You cannot help being happy here..

Usually the family visits the happiest place on earth aka Disneyland during Thanksgiving and celebrate the parents birthdays. This year, we were not sure what was going to happen during thanksgiving. 

Both the kids were new college bound.. the older one for a masters and the younger one starting undergrad.

At the end of summer we knew they were both going to be in Southern California 2 hours apart in two different UC's. 

So we made a plan on the long weekend to go visit both schools, hunt for housing for the older one, look at the college for the younger one to see how she will fit in and as an added bonus, given we cross Disney, dedicate one day for Disney as well. 

The college visits were not much.. they were empty and deserted as it was a long weekend and in hindsight it was a bad idea to show the kids deserted eerie large open spaces and collosal buildings. Does not help form a good first impression. Still that is where they ended up and have settled in. Both of them got hit with health issues and local hospital and ER visits within a quarter. All that seems to be behind us. This post is about our Disney visit.

Given we have almost been there every alternate year for the last 24 (this blog probably has enough entries to make a parade evolution video), this maybe just "yet another Disney post". 

We did smile all day, have fun, go see the latest Star Wars show. You have to see it. It is just too amazing for words (there are small bits in the video.. but not giving anything away so you go see it for yourself)!

Enjoyed as many rides as possible in one day, but didn't sit in the cold for fireworks. We saw it on the way to the parking lot. We had dinner reservations for a mexican place right outside the gate but within the Disney walkway to the parking lot. So we rushed to have dinner, then watched the fireworks and walked back to the hotel. 

Here are a few memories for later.

The kids wanted to go to Plant power, a burger chain which was apparently the place to be for Veggie burgers! So went with them and ate fries while they enjoyed the burgers as an early evening snack.

We also got to eat at a small Indian restaurant right next this place called Star of India. That place did not disappoint. It was very good snacks and amazing ginger chai!

We did some shopping including my first visit to a thrift store to buy things! The kids had made a reservation at a fancy place, Osteria La Buca (in Melrose) for dinner and we enjoyed that as well. The candle lights were a special touch!

We also got to eat at a place later in Santa Barbara called Masala Spice. That was also good. Finger licking good. 

Have always failed at these pictures that they take.. so we never end up buying one. Someday, I will stare at that camera and smile. The family was mocking me for a good hour after this. "Even Disney is giving us something for free and you mess it up!"

and the parade.. we always love this parade of old and new Disney characters.. they make it so much fun!

Our visit to a sea of storm troopers! We were talking about the possibility of "storm trooping" being a minimum wage job, now that the kids are older and our conversations in Disney seem to be different every now and then.. then the kids hit me with some snarky comment to put me back in my place, so we can all be just kids again and enjoy the rides!

A picture with the main star of the place. We stood in line for more than an hour to get this picture!

and the final fireworks!

and a video as usual!

our smiling faces say it all..

There was a picture of the girls in a tea cup that brough back memories from a different tea cup ride in San Jose downtown.

Kids are all grown up.. but happy to see them still be kids in tea cups!

I am happiest when my girls are all smiles.

This place is priceless!

Given almost every trip has a bittersweet ending for me recently, this one also did. Here is a public service annoucement. Always wear sunglasses when driving back from LA back to the bay area. Yes, the sun is in your face when you drive back and your eyes are wide open after a few hectic days in theme parks or otherwise. The wind is almost always kicking up crap on 101 North when you are near the San Antonio de Padua mission exit. Something went into my eye. It took me a good week to get better after washing and treating it. 

Wear those damn sunglasses..even if you think you don't look good in them. You can thank me later!

Post COVID Disney - an eye opener

It has been years since we went to Disney. Given we have been there almost every year, this has been a long break. There have been many Disney or Disney related posts in this blog...

We wanted to go somewhere, anywhere as a family. The only place the Kids agreed to go was Disney! The happiest place on Earth! We had hotel reservations but no confirmed tickets till the last minute. The way it works now is that you check availability on that day and if it opens up, book the tickets. It is total headcount based per San's information! The Disney main park is booked solid. We did get an opening for the California Adventure on Friday for a Sunday visit. We took it!

The road trip itself was fun. I got to drive and drive and clear my head after a long long time. Long drives are cathartic in their own way. The family has a playlist of songs I don't like and I am sure they wanted to play those so I will not try to sing along. 

Disney has changed a lot post COVID. First the prices. We expect that from Disney and were not grumpy. Disney tickets are now variable pricing like United. So no surprises there! 

Next the mask requirement and enforcement. There are signs everywhere, things being said on the speakers and by the folks who are working the lines, but... there are a lot of folks who simply are not following mask guidelines. So you go at your own risk! Again, expected to see this given the demographic in the US. 

Then the demographic of the crowd. Normally we see a colorful crowd. This time the crowd we saw was less than 20% of colored folks. Most of the folks who were working in the restraurants, kiosks and the folks responsible for line management were black/Hispanic/Asian. The walking, riding crowd was not. We saw 4 desi families total from 8AM-4:30 PM in that park! That was interesting. Maybe all the desi folks are risk averse and don't want to risk COVID by coming to Disney? Maybe the ticket prices are ridiculous that not many follks think it is worth the trip? Don't know!

