Read about our travel day here.

The kids and I woke up ridiculously early in our Anaheim hotel.  The Schneider kids like to get up at 6am and they do not respect time zones.  This means they woke up at 3am West Coast time, rested and raring to go.  I kept them in bed until 4am, then kept them quiet until we could go downstairs for breakfast at 6am.  Do I need to tell you this is my least favorite part of traveling? 

After breakfast, I found a show on the television about the Disney Parks decorating for Halloween.  Since we were visiting the second week of October, this kept them occupied for an hour.  While they were watching, I packed up the things we had used and by 9am we were ready to check out and meet Rob at the Disneyland Hotel.  Let's get this party started!

The approach to Disneyland is not like the approach to Disney World.  The city of Anaheim really does surround the parks.  There is no magical moment when you pass under the Welcome to Walt Disney World sign.  The exit signs don't feature Mickey silhouettes.  It is just, different.  We did spy the iconic Disneyland Hotel sign, so that was a fun moment.  

As soon as our cab pulled up to the hotel, I felt the Disney magic, because the real secret to Disney is the people.  Kind people helped me with the bags and directed me into the lobby for check-in.  The landscaping was what I expected, The hotel might not be as grand as those in Florida, but it was 1960's kitschy Disney, which is what I was hoping for.

I checked us in, but the room wasn't ready (I mean, it was about 10am, I wasn't expecting it to be!).  Rob was on his way from the airport, so the kids and I left our bags with Bell Services and waited a few minutes.  When Daddy arrived, to much fanfare and yelling from the kids who hadn't seen him in a week, we took a walk around the hotel and then went to Trader Sam's Grog grotto for lunch.  This is such a cool place, but since we had the kids with us we sat outside and missed all the special effects.  If you are lucky enough to be here without kids (or at the Polynesian in Florida) I highly recommend sitting inside and ordering the Hippomato-Mai-Tai.  

After lunch, we walked around Downtown Disney.  Here in California, Downtown Disney is smaller, and connects the Disneyland Hotel and the Grand Californian Hotel to the parks.  It was really cool, and helped you to feel like you were in the "Disney Bubble."  

It was FINALLY time for my big surprise for the family.  

A pool cabana!!  Back in January of 2019, when we were at Aulani, we saw the cabanas and Rob made a passing comment about how nice it would be to get one.  Well, the ones in Hawaii are around $500, so that was out of our budget.  But when we started planning our Disneyland trip for October, which is the off season, the cabanas at the Disneyland Hotel were more affordable.  So I booked us one and didn't tell the family.  It was an awesome surprise.

The cabana came with a fruit platter, which the kids ate before I could even take a picture of it.  We also had towels, bottled water, a shaded seating area and an area in the sun, a television, and a server who took our drink and food orders (not included).  This was a luxury that we can't afford to do for every day of our trip, or even every trip, but since we weren't headed into a park that day, we found it to be worth what we paid.  

A little bit of trip business.  While we were enjoying the cabana, I got a text that our room was ready.  So I went to the room and called for the bags to be delivered.  We were in the Fantasy Tower, which is the same tower the lobby is located in.  The room was large and had a "parking lot view" but we chose to look over the parking lot and into the Magic Kingdom.  

I also stopped by the front desk of the hotel and purchased our military discount park tickets.  Right in the lobby!  If you have ever used the military discount at WDW in Florida, you know it is not an easy process.  Tickets have to be purchased and then activated at the park.  In California you can buy them in the Disney hotels or buy them at the Disney ticket windows.  Very cool!

When our cabana time was up, we were ready for bed!  I think it was about 10pm east coast time.  And we needed our rest because we were hitting the Magic Kingdom first thing the next morning!

Continue reading about our journey here.

Read my Pre-Trip Report here.

When the day finally arrived for our trip to California, I was ready to get out of Kentucky and into the California sunshine.  Rob had been in California for a week with the Air Force, sending daily weather updates.  The bags were packed and we were set to go!

Except this was your typical stressful non-rev travel day.  There is a daily direct flight from CVG to LAX that was showing open seats, but it is never a guarantee.  Since I was outnumbered by the kids, I was anxious the whole time that we wouldn't be all together.  This isn't the end of the world, they are good flyers.  But mommy has a little more relaxing time in the air if I have all my chicks with me.  

Our travel day was a Sunday and the flight is in the afternoon, which is nice because the kids and I were able to attend Mass, drop off the dog, and take our time getting to the airport.  If we didn't make the direct flight, my plan was to fly to SLC, get a hotel, then take an early morning flight to California from there.  

