It started with the plane rides, which the kids did great. I, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck for the take-offs and landings.
We stayed on Embassy Suites South, which was just a short shuttle ride to the park. The good things worth mentioning about the hotel was it had a free breakfast buffet, really good room service, a really pretty lobby, and laundry rooms. The negative parts was, first off, the cab company the hotel was supposed to send to pick us up never showed! We ended up just getting our own cab, but to make up for it, the manager gave us a $100 gift card for room service and a free limo ride to the airport at checkout. How nice, huh? So it ended up actually good! Other than that, the rooms had thin walls...kids were running up and down the halls at all hours of the night/morning. Also, the showers were ALwAYS cold-warm at best. The decor was really outdated too and didn't match..but that seems like every hotel to me. All in all, it was an average stay. We will probably try another hotel next time just to see what else is out there.
As far as the parks, the wait times were awesome compared to summer hours. At disney and california adventure, most wait times were 10-20 minutes at the most. The longest we waited was for the Peter Pan ride at Disney at 30 mins. Disney was for sure the most crowded. When we went to Universal and Seaworld, there were practically no wait times at all.
All the parks were decorated up for Halloween, which is super fun. It's my favorite holiday and the kids loved seeing "spooky things".
Callie's favorite parts were the teacups, meeting the princess, and seeing the castle. She also loved "driving the cars" (Autopia). Her number one favorite part though was seeing Tinkerbell. We never got to meet her in Pixie Hollow, but she got to see her at the parade and during the fireworks show. She enjoyed snacking on cotton candy and was really good about taking a short nap each day in the stoller.
Parker's favorite parts were Autopia, the Nemo submarines, and getting splashed by the whales at Seaworld. He also loved the Buzz lightyear ride and rollercoaster in toon town. Parker did not take any naps while we were at the parks, but definately could have used them! He was really good though about riding around in the stoller and waiting in line- both of which I thought would be hard for a 4 year old, but no problems. He enjoyed telling the workers everyday, "It's my birthday today!" I think he just loved being told Happy Birthday all the time and getting to say he's 4. Another cute thing was when we went to Turtle Talk with Crush, he lets the kids ask a question. Parker wanted to ask Crush if he likes baseball. His Dad was proud.
I enjoyed being there so much and am hoping the kids will have snapshots of memories in their minds for the rest of their lives. I know they won't remember everything- but that's what this blog is for! It was so magical because the kids just soaked up every show, ride, character..everything. They have that innocent imagination and belief in dreams that Disneyland is all about. It was so special. Now I just keep asking, when can we go back?!
Here are some extra snapshots:
