Downtown Disney

As you are probably aware, the giant parking lot that used to be out front of Disneyland is now history. California Adventure occupies much of that vacated property. The rest has been converted into a huge, linear, outdoor mall and entertainment plaza. Think Bridgeport Village but with one long, very wide corridor down the middle and super-sized edifices. At one end is a gateway to Disneyland and California Adventure. At the other end is the original Disneyland Hotel, now renamed the Disneyland Resort. If you're really hauling hawkins you can make the walk in approximately 10 minutes.

The district is full of everything you might expect in a traditional mall: clothing boutiques, jewelers, food shops (e.g. Wetzel's Pretzels, Jamba Juice, Haagen Dazs), anchor restaurants (e.g. ESPN Zone, House of Blues, Rainforest Cafe), a cinema complex, cart vendors, fountains, and other typical mall-like stores (e.g. Fossil, a bookstore, Anne Geddes, a travel company, Build-A-Bear). Mixed in are a shuttle terminal to transport people to and from the new parking facilities (wherever that is) and a direct entrance to the hotel we stayed at, the Grand Californian. So I guess the Grand also fits into the old parking lot as well, as it sits between California Adventure and Downtown Disney, and also runs up against Disneyland Dr.

The favorite destinations among our group were definitely the World of Disney and the LEGO store. For World of Disney, imagine the Disney Store at the mall, add everything you can buy at any of the shops inside the parks, add design by the Disney Imagineers, and stuff it all into 50,000 square feet (that's 15 of our houses, both floors including the bonus room), then you've got the World of Disney. It is truly impressive.

The LEGO store was Djeryd's favorite destination in all of Southern California. It is everything you might expect from a store so named. 

Any enthusiasm or interest from either park that may have distracted Djeryd was always very short-lived. 

Space Mountain: "That was fun. I want to show you something really cool at the LEGO store."

In line for Nemo (taking Monorail to Downtown Disney afterwards): "Do you think we can go to go to the LEGO store later, before we go back to our hotel?"

On Indiana Jones: Me: "Are you doing okay, Djeryd?" Djeryd: "I don't like the cockroaches. I think we should go to the LEGO store after this."

While My and Sean were on Indiana Jones: "Let's go to the LEGO store while we're waiting for my mom and dad."

After Jedi training: "I want to see if they have Captain Rex at the LEGO store." Me: "Who?"

Waiting for our table at Rainforest Cafe: "Let's go to the LEGO store really quick while we're waiting." (It was only 100 yards away.)

Moping at Disneyland: Me: "What's wrong?" Djeryd: "Mom said something I didn't like." Me: "Is it about the LEGO store?" (wild guess) Djeryd: "It's not fair that we always do the things that everyone else wants to do (i.e. go to Disneyland) but never what I want to do (i.e. go to the LEGO store).

Unloading our cars at Enterprise, pulling his kit out of his backpack: "Look at what I got with my money at the LEGO store."

Asking Djeryd to open his LEGO bag to see if there was a receipt with the store's phone number on it so that we could call to see if they had Sean's wallet: "Wait. Look at what I bought at the LEGO store."

Going through security at the airport: "Look at what my Star Wars LEGO kit has inside."

Stowing our carry-ons on the airplane: "Can I get out my LEGO set and hold it on my lap. I won't open it. I just want to look at it."

Collecting our bags from the baggage claim and herding all of the kids together: "Do you want to see what I got at the LEGO store?"

Whoever has Djeryd for Christmas, two words:

Hot Wheels

Macaronis et Fromage

Brookie wanted me to write about the Tour de Macaroni & Cheese she conducted during our vacation to Disneyland. You may not have known this about her, but Brookie has long been a connoisseur of that fine cheesy cuisine. If you've got her name for Christmas this year, a box of Kraft might make her the happiest kid in the room.

I can only think of one meal at which Brookie did NOT order mac and cheese. That was Monday night after the Parade of Dreams when we all went to a friendly little restaurant called Millie's, which was located just across the street from Disneyland on Harbor Blvd. Brookie got the cheese pizza and fries, just like the other kids. Madsion, however, DID order the macaroni and cheese, and I think they switched meals halfway through. I confess that I also ordered macaroni and cheese that night, but it was a more sophisticated version that included bacon, diced tomatoes and cilantro, plus a house salad - so it was okay for me.

I don't really care so much when the kid's menu is simple and the prices are inexpensive. For $4.99 they can order a corn dog or a grilled cheese sandwich or mac & cheese, it doesn't matter much to me. However, there were a few gooey meals that left me less than enthused with her customary selection.

Breakfast at the Pacific Wharf Cafe inside California Adventure

California Adventure has several interesting food production facilities located inside the park. For example, they grow grapes and press their own wine, much of which is used inside the parks' and hotels' own restaurants, and some is sold at retail. There is also a live Mission tortilla factory that we toured (and ate the free samples). Another such enterprise is a bakery, and this is what brought us to Pacific Wharf - Sara wanted cheese soup in a freshly baked sourdough bread bowl. Brookie ordered the usual, but at an unusually good price - $3.50. All was good until we opened up the kid's meal box. Her macaroni and cheese was in a container the size of those tiny little plastic bowls that you put pickles and banana peppers in at Quizno's. There were literally only like 15-20 noodles inside. In a price-per-noodle comparison, this may have been the most expensive of the trip.

Breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen

I briefly touched on some of the crazy items in the breakfast buffet at Goofy's Kitchen; peanut butter and jelly pizza, gummy worms, and ice cream. There is also an outstanding assortment of great food like waffles, french toast, made-to-order omelets and egg scrambles, breakfast potatoes, oatmeal with various toppings, cold cereals, pastries, fresh fruits, and... you guessed it, macaroni and cheese. Brookie did branch out a bit; apple juice, mac and cheese, and gummy worms. I can't complain though, since they considered her an infant and didn't charge us for her meal.