Actually, the most stressful part of this journey was the Uber ride from the airport to the hotel. I'm not a seasoned Uber rider, and Rob is usually the one who orders them.  The kids have ridden in an Uber once before, in Paris, with Daddy.  I know I should be more confident, but being the responsible parent is out of my comfort zone!  Of course everything went fine.  We had a lovely experience with LA traffic, but besides that, we were soon safely at our hotel. I'll spare you my stress about checking into hotels.  Seriously, for a world traveler I have anxiety about almost every step!

The plan was for the kids and I to stay in the Anaheim hotel until the next morning, eat the free hotel breakfast, then Uber over to the Disneyland Hotel to meet Rob, who would be arriving from Northern California on a mid-morning flight.  Luckily, we were all very tired from traveling.  Otherwise we might have been too excited to sleep!

Continue reading about our journey here.

It's no secret that we love to go to Disney World. You can read all about some of our previous trips here, here, and here.  And we were in the beginning stages of planning a camping trip to WDW for December 2019 when we realized the logistics just weren't going to work out.  So when Rob got tasked to spend a week in October out in California, I realized it was the perfect time to cross Disneyland in Anaheim off my bucket list!

Rob would be out on the West Coast for the week prior to our homeschool co-op's Fall Break.  That meant the kids and I could fly to LAX and Rob could fly down from San Francisco.  Before you could say Mickey Mouse, I booked a room at the Disneyland Hotel.  

Disneyland is very different from WDW.  For starters, there are only 3 Disney hotels in California.  Yes, there are a ton of non-Disney hotels that are just as close, but I had Disney gift cards and since this was likely our only trip out there I wanted to be IN the Magic. **Spoiler Alert! It was totally worth it and I loved the hotel!**

The next difference was in tickets.  There are military tickets available, and like Florida, they are a fantastic saving.  But unlike Florida, you can buy your military discount tickets right at the resort. And since they use the old FastPass system, there is no need to buy your tickets in advance.

I also familiarized myself and the kids with the differences in rides, shows, and dining venues.  But California is a lot more relaxed when it comes to Advanced Dining Reservations.  In fact, we only made 1 ADR, for a character breakfast on our first park day.

And that was it for the planning!  Disneyland is supposed to be a much more laid back vacation, and the prep work certainly was.  It's a good thing too, because taking a trip over our Fall Break proved to be a very bad time.  I was stressed with house stuff ( a flood and a plumber call), school (and field trips) and packing.  Good thing I planned something extra special for our first day at the resort.  When I just thought I couldn't get through all my to-do items, the thought of my surprise was all that kept me going!

Continue reading about our journey here.

For the final stop in our East Coast Adventure, we camped just outside of Charlottesville, VA.  Our mission here was to see Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, and to visit a Virginia winery.  Over the years I have heard from so many of my friends about all the wineries in this area, but somehow we have never managed to stop and see one.  

Luckily, we found an almost empty campgrounds, a welcome change of pace after being squished in at our previous stop.  The campground was Misty Mountains Campground in Crozet, VA.  Everything was clean and neat, there was an almost empty pool, an it was so peaceful!

After a restful night's sleep, we were off to Monticello.  In case you don't know, Thomas Jefferson was our third president.  On his gravestone he chose to have three things memorialized: Author of the Declaration of Independence, Author of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Founder of the University of Virginia.  But another of his lasting achievements was the building of his home, Monticello.  

As a true Renaissance man (but you know, living in America in the 1700's) Jefferson studied all subjects; including architecture.  His home is thoughtfully laid out in one of the most beautiful settings you can imagine.  I highly recommend stopping here and taking the tour.

After Monticello, we made our winery stop.  I put a call out on Facebook to all my VA friends, asking which winery in the area was the most kid friendly.  I am so glad we chose to visit the King Family Vineyard.  The wine was fantastic and the setting was perfect.  

When our time at the winery was done we were all a little sad.  The next day we would pull up stakes and drive the 6 hours back to Kentucky.  We really enjoyed our time in Virginia and North Carolina!

Little did we know, our trip home would be a lot longer than 6 hours.  Right after we crossed into West Virginia, Rob saw a puff of smoke come from the Jeep we were pulling behind us.  Oh no.  We stopped in Lewisburg, where we had spent the first night of our trip almost 5 weeks before.  There was a repair shop that took a look at the Jeep and it needed new... somethings.  Wheel bearings? Brakes? Something important and expensive.  Luckily they were able to fix it that day and 5 hours later we were on our way home again.