Our last vacation of the summer and Paige planned a fun one. Paige does not really like flying so I was really surprised when she told me she wanted to go to California for our next vacation. We woke up early this morning to make it to Charlotte for an 8:00 am flight but everyone was super excited so wasn't hard to get everyone up and ready. Sam had no idea where we were going; ok she knew California because daddy probably let it slip 30 times over the last couple months but no idea what we were doing in California but she was excited. On the plane she got to get some movies in and the 5 hour flight really did not seem like 5 hours. We had rented a minivan for the week so first we had to go get that. Once in the minivan Paige had two presents for Samantha, the first was a Cinderella necklace which was no help for Samantha on guessing where we were going and second was a Disneyland book which was enough for her to figure out we were going to Disneyland. Once out of rental car lot even though it was 11:30 we were starving (lost three hours on flight) so we found the closest In-N-Out we could find; you could literally still see the planes landing while we were eating. After lunch it was time to head towards Disneyland and the hotel. We are staying at a Hilton Garden Inn a couple blocks down from the parks so we got to see the entrance on the way to the hotel. Then our tradition in Florida is to unload the car and then make a quick run to Target and Starbucks prior to getting started so that is what we did here. After getting everything settled back in the room we headed to Downtown Disney as we had dinner reservations later that night at 5:45 at Goofy's Kitchen with character friends. Downtown Disney was very similar to the old Downtown Disney in Florida; not as big but very familiar. Dinner was at Disneyland Hotel so we made our way there while doing a little shopping on the way. Samantha and I were very excited when we figured out what Paige had booked for our dinner as we always enjoy any character meal. After dinner it was a little more shopping and then heading back home. Tomorrow is an early morning as we have extra Magic Hour in the morning so rope drop for us is at 7:00 am at Disneyland.
