Las Vegas/Disneyland Vacation Day Two (Part One)

 Sunday June 28

We packed A LOT into Day One so I need to divide it into two parts...

MORNING

This day was an early one.  We were all up and assembled in the lobby by 7:10.  We began a long walk to enter Disneyland through Downtown Disney.  It was a gorgeous morning; slightly cool to begin the day but the sun was out and warmed things up quickly.  

We walked along a beautiful palm tree lined street. The first thing that shocked me was that they still manually check every single bag instead of sending it through a machine.  It slowed things up, but the number of people going through security is not nearly as high as Orlando.  

We got there in time for rope drop and it was so worth it - we got on 12 things before leaving about 1:00. Cinderella's castle was pretty underwhelming compared to Orlando. 

My very first Disneyland ride was Alice in Wonderland. I was glad it was a ride that is not in Disney World and is new to me. 

                              Ride through from Attractions 360

Then we walked over to Toon Time and went on Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway.

POV ride through from TPM Vids

Next up was a short walk to Storybook Land Canal Boats

I was interested in this ride because it is not at the Magic Kingdom.  It wasn't an exciting ride which I already knew, but I would much rather that seats were in a row so everyone could face forward,  Instead, the seats were around the edge of the boat which meant there Had to be a lot of the turning completely around to see the things your back was facing.  

POV ride through from DocumentDisney. 

After getting off the boats, we walked over to Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. 

I suck SO bad at these aim and shoot games so......moving on. 

POV ride through again by DocumentDisney

We did Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage

I am not including a ride through video.  It was a cute ride but at times, pretty hard to see through the bubbles. Next up was another ride that is not at the Magic Kingdom - Pinnochio's Daring Journey.

POV ride through from DocumentDisney

Then it was time for CJ's favorite ride - Indiana Jones: Temple of the Forbidden Eye. It was a similar ride experience to Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom.  It had a good story line and great effects, but was very jerk (showing my age).  

POV Ride through from Disney Parks

Another ride I was looking forward to was Haunted Mansion. The facade was completely different than the one at the Magic Kingdom, but for the most part, the actual ride was similar.  The big difference was the transition between the party scene and the graveyard scene and I highly preferred the Magic Kingdom one.  But still, a favorite because of the nostalgia.  

POV Ride through from DocumentDisney

Believe it or not - we were not done yet!  

For a while now, CJ has been telling us that Pirates of the Caribbean is far superior at Disneyland when compared to the Magic Kingdom and he was right.  In Disney World, you are just launched into the Pirate's experience.  Here, you begin by floating along a deep woods bayou when you are suddenly dropped into the middle of the pirate's story and shenanigans and ending by raised by a ramp back into the bayou.  Very well done. 

DocumentDisney again for the ride through

Picture credit: Orange County Register

Picture Credit: Disney Wiki

As an added interest, there is the Blue Bayou Restaurant overlooking the ride - similar to El Rio del Tiempo in EPCOT.

Picture Credit: SFGate

Still going strong we hit up It's a Small World. The boarding for this ride is outside and the facade is far superior to the Magic Kingdom.  However, it would not be workable in Orlando with the amount of summer rain the area gets. The ride itself was similar in some aspects and completely different in others, but the theme remains the same of course. 

Beautiful Facade

Ride through credit: The Small World Fan Cat

For our final ride of the morning, we hit the Matterhorn for the bobsleds. Another very jerky ride, but fun and probably pretty accurate to being on a real bobsled.  

After a very busy morning we took the monorail back to Downtown Disney, picked up some Wetzel's Pretzels, and walked back to the Marriot for a little rest and recharge for the evening. 

 

We left at 7:10, arrived back at about 2:00, and were able to get on 11 rides.  The Lightning Lane option was worth the extra money (as we would discover time and again over the four days we were there).  

Las Vegas/Disneyland Vacation Day One

Saturday June 27 

Last year we started talking about going on a big family vacation and because CJ had been wanting to get Zack and me to Disneyland for a while now, the decision on where we would go was an easy one.  The decision on how we would get there was a little more complicated.  Originally, I thought Zack and I would drive but after looking at how long that would take and how grueling the drive would be with me as the only driver, we quickly scratched that idea and decided to fly.  Then we were only left with the decision of flying into Las Vegas or Los Angeles.  We decided on Loas Vegas because it was cheaper and we could add on 3 days in Vegas at the end.  

So on Friday, Zack and I drove to Flagler Beach and dropped Brayden off by my sister for the week.  😞

Saturday morning by 7:30 am we were all ready to go. 

 Our flight left at 10:00 and even though the flight was 4 hours and 10 minutes, we gained an extra 3 hours in time zone change so we landed in Vegas around lunchtime.  Flying over the Grand Canyon was so cool. I was by the window and regret not changing places with Prachi so she could have a better view (I've already seen it).  But by that time, the seat belt light was on and we couldn't make any changes. 

Once we got our luggage and our rental vehicle, our first stop was a casino in Vegas for lunch.  It was really so much more than a casino.  It had five different restaurants (we ate at Steak N Shake), a movie theatre, and  a bowling alley. 

Then we began the LONG drive from Las Vegas to Anaheim.  There was some beautiful landscape along the way, but also annoyingly heavy traffic at points.  The drive ended up being longer than our flight across the country (almost 5 hours).  

Picture from Marriot Website

Picture from Marriot Website

We ended the long travel day with a Target run and picked up dinner from Pollo Campero.  We were all very impressed with the taste.  

