Monday, March 19th – Travel Day
A bittersweet awakening on our last morning in Scottsdale. Although we were excited to head off on our Disneyland travel day, we were sad to have to say goodbye to my parents. Our goal was to depart late morning for our five hour drive to Anaheim. After getting dressed and ready for the day, we packed up our things and loaded our bags in the car.
Before our departure we wanted to have one more fun breakfast outing with Grandma and Papa. Our breakfast destination for the morning was Mojo at Grayhawk Golf Club. We thought that the beautiful morning presented a perfect opportunity to walk to Mojo. Emily, Grandma Jean, Hunter and I started off on foot. Papa Don waited a few minutes and drove Sawyer to meet us there.
Emily was hoping that we would see a quail on our walk but we had no such luck. Hunter considered himself lucky to have found a golf ball on the road. He also almost passed out when he saw a Rolls-Royce drive by us on the road. When we arrived at Grayhawk, Emily and Hunter spotted the same Rolls-Royce in the parking lot. They walked up and started talking to the man who was getting out of the car. Hunter shared his love of cars with the gentleman who pointed to his wife’s Bentley a few rows over. Guess he is doing alright.
Mojo’s Breakfast – Grayhawk Golf Club
We met up with Papa Don and Sawyer and made our way up to the clubhouse area where Mojo’s is located. Mojo’s is a quick service location that serves delicious breakfast food. We placed our order and secured the only remaining table in the Grayhawk lobby area. I ordered the breakfast burrito and Emily was eager to try the breakfast sandwich. Hunter was ecstatic that they had french toast sticks. Sawyer had eaten at the house before we left so he just entertained himself while we ate. Mojo’s delivered an amazing last meal in Scottsdale!
Having fulfilled our step count on the way over, we all piled into the car for the drive back to the house. The car erupted in cheers when we spotted our first Gambel’s quail of the trip! The quail was walking across the street in my parents’ neighborhood. Another vacation item checked off!
Back at the house we packed our last remaining items into the car. We enjoyed the remainder of our time visiting until it was time to depart. A few final photos and we were off on our way to Anaheim. We spotted a roadrunner crossing the street on our way out of the neighborhood. They all waited until the last day to visit!
Disneyland Travel Day – Scottsdale, AZ to Anaheim, CA
The boys were super excited for our drive to Scottsdale. While they normally don’t love being in the car, a built in DVD player changes the game. Emily and I picked up Thor Ragnarok the prior day during our visit to Fry’s grocery store. They couldn’t wait to start the movie and check another Marvel movie off the list. Mom and Dad were elated because this meant at least a couple hours of relative quiet.
Although the drive is mostly flat desert terrain, it was a nice change of pace for us. Scenic mountains lined the majority of our drive. At one point, there was a flurry of excitement because Emily read an email that Avengers: Infinity War tickets were now on sale for our theatre back home. After coordinating with Hunter’s best buddy’s mom, she was able to secure six tickets for opening night. Hunter and Sawyer were super pumped about that! Emily and I marveled at the fact that we could coordinate and buy movie tickets with a friend from across the country for a month in the future. We really sounded ninety the way we were “marvel”ing about it. (See what I did there?) Continuing the drive, we made a few pit stops along the way but nothing overly exciting. With Disneyland on our minds, we wanted to arrive as soon as possible.
Arrive at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel
Our weary family finally arrived in Anaheim around 5 o’clock p.m. Our trusty navigation system routed us down Katella Ave., which is how we always know we’ve arrived at The Happiest Place on Earth! We admired the new construction lining the street. The tired backseat travelers arose when we could finally spot familiar Disneyland buildings in the distance.
Arriving at Disney’s Grand Californian, we quickly checked in and got our keys for room 4220. I parked the car across the street as the rest of the family and our bags headed to the room. Hungry and excited to start our Disneyland adventure, our stop in the room was a short one. We agreed to leave the unpacking until later.
Dinner at Napa Rose Lounge
Surviving only on snacks throughout the afternoon, hunger had crept in. With our last meal being a late breakfast it was a surprise that we were still relatively civil to each other. I was ready to find a place to sit down and relax after spending the majority of the day in the car. Emily suggest the Napa Rose Lounge located at the resort, which sounded perfect! The Napa Rose restaurant has a nice lounge area where you can eat and drink without a reservation.
