No Capes!

Disney California Adventure

It was a quiet Woods family that loaded up the car the next morning. As we walked to the parks, Sean and I worried that this was all for naught. The kids asked a million “what-if” questions that we really couldn’t answer just yet.

Sean and his Disneyland ears

Sean and his Disneyland ears

Sean explained our plight first at an information desk attendant who told us we’d need to go to the park entrance to try and work it out with them. Then at the Disney California Adventure entrance, the person he spoke with had to call in managerial support. It was a tense few minutes, but after Sean explained our situation to several folks, they thankfully let us in! I thought Maya was going to hug the lady who helped us, she was so happy.

Incredicoaster - the favorite of this trip

Incredicoaster – the favorite of this trip

Short of a brunch reservation, we mostly let the kids choose how we’d spend our morning. We were only allowed to have our car parked at our hotel till noon, but that was ok – we really hadn’t planned to spend a third full day at the parks anyways.

Jack-Jack's Cookie Num-nums

Jack-Jack’s Cookie Num Nums

With our morning, we managed to hit Incredicoaster at rope drop, where it weirdly ran with no audio. Then we rode it a second time, this time *with* audio – and ride photos! This time when we were done, we found that the Jack-Jack Cookie Num Nums stand was open, so we all enjoyed cookies!

Then we hit Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout again (we got “Burning Love” by Elvis Presley this time). Sean cooked up a scheme whereby the grown-ups gave the kids bunny ears for the ride photo this time. I’m a little short in the arms, I’ll admit, but I think it worked! That ride is so much fun.

Bunny ears!

Bunny ears!

We had time to squeeze in one more attraction before our brunch reservation, so we went to Soarin’ Over California again. This time we managed to get B-1, which is the preferred ride location for diminished screen curvature and no dangling feet in your view. Hooray!

We headed to Lamplight Lounge for our dining reservation and were promptly seated outside near the water. The weather was wonderful – sunny and a little cool. I had a nice coffee served in an actual mug. Ian had a mocktail called “Mint to Be.” When Ian was little, he’d pull the mint plants up out of our friend Holly’s garden and just munch the leaves off the stem. Even still, he’ll ask me for fresh mint from our back yard. This drink was made for him – limeade and watermelon-berry puree with mint.

Mint to Be - Mocktails and puns

Mint to Be – Mocktails and puns

Sean and Maya both had a drink called the 2319. This is the code they shouted out in the first Monster’s Inc. movie when one of the monsters came back from a scare session with a child’s sock stuck to his back. This is contamination in monster land and so had to be handled with caution. 2319 – W is the 23rd letter of the alphabet – S is the 19th letter of the alphabet – stands for “White Sock.” The drink itself is really neat. There’s cream of coconut, pineapple juice, and strawberry puree with a topper of Coca Cola. As you’re sitting enjoying your beverage, the coconut cream rises to the top in a lovely way. I supposed you could see that as a white sock stuck to a furry monster’s back.

Quotes on the walls leading to Lamplight Lounge's bathrooms

Quotes on the walls leading to Lamplight Lounge’s bathrooms

The food was nice too. Sean had the Brunch Burger, I had Crab and Potato Cake Eggs Benedict (which I really loved), Maya had Indulgent French Toast, and Ian had their Omelet with no cheese (read: scrambled eggs) and double bacon. We got a kick out of the decorations around the bathrooms too. There were funny quotes from Disney movies in sort of a chalk looking font on black-painted walls. It was fun trying to place them all.

We used one last lightning lane to let the kids ride Incredicoaster yet again (their fifth time over the course of the trip). After the ride, we thought we had lost on of Ian’s laniard pins, but 20 minutes later, it magically fell from a fold in his jacket. Whew!

Darci and Will were there!

Darci and Will were there!

We saw Darci and Will one more time and thanks to a friend of theirs, managed to get a photo with all six of us. They had bought pins for Maya and Ian, which they loved. I don’t think I had mentioned it yet, but we did manage to do a bit of pin trading on this Disney trip as well, and the kids are both very much into it.

On our way out of the park, we snuck in the last of our Food and Wine Fest tastings before hustling to our car. We wound up being about 15 minutes late getting back to our car, but thankfully, no one had tow booted us yet. Wheeeeee – and that was our last half-day at Disney’s California Adventure! Now back to the rest of our Los Angeles vacation.

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The Happiest Post on Earth

Disneyland – 23,105 steps

Yesterday Sean had allowed himself to be swayed by the whims of our kids and often found himself frustrated at the inefficiencies this introduced. Today, he decided he was going to do his best to stick to a plan. And that plan was to hit as many of the calmer dark ride type things early in the day as he could while everyone else was busy lining up for the more thrilling rides first thing.

Snow White's Castle

Sleeping Beauty’s Castle is large and in charge upon entry to the park

We started out on Snow White’s Enchanted Wish. You board your mine cart and are whisked through glowing-jewel bedecked caves and scenes from Snow White. It was pretty to look at and the kids seemed into it (possibly because they hadn’t already ridden a take-your-breath-away roller coaster).

Next we went right to Alice in Wonderland. After an almost nothing wait in line, we boarded our giant caterpillar ride vehicle, and tootled along a winding track that presented us with scenes from Alice in Wonderland.

Mr Toad's Wild Ride

Mr Toad’s Wild Ride

We hit peak Sean nostalgia with the next one – Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Apparently this was an opening day attraction at Disneyland Park in 1955. From what I’ve read, it was upgraded in 1983 to update the facade and add to the interior Toad Hall space. We paired up in little cars and J. Thaddeus Toad, Esq. drove away like a maniac. After crashing through doors and tearing through the countryside, we eventually ran headlong into an oncoming train! The ride ends with Toad having gone to hell. No, really.

The ride is weird and odd and fun. The kids wanted to like it because their Dad was so fond of it, but I’m not sure their hearts were it it when they were saying complimentary things afterward.

Maya and Ian met Captain Hook

Maya and Ian met Captain Hook

Storybook Land Canal Boats was a ride through a whales mouth into a land of intricate miniatures. Yeah, it was a sleepy little ride, but the kids got to ride on the flat decks up front, which they seemed excited about.

The kids were dying to ride Dumbo the Flying Elephant. Maya and Ian love these kinds of rides because there’s a lever inside the ride vehicle (a Dumbo!) that lets them control whether it goes up or down as we fly around in a circle.

Is it even a pancake if it doesn't have ears?

Is it even a pancake if it doesn’t have ears?

We had finished what we wanted to do in Fantasyland at this point and hit Red Rose Taverne for breakfast. Sean and I had big breakfast plates with scrambled eggs, potatoes, and bacon and a petit croissant to boot. The kids both had giant Mickey pancakes with bacon. Mom had a mondo-sized coffee. All was right with the world.

We went next to Pirates of the Caribbean, which may have been our first use of a lightning lane that day. The ride almost immediately dropped you down a waterfall into the seedy world of pirates. You float past a huge ship firing its cannons, cannonballs splashing around you. The animatronics on this ride were incredible!

Splash Mountain's current theming won't last much longer

Splash Mountain’s current theming won’t last much longer

The kids had been jonesing hard for a proper thrill ride (though the surprise drops on Pirates were definitely fun), so we went next to take in Splash Mountain. While Disney World’s version of this ride closed down in early 2023 for re-theming to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, the Disneyland version is still Song of the South themed. You get to see Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear getting up to their shenanigans and Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dahing away. (Though this one too will close in May for the same re-theming.)

Hold onto me for the big drop, Mom!

Hold onto me for the big drop, Mom! (Maya’s ducked down behind Dad)

Ian was funny on this one. I don’t remember him having any issue with this ride when we were in Florida, but as we were in line this time, he managed to work himself into an absolute fizz. He was growing noticeably more jittery as we progressed, and he insisted that I put a hand on his shoulder when we went down the big drop at the end (which I did). And of course Ian bounded off the ride full of excitement and delight. Sean, unfortunately, squish-squished off the ride in his now very wet shoes.

Next up was The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, where we boarded a giant beehive to experience Pooh and Tigger and Piglet and Eeyore and their various adventures. I remember it being cute enough but probably not a favorite for me.

On our way into Haunted Mansion

On our way into Haunted Mansion

After this, we went to Haunted Mansion. This one is a favorite of mine. It’s just so … weird. It’s a haunted house but it’s silly. It’s dark and scary, but not much. Apparently one of the notable differences between this Haunted Mansion and the one in Disney World is that in the initial stretching room, this one actually does lower you down, whereas its Florida counterpart just gives the illusion that you’re dropping. We did experience some ride issues while on this attraction. I can’t remember how long the delay was, but they did eventually get us moving again.

My Haunted Mansion ears

My Haunted Mansion ears

Around here is where I managed to find some Haunted Mansion Mickey ears. Only Sean, the biggest Disney fan of all of us, was earless at this point.

As seen while on the Jungle Cruise

As seen while on the Jungle Cruise

Next we checked out the California version of the Jungle Cruise. Our guide was Skipper Hannah, which Maya loved because she shares a name with Maya’s piano teacher. This ride is maybe not the most technologically or even thematically interesting, but the skippers are so funny with their goofy puns and silly sense of humor. “See that bamboo over there? It’s six stories tall. Some skippers say seven, but that’s a whole ‘nuther story.” And since she had a long running short-term memory issue joke, we heard variations of that bamboo joke several times during our cruise.