Then there was the fast pass..we could reserve a fixed time window for a ride and go at that time to save time instead of standing in line. There were restrictions but it still worked. You needed some planning skills. Now there is no fast pass. It has been replaced with the "lightning pass". You pay 20 bucks a person and you get to go through this line for the top three rides in the park. Then there is another 20 bucks a person pass for all other rides.  Think "special Darshan" queue at Thirupathi.. 

Initially we thought maybe maybe we could go to guest services and switch the ticket from California Adventure to the main park, but it was not meant to be. So after spending 30 minutes after park opened to try switch tickets, we ended up walking into the California Adventure park. The minute we walked in though, the kids eyes lit up. The Avengers theme area was in this park!! We always wanted to see this since it opened. So we ran to the first big ride and realized the wait time was 90 minutes. We stood in line for 105 minutes to see a 3 minute ride. It was great, but we promptly bought the lighting pass and the other paid fast pass. Then we covered the next two top rides in the next hour. As soon as you use the pass, it lets you book the next ride on the App. 

we just love this "Radiator springs" area which Jr. used to call "Gladiator springs".. the attention to detail to the Cars movie series is just amazing!

Between the big rides the kids would take us to the little rides in each area!

The extra money was well spent as we pretty much covered everything by 4:30 PM. The last ride we went to was the Guardians of the Galaxy (which used to be the drop tower now converted to a new themed ride).. except.. except.. instead of one drop, now there is 7 drops and you just keep going up and down for 3 minutes. Haven't screamed like this in a long time and my fingers were white from holding on to the arm grip the whole time. The funny thing is that the lightning pass for this had a wait of 30 minutes. Guess by 4PM everyone paid for a lightning pass! The regular line wait time was 2 hours!! Reminded me of United Airlines again "All group 1 ready to board!" and you see 400 out of the 420 people on the plane line up as group 1!  It is just a question of time when they introduce the Thunderbolt pass which is 100 bucks a person and an escort will walk you to the ride and sit you there and put the seat buckle... you heard it here first!

Was telling the family "Thirupathila kooda mottai adichcha sandanam freeaa kudupaanga.. Disneyla sandanam sold separately!" (even in Thirupathi, when you go tonsure your head, they will give you sandalwood paste for free to apply on the head.. if it was up to Disney, they will charge for that separately). They are trying to make up for the park closure during COVID by charging for everything. 

The kids were extremely helpful in using the App, planning, making us run from place to place, ordering food on the App, etc. It is great when your kids are old enough and they tell you what to do! Told them that for the first time they moved from the liability to asset column and they both rolled their eyes! 

We just decided that there was enough exposure to unmasked people for the day, or for our life and walked out at 4:30.  The small parade was fun to watch on the way out!

You can no longer take pictures in front of special props. For every such place, there is a Disney Photographer and a line! They take the picture and you pay for it.. we just clicked pictures as we walked along.. with our phones. For once I didn't even edit these pictures from the phone to post in the blog!

We did not stay back for the fireworks. We had seen it the previous night from the restaurant where we had dinner. The kids were like "we covered everything thanks to the paid pass! Let's go get some rest!"

On the whole it was a nice day, pleasant weather, great rides. The food at Disney sucks and it has gotten worse over the years and the unmasked crowd is a little scary. 

They have redone a lot of rides and it was good to go on these.

We will still recommend Disney to anyone as it is guranteed fun for the day! The happiest place on earth is accessible only to folks who can shell out a lot of money at short notice and the more you fork out, the happier you are!

A video of the day.. Have captured the cars thing here.. the kids wanted to go on it again.. so we took the single rider option where we are all separated and went back to the line for 30 minutes and did it twice. This is one ride that makes the California adventure worth it! Truly amazing!

Disney is still king.. just need to improve on the food options, especially for vegetarians! No better place to enjoy the holiday spirit!

Had a nice dinner at a local Italian place to made up for the bad food in the afternoon, and called it a day! 

Our drive back was interesting thanks to a great rest stop! 

2021 definitely wrapped up nicely with this one day adventure!

The best part for me was to watch the girls talk to each other all day, jointly plan what to do next.. it was like watching them be kids again and that alone was worth all the driving! 

A prequel to all road trips

It has been close to two years since we went on a long road trip as a family! Thanks to COVID and one kid being in college in the mid-west and the other one being in 11th grade and busier than most CEO's, any trip was challenging.

San gave the usual ultimatum and the kids relented and agreed to come out for a weekend. So we drove to Disney, spent a day there (if you can call it that) and drove back. The Disney experience post COVID will be a post in itself.. this is the prequel..

Before every such long road trip, I get to make sandwiches for the family with some potato box curry.. It has to be the box curry and not the boiled and peeled masala curry. The masala curry is easier to make and it doesn't make a difference as a filling, but the kids insist on it being box curry.. apparently they can taste the % differnence in the potato roasted surface area within the filling! Whatever..

and a video of the making... one handed videos are challenging to make. Seem to have lost the touch... used to do these easily years ago..