Lights out was about 10:00 (because to our bodies it was really 1:00). 

Visit Up North

 I just got back from a wonderful trip up north to visit family.  

My aunt (my mom's sister) was like my second mom when I was growing up.  I was very close to my cousin so I spent a lot of summers at their house in Waukesha.  

After losing my parents, I felt that I had to make an effort to see her again.  I booked my flight a few months ago, but I guess I didn't tell my sister because when she found out I was going (only 5 days before) she was upset and wanted to go too.  Fortunately, we were able to find her a seat on the exact same flights as me.  

We left on February 6 and went Orlando to Milwaukee. Things got off to stressful start as we had trouble checking in and then we ended up sitting on the plane while they tried to fix the navigation system.  They tried for an hour before deciding that we needed to get off the plane, switch gates, and get on another available plane.  So instead of leaving at 4:30, we left about 6:05. Very uncharacteristically, I slept through most of the flight. I only woke up when I heard the pilot say we were landing in 1/2 hour. 

My cousin drove in from North Dakota and was there to pick us up.  And it was COLD!  Over the next three days we had a wonderful time visiting with friends and family. My best friend Carey drove down on Saturday and spent the day, we had a couple of my aunts over pizza, and met my cousin's partner, Wade.  We had a wonderful time - even though it was COLD! Somehow, this is the only picture I got. 

Every Christmas our parents would make us line up like this on the steps for a picture. 

We flew back late on the night of February 9 and both decided we need to make an effort to go back very soon - this time in the summer.  

Teacher of the Year

 When my oldest son told me he wanted me to be a teacher - I'll be honest, I had my reservations.  He has some anxiety and anxiety and teaching don't go very well together.  

But I kept my mouth shut and I am so glad I did because 9 years in, he is a marvelous teacher!  This year he finally got the recognition he deserves when he was named Teacher of the Year at his middle school.

Even though that decision was announced back in August, the awards dinner was not held until Friday evening January 30.  He was able to bring one person and I felt honored to be his plus one. 

Held at the Rosen Shingle Creek and called the Orange County Stellar Awards, it was really a formal event. 

The dinner was delicious and I enjoyed myself very much.  It was a bit like the Oscars with finalists announced for administrator of the year, teacher of the year, etc., winners announced, and acceptance speeches given. 

Once the teachers of the years were announced and CJ got his trophy, we left to beat the heavy traffic.  

It was definitely one proud mom evening. 

HHN The Next Two Houses

     Universal took another step this year to alleviate unnecessary walking time.  These final houses (plus Terrifier) were all in close proximity in the front of the park.  Walking between houses was done behind the buildings this year instead of the front.  It saved a lot of time.  

    Our next house was Grave of Flesh.  The house theme according to nbcuniversal.com was: Welcome to your funeral, where things go from bad to worse. You'll enter your grave and then the underworld, where flesh-eaters who feed on the dead will hunt you for all eternity. 

    Overall, I liked this house.  It had a good setting setting and I enjoyed the soundtrack.  It had some good jump scares. It was a visually interesting house.

*pictures from Inside Universal

Walkthrough video from Attractions Magazine

Next up was usually Five Nights at Freddy's.  The best scene in this house was the first room when you come face to face with full-scale replicas of the characters on the stage singing.  The rest of the house consisted of iconic scenes from the movie as Freddy, Chica, Foxy, and Mr. Cupcake stalk you. According to nbcuniversal.com, the characters were created in collaboration with Jim Henson's Creature Shop who created the animatronics and costumes for the movie. 

* picture credit: Spectrum News 13

*picture credit: Orlando Informer

I liked the house, and there was really only a couple times where the wait time was absurdly long. There was also a couple times when we could basically walk right in with no wait time.  In general, though, it was a very popular house (of course).

Walkthrough video: Attractions Magazine

Up Next: The final two houses

HHN 2025 - The Next Three Houses

 The next house on our tour was Hatchet and Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters.  I'm not sure why, but this house seemed to have one of the longest wait times. 

This house was based off of one of the movies from Slaughter Cinema 2 which was a house in last year's HHN.  According to Wiki, Hatchet and Chains are Bounty Hunters Chains is someone who can see and interact with demons and kills them with a mystical chain. Hatchet is a demon who saved the life of Chains. They work together traveling the Wild West hunting demons. 

Pictures from Wiki: Halloween Horror Nights Fandom

While not one of my top favorite houses, I generally enjoyed it.  The characters and ambiance were good, just not really many scares. 

Walk through video from Attractions Magazine

Making our way to the front of the park, we stopped along the way at Jason's Universe. 

Try to escape Jason Voorhees as you walk through Jason's shack in the woods and the summer camp that started it all. 

Pictures from Wiki: Halloween Horror Nights Fandom

This house was a solid medium for me.  I enjoyed it for the iconic Jason Voorhees scares, He was literally everywhere!

Walk through by Attractions 360*

Moving to the front, the next house we usually hit was Terrifier.

The house was based on all three Terrifier movies; of which I have not seen any of them. In this house, Art the Clown recreates some f his more famous kills.  

I enjoyed this house even with not seeing the movies.  Detailed sets and the fun factor, balancing the brutal kills with dark humor.  At the end you could choose to exit on two different paths (blood bath or dry path).  We did the blood exit on our night, but really it was just globs of water falling on you. Did not impress me. 

Pictures from Wiki: Halloween Horror Nights Fandom

Walk through from Attractions 360*