Our itinerary was:

• Saturday – Arrive and get settled, explore Downtown Disney
• Sunday – Disneyland
• Monday – Disneyland (Starting at California Adventure)
• Tuesday – Rest day, enjoy the pool, Anaheim Packing District
• Wednesday – Universal Studios Hollywood
• Thursday – Disneyland

Disneyland

Disneyland is a blast. We really enjoyed the rides, the immersive lands, the characters, and even the food. I’m glad we had 3 days to explore the two neighbouring parks (Disneyland and California Adventure). Every day was busy, but not super rushed.

We always had granola bars ready to keep everyone fuelled. We had 4 adults to switch off and take any kids who didn’t want to go on a ride. We had entertainment ready for long lineups (which we rarely needed). And, we had a plan for our first morning so we weren’t stumbling around overwhelmed.

We didn’t plan everything ahead of time, but it was nice to have a strategy for the beginning of the day. After that we were more flexible, keeping an eye on lineup times in the app, and knowing which rides were “must-dos”.

Memorable Moments

The girls were so excited about their first ride, Peter Pan’s Adventure. They rode on their own with no adults and when they got off they shouted, “that was amazing!“

Meeting the characters was surprisingly fun. The girls loved getting autographs and pictures, even with the characters they weren’t familiar with. My favourites were the ones that spent time talking to the kids.

Alice and the Mad Hatter were very witty.

Gaston refused to sign the autograph book because he didn’t know how to read or write. He just kissed the page and quipped about how “chemistry is more important than words”.

Rey and Chewbacca taught the kids how to use the force and speak Shyriiwook.

Dole Whip is amazing – whipped pineapple goodness and 100% vegan! Our first dole whips were enjoyed while watching the tiki show. Then we went back the next day and got the special flavour ones. 😋 Overall, the food in Disney was pretty good with plant-based options at most places. But the dole whip is the only thing I’d go back specifically for.

It was awesome to see the 7-year-olds push their boundaries and go on increasingly thrilling rides – like Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, and Rise of the Resistance. Astrid loved the roller coasters, often had her hands in the air, and was brave enough to go on every ride we did, including the Indiana Jones Adventure, Mission Breakout, and the Incredicoaster (a high-speed looping coaster).

The Star Wars area – Galaxy’s Edge – was super fun to explore. Top-notch theming. Astrid was terrified of the stormtroopers walking around – she would run away and hide when they came by and we were worried we wouldn’t find her. Too bad she never used her Jedi mind tricks on them.

We had to drag the girls away from the splashy Grizzly River Run after 3 back-to-back rides. It was just warm enough to be enjoyable and there was no lineup (apparently only Canadians like getting wet in late November). The girls loved it but they also had a change of clothes waiting when we were done. Emily had to sit in the sun drying her socks after getting soaked.

Favourite Rides

Astrid (7 years old)

• Grizzly River Run
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Space Mountain
• Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run
• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway

Emily (Mom)

• Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
• Incredicoaster
• Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye
• Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run

Christopher (Dad)

• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
• Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!
• Space Mountain
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure

Universal Studios Hollywood

If it wasn’t for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, we wouldn’t have made the effort to go to Universal Studios. It’s kind of a pain in the butt to get to Hollywood from Anaheim and most of the rides are geared at older kids. But the girls are just getting into the Harry Potter books and movies, and a chance to visit Hogwarts was too big an opportunity to pass up.

I did all the planning for our Universal Studios day. Getting stuck in LA freeway traffic was the last thing I wanted to do, so I figured out how to get us there by public transit. I also wanted to hype up the Hogwarts part of the trip, so I had a lot of activities prepared to get the kids in the mood on our way to the park. Unfortunately, nothing went quite as planned. We still had a good time, but I learned a lot about setting expectations – for myself and others.

Invitation to Hogwarts

On our rest day, OWL post arrived at our hotel inviting the 3 kids to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and instructing them to catch the Hogwarts Express from Fullerton Station. They were SUPER excited and jumped on the beds.

But excitement turned to anxiety as Astrid worried she didn’t have the necessary school supplies (like cauldrons and quills) to attend Hogwarts. I made the mistake of telling her, “I don’t think you need those. You know this isn’t real, right?” Huge mistake. After the crying was over, she made it clear that she wasn’t going to forgive me for ruining the magic. Luckily, that was largely forgotten when we arrived the next day.

Universal Studios didn’t open until 10 am, so that gave us plenty of time to get there from our Disneyland hotel on a multi-modal journey involving rideshare to the train station, a Metrolink train downtown, a subway ride, and a shuttle to the park entrance (more about that in another blog post).

I told the kids we were taking the Hogwarts Express and played up the train part of the journey. We even filmed a scene with the kids disappearing through the barrier next to the platform. On the train, I had Harry Potter-themed activities for the kids to do, with word searches, mazes, and quizzes.

Memorable Moments

A lot went wrong. Our train was 20 minutes late. The girls fought over the wands. The cool A-Train artwork in the LA Union Station was broken. We had a washroom emergency on the subway. The used wands I brought were finicky and barely worked. Our lunch order took forever making everyone hangry. We had an unexpected downpour and no one packed rain jackets. We got stuck on the Jurassic World ride for 10 minutes under a giant t-rex which pretended to bite us on repeat. We got lost leaving the park and couldn’t find the rideshare pickup. Traffic was horrible driving back to Anaheim. Ugh. Yet somehow we still had fun.

The kids loved exploring Hogsmeade and Hogwarts Castle. The Flight of the Hippogriff rollercoaster was short and tame, but the kids liked it. The highlight, though, was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey – a flying simulation roller coaster. Even the lineup was cool, taking us through all the parts of the Hogwarts Castle including the greenhouses, classrooms, and dormitories. The ride was fantastic. There wasn’t any lineup first thing in the morning, so the girls rode it on repeat multiple times, although it gave the adults motion sickness. Astrid even felt a little bit motion-sick after 3 repeated trips.

The shops were fascinating to explore, with broomsticks, robes, and chocolate frogs for sale. We had to drag the kids away after lunch so we could explore the rest of the park (and not spend a fortune in golden Galleons). Although, we came back at the end of the day to buy souvenirs and watch the light show.

The Water World show was thrilling and fun to watch. Astrid spent most of the show nervous but excited and liked the main character Helen.

Super Nintendo Land was cool to explore for a bit. The area looks stunning, but the only ride (a Mario Kart race through Bowser’s Castle) was overwhelming and hard to understand.

The other areas of the park were disappointing. The Minions ride was ok. And the Secret Life of Pets was one of the worst rides we went on all trip.

More California Fun

After 5 days in Southern California, we weren’t quite ready to come home. So we jumped on a Pacific Surfliner Amtrak train along the coast to Oakland. It was nice to have a relaxing day on the train, with beautiful views of the ocean, and books and puzzles to keep us amused. It was a long journey and once it got dark, Astrid kept asking, “are we there yet?”

In Oakland and San Francisco, we visited our friends, went for a bike ride through Golden Gate Park, hiked through the redwoods, and ate some of the best vegan food ever.

Wildseed in San Francisco was amazing, Rico Rico Vegano in Oakland delivered the top-notch Mexican food we expect in California, and the chaat at Vik’s brought back fond memories of India.