Day 4- Sunday (last day & heading home)

Today was our last day in the parks! Our plan was to hit the few things that we missed in the parks, gather up Piper’s missing pressed pennies from the last trip and ride a few of our favorite rides one last time. The park today didn’t open until 9 am and there was no early entry so we had a character breakfast booked that the kids (especially Piper) was so excited about because Stitch was going to be there and it’s their favorite character.


We all got dressed and headed out. P was a little cold walking so she borrowed Matt’s sweatshirt. It made for a pretty cute photo:)

Once we got there it was pretty empty which is why we book it first thing when they open. It gives us a lot more character time which the kids really love. Most character meals they just come over to the table, do the autograph and photo thing and then move on. At Surf’s up breakfast they come back to play with you at your table, walk around freely, etc. First up was Mickey, then Minnie, Pluto and then Stitch. Lastly was Daisy who doesn’t really come into the parks so it was fun to see her there!

After breakfast we headed back to our room to pack up and then drop our bags with bell services for the day until we had to leave at 4 this afternoon. We headed down to CA adventure park and got in line and entered pretty quick. The park wasn't officially open yet though so we all just hung out at a table and waited until the crowds ran for Carsland. We waited around and got some pennies and looked in shops while the masses headed to Carsland.

We wandered down to Paradise Pier and got more pennies and rode the funwheel. After that Matt and Clara went to go get coffee at Starbucks while the kids and I went over by Tower of Terror and got more missing pennies. While we were walking we ran into the Incredibles! It was really cute- Piper even danced with Mr. Incredible:)

After a much needed caffeine fix we left CA Adventure park and headed to Disneyland one last time. Matt and Aidan ran to go get fast passes so we could ride Indy one last time while the girls and I went to get into line (for an hour!) to meet the Princesses. We saw Jasmine, Mulan and Sleeping Beauty.

While we were doing that the boys went to go grab fast passes for Space mountain and caught the Star Wars Jedi Academy show. They said it was pretty cool but Aidan didn’t want to participate at all (not surprising).

While the boys were finishing up the Star Wars show us girls went to go meet Rapunzel. Much to Piper’s delight, Flynn was there too! It’s very hit and miss to see him so she was pretty happy:)

After all that it was around noon and we all went for lunch at Carantion Café. It was good but not as amazing as I remember. The kids were both tired and cranky (it was VERY hot today) so it was good to go inside and cool off for a bit. When lunch was over we headed over to ride Indy and ended up getting stuck in line when the ride broke down:( It was a huge waste of time and kind of a bummer. We did manage to ride Space one last time though and then left the park via the monorail in Tomorrowland (After getting a classic photo of us in front of the Castle).

We unboarded in Downtown Disney and the kids and Matt wanted ice cream so we split up so I could go get a smoothie. We all sat on a park bench for a bit and people watched and wound down from the trip. We wandered through the World of Disney store so we could make a few purchases. I needed new measuring cups since I had broken one that I had bought last time and I also bought oven mitts that were Mickey hands. Pretty cute! Piper got a stuffed Marie (from Aristocats) that matched the one that Clara had bought. Our last stop was into build a bear and Piper bought a stuffed Disney puppy with a Stitch costume.

We wandered down to our hotel and got our luggage situated then hailed a cab and off to the airport we went! Security was a breeze and the new terminals there made it very comfortable to wait in Piper changed into her pj’s (we would be landing at 9pm) and Matt and I changed our of our short and tees into jeans and hoodies. We got food to go from a few places right before boarding at 6 and then got on the plane. Our flight was easy and everyone was watching the super bowl on their seat tv’s (we fly Jetblue) so it seemed to fly by. We landed around 8:30 and then quickly got into a cab (no checked luggage to wait for) and home we went! We dropped Clara off around 9:15 and kids were home in bed by 9:30:)

In all this trip was insane. We tried to fit everything in in 3 days and did things/rides that normally we wouldn’t because Clara was with us. Honestly we pushed way too hard and were just exhausted by the end of it. It isn’t Clara’s fault at all but our trips are usually a little more relaxing and everyone was a little cranky at the end of it.
 As for our hotel- while the Disneyland hotel refurbs are great we still won't be back unless we had a party of 5 with us again.  The walk was a little long and the kids weren't impressed with the little slides (that don't dump into deep water).  Matt and I really missed having White Water snacks available to us and also the bar situation was lacking at the Disneyland hotel (you had to go in and sit, not just up to a counter and take your drink and leave like at the GCH). We are glad we gave it a try though!  But we def. prefer the woodsy theming and not over the top Mickey theming.  Also, that bathrooms are weird at the DLH.  It's all one room, making it very hard for more than one person getting ready in the morning.  We much prefer the Grand's setup of having the shower.toliet in one room and the sinks and vanity elsewhere:)

We plan to go back one last time before our passes expire (we will go end of June/beginning of July for 5 days). Our plan for that trip is just a few hours of rides in the am then back to the hotel to let the kids swim all afternoon while we drink. They also would like to go to the kids clubs every night if we would let them so Matt and I plan on doing that so we can get dinner/drinks every night on our own. We are pretty excited to do a Disneyland trip that is more pool time/date night time then ride time!

First up though is our anniversary trip in April! 9 nights in Hawaii!!! We are spending one night in Waikiki since we land so late and then the kids can see that beach in the morning, then 4 nights at Aulani (the Disney resort that is very UN Disney and very authentic Hawaiian and GORGEOUS- we will be staying in the villas too!) and then 4 nights at our beach house that we stayed at during our wedding week last year. We cannot wait! That trip is a surprise for the kids which will be so much fun:)