Lunch at Ariel's Grotto

For $18.00 I want to see something involving a decent-sized cut of what used to be a cow, grilled and seasoned to perfection. If the chef wants to throw in mac and cheese on the side, so be it. But 18 bucks for a kid-sized portion of that ubiquitous pasta made my stomach churn. As if that wasn't bad enough, Madison ordered the same thing. To add insult to injury, they didn't even save any for me. I can't say that I blame them for choosing the cheesy goodness - the alternatives were chicken nuggets or mini-corn dogs.

UPDATE: 10/17/08 - I was just cleaning up some papers on my desk and came across a copy of the kid's menu from Ariel's Grotto. Turns out the girls had an excellent selection including glazed chicken skewers, "meatball lollipops", and my favorite, a kid-sized tri-tip like I ate. In hindsight I should have had them order one macaroni and cheese and one tri-tip which could have been like a side dish for my main course tri-tip.

The Grand

Our morning was uneventful. Everything went according to plan. We woke up on time. Got out the door on time. We left the OC and got to the airport, boarded our flight and arrived at Santa Ana/Orange County/John Wayne Airport all without incident. All of the kids were wonderful. We had a block of nine seats in the back of the plane. My and Sean sat with Anna in the front row. Sara, Karsten, Erik and I sat in the back row. Brookie, Djeryd and Madison sat in the middle all by themselves and were so well behaved. Djeryd took great care of the girls - he entertained them with his backpack full of books, toys and other activities (great preparation, My!), and he made sure their seat belts were always fastened and properly tightened.

We split up for a bit - My and Sean took their boys to LegoLand for the afternoon, much to their delight. Djeryd (and Sean) have been describing its many wonders practically non-stop ever since.





We checked into our hotel and hit California Adventure right away, determined to get in a full day. I say checked in and most people assume that means we began to occupy a room in the hotel. Apparently the Grand Californian has found a way to let guests check in without actually providing a room. We got our key cards. We got the hotel map. Cousin Timmy came through with the Cast Member discount voucher. But they wouldn't tell us our room number. It was "still being cleaned" and they provided us with a telephone number to call to learn our room number when it became available. A very long story short, after six hours and multiple phone calls to various entities within the Disney empire, our room number was finally revealed to us. By the time we physically arrived at our room, Sean and My were already settled into their connecting room next door. Recall that they first drove to San Diego and spent several hours at LegoLand before driving back - and they still beat us; and had time to take a nap and for Hannah Montana to jump into fourth place on Djeryd's interest radar (trailing only Star Wars, Indiana Jones and now, Legoland).

We didn't spend that six hours sitting around. Ever since our Disneyland trip in 2006, Madison has had just one thing on her brain. There was a particular ride that she had been too short to ride. She's prayed every single night that she would someday be big enough to go on the Jumping Jellyfish. The what?



Jumping Jellyfish is a ride in the new park, California Adventure. As far as we can tell, it is not based on anything Disney. Passengers 42 inches and taller sit in a chair with a giant Jellyfish attached overhead. The ride lifts the passengers up, slowly, before bringing them back down, also slowly. One time only. Having fulfilled a nearly lifelong pursuit and received an answer to countless prayers, Madison immediately constructed a new agenda. We all got to ride on the Ferris wheel and all the girls rode on Ariel's sea creature carousel.



We then headed over to the world of A Bug's Life for a while. Madison also discovered that 42 inches gains access to other, even more compelling rides than the the Jumping Jellyfish. Namely, the roaring river raft ride (Grizzly River Run) which is literally just a few steps away from the private entrance to California Adventure directly from the spectacularly rustic Grand Californian hotel where we are staying. Part of the hotel is actually inside of the park. Upon being completely drenched, Madison had the surprisingly brilliant and sensible idea that she be allowed to wear her swimsuit the next time she does it. I don't see why not.



Our original plan (after our original, original plan of actually checking into The Grand had failed) was to play around in California Adventure (hereafter referred to as "CA") for a couple of hours until our room became available. We would then settle in, grab some dinner at the famous Chicken Pie Shop, and re-enter the parks for the rest of the evening, culminating in the Friday/Saturday-only fireworks above the Matterhorn. Most of that was rendered impossible when both Sara and I neglected to get our hands stamped upon exiting CA. No hand stamp, no re-entry. Period. Brookie and Madison got theirs stamped and they, in the words of the friendly Cast Member I spoke with, could "re-enter the parks themselves but there is absolutely no way [Sara or I] could get back in without purchasing another ticket." Lesson learned.

It actually worked out great because My and Sean didn't have park tickets for the day anyway and we would have had to separate according to our second original plan. We asked our friends at the other end of one of the Disney phone numbers for the best place to see the fireworks and ended up in the plaza/mall at the vortex created where the entrances to Disneyland, CA and Downtown Disney (to be addressed in a future post) converge. We ducked into the World of Disney store in Downtown Disney to get Brooklyn an autograph book for when we meet Disney characters. Everything around Disneyland is super clean (especially the trash cans; Walt Disney himself decreed that his park would even be free of chewing gum) so we staked out a spot right on the ground in front of the giant "California" sign at CA's entrance. If their cheering and clapping were any indication, the kids LOVED the fireworks.

That capped an 18-hour, napless day for those kids. A day that saw us safely arrive in the other OC. A day that launched our long-awaited Disney vacation. A day in which I, through my many, many phone calls, forged a first-name relationship with The Grand.