California Adventure will become your happiest place on earth. We do Disneyland because we want to at first, have to later and the geniuses at Disney brought us California Adventure to give us a chance. So, it’s time for lunch. Two options: The Vineyard Room Restaurant and Ariel’s Grotto. Both are great but for two different reasons. The Vineyard Room serves a wonderful California cuisine; tossed green salad with feta, Pasta, etc and even a glass of wine on real plates and a waiter. All for less than a $5 difference from Village Haus in Disneyland served in box. Ariel’s Grotto is great, but you definitely need a reservation which means you need to plan (my problem). However, if you are a parent of a princess lover you are going to love this place. You get full table service and the princesses (at least 5) will come around to your table and sign the autograph books and take pictures with your little one. Trust me, if you can save yourself from chasing princesses around Disneyland you will be two years later to that first therapy session or saved some money if you already go.
After lunch, hit a number of excellent locations. Here are our favorites:
1) “A Bug’s land” (based on A Bug’s Life) — We could spend all day there. There are never lines. The same rides—just dressed up differently from Disneyland—are here; tea cups are lady bugs (and go a touch slower for the little ones), bumper cars, flying containers (instead of an elephant) and a water park. So bring a change of clothes or easier a bathing suit, sandals, a wash cloth (to dry, don’t need a full towel). Smaller is better for your already weighed down backpack. Then, just put their clothes back on. A plastic bag is a good idea for the wet stuff. No nudity or bare feet due to the bad people in the world. Disney security comes running if there is a topless or shoeless kid in the house.
2) Disney Playhouse — All the characters from TV come to life on stage. A very nice production with excellent kid involvement. Everyone just grabs a seat on the floor.
3) Turtle Talk with Crush (Finding Nemo) — An Amazing show with Crush the turtle. He’s displayed on a wall size plasma screen. He does a scripted intro and then talks with the kids. Encourage your little one to go up and sit with the kids. It’s the only way they get to talk to Crush. You can video from the back and show them later. Definitely don’t miss this if you can. Can’t watch this one on TV later, very unique.
OK, so you should be exhausted. We generally head back to the hotel and go swimming and take a dip in the hot tub. It gives me the feeling of washing off the park and the kids get all relaxed. For dinner we generally walk across the street and pick up from Outback Steak house, let the kids watch a video and then they are generally unconscious. You can then put up your feet and relax and plan for the next morning. Some diehards go back for the fireworks. I’ve never made it. My husband took her once and when I was with my girlfriends, one almost made it over and then pooped out too. I get the kids down and rent a movie. Something PG or R.
For the next day I pack us all up, check out, put it all in the car and head back to the park for whatever we missed. Don’t drive to the park; too expensive and takes much longer. Leave the car at the hotel and take the shuttle over. I catch the 2 PMish shuttle back to the hotel and then drive to the airport. My flight out is usually around 5 PM arriving around 7 PM. There is a McDonald’s in the Orange County airport. I basically don’t fight it by then and get the fast food while we wait for the flight. We’ll be back on healthy food tomorrow.
Lastly, my budget is about $1,000. Bring a friend and split the hotel, car and parking and your individual budgets will be about $850 for you and your child. Have fun and don’t forget your camera and film. If last minute costs are an issue, you can get this down to about $750 with a ride to the airport, studio hotel room, 1-Day Park Hopper® (enjoy the pool the second day). Almost 50% of your costs are airfares and park tickets. Have a great time! We are going in a month or two.
Updated August 18, 2008
