We went with my parents and had a great time traveling with them, and also appreciated the extra sets of hands, allowing the us to divide and conquer a bit with the boys. It got a little stressful leading up to the trip as parts of Washington were buried in snow, Snoqualmie pass was closed and my parents' flight from Yakima to Seattle was cancelled. Luckily they found out early enough the night before we left that they could drive over White Pass, but didn't arrive to our house until after 2 a.m. and had to be up to catch our plane at 4:30 a.m.
But, once we worked through that, the trip was a breeze. We flew into Santa Ana and used Lansky car service which worked out perfectly to get to/from The Grand Californian. The hotel was great, and was located right in downtown Disney, allowing us to easily come and go to the park as we pleased. There was even an entrance directly into CA Adventure. We purchased 3-day park hopper tickets and felt like that was the perfect amount of time to be there.
We had adjoining rooms at the hotel and J slept with my parents a few of the nights. Cole slept in the pack n play (all rooms had one in the closet!) one night and then the bed the other nights and did awesome. It meant early nights for all of us, but honestly we were so tired after long action packed days and tons of walking, we were ready for bed by the time he got into bed each night.
The boys did great on the flights and thankfully Cole is entertained by tablets/shows much more now than even just last May when we went to Kauai. And on our way on board the first flight, the pilots allowed Jackson to sit up front for a few minutes, which he loved.
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That evening, we had reservations at Blue Bayou which is the restaurant within Pirates of the Caribbean, which came highly recommended. The following day, it poured until about noon, and even with rain boots and coats, ponchos and umbrellas, we were soaked. But after some downtime back at the hotel for Cole's nap, we were happy to discover sunny skies and headed back out that afternoon/evening.
Saturday was a sunny day and the parks were a little more crowded but not unbearable by any means.
At just over 48" tall, Jackson could ride all the rides and literally rode nearly every ride in both Disneyland and California Adventure, including a huge roller coast that went upside down! At 37", Cole couldn't ride everything he wanted, but he really enjoyed all the rides he was able to go on. It was so fun to witness the boys' excitement over each ride, and just watch how in awe they were of some.
The boys loved when they spotted characters roaming the parks - they'd run up and give them hugs. Cole, in his usual fashion, gave Minnie a HUGE bear hug around her legs, but had run up to her from the side which startled her and almost caused her to tip over. Oops!
And no trip to Disneyland would be complete without some souvenir shopping! The boys had fun deciding what they wanted to buy, and have enjoyed their final purchases.