Upon arrival the lounge was relatively busy but had an available table for the four of us. Before our server could say hello we said “yes, we will have a drink!” Settling into our cozy chairs after our long drive we were finally back in vacation mode. Emily has never met a theme she could turn down and ordered the Napa Rose to drink. The boys each ordered cheese pizzas, which they both gave a thumbs up. Emily and I ordered the hamachi tartare and prosciutto flatbread to share between gulps of our cocktails. The bottomless pit that we call Hunter still had room for dessert. He ordered a chocolate brownie with caramel ice cream to finish off the meal. The Napa Rose Lounge was a great location to enjoy a relaxing dinner without needing a reservation.
Our First Evening at Disney’s California Adventure Park
Dinner at the Napa Rose Lounge gave us just the energy we needed to adventure out into the parks. We began our evening at Disney’s California Adventure Park which is steps from the restaurant. There just happens to be a churro stand just after you enter the park. The churro stand was a must visit since most of us didn’t have dessert at the restaurant. Hunter apparently has a separate churro compartment and ordered one as well.
We enjoyed our sticks of sugary goodness as we walked through Disney’s California Adventure Park. Our first stop of the evening was a stroll through Cars Land. Cars Land opened in 2012 and have been our favorite Disney land ever since. At night when the building lights are on you would swear that you have walked onto the Cars movie set. The boys were interested in riding Radiator Springs Racers if the wait was reasonable. Guess what… it wasn’t. With more days and fastpasses ahead of us, we convinced them to continuing exploring.
A Bug’s Land – Disney’s California Adventure
We strolled to the neighboring A Bug’s Land to say hello to Flik and friends. A Bug’s Land has been a love of the entire family since we have been coming to Disneyland. Heimlich’s Choo-Choo Train was the first official attraction experience of our 2018 spring break. The boys are huge fans of this slow moving caterpillar ride through oversized fruits and sweets. What the ride lacks in excitement it makes up for in nostalgia. “JUICY VATTERMELON!”
We continued on our Bugs Land tour with a stop at the Tuck and Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies. The ride is a toned down version of bumper cars. The boys love running into each other while trying to drive. I love it because I need to fold myself up like a pretzel just to fit into a vehicle. We managed to escape relatively unscathed. Wanting to just get a taste of the parks on our first evening, we strolled to the entrance of Disney’s California Adventure Park. After a quick meet and greet with Mickey, we exited the park.
A Quick Evening Visit to Disneyland Park
The boys were interested in checking out some of Disneyland Park before we retired for the evening. The beauty of Disneyland is that the entrance to both parks is in the same area. A short walk from California Adventure to Disneyland and we were admiring Town Square.
Hunter’s second nostalgic request of the evening was to check out the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln attraction. The last time we visited Disneyland the attraction was down most of our visit. They finally reopened it and saved us from an afternoon of tears. We perused the pre-show area until it was our time to view the show. We entered the theater with the other four guests who wanted to see Mr. Lincoln at 9:15 p.m. The fact that all four of us almost fell asleep in the attraction meant that it was probably time to head back to the room.
As we exited the park we could see fireworks lighting up the sky over Sleeping Beauty Castle. We walked through Downtown Disney browsing the kiosks that we would revisit. Securing a bag of kettle corn (another first night tradition!) to take back to the room was the last item on our day one checklist.
Back to Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel
Back at our room Emily got busy unpacking our suitcases and putting away our vacation clothes. The boys were amped up from the sugar and just being at Disneyland. Needless to say sleep was not their number on priority. They eventually fell asleep initiating phase two of the room work. Emily brought a bunch of supplies to decorate our hotel room for Hunter’s birthday. She did a similar setup for Hunter’s 10th birthday. She snapped into action hanging banners and setting out presents. I don’t know where she found the energy but she did an outstanding job making the entire room feel special. We can’t wait to wake up tomorrow and see the surprise on Hunter’s 11 year old face!