Did enjoy making it for old times sake and we all ate it on the drive to LA. This way there is only one rest room stop for 10 minutes and we keep going! We usually make it in under 6 hours, but got stuck in LA traffic this time and made it in a little over 7 hours. 

Enjoyed the drive. There were no fights, no arguments, just eating sandwiches, snacks and keep going!

As long as I agreed not to open my mouth and sing, all was well. Did keep that promise, even though there was a lot of temptation to launch into song, listening to what was playing in the car. 

My next project is to make my own almond caramel sea salt bars, so I don't have to buy the expensive Kind bars which still might have peanuts in them. That will be the weekend project.. 

The trip is done and will post about it next..

Disneyland 2015

Stop 5 on the road trip was Disneyland.. Well, it was supposed to be stop 1, but we moved things a bit last minute to travel early!

We have stopped counting how many times we have visited "the happiest place on earth"..

When you are that happy, you shouldn't count!

The highlight of this trip was that our kids

- were not in strollers 

- we did not have to chase after them or worry about them getting lost as they had cell phones with them

- they eat faster and by themselves

- they don't need to be accompanied to the rest rooms

- and they were bold enough to go on "single rider" passes to bypass the long lines. 

Granted, going as single riders kind of defets the "family" aspect of it, but hey.. we stay in the same line till the ride point.. then we split up into differnt cars and we are usually within one or two cars in each ride. Once inside the ride, it is all dark and dingy for the most part and you are screaming your head off.. except for the little one, who missed squeezing daddy's hand during the rides we were okay. 

We started off the day with the usual pictures at the entrance.. 

 moved through the park and did as many rides as we could. We did stand in line for 40 minutes to go "as a family" in Space Mountain .. so we could buy the photograph they click at the end. We are so familiar now that we pose for the camera on Space Mountain. 

We ran back and forths, got fast passes where we could, split up to do different things every now and then.. basically let the kids decide.

we watched two parades and parallel processed one parade while standing in line for "it's a small world"!

Then the kids decided to wait in line for 60 minutes in Toon town for a 60 second ride while San decided to stand in line for a little over an hour to get a picture with Mickey... for old times sake!

I was torn between the two and did neither. Just sat at the fountain and took pictures for passers by.. 

Selfie sticks are banned in Disney.. and it is so sad to watch 8 people try to fit into a selfie. Did my bit of social service while watching the kids inch their way to the top of the line for their ride. Lot of good karma in that one hour in Toon town!

The kids knew I was mad after their ride because the sun had set and daddy had told them that toontown looks amazing just before sunset as the colors come alive! after receiving a little lecture and promptly forgetting that lecture, we moved fast to exit the park.. at 6PM.. that was a first! 

Good Karma sometimes doesn't come back right away. I took the picture above of the kids, then went stood there and asked this lady to take a picture.. we got this back. For some reason, she decided to do her own thing.. we are happy that the family was in the frame!

then came the best part. As part of the package ticket, my darling wife had got us this pass for "dining with characters" at Goofy's kitchen in the Disney resort. The kids took a short break to dress up and we went for dinner.. 

we had the time of our life watching them be so happy!

You can see from the video that the highlight was Goofy's kitchen..

We had shared iPhone photos from Disney on FB.. Had to come home to get this one from the Canon.. This one is going to be framed.

Next time, we should just skip the park and stay at the resort (we have never done that) and just have breakfast, lunch and dinner with the characters.. more fun.. more smiles!

One weird thing on this trip.. There were no desis in sight in the park. We were joking that someone must have sent a memo to all desis telling them that 30th was a no Disney day or something and we missed the memo! We saw maybe 3 or 4 desi families in the park all day. 

All four of us had a great time, yet again!

Where "magic" happens

When we go to Disney, Magic always happens. 

Irrespective of your age, be it 6 or 60,  7 1/2 or 75 the faces are lit up with a smile as some person in a costume comes along and hi fives you!

The next three are not good shots. Wish I could have gone to the parade a little earlier to position myself better to capture my parents and kids instead of staying too close to them. There is always the next trip where we can do that right..

Then of course there is the fireworks and a show that we have never seen in any of our past disney trips where they project directly on the castle while the fireworks goes on. Truly spectacular!

It was not an easy shot as I was carrying the little one on my left hip (she had dozed off as it was 10PM and she had literally walked miles that day) and the Canon 5D Mark ii which weighs at least 6 lbs with a 24-105 lens had to be hand held vertically on my right hand which is not yet as strong as it could be and it had to be held as steady as possible.

The projection lit up the castle and it helped. Truth be told there is more credit to the MK ii than to me for getting this shot with this kind of contrast and clarity.

Canon, I humbly bow before you!

This was our best Disney trip ever........ so far!

We are sure they will top this experience for us in another three years when we will visit for the little one's 10th birthday celebration.