I've been wanting to visit Oceanside for quite awhile but it hasn't quite worked out until Thanksgiving week. The Worldmark had a couple nights so we went there before Disney. What an awesome little place! We thoroughly enjoyed the condo and amenities, shopping at the pier and going to the beach. Ainsley and I played tennis for hours while the boys swam, played football and basketball. We saw the movie Frozen one of the nights and visited my cousin, Kirsten and her son Rowan and she ended up saving us because when we opened the back of the car, Reggie knew immediately that he'd forgotten his suitcase! She had a client give her some teen clothes, so we snatched up some t-shirts and bought some underwear, socks and a couple pair of pants and he was good to go. But, kind of annoying. We also saw my cousin Ben and his wife Andrea! It was a nice relaxing couple of days which was much needed.
They've got some practicing to do:
View from our balcony. First time we've ever had a view....
And then, we headed to Anaheim. We used Marriott points and stayed at a Residence Inn. Not exactly the best set-up but we made it work. We woke up bright and early and headed to the park in the rain. It rained the first half of the day, but then it cleared up and we were able to ride all the ride more than once with relatively little waiting. It was great, but we did learn that Cars does not run in the rain. Many of the rides broke down and when they get up and running all the fast passers have priority so it was a bit crazy. We didn't even use our fast pass on cars because that line was ridiculously long. It was also a challenge to find gluten free food for dinner for Ryan, but he finally found a Mexican restaurant and what a find. They had these cinnamon tortilla chips that we had everyday :). We stayed until about 9 that day and walked almost 10 miles!
New star wars ride:
We were going to try to do the Magic Morning the next day but we didn't quite make it. It was pouring down rain and pretty chilly. Khalif and my feet were wet for 2 days and it was miserable. There were a lot of people that decided to go on Thanksgiving even with the rain and we rode many of the rides but left at 2 after going on Splash Mountain, a ride I had to force Reggie and Khalif to go on. Khalif had a lot of fear and was nervous about almost everything we did. I made him go and although he wasn't happy, it turned out to be his favorite ride. Lesson learned! Unfortunately, Ainsley lost her prescription glasses in line on that ride so I filed a report and they were very good at communicating that they hadn't found them. But 5 days later, I got a note that they did find them, so they are on their way in the mail. She also forgot her snacks that day, but lucky for her it ended up being a short day. We had a little downtime before dinner, so of course, hit the Black Friday shopping! We barely made it to dinner at the Golden Coral...they locked the door right after we got in. The food was awesome but they ran out of mashed potatoes and the environment was terrible. I guess people don't see anything wrong with letting their kids roll around on the floor!
A surprise favorite, It's a Small World
Miserable! Somehow my feet still got soaked :(
We were very excited for the last day and the good weather, but it was clear right away that there were exponentially more people at the park. We wanted to hit cars first since we didn't get to do that at all on Thanksgiving, so we went there right after Soarin which broke down right before we got on. Luckily, it was our 2nd time, so it wasn't as bad. We got a free fast pass, but so annoying. Ryan and I went to the bathroom and the 3 took off for Cars but unfortunately the ride broke down right before the kids got on. Khalif couldn't wait any longer so he took off for the bathroom, but didn't quite make it so his souvenir was a pair of Mickey sweats. The day didn't start off so well, but after lunch it got a bit better. Still super long lines and tons of people but somehow our fast passes came together and we were able to ride several rides.
Apparently the characters don't like the rain either. These were the only 2 we saw besides mater and Lightning McQueen
Reggie was hoping there was a way he could sleep in Star Wars land. He went back by himself once and again with Khalif. He loved it! They are building a Avengers area, so he wants to go back when that opens...maybe in a few years! That place is exhausting!!!