The Dole Whip part was delicious, but it could have done with a little less fruit

The Dole Whip part was delicious, but it could have done with a little less fruit

With our jungle cruise complete, we decided it would be a good time to relax for a bit and have some Dole Whips at The Tropical Hideaway. Maya and I had these crazy chili-mango whips that were loaded up with chili lime seasoning, chamoy sauce, and chunks of fruit. I think we both would have enjoyed it more without the fruit chunks, but I truly loved the flavor. Sean got a swirl of pineapple and strawberry Dole Whip. Ian went traditional with the pineapple. I think Maya was kind of ambivalent about hers, so I think she and Sean wound up sharing.

After this, while waiting in line to buy a few kebabs for snacking on, we managed to run into Darci and Will! Rather, Darci was stalking us with the locator app on her phone, so really she came and found us. Yeah, so completely by accident, the two Woods siblings wound up planning Disney vacations in California at the same time, Sean because it lined up with spring break, Darci because it lined up with a work training trip. Also, Ian likes asparagus wrapped in bacon.

The Mad Hatter was indeed a bit nutty

The Mad Hatter was indeed a bit nutty

Next we rode the Indiana Jones Adventure. Ian was locked in on this one. We had watched Raiders of the Lost Ark not long before this trip, and Ian wanted to have a giant boulder roll down at him. He was so excited. I think the theming as we made our way through the line did nothing but heighten his excitement. The dark passageways were a little creepy, the jungle before that was transportive.

This is a very intense version of a dark ride, much like DINOSAUR in Disney World. The ride vehicle jerks and bumps as you move over rugged jungle terrain. You are encountering booby traps galore as you make your way through the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. One of the elements of the ride is indeed a giant boulder bearing down on you. Also, there were lots of snakes, to Ian’s delight.

Next we rode Big Thunder Mountain Railway. The kids seemed to enjoy it, and with the intense theming, its a pretty neat experience regardless, but it’s very tame by roller coaster standards.

The kids' favorite lyric: Our show is delightful, we hope you'll agree. We hope that it fills you with pleasure and glee Because if we don't make you feel like that, we're gonna wind up on a lady's hat!

The kids’ favorite lyric:
Our show is delightful, we hope you’ll agree. We hope that it fills you with pleasure and glee
Because if we don’t make you feel like that, we’re gonna wind up on a lady’s hat!

After that, at Maya’s repeated request, we went to visit the Enchanted Tiki Room (not like we weren’t going to anyway). This is the one where all the animatronic birds sing and banter in the rafters above you. All of this is supported by chanting Tiki gods and flashing lights. In Florida, I remember the kids being a little scared during that part; evidently they’ve grown out of that apprehension, because we got nothing but smiles for this one.

Then it was time for us to meet up with Darci and Will for our “lunch” reservation at Cafe Orleans. I’m nearly certain Sean booked this reservation just so he could have their battered and fried Monte Cristo. If I remember correctly, the kids ate roasted chicken. I had a very delectable braised short rib dish. It was semi-civilized bliss, and I remember being very thankful for the down time.

The happiest sandwich on earth

The happiest sandwich on earth

Discussion during our late lunch was lively and entertaining. One of the topics that came up was something like, “What would your dream Disney experience be?” Sean had one at the ready: He would like to get e-stopped (emergency stopped) on Space Mountain so he could see what it all looked like with the lights on. I can’t recall what other’s dream experiences were, and I don’t have enough context or research capacity to have one, personally.

Well, we had a lightning lane reserved for Space Mountain a bit later on, so we had time to wander over and partake of It’s a Small World while we waited. I was fine with the ride in Florida – tolerant might even be a better word. Here I was completely taken with the ride’s facade. It was gorgeous! Mary Blair is an artistic genius!

It's a Small World

It’s a Small World

The ride itself was likely more compelling to the kids than its Floridian counterpart. The song, as they say, remains the same (“It’s a Small World, After All”), and the delightful characters clothed in culturally accurate costumes representing different countries sang and danced with the same joy we experienced on the other side of the country. But interspersed were characters we were all familiar with. Here’s Peter Pan in England. Oh – there are the three caballeros in Mexico. I spy Lilo and Stitch! It was very engaging.

Then it was time for Space Mountain. We were in line and not far from being able to ride when suddenly the ride came to a full stop. We watched a general hubbub ensue. Because the ride would be completely cleared of ride trains – by hand, no less – it took a while. We watched as trains were moved off to the side onto a sort of storage track so that all of them could be brought into the station. I don’t remember how many there were, but the internet tells me Space Mountain at Disneyland can support up to 12 trains at a time.

So, Sean missed his chance to be e-stopped on Space Mountain by a matter of minutes. And I’m betting those minutes can be attributed to some kid needing to pee!

Eventually, after whatever protein- or equipment-based cause for the e-stop was resolved, we spent a lot of time watching trains come into the station and interrupted riders re-ride the attraction (understandably) before we finally had our chance to board. The ride itself was delightful as always, though I’m sure Sean laments just how close he actually came to getting to have his ultimate Disney experience.

We then visited Star Tours. This is a 3D simulator ride set in the world of Star Wars. I had the (incorrect) preconceived notion that this would maybe be a bit tired or boring given the Rise of the Resistance and Smugglers Run experiences. After riding, 1 – I’m just going to confess now that I don’t recall the specifics and 2 – it was way more immersive and entertaining than I had anticipated. From my reading it sounds like the storylines vary and change, and as I’ve already confessed, I don’t remember the specifics of ours. But when we exited, it seemed that we had all had a lot of fun.

I'm not sure the force is particularly strong with any of us

I’m not sure the force is particularly strong with any of us

We headed next to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. Because Maya hadn’t gotten to pilot the Millennium Falcon when we were in Florida, we decided we should ride this one again here in California to give her the chance.  Unless I missed something, the ride experience was the same, sans the (I think) two-hour wait we experienced the first time. Maya seemed to be apprehensive but had a good time piloting the ship, and we achieved at least a portion of our assigned smuggling mission. I don’t care how old I get, I’m not sure being on the Falcon and seeing the “jump to hyperspace” will ever *not* be cool.

We finished our rides with a spin through the Matterhorn Bobsleds. The Matterhorn lords over the Disneyland landscape, featuring almost as prominently in my memory as the castle does. The kids had kind of been looking forward to riding this one all day. I liked it well enough, and I’m glad we rode it, but it wasn’t as thrilling as I had built it up to be in my mind.

What is interesting to note is that it was the first tubular steel roller coaster in the world, and it was the first roller coaster type ride at Disneyland. Also, it has two different tracks, one on the Fantasyland side of the mountain and one on the Tomorrowland side. Sean believes we rode the one on the Fantasyland side.

The Matterhorn (it was dark when we finally rode it)

The Matterhorn (it was dark when we finally rode it)

We exited the Matterhorn just after 8:00, but by then seating for the 9 p.m. showing of Fanstamic! was all but completely full. Rather than squeeze into the back somewhere or try to hold out till the 10:30 show, tired as we were, we decided to eat, finally buy Dad his Mickey ears (his featured the traditional, retro Disneyland sign), and head back to get some sleep. (I’ll comment here that our lobster rolls from Harbour Galley were divine.)

We’d be checking out of our hotel the next day, and we wanted to get an early start, so we bathed and packed and the whole bit even though we were completely shot from our epic Disneyland day. We had just gotten settled into our beds, and Sean was making our last day’s park reservation. The plan had been to spend one day at DCA, one day at Disneyland, and then spend our third day (really half-day) at whichever one we felt warranted a little more time. The kids unanimously voted for DCA, which suited us fine because we still had a couple more of our Food and Wine festival tasting credits that we wanted to use.

Sean looked alarmed and said something that I don’t feel like repeating here just now. When I inquired he let me know there were no reservations available … at either park. Which means we had no way to get into either of the parks in the morning. Sean went directly into research mode. After some hunting he came to the disheartening conclusion that given Disney’s policies, we were likely out of luck.

We prepped the kids a bit for the bad news, but we assured them that we’d still get ready and go to Disney’s California Adventure tomorrow and try our best. They were discussing strategies for pretending to cry, which we stopped right away. We explained that we’d tell the Disney folks the truth and let them know that we were from way out of town and that we’d have no other way to redeem our park visit without going that day, but warned that that didn’t guarantee anything. It was a sad clan of Woodses that went to bed that night. I’m not sure Sean really slept much at all.

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Dr Pym’s Giant Pretzels

Disney California Adventure – 20,250 steps

We managed to hustle out of our hotel in fairly short order this morning. What we hadn’t done is eaten any breakfast. While we were lined up at Disney California Adventure, the kids started asking about food. Knowing that the plan at “rope drop” would be to rush to whatever our first attraction would be, Sean went hunting for snacks in the vicinity.

Incredicoaster and the Pixar Pal-A-Round Ferris wheel

Incredicoaster and the Pixar Pal-A-Round Ferris wheel

After wolfing down our pastries and slogging our way forward with the rest of the crowd after rope drop, we hustled back to ride Incredicoaster. Sean tells me this is a retrofit of a ride originally called California Screamin’. It was re-themed as an Incredibles-based attraction to tie in with re-theming of Paradise Pier to Pixar Pier. In my memory, we didn’t stand in line but maybe 15-20 minutes and then we were on our coaster.

