long. We were happy to be able to fit in so much into our trip to California, but it was definitely exhausting since we were sick for the first half of it. For our next Disney adventure, we will definitely be more exhibit-centric. As fun as some of the rides can be, we have a lot more fun when we’re exploring the interactive aspects of Disney.