2/14/09 Saturday – Depart Orlando – Arrive in Anaheim
Breakfast – Nature’s Table, Orlando Airport
Lunch – In-N-Out Burger, Anaheim, CA
Dinner – Storytellers Café, Grand Californian
The peaceful alarm clock arose us gently with its “BEEP, BEEP, BEEP” at 3:00 a.m. The entire household was incredibly grateful for my strategic flight time decision. Nonetheless, we were all excited because we were headed to Disneyland to enjoy Emily’s 30th birthday. Emily and I got ready quickly and packed the last remaining items that could not be packed the night before (or Tuesday night). We waited until the very last moment to awaken Hunter, the sleeping giant, because we knew he would not be raring to go at 4:30. We got the little guy ready, hopped in the taxi and headed over to Grandma and Poppop’s to complete the party and head to the airport. We packed up our car full of sunshine smiles (?) and headed to the terminal.
After a relatively easy check in process and a delicious Nature’s Table breakfast, we boarded the plane for our quick 5.5 hour flight to Los Angeles, CA. All things considered Hunter did very well on the plane. Emily did an amazing job packing snacks and games to keep him occupied while we were in the air. Grandma and Poppop were great as well because they could jump in when we needed a break!
After we landed at LAX we grabbed our bags, picked up our rental car, and made our way toward Disneyland Resort (DLR). Before we got to the resort we had a couple of stops to make. The first stop was to get the essentials at Target so Hunter didn’t have to use the same diaper for the entire week. Emily and Grandma headed into Target, and we didn’t know if we would ever see them again. They did finally emerge from the store with only a few bags, much to the surprise of the men waiting in the car.
The next stop was one we had been looking forward to for a few months. That’s right – it was time for lunch at In-N-Out Burger! This was Grandma and Poppop’s first visit out West so we had to introduce them to the deliciousness that is an In-N-Out Burger. As always, they did not disappoint. After we devoured our burgers between the three breaths that we all managed to take while consuming them, it was time to take a few photos and make our way to Disney’s Grand Californian Resort.
We arrived at the resort and checked in only to find that our room was not going to be ready until after 3:00 p.m. We decided we would go explore the parks while we waited, so we headed to Disneyland Park. Of course Hunter had some ideas about how we would get to said park. We had been promising him for days that we would ride the Monorail as soon as we got here, and with the memory of an elephant, Hunter did not forget this promise so ride the Monorail we did. For those that have not visited Disneyland the neat thing about the Monorail out here is that it drops you off inside the park at Tomorrowland which is a neat experience. Hunter was in heaven!
We spent the next couple hours exploring Disneyland Park and showing Grandma, Poppop and Hunter all of the sights and sounds of the park that we remembered from our previous visits. For those who did not get the text message, the highlight of Emily’s day was seeing Nicole Richie and Joel Madden in Toontown. After Emily regained consciousness from nearly hyperventilating, we continued on, with orders to “BOLO” for them the rest of the day. Seriously… the girl reads too much US Weekly. After a while we realized it was 7 PM in our bodies, and at this point Hunter was running on fumes. We headed back to the hotel and put him down for a much needed nap.
After Hunter awoke from his slumber we headed down to Storytellers Café to enjoy a dinner at the resort restaurant. We were seated at this wonderful round corner booth which we were told would not accommodate a high chair. No problem, we thought, Hunter will just sit next to us on the seat, and we will enjoy a relaxing dinner. Problem. Hunter decided this would be a great opportunity to develop his rock wall climbing skills as he tried to scale the back of the booth numerous times.
After a day of airline food and service, we found the food and service at Storyteller’s terrific. We struggled back up to our room after our 20 hour day, got our PJ’s on and hit the hay. All in all a great first day on our West Coast adventure.