The story is that Jack-Jack (Maya’s favorite character, by the way) is on the loose and we’re trying to catch him. The character Dash counts you down before you LIM-launch forward (at 55 mph; I looked it up) through a very enjoyable series of twist and turns. It’s a satisfyingly long ride for a coaster, zips through a number of tunnels, and it even features a loop within the Pixar Pier sign in the center of the coaster’s big hill.

The kids loved it. Sean was sad that the cameras weren’t operating, so we didn’t get ride photos. Then he was again sad that the cookie stand outside the ride was closed.

Waiting for Web Slingers

Waiting for Web Slingers

Instead of enjoying a cookie, we made our way to the Avengers Campus to check out Web Slingers: A Spiderman Adventure. Here the idea is that Spiderman has made spider-bots. These spider-bots are able to replicate, and after doing so unchecked for a period of time, begin raining down destruction on Avengers Campus. Our job was to board the ride vehicle with our 3D glasses in place and shoot webs at as many of the spider-bots as we could.

I hadn’t really been paying attention, but later on, Sean pointed out that he had been winning through the whole ride but that at the end, I had the high score. Just so we’re all clear here, I never have the high score, nor do I particularly care that I don’t have the high score. But last time we were on one of these Disney shooting-stuff rides, Maya taught me a trick. As she says, “spam” the firing button. In this case, you moved your arms and hands in a particular way to fling a web, but the principle remains. My habit is to carefully aim at something and then fire, but speed is rewarded in these scenarios. And so, I flung webs at spider-bots just as fast as I could without a great deal of regard for fine-grain aim. Also, I wasn’t watching the score, LOL.

When we went to Disney World, there were still many pandemic precautions in place, and so between that and the kids’ need to ride as many rides as they could, we didn’t really meet our favorite Disney characters and gather character autographs. In fact, Sean still had the autograph books he had bought for the kids back when we thought we were going to Disney in 2020.

Wakanda forever

Wakanda forever

This time though, the kids were interested in autographs. Ian’s 2020 book was frilly and pink, but he has since grown out of his princess phase and requested a new book for this trip. The kids’ first autograph was that of Black Panther. I think it seemed weird to Maya that she’d be expected to actually interact with the character instead of just watching, but otherwise, photos were taken and signatures gotten. Wakanda forever.

Ian's light saber ears

Ian’s light saber ears

Next we popped into one of dozens of conveniently placed souvenir shops to get Ian some new Mickey ears. This trip’s ears for Ian featured light sabers, which fits in with his love of weaponry. Maya thought she *might* like some Black Panther ears, but held out for a while to see what else we happened upon.

Woodses in Cars Land

Woodses in Cars Land

Next we went to Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree. The theming all over any Disney property is incredible, but to me, especially the Cars part of the park was bonkers good. The Junkyard Jamboree is a spinning ride where your ride vehicle is one of the tractor “cows” from the movies. They look fantastic. Mater’s emceeing the ride – warning you to hang on since these tractors have on their dancing tires. It was a relatively tame ride, but the kids seemed to have fun anyway.

Maya's Black Panther ears

Maya’s Black Panther ears

Then, we went for our lightning lane for Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout. (I think it was on our way to this that we went ahead and bought Maya her Black Panther ears as well.) This used to be Tower of Terror, but was re-themed to tie into the Avengers Campus part of the park. I won’t lie; I loved this ride. You’re visiting The Collector’s display of creatures that he’s collected throughout the galaxy, which includes the Guardians of the Galaxy characters. Maya was delighted to find that Cosmo the dog was on display.

At the beginning of the attraction, you crowd into a room and start to hear the Collector give you his welcoming spiel. Then we see an animatronic Rocket, who has broken out of his cell, interrupt the transmission to explain his plan for breaking everyone else out as well, including his fellow Guardians.

Poor Maya had herself worked up into a right state as we waited to board the next phase of the attraction. She was near hysterics, speed talking about possible ride failures, explaining all the things she had been bothered by in the Tower of Terror ride in Florida. I couldn’t really enjoy the ride (though what I did see was fabulous). Initially, she death-gripped me around the neck, literally blocking my oxygen intake. After extricating myself from her, she insisted on ducking. With the ride shooting you up and down at random intervals, I was very concerned she’d hit her head – hard. And so I spent most of the ride watching her and hoisting her back up if she slumped. Still, the story was hilarious and the ride was indeed thrilling. (The soundtrack for the attraction might feature any of six different songs – this time we were treated to “I Want You Back” by Jackson 5.) And Maya exited telling us excitedly how much she loved it and wanted to ride it again. Fine, fine, but she’d be sitting next to Sean next time.

The pretzel was immense

The pretzel was immense

We headed over to the Pym Test Kitchen to get some snacks for the kids. Ian and Maya were astonished to see a mechanism inside the restaurant that seemed to be taking normal-sized pretzels in and outputting giant pretzels instead. Ian wanted to know, was that really happening? Were Pym particles (from Ant-Man) real? Sean assured him that they were. Maya’s usually a bit more skeptical, but even she seemed to be considering believing her dad.

In the end, they shared one of the giant pretzels and some candied bacon. I believe they discussed that the Pym particles didn’t seem to make the pretzel taste weird or anything, so they thought it was probably ok.

According to my notes, we did a couple of quick-hit rides next. The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure is a tame dark ride that features several scenes filled with animatronic characters that tell a condensed version of the story. The kids were enthralled and everyone got to rest their feet for a bit.

Maya and Ian wanted to ride on the Golden Zephyr. You board a steam-punk / science fiction sort of aircraft and are swung in circles around a central post. The views were nice and the kids seemed to have a good time.

Bulgogi Fried Rice - one of the Food and Wine Festival dishes

Bulgogi Fried Rice – one of the Food and Wine Festival dishes

Throughout the day, Sean and I were partaking of the Food and Wine Festival being celebrated at Disney’s California Adventure. We’d sneak in our tastes and snacks as it became convenient, so we mostly just had to remember to keep the kids fed. For lunch, we bought them slices of pizza and cotton candy (shut up, it’s vacation), and we shared one of our Food and Wine Fest tastes. We relaxed for a bit, listening as a band played for the Festival. We watched Ian’s poor face get more and more blue as he tried to attack his cotton candy head-on.

There are feral cats roaming the grounds. They help keep the rodent population in check (look out Mickey!), and we're told they receive routine veterinary care.

There are feral cats roaming the grounds. They help keep the rodent population in check (look out Mickey!), and I’ve read that they have homes to sleep in at night and receive routine veterinary care.

After our lunch break, we headed over to ride DCA’s version of Soarin’. Whereas Florida had you soaring over the wonders of the world, DCA has you soaring over the wonders of California instead. Actually, I just looked this up. They only offer the experience as Soarin’ Over California from March 3 – April 25 to tie in with the Food and Wine Festival. Otherwise it’s Soarin’ Around the World, presumably similar to its Florida counterpart.

You see Yosemite, you see San Francisco, you smell the oranges as you soar over orange groves. At the end, you even soar over Disneyland. This is another relax and lean into it kind of a ride. Let your feet rest. Enjoy the sensation.

Radiator Springs Racers ... our car won the race

Radiator Springs Racers … our car won the race

We were back to Cars Land for our next ride – Radiator Springs Racers. We paid extra to lightning lane this one, and I think it was wise. Every time Sean checked, the wait time was immense. Remember how I said the Cars Land theming was really spectacular? That definitely extended to this ride. We started out on a casual drive through the rocky, cactus-laden desert landscape. Then we entered a “dark ride” part of the attraction where we really felt like we were moving within scenes from the movie. Then the race was on, and to the kids’ delight, it became a thrill ride from there.

Disney California Adventure's Cadillac Range

Disney California Adventure’s Cadillac Range

In reading up a bit on the Disney site, I discovered that the line of Cadillacs that make up the mountain range in Cars Land was actually modeled after the Cadillac Ranch art installation in Amarillo. We’ve been to there.

After a spin through the Goofy’s Sky School ride for the kids, we decided to procure cocktails for the adults. Sean had a Chipotle-Pineapple Bourbon Sour and I had a Smoked Cherry Mezcal-tiki Cocktail. They were excellent and a bit of a respite from our Disney mania.

We largely consumed them while in line for our next attraction – Pixar Pal-A-Round. It’s the huge Ferris wheel that, along with Incredicoaster, dominates the DCA skyline. You have options when riding this one. You can choose to ride in a fixed gondola – what I’d have called the “normal” Ferris wheel experience. Or you could choose what they called a swinging gondola – which is what we did. Your gondola not only moves in the main orbit of the Ferris wheel, it’s also able to glide along an interior track that provides radial movement to and from the center, which exaggerates the swinging motion of the gondola. They include barf bags in the ride, if that tells you anything. We all really got a kick out of it – taking what is traditionally a ride that’s maybe a bit boring outside of the views you get to see at the top and adding a bit of a thrill.

