Day 1 - Dropped the Brand New Camera

Well, we arrived at LAX without too much trouble. Zoe was quite fussy, but we survived it. Kyrie was kept quite busy trying to keep Zoe happy and keeping up with all of Ella's requests. We found our shuttle without too much trouble and were at Disney's Grand Californian by 3:00pm.

When we arrived, the kids were trying to throw coins into a wishing well so Kyrie took out the camera to take a picture and immediately dropped it to the pavement. The zoom was out and everything. It got a pretty good dent in it,but after a little effort we got it working again and it seems to be working fine. Our room wasn't ready yet, so we decided to head over to California Adventure to get dinner and go on a few rides. We ate at the Boudin Bakery and had soup in bread bowls. Then we went on the new Little Mermaid ride before heading over to A Bug's Land. Bug's Land shrinks you down to the size of a bug and contains rides for the really little kids. We started out on the Heimlich Chew Chew train which all of the kids enjoyed - especially when Heimlich ate his way into an animal cracker box and we could smell the cookies. Then we went on the Tuck and Roll bumper cars. Both Jacob and Max liked crashing into people. After that we went on the Francis' spinning ladybug ride, which has some technology that I just can't understand. The ladybugs spin on these two turntables in a figure eight pattern and somehow they can switch between the two. Then we went on Flick's flying machines before watching the "It's Tough to be a Bug" movie. Max insisted on sitting in the back row so that it would be less scary. After the movie Kyrie and the boys went on Soarin' before we headed back to our hotel. The kids fell asleep pretty quickly and Kyrie and I watched the World of Color water show from the balcony of our room. This is Kyrie now. I guess I'll speak in italics since I can't seem to change the color or anything. I want to add some details and make sure MY views are expressed too!

I love the Disney magic! It was great that as we pulled into the Grand Californian and our luggage was being unloaded, that a cast member came over with some pennies for the kids to make a wish and throw into the fountain. A great start to our trip (except the whole camera dropping thing...but it turned out okay!)

Then I went to check in with Zoe while Marc stayed with the kids by the cartoons playing in the lobby. Our room wasn't ready, but they did tell me that they were able to give me the room we requested overlooking Paradise Pier where they show the World of Color show nightly. Yay!

They also gave Zoe a "First Visit" button and gave a nice helium balloon to each of the kids in honor of Zoe's first visit. BEST of all they gave us 5 ultimate fastpasses. I don't know what they're really called, but each ticket was good for two immediate fast passes at any ride. They gave us our keys/charge cards and said they would text us our room number when the room is ready. Excellent! We walked through Downtown Disney to the park entrances and bought Annual Passes since we plan to visit Disneyland again in the Fall. We entered the California Adventure park where they are doing a TON of construction! The main entrance is completely blocked and we were routed around a great distance.

We ran into Lightning McQueen and Mater and had our pictures taken for our APs by the photopass photographer here too.

Boudin Bakery was delicious and the tables outside are a great place to sit and enjoy your food made even better by the surroundings, I think. We ordered 3 soups in bread bowls. We asked for the soup in a cup so we could split the bread better. Max didn't want any soup. I was tempted to order one of there Mickey shaped loaves because they look so cool, but I figured we had enough bread.

By the time we rode all the rides in A Bug's Land it definately been a long day (especially for the kids) so we headed back to put them to bed and unpack. I LOVE the Grand Californian villas! We stayed in a one bedroom and it was perfect for us. It's my favorite DVC resort so far (and we've stayed at most of them.) The best part about THIS room though was the awesome view.

It was cool to see the World of Color show from the balcony!