Cosmo the dog is part of The Collectors exhibits

Cosmo the dog is part of The Collectors exhibits

Since we were in the area, we rode Incredicoaster again before eventually choosing to stand in line to ride Guardians of the Galaxy again. We’d be there for about an hour, which gave Sean time to make some food runs for us and the kids. Even though we wound up waiting quite a while, this was overall a better experience – Maya wasn’t so terrified this time. As an added bonus, since we didn’t zing through on a lightning lane this time, we actually got to peruse more of The Collector’s prizes than we had earlier. And at the end, we had a much better ride experience, since Maya wasn’t trying to choke the life out of me. (Though none of us can remember which song they were playing this time.)

Much happier this time through

Much happier this time through

And finally it was time for us to get lined up for World of Color. I’m not entirely sure how Sean finagled it (some business about adding us to a virtual queue earlier in the day), but we were able to enter one of the fancy roped off areas about an hour beforehand and score primo positioning right along the waterfront. Before it got crowded, we took the opportunity to sit and rest our legs for a while.

Projection on a screen of water - Mirabel!

Projection on a screen of water – Mirabel!

It was already chilly out, and the warnings all over the place that we’d definitely get wet where we were standing had me a little nervous. We needn’t have worried though. Throughout the show, we’d occasionally feel a light misting, but never anything more. One of the guests near us visited often and explained that if the winds were right, you might get a more thorough soaking.

The Ferris wheel and roller coaster are even worked into the light show

The Ferris wheel and roller coaster are even worked into the light show

The show was amazing. Beautiful jets and fountains and fans of water cavorted all over that bay, underlit with multi-colored and ever-changing lights. Huge fans of misty water had scenes from favorite films projected on them. Lighting on Incredicoaster and Pixar Pal-A-Round were incorporated into the show. For certain things (think Remy’s kitchen and Moana’s Te Ka), jets of fire accompanied the show. Soaring music complimented the action. It was intense.

Use the Force!

Use the Force!

When things were wrapping up, and it started to seem more like “closing credits” and less like “show,” we thought we’d sneak out and maybe get ahead of the throng. Ian was having no part of it – he didn’t want to leave. Maya really liked the show, except for the parts with fire. She’s still not a fan of the fire.

And then after all that standing and waiting and riding and eating and watching, we made the long walk back to our hotel room, where we discovered that the clothes I had hung over the shower rail really hadn’t dried much at all. We carefully arranged the necessary stuff for the next day on the heating vents and hoped for the best before crashing.

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Atmospheric Rivers and Boysenberry Dreams

This year, we chose to go to Los Angeles for spring break. This was the year we wanted to take the kids to the Disney parks in California. Plus LA is a huge, diverse city and we’d have fun exploring. Also, we figured the weather would be pretty and flights would be relatively inexpensive.

The famed Hollywood sign

The famed Hollywood sign

Sean searched daily for flights for the week we wanted to be out there, but rarely came up with anything even remotely affordable. We hunted. We fussed about the cost. We tried to make several alternate spring break plans. Finally, after a TON of looking, he managed to catch a brief moment where a direct flight was offered for our return trip at an affordable rate. Hooray!

The catch was that we’d have to leave the Friday before spring break and return the Monday after spring break. I’m not crazy about taking the kids out of school for vacation, but the pandemic knocked loose a few of my firmer rules on that front. Then at some point, that lovely return trip got replaced with a trip that connected in Houston instead and arrived home much later. On a school night, no less. Our original flight still existed, though now it was on a smaller aircraft and only offered at a premium price. I won’t deny feeling a little bait-and-switched on this one. Thanks, United.

Our flight to Los Angeles was uneventful. We had a longish layover in El Paso, during which we had a bit of lunch and the kids played with their screens. I walked back and forth through the tiny airport, looking out the windows at the mountains and stretching my legs. The second leg to LA arrived on time around 2:50, but at that massively large airport, we did a lot of taxi-ing. It was around 3:11 when we were off the plane, then about 3:30 before luggage from our flight started popping out at the luggage return. We weren’t in our rental car and driving till around 4:30, right at rush hour. It was gray and rainy, but we did see a pretty owl perched in the parking lot, much to the kids’ delight.

Maya made an origami bird out of a napkin while waiting for her chicken dinner.

Maya made an origami bird out of a napkin while waiting for her chicken dinner.

By the time we made it to our North Hollywood hotel, our time-zone-confused selves were ravenous, so we unloaded our stuff and headed out to a place called Humble Bird to have Nashville hot chicken. One of the co-owners, Brandon, let us know that there were many, many hot chicken joints in LA, but that he and his compatriots had made pilgrimages to actual Nashville. He was patient with our tired brains working through their very direct menu, and he was tolerant of our children’s shenanigans. The kids had a bucket of chicken nugs ordered at a mild level of spice, and the grownups sprung for the “sando” at a medium level of spice. While our wait was lengthy (we were warned up front), the food was delightful. Chicken was perfectly crispy and zingy (even after a night in the hotel fridge). The sauce, pickles, and slaw accompanied the heat nicely. And the kids were able to start their vacation with chicken nuggets, so they were happy.

Day 1 – WB Studio Tour, Hollywood Boulevard

I woke up first at 4:30 Pacific time. By 5:30, I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I got up to have a shower … where I discovered we had no water! Hotel staff offered to move us to a different room, but I tested it out – also no water! Morning bathroom visits were needed, and they advised us to come downstairs to use the downstairs one – no water! Yeah, they agreed, something was affecting the whole building.

Warner Brothers Studio Tour

Warner Brothers Studio Tour

After a hotel breakfast sans coffee (no water!), we headed out for our first big activity – a Warner Brothers Studio tour! They tell you to allow about three hours for the tour. One hour is a guided backlot tour; the rest is self-guided. We started our tour off in what WB calls their Storytellers Showcase. It’s kind of a lobby area and museum where you can occupy yourself until your scheduled tour time. The exhibits were interesting, if a little hard to absorb with our children bouncing about. Sean motioned me over to check out what became probably my favorite thing in the area – the Warners’ address book. The book was opened to a page that showed Dali, Salvador and DeMille, Cecil B, and Disney, Walt. Some contact list!

How's that for a contact list

How’s that for a contact list

At our tour time, we were guided into a little theater to watch a short film giving a bit of history on Warner Brothers Studios. After that, we all boarded our little trams for the first portion of the tour. We were shown backlots – large exterior sets, streetscapes and storefronts and housefronts and sound stages – and also enclosed studios of varying sizes that contain ever changing sets with tighter control for sound and light than a backlot set would allow for. We saw the couch and fountain from the Friends intro (sadly, it was rainy and muddy, so we couldn’t go sit on said couch and take photos). We went past the facade for The Alibi from Shameless.

Couch and fountain from the intro to Friends

Couch and fountain from the intro to Friends

One of the things I found interesting is that for the set houses, they might have a different sort of facade on each side of the structure. The interior will be decorated and redecorated   to suit whatever needs to be filmed.

The sound stages were neat too. We walked through stage 25, where Big Bang Theory was filmed. Stage 25 appears to be largely used for sitcoms, so there’s bright overhead lighting and bleachers for a live studio audience, separated from the filming area by “camera alley.”

We didn’t get to go into it, but one of my favorite factoids from the day revolved around Stage 16. Evidently, this stage started life at regular size but when something larger was required, its roof was raised in the air using hundreds of hand jacks positioned around the building. In the end, the building was augmented to be 98 feet tall and houses a 2 million gallon water tank. Scenes from “The Goonies” were filmed there. I wish we had been able to see inside.

I'm in Sheldon's spot

I’m in Sheldon’s spot

After our backlot tour, we were dropped off at what I think is the “Stage 48: Script To Screen” part of the tour. Here we got to see some of the sets. We hung out at Central Perk, the coffee shop from Friends and we got to visit Leonard and Sheldon’s apartment from Big Bang Theory.

Dabbing with Dobby

Dabbing with Dobby

We were able to play with motion capture technology that allowed the kids to see Dobby the house elf move as they moved. They seemed to get a huge kick out of making Dobby dab. We entered a scene that showed us the forced perspective setup that might have let Hagrid appear so much larger than the rest of the humans do in some of the Harry Potter sets.

Maya on a broomstick on the quidditch pitch

Maya on a broomstick on the quidditch pitch

They also were able to experience green screen technology. Ian got to drive Batman’s motorcycle. The a big fan blew his hair and a director told him how to move and when. Maya flew a broomstick in front of a green screen, again following a director’s cues about when to wave her wand and in what direction. Later the detail was added in. We have both still images and videos of them on their broomstick and motorcycle.

The Lasso of Truth (it would light up if you grabbed it)

The Lasso of Truth (it would light up if you grabbed it)

After this, we were shuttled back to the area we started in. Back in this area, we were able to see a set of exhibits called Action and Magic Made Here. In this area, we got to see tons and tons of movie costumes and props, especially from the DC comics movies. Maya and Ian tested out Wonder Woman’s lasso of truth. Ian posed with Aquaman’s trident. Sean and I wondered as we wandered – do the size of these costumes reflect the size of the actors who inhabited them? Another thing we were fascinated at were the differences between the actual costume colors and how they appeared in their film or television shows. One of Daenerys’s outfits from Game of Thrones looked vastly different in person than on video.

Maya's being sorted (Ravenclaw)

Maya’s being sorted (Ravenclaw)

Also in this area were lots of lots of exhibits revolving around Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. Ian and Maya could learn proper dueling technique with their wands. They could try their hand and potions making. They could check out Harry’s cupboard under the stairs. It was a lot of fun. We ended our time there with an obligatory photo holding an Oscar award; we were all surprised at how heavy it was. Once we had finished seeing all the things, it was time to wander through the gift shop and then leave. The kids each elected to spend their saved allowance money on wands.

Bob's Big Boy

Bob’s Big Boy

Since it was in the Burbank area, we decided to have lunch at Bob’s Big Boy. After a relatively short 30 minute wait, we were seated and orders taken promptly. The food was good and the atmosphere was fun. Sean and I had burgers of course, Maya had fried shrimp, and Ian had (you’ll never guess) chicken fingers! The kids got ice cream for dessert, so they were thrilled.

After this, it was time to head into the belly of the beast – Hollywood Boulevard. Our driving in Los Angeles thus far had been … interesting. I can’t tell if they’re more aggressive or maybe a bit lackadaisical, but if they wanted to change lanes, it was happening whether you were leaving them room or not. At one point, I hear Sean mutter under his breath, “The balls on these people …” Jury’s out on whether he was expressing irritation or admiration.

We encountered an absolute ton of traffic and weirdly blocked roads as we approached Hollywood Blvd. We tried rerouting a little and finally Sean looked at me and said, “When are the Oscars?” Yeah, that would be the very next day. Part of Hollywood Blvd was completely blocked to accommodate the Oscars, which are held at the Dolby Theater. Whoops.

Inside at Amoeba

Inside at Amoeba

When we originally headed toward Hollywood Blvd, our intention was to try to buy tour tickets to see the inside of the TCL Chinese Theater. With our difficult driving conditions, we wound up not having enough time, so we decided to just see what we could see on our own instead. We started with a visit to Amoeba Music. This is a huge, warehouse-like record store that on our own, Sean and I might have spent more time at. With our kids in tow and with the massive crowds, it was more stressful than enjoyable and after browsing through records and books and posters galore, we decided to cut our visit a bit short and move on.

Inside the Funko store

Inside the Funko store

To make up for the record store visit, we took the kids to the Funko Hollywood store. I personally give zero shits about Funko, but Sean and the kids love those things. The store itself was surprisingly fun – lots of large Funko-esque sculptures of unlikely characters inhabit the huge space. The kids were delighted. Sean was happy to add a Funko Oswald to his collection.

Inside the Funko store

Inside the Funko store

After we were all Funko-ed out, we decided to brave a walk through the throngs to get a gander at the TCL Chinese Theater. They had a weird, circuitous detour tunnel for pedestrians so we could get from one side of Dolby to the other without seeing any of the Oscar brouhaha. We did manage to get a brief glimpse into an area adorned with large golden Oscar statues as we traversed our tunnel.

TCL Chinese Theatre

TCL Chinese Theatre

As we walked along Hollywood Blvd, it was fun to see the Walk of Fame stars. There are stars for all kinds of things: film, TV, music, stage. Some people will have multiple stars for these different areas. RuPaul’s star was decorated, of course.

Samuel L Jackson

Samuel L Jackson

TCL Chinese Theater was neat looking from the outside. It was fun to look through some of the imprints left by the stars over the decades. Everything was enormously crowded, and we were starting to feel the strain a bit, so we retreated to the Ghirardelli store for some hot chocolate for a little rest before heading to the car, snapping a few quick photos or the Capitol Records building and making our way back to the hotel.

Capitol Records building

Capitol Records building

Day 2 – Downtown Los Angeles

Today we had running water at our hotel – hooray! Man were we ready for some showers. We skipped hotel breakfast today in favor of heading to the Grand Central Market for Woods vacation doughnuts at The Donut Man. They specialize in doughnuts topped with strawberries or peaches as the season allowed, but unsurprisingly, I was the only one who wanted actual fruit content in my doughnut.

Donut Man breakfast

Donut Man breakfast at the LA Grand Central Market

We had intended to visit the Bradbury Building across the street, but it didn’t open till 10a, and we had places to be, so we decided to visit it a little later on. Back in February, I had reserved a timed entry to the Yayoi Kusama’s exhibit at The Broad, “Infinity Mirrored Room – The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away,” which is housed in The Broad, a really spectacular contemporary art museum.

The Broad

The Broad (left) and Walt Disney Concert Hall (right)

You’re allowed 60 seconds in this room with mirrored walls and floor and ceiling and thousands of lights. It’s dark, it’s quiet, and if you allow it, your mind can almost be fooled into believing you’re standing on a dark peninsula completely surrounded by lights and your own reflection. It’s oddly haunting, even with the nagging worry that our 8- and 10-year old wouldn’t follow the rules. I left the room with goosebumps lingering on the back of my neck.

Infiniti Room

One of Yayoi Kusama’s Infiniti Rooms – This one is called, “The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away”

The rest of the museum was wonderful as well. The kids were able to do a scavenger hunt. Some of the items they had to find were “artwork from another country” and “artwork that you would make” and “artwork that makes you sad.” It was an interesting experience for them.

Two from Andy Warhol - "Campbell's Soup Can (Clam Chowder - Manhattan Style)" and "Small Torn Campbell's Soup Can"

“Campbell’s Soup Can (Clam Chowder – Manhattan Style)” and “Small Torn Campbell’s Soup Can,” both by Andy Warhol

Sean and I enjoyed it because there was such a lovely and intriguing variety of art. Unless you pay for a special exhibit, the cost to visit is zero. The cost to see The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away is zero (you just have to pay attention and reserve ahead). Because we went on a Sunday morning, street parking was readily available for free.

Balloon Dog (Blue) by Jeff Koons

“Balloon Dog (Blue)” by Jeff Koons

While we were there, we also wandered by and took photos of The Broad’s neighbor, the Walt Disney Concert Hall. It is another curved surface masterpiece from Frank Gehry, a neat augment to The Broad’s own interesting structure.

The Bradbury Building - scenes from Blade Runner were filmed here

The Bradbury Building – scenes from Blade Runner were filmed here

After all this, we headed back to take a look at the Bradbury Building. It’s a really beautiful building in its own right, sporting some gorgeous intricate ironwork and a multistory sunlight-filled interior courtyard. We wanted to see it because it was a filming location for the original Blade Runner movie. The kids didn’t really understand and kind of shuffled about while Sean and I oooo-ed and aahh-ed at the pretty architecture.

LA's Chinatown

LA’s Chinatown

Then we drove into the Chinatown area. As the day wore on, parking was becoming more and more difficult, so we wound up driving around a bit to find a place and then walking a bit to get where we wanted to go. Chinatown was kind of neat. Ian wound up buying a little $5 wooden samurai sword that he was absolutely delighted with but that didn’t even make it to the end of our vacation before it broke. There’s a really neat dragon gate as you enter Chinatown, but we only ever saw it briefly from the car, so we didn’t get a photo.

We were thinking we’d try a couple places for lunch and Sean and I would split entrees so we didn’t get overfull. We went to Phillipe The Original first because we figured the kids were more likely to find something they’d like there. Sean and I split a French Dip pastrami one-because yum and two-because they’re allegedly the creators of said sandwich. Ian wound up eating a deli ham sandwich and loving it. And Maya had a gigantic PB&J. Happy everyone!

Los Angeles City Hall

Los Angeles City Hall

Then, after a little kerfuffle to find actual cash, we managed to work our way into the LAX-C area to try some delicious Tom Yum Goong and some delicious but maybe not my thing Taro Cake. Ian seemed to like the soup and Maya sort of liked the taro cake. All in all, I thought it was fun. After a jaunt through the neighboring asian grocery store just for fun, we again hopped in the car and drove by LA’s giant city hall. There’s an open yard area nearby, so we let the kids run out a bit of energy.

The famed book tunnel at The Last Bookstore

The famed book tunnel at The Last Bookstore

After this, we loaded up and drove to The Last Bookstore, which may be the most aesthetically interesting bookstore I’ve ever visited. I’m hoping to do this often enough that not only do our kids not find it weird that we visit bookstores and record stores when we go to new cities, I hope that it becomes one of their own vacation objectives as they grow up too.

Book art

Book art

This place was a brilliant mash-up of art, books, and sheer atmosphere. The kids were legit creepified by the horror section (because it was legit creepy). There was a book tunnel! The children’s section had a stuffed tiger (named Blake! maybe he was really a tyger) that would earn you a prize if you found it. And then your job was to hide it well for the next kid to find. There was book-art and art-art and even just books to look through! I will admit, I wasn’t in a rush to return to reality after we were through.

Sean swung by Ramirez Liquor and found a couple new rums to add to his collection. Then we drove over to Griffith Observatory to see if we could work that into day. The mists / fog had settled in around the mountains, the kids had fallen asleep in the car, and the observatory was bonkers crowded, so we decided instead of have an early dinner at Leo’s Taco Truck. SO GOOD. The kids loved their tacos de pollo. Sean and I were smitten with the asada and the al pastor. Their sauces were solid.

Taco truck!

Leo’s Taco Truck

Maya had been haggling for churros all day long, so she was thrilled to spot a nearby truck selling those too. Plus we enjoyed our tacos so much, we ordered a second round (to be fair, they were small).

After all that, we made it back to the hotel in time for the kids to enjoy the heated pool (which closed at 8) for a little while. It was a cool night – I’m impressed that Ian could hang. He explained to another group of people who commented that the pool didn’t feel *that* heated that the trick was to get out of the pool and let the air make you really cold. Then when you got back in the pool, it would feel warm. They didn’t appear to buy it.

We did some laundry and watched a bit of the Oscars so the kids would have a tie in to yesterday’s visit to Hollywood Blvd and the heavy statues we held at Warner Brothers. And then we all got some rest before our next big vacation day.

Day 3 – Knott’s Berry Farm

The kids love, love, LOVE amusement parks by this point. And Sean, given his roller coaster love, has long wanted to visit Knott’s Berry Farm. From my reading, I learned that apparently this place started as a hope-and-dream berry farm that first grew into a restaurant and berry farm and just kept expanding and expanding from there. Berry farm, restaurant, and curiosities. Berry farm, restaurant, and old west town. Berry farm, restaurant, old west town, and … rides.

Knott's Berry Farm

Knott’s Berry Farm

We were fortunate to be there during their annual Boysenberry Festival. We figured the kids would be picky about what they ate, so we only included the special Boysenberry food add-on in our adult tickets. This got us each three tastings of boysenberry items created for the festival. Let’s see if I can remember them all: Boysenberry Blondie, Sushi Burrito with Spicy Crab Surimi, Avocado, Lettuce, Crispy Onions, Sesame & Unagi Sauce and Boysenberry Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce, Boysenberry BBQ Beef Tips over Parmesan Grits with Green Onions, Beef Barbacoa over Mac & Cheese with a Boysenberry Chipotle Crema, Boysenberry Sausage on a Hoagie with Boysenberry Mustard, and Boysenberry pie. We bought the kids some boysenberry dippin’ dots (which were really good) and later on some boysenberry desserts as well. Everything was really good, and I’m glad for the experience.

We got there right at opening (10a) and after cute photos on entering, we made the classic amusement park blunder of rushing right for the big, popular ride at the front of the park. I have been struggling with some lower back issues, so I was a little wary of roller coasters, but I was especially worried about the wooden ones, which can sometimes rather beat the hell out of their riders. Sean and the kids lined up for GhostRider. I hung out with them in line for probably 45 minutes. Then I went to wander around while they rode the actual ride.

Ghost Rider

Ghost Rider

Sean agreed to let the kids ride together, which may have been a mistake on the first ride of the day on a fairly aggressive coaster. Ian might have preferred parental support on the first go. After all, they hadn’t been on a coaster since the previous summer. The ride photos afterward tell the story. Sean’s half turned around, looking worried. Ian is head down, probably scared. Maya is riding along, happy as a clam.

Sean did tell me after they got off that it was probably the smoothest wooden coaster he’s ever been on, and that I’d probably have handled it fine. Apparently over the first 17 years of the coaster’s operation, it had gotten rougher and rougher. Then in 2015 they replaced and reprofiled the track, adding banked turns and air time hills. They also removed the mid-course break run and replaced the trains. All equating to fun wooden roller coaster thrills without the body torment that many of them inflict.

We did Coast Rider next – a wild mouse style roller coaster. We didn’t pay for fast pass at this park because it would have more than doubled our ticket price. Instead, we accepted that we’d have to wait in line. And that would have been fine, if the wait times had been at all accurate. Ghost Rider had been posted at 45 minutes; I think it was closer to an hour. Little Coast Rider had been posted at 30 minutes; we waited 45. With a park that would only be open from 10a-8p, we could feel our time for fun thrill rides slip-slip-slipping away.

Maya and Ian sharing some boysenberry Dippin' Dots

Maya and Ian sharing some boysenberry Dippin’ Dots

We begrudgingly took the time to actually keep everyone fed. I know and even sort of accept that you get kind of gouged on food at amusement parks, but we paid literally $12 *per slice* of pizza for the kids for lunch. I couldn’t believe it.

After our little lunch, we got in line to ride Sidewinder. This would be a new one for us – the individual cars spin about as your train moves along the track. This one was the worst one for wait time of our whole day. Posted wait time was 60 minutes. Actual was more like 90 minutes. So frustrating! At least the ride itself was fun.

Ian and Mom on The Pony Express

Ian and Mom on Pony Express

We hit a small stroke of luck after that. Ian wasn’t tall enough to ride Silver Bullet, so he and I got in line for the Pony Express – a launch coaster whose ride vehicle is shaped like a horse and you kind of ride it like a motorcycle (or horse). Sean and Maya hustled over to Silver Bullet to take advantage of a posted 5 minute wait. They managed to ride it twice while Ian and I waited (posted wait 45 minutes; actual 60 minutes).

Maya and Dad on the Silver Bullet

Maya and Dad on Silver Bullet

Maya was so excited about Silver Bullet that she wanted to ride with me as well. Since its wait was still so short (like 15 minutes), Sean took Ian to get his face painted while Maya and I rode the coaster. It was awesome. It’s a dangling coaster, so you have the pleasure of zero pressure on your tired feet. Plus its ride dynamics were great. Such a fun ride. Maya will tell you it was her favorite in the park.

Ian got his face painted while Maya took me to ride Silver Bullet

Ian got his face painted while Maya took me to ride Silver Bullet

After another snack / meal (the kids got chicken, which Knott’s Berry Farm has been known for since they were just a humble berry farm with a restaurant), we got in line for a fairly tame coaster called Jaguar. It’s posted time was 60 minutes, but it’s actual wait time was only 15 minutes – hooray!

I think Maya has a boysenberry blondie

I think Maya has a boysenberry blondie

Here’s where we had that one last boysenberry dessert while we waited in line to ride GhostRider again, so I could have a turn and because everyone seemed to love it so much. The line was long, no sense denying it. We met a nice family in line whose son and our kids chatted on and on about Pokemon and Minecraft. It was so nice to have some entertainment!

Sean, Maya, and Ian were absolutely correct – GhostRider is a wonderful ride. The neat structure and biiiiig hills were fun, and it was fairly smooth for a wooden coaster. Plus we got to ride it at night, which was a pretty fun experience. Honestly the wild mouse was rougher on me than this one was. Ian will tell you that GhostRider was his favorite.

Maya liked the Ghost Town sign

Maya liked the Ghost Town sign

We stopped by the gift shop on the way out, where Ian acquired another plush snake for his collection – this one (we think) is a California rattlesnake who he has named Pearl. Pearl likes to curl *and* she rattles. Ian loves her.

Day 4 – Venice Beach, Getty Center, LACMA Lights 

Today, we did our best to persevere despite the weather. Apparently the lower California area has been beset again and again by a weather pattern called an atmospheric river. According to the NOAA, an atmospheric river is “a flowing column of condensed water vapor in the atmosphere responsible for producing significant levels of rain and snow.” According to the local news, that’s the weather pattern we had to thank for the rain we enjoyed over portions of our visit to the area.

We attempted first take in the scenic Mulholland Drive loop, but found nothing but thick mist at our first stop at a scenic overlook. We hear we were looking out into a canyon, but we’d never have known it. We bailed.

Venice Beach in the rain

Venice Beach in the rain

This was to be our Venice Beach and Santa Monica day. We looked to rearrange our days, but unless we gave up a Disney day (which we would never do), we were stuck rearranging outdoor activities into a variety of days where rain was predicted. So we stuck it out.

After a horrible search for parking at the Venice Beach area (apparently half the side street were street-sweepered on Tuesdays, and the other half were full of the people who presumably had moved their cars to avoid the street sweepers), we donned our ponchos and headed beach-ward.

The kids still tried to have fun, despite the weather

The kids still tried to have fun, despite the weather

Venice Beach was almost completely devoid of people. The renowned skate park was empty. Muscle Beach was a ghost town. It turns out Venice Beach isn’t much fun without a swath of California society to watch. We did our best to wander through the rain and look around at the famed Venice Canals. It was neat to see, no doubt, and we saw a few ducks wandering around too, which bird-lover Maya enjoyed. Eventually we gave up and went for lunch.

Lunch from the Win-dow was delicious

Lunch from the Win-dow was delicious

We went to a place called The Win-dow for a meal of chicken sandwiches and smash burgers. Sean had placed the order from his phone and then I tromped through puddles to pick it up so we could eat it in our parked car (they had covered outdoor seating, but it all just seemed very wet). The food was excellent – would recommend.

View of Los Angeles from The Getty Center

View of Los Angeles from The Getty Center

We decided to book some quick timed entry tickets for The Getty Center. This is a sprawling art museum surrounded by lovely gardens from which you’re supposed to have lovely views of the surrounding area. Admission is free, but we had to pay handsomely to park. Once parked, we took a tram up the hillside to the actual museum. The ride was quite pretty, but I expect it would have been breathtaking without the thick coating of mist / fog.

It was raining pretty solidly by this time, so we didn’t even try to spend time outside in the gardens, choosing instead to examine the exhibits inside. Just like at The Broad, there was a sort of scavenger hunt offered for the kids at this museum as well, but we decided to just wander a bit instead, since we knew we weren’t going to cover all the interior exhibits and weren’t going outside really at all.

"Irises" by Vincent van Gogh

“Irises” by Vincent van Gogh

The Getty Center has an extensive collection and I feel confident we didn’t do it justice. We did get to see “Irises” by Vincent Van Gogh, which was neat. I thought the kids would recognize it, but they didn’t. They enjoyed the sculpture area more. Ian in particular seemed downright flummoxed at the sculptures of fauns we’d run into. They have horns! And tails! What are they? I reminded him that he was a gifted reader at this point and the way to learn more was to read the titles and commentary on the art they were seeing. I don’t think it worked though.

We also let them see all the nude sculptures. I think they mostly found it funny, but we did our best as engineer and software developer to explain why a naked body might be considered art.

Damon's Steakhouse

Damon’s Steakhouse

The waterlogged Woodses decided to trek back to the hotel for some dry clothes and a little rest. We had thought to drive back to Santa Monica Pier toward evening so we could visit the boardwalk when the rides were all lit up, but the weather was relentless, so we gave up on that idea. Instead, we decided we’d just have a relaxed dinner at Damon’s Steak House.

Sean, rum aficionado that he is, loves tiki bars and tiki cocktails and tiki culture. We had made a list of old-school places to possibly visit while in Los Angeles (Tiki Ti, Tiki No, Tonga Hut, etc). But all those places seemed like just bars and we weren’t too sure our kids would be welcome there. Damon’s Steak House was also on that list and as they were a full-on restaurant, the whole family could comfortably go.

Steakhouse meets tiki bar

Steakhouse meets tiki bar

We loved it. The decor was very tiki centric – dark and kitschy without being creepy or cheap. The kids had fun watching the fish tank and seeing what all the light fixtures were decorated with. Our server was wonderful and very, very patient with our lunatic children. The drinks were really good (though we appear to have discovered that we don’t like Chi Chi cocktails in general). And the food was great. The salad, dressed table-side was a nice start. I have never had better garlic bread. Sean’s steak was on point and my fish and chips suited my craving for comfort and simplicity. The kids all found things to eat and they liked their mocktails. It was a pleasant respite in a day full of false starts and crummy weather.

LACMA Lights

Urban Lights at LACMA

After Damon’s, we drove over to the LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) to take a few photos of the Urban Light sculpture outside. The sculpture, installed in 2008, makes use of 202 street lamps that would have been in use on Southern California in the 1920s and 1930s. The kids had fun bouncing around among the lights and taking photos.

Day 5 – Wayfarer’s Chapel, Aquarium of the Pacific 

We had to check out of our North Hollywood hotel today. The night before, we had packed everything up, dirty clothes in one suitcase, clean in the other with plans to do another load of laundry that evening at the next hotel. We skipped hotel breakfast this morning in favor of hitting Steve’s Charburger in Torrance on our way toward Long Beach. We had heard that was the place to get California’s famed breakfast burritos.

Maya and Ian were able to get big plates of bacon and eggs, which is happy for them. Sean and I decided to split a breakfast burrito (those things are huge). Everything was good – really good. But I’m gonna be honest here – I think I personally prefer the breakfast tacos I get around here. Maybe it’s just what I’m used to. I did like the pickled pepper stuff that we got to dump liberally onto our burrito as we ate it. So much yum.

Wayfarer's Chapel

Wayfarer’s Chapel

From there, we drove on to Wayfarer’s Chapel. Again, I betcha that drive near the coast was gorgeous, but aside from an occasional hazy glimpse of some waves crashing amongst craggy rocks, we saw none of it for the seemingly ever-present mist. Wayfarer’s itself was a stunner too, though again, it would have been nicer to see without a shroud of mist. The chapel was designed by Lloyd Wright, who happens to be Frank Lloyd Wright’s son.

Wayfarer's Chapel

Wayfarer’s Chapel

Next we were bound for Aquarium of the Pacific. Bird flu closed some of the exhibits. The weather pushed us to opt out of a whale-watching cruise. But nonetheless, the aquarium was fun.

Touching jellyfish! Apparently their stings were too small to impact human skin

Touching jellyfish! Apparently their stings were too small to impact human skin

The kids (and maybe the grown ups as well) got to touch rays and horseshoe craps and jellyfish. We got to see puffins and sea lions and harbor seals. There was a giant Pacific octopus for Maya and lots of weird frogs for Ian. And there were so, so many colorful fish!

Snow crab

Giant Japanese Spider Crab

Our breakfast was wearing off, so we wandered over to a nearby taco truck – Pepe’s Red Tacos – to have birria tacos. Another solid taco truck experience!

So much color!

So much color!

We had wanted to visit the Queen Mary as well while we were in Long Beach. Visitation had been shut down with the onset of COVID, and other than a small trial run, it seems to have not restarted yet when we were there (update: tours are now bookable – hooray for a future visit someday). Queen Mary started life in 1936 as a fancy ocean liner, carrying celebrities and notables. Then she was transformed into a trooper carrying vessel during World War II. After WWII, she was again transformed back into a passenger vessel till her docking in 1967. We drove around a bit and looked at the ship – it is immense – but since we couldn’t really visit, we packed it in and headed to Anaheim instead.

Lego sculptures seen on our walk to Trader Sam's

Lego sculptures seen on our walk to Trader Sam’s

The driving force behind our trip to LA was of course the two Disney parks located there.  We started our Disney adventure a little bit on this first night. We had booked a reservation for that evening at Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar. They wound up being about a half hour late seating us (which was frustrating because 1 – we were hungry and 2 – we needed to get back to knock out some laundry before our upcoming big Disney days.

Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar

Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar

All was forgiven though once we were seated. The vibe was relaxed, fun, even borderline silly. The bar is based around The Jungle Cruise attraction. Its decor was as kooky tropical as you’d expect from a tiki bar. But Disney pushed it a little further. Depending on what drinks were ordered, different theatrics would occur in the bar. A volcano might erupt on the LED window. A storm may be brewing, complete with a dash of rain. An order for the Uh-Oa! gets some chanting. We weren’t at the bar, so we didn’t experience it firsthand, but Sean tells me that if you order the right drink, you’ll find your barstool lowering itself as you imbibe.

Tangaroa Cooler

Tangaroa Cooler

The drinks were top notch. I had the Tangaroa Cooler – a gin based drink, and Sean had the HippopotoMai-Tai. The kids tried a couple of the “No-Booze Brews.” Between the two of them, we got to try all three of the nonalcoholic drinks: Skipper Sipper, Schweitzer Falls, and Polynesian Punch. The food was really good too. I had their Poke Bowl. Sean and Ian tried out the Tonkotsu Ramen. And Maya had …………. chicken fingers. Sean ended his evening with a Zambezi Sour, which was made with bourbon! We sprung for the souvenir mugs that our first two drinks came in. These are not cheap plastic junk – these are real mugs. So much fun!

HippopotoMai-Tai

HippopotoMai-Tai

We rolled back into the hotel later than intended, but I planned to power through it to get our laundry done. Alas, the hotel had other plans. Apparently laundry isn’t allowed after 10p, and just to make sure no one breaks any rules, they don’t allow access to the laundry room after 10 either. And that’s the story of how I was hand washing socks and underwear in a hotel sink. Wheeeee.

Day 6 – Disney California Adventure

Dr. Pym’s Giant Pretzels

Day 7 – Disneyland

The Happiest Post on Earth

Day 8 – Disney California Adventure, Huntington 

No Capes!

After spending the morning at Disney California Adventure, we collected our car from the hotel parking lot and headed northward to Pasadena to visit The Huntington. This massive area encompasses sprawling botanical gardens, a huge library, and an art museum besides. After having spent the previous two days plus the entire morning visiting Disney, we our stamina was limited, but we intended to soldier on.

Rainbow tunnel at the Children's Garden at the Huntington

Rainbow tunnel at the Children’s Garden at the Huntington

We started out our visit letting the kids run a bit in the Children’s Garden. There were fun tunnels of vegetation to run through, and they played with misters and tried to “catch the water” from intermittently spurting fountains.

Cinderella's carriage

Cinderella’s carriage

After they had run their sillies out a bit, we wandered inside to see the special traveling exhibit, “Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts.” It was an oddly wide-ranging exhibit, difficult to summarize. I particularly enjoyed the portions of the exhibit focusing on bringing inanimate objects to life and giving them character. The candelabra, teapot, and tea cup from Beauty and the Beast are obvious examples. But also, the flying carpet from Aladdin, who didn’t speak and so had only gestures and actions to indicate mood and to communicate. I also liked that they spotlighted the emergence of some talented (and for the time “barrier-breaking”) female artists, Mary Blair (of It’s a Small World fame) prominent among them.

Giving personality to a flying carpet

Giving personality to a flying carpet

Ever the Disney historian, Sean wound up purchasing a book, also titled, “Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts” that essentially catalogs all that the exhibit has to offer.

Moon gate

Moon gate

After all this art, the kids needed to be outside again. We explored the Chinese Garden next. Maya, who’s studying a bit of Mandarin language and Chinese culture as a standard part of 4th grade at her elementary school, gave us the low down on the animals at the entryway and on the moon gates that we encountered. The day was pretty and not hot, so it was lovely to be outside. The gardens, despite being busy, still managed to be serene from time to time.

So serene, even with the crowds

So serene, even with the crowds

We next walked through the Japanese Garden where we got to see the cherry blossoms. Again, we managed to find tiny slices of serenity here and there. Koi and turtles near the bridge. Uniquely sculptured trees. Gentle herby scents. It was nice.

We were all feeling a little worn down, but we decided we needed to at least visit the library before leaving, and I’m so glad we did! I could have spent an hour wandering through and reading the information on the manuscripts on display.

Gutenberg Bible

Gutenberg Bible

There was a Gutenberg Bible! But what was better still is that it was shown in context to earlier hand-written and illuminated texts. The notion that moveable type and printing presses would make it such that books could be available to more than just the very rich was presented.

Cedar Waxwing - as prepared by James Audubon

Cedar Waxwing – as prepared by John James Audubon

Maya, our bird lover, was delighted to discover a full-size Audubon’s Birds of America, turned to one of her favorites, a cedar waxwing. The book had to be so large because Audubon wanted to render each bird at its actual size.

Mazesoba before mixing

Mazesoba before mixing

At long last, it was time to leave the Huntington and head out to find dinner. We already had a place in mind. Sean had been watching a few videos to suss out where we might try to eat while we were there. One “must-do” on our list was Menya Hanabi. This is a “dry ramen” meaning there is no broth. Instead a bowl of noodles arrives at your table decked out with piles of minced and very flavorful pork, green onions, ajitama eggs, and a raw egg yolk, among other things. Sean observed that at the other tables, the patrons were furiously mixing their noodles up with all the goods, so we did likewise (except I gave Ian my sheets of nori / dried seaweed since he’ll actually eat those).

Those noodles were incredible. We opted for the spicy version and while I was sniffling a bit through my dinner, I’m so glad we did. Delicious! The texture was pleasantly creamy, a lovely contrast to the bright green onions and piquant spice. We ate ourselves stupidly full. Then at the end they offered us some white rice to soak up the liquid that had settled to the bottom of the bowl. We sadly had to pass – neither of us could eat another ounce!

After this we headed all the way to our last hotel, which we strategically chose near the airport so we’d have an easy time of it on our travel day. Finally I had access to a washer and dryer! We could have some clean clothes for the next couple days. The funny bit to me was that if I wanted the clothes only medium dry, the cost was as posted at the door. If I wanted them extra dry, well, that cost an extra quarter.

Day 9 – Mulholland Drive, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Griffith Observatory 

The weather was not especially in our favor again on our final full day in Los Angeles, but it was clearer than it had been the first time we took a crack at our scenic drive, so we gave it another shot – off to Mulholland Drive!

Hollywood Bowl in the foreground, Los Angeles in the background

Hollywood Bowl in the foreground, Los Angeles in the background

I wrote down the names of the various overlooks (Stone Canyon, Barbara A Fine, and Nancy H Pohl were among them), and they were all lovely even with the overcast skies. But my favorite two were the Universal City Overlook (where you could see, among other things, the Hogwarts castle at Universal Studios) and the Jerome C. Daniel Overlook where you could really see the Los Angeles skyline with the Hollywood Bowl in the foreground.

Dino's Famous Chicken

Dino’s Famous Chicken

We dropped in at Dino’s Famous Chicken for lunch after our drive. Ian had dutifully tolerated a whole scenic drive with no access to a bathroom, knowing that he’d get one at our lunch place. And then when we got there – no bathroom! Oh well, at least the chicken was good and I loved the pickled chiles they served alongside.

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Next, we went back to the Walt Disney Concert Hall to partake of a self-guided tour. I know, I know, a tour of a concert hall sounds incredibly dull (our kids wholeheartedly agree), but honestly it was pretty interesting, and it’s such a unique building, it’s hard not to want to know more about its structure and functionality.

At the Griffith Observatory

At the Griffith Observatory

After our concert hall tour, we did something more to the kids’ liking – we went to the Griffith Observatory. Here, finally, we got a few decent photos of the famed Hollywood sign. The kids, once we arrived, were almost immediately engaged in watching a huge Foucault pendulum. The pendulum is meant to demonstrate the rotation of the earth – it swings in a constant direction while the earth rotates beneath it. This pendulum knocks a peg over about every 7 minutes, I think, and we watched until we got to see one fall.

Waiting ... waiting ... waiting ... at the Foucault pendulum

Waiting … waiting … waiting … at the Foucault pendulum

As we were wandering over to check the schedule for when the Tesla Coil demonstrations were happening, we noticed one was about to start. We warned Maya (who is very noise sensitive) that it might be a little loud. We needn’t have worried though. Both kids handled it all very well, listening semi-patiently as its history and operation were explained to us and then watching as several times the observatory staff member created lightning for us.

Tesla coil

Tesla coil

Next we bought tickets for the Signs of Life planetarium show. This is not the planetarium show of my youth. This was high-definition, intense, and immersive. We went to Mars, we traveled through space, we were there for the Big Bang. Honestly, this was rougher on Maya’s sensitive ears than the Tesla Coil. Ian, however, was completely entranced. We may have a little astronaut on our hands.

Ian at the Griffith Observatory

Ian at the Griffith Observatory

After the show, we wandered out into the jam-packed hallways and were sort of overwhelmed. We found a dark, quiet exhibit off to the side and tried to figure out what we’d like to do next. Luckily, a friendly observatory staff member saw us struggling and came to our assistance. After Ian told her how much he liked the planetarium show, she seemed to know just what to do with us. First, we needed to come with her to check something out.

Rainy at the Griffith Observatory

Rainy at the Griffith Observatory

We followed her out of the building, through the rain and into another part of the building. There, from behind a desk was revealed three interesting objects. One of them was a meteorite – could we guess which one? The meteorite (which none of us thought to photo) was alarmingly heavy and weirdly smooth. Turns out, is was a piece of the meteorite that formed the Barringer Crater out in Arizona some 50,000 years ago.

You can almost imagine Iron Man chilling out in the doughnut hole

You can almost imagine Iron Man chilling out in the doughnut hole

We finished our visit by scanning through various exhibits and checking how much we’d weigh on different planets. We didn’t stay long enough to get to use the public telescopes; I think everyone was pretty tired by then. We headed back down to our car and tried (and failed) to find food. In the end we spent a really long time in line to pick up some Randy’s Donuts before grabbing easy takeout on our way back to the hotel, where we proceeded to spend the rest of our short evening cleaning up and packing while the kids vegged out and watched TV.

Day 10 – Heading Home 

I don’t remember the flight home the next day being particularly difficult or eventful. Of course spending the whole day traveling from two time zones away was a little confusing for bodies who had to go to school and work immediately the next day, but we powered through it.

Maya and Ian in Newt Scamander's briefcase during our Warner Brothers Studio tour

Maya and Ian in Newt Scamander’s briefcase during our Warner Brothers Studio tour

I really enjoyed our Los Angeles trip. If I had had to drive (and park!) instead of Sean, I’m not sure I’d have had as good a time, but he handles that stuff like a pro. The weather wasn’t perfect and consequently, we couldn’t really squeeze in everything we wanted to do and see, but I’m thankful that we had really nice weather for all our amusement park days. We got to see where (and a little bit how) movies are made. Got to see stars on Hollywood Blvd and at the Griffith Observatory. We rode roller coasters and sang It’s a Small World After All. We saw sea creatures, and a giant boat, and artwork both old and new. There was interesting architecture all around us and plenty of delicious and varied food to eat. All in all, we had a nice spring break.

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All the Spring Things

Our March was jam-packed with activities. And I took so long trying to write up our mid-month vacation that April is nearly over before I’m posting about March!

Maya on the soccer field

Maya on the soccer field

Maya and Ian both started their spring soccer seasons. Maya is on the same team she’s been with for the past two seasons. The coaches are funny and patient and overwhelmingly positive. Maya’s teammates are likewise a good group of kids. We are very fortunate.

Soccer Ian

Soccer Ian

Ian is trying out a new team. Last season’s team were like a well-oiled machine, and it often seemed like a machine that Ian didn’t fit into very well. This new team I think is working out better. The kids’ experience level is closer to Ian’s and so they’re kind of all developing together.

Ian practices one might a week, Maya two nights a week, and they both have games on the weekends. Between that and their instrument lessons and practice and the after-school groups they’re both involved in (on different days, of course), it seems sometimes we do little more than whatever activities they’re wrapped up in.

Ian - 2nd grade - spring

Ian – 2nd grade – spring

Maya and Ian had school photos in early March. This time, like during the pandemic times, they took photos outside. I love having their photos out in natural light and again I think they turned out so nicely.

Maya - 4th grade - spring

Maya – 4th grade – spring

I have been having some progressively worse pain in my lower back, honestly for the past couple years. Finally, I have gone to see an orthopedist about it, and sure enough, an x-ray showed disc degeneration. The first thing to do is physical therapy and assuming physical therapy doesn’t fix it, then we do an MRI to see what other options there are. So, add to the soccer and the music and the school things a once a week visit at the office for PT and daily 45-50 minute PT sessions at home.

We all breathed a little sigh of relief when it was time to go on our spring break vacation to sunny Los Angeles, California wherein amongst many other things, Sean got to take us to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure! We have possibly too many photos and I certainly spent WAY too many words describing our trip, so that’s all in a separate post, which can be found here (and there are sub-posts within *that* to separate out the Disney madness).

Tolerating our photos, as usual

Tolerating our photos, as usual

After vacation, we dove immediately back into our crazy schedule, but we did manage to carve out a little slice of time to go take photos of the kids in the bluebonnets. The wildflowers were absolutely incredible this year. Presumably because we had a decent amount of rain this spring even seeds that laid dormant during last year’s horrible drought managed to germinate. It was quite the showing.

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