We are back from our vacation! It was a fun vacation, with some ups and downs of course. The weather wasn't the best unfortunately but we made the most of it:-). I'll break it down day by day below.
Friday, April 7th
We left for the airport around 2pm and the kids were excited to be on their way. Adam had been waiting for this vacation for so long! Everything went off without a hitch and we landed at Burbank airport around 7pm, got in a Lyft and made our way to our hotel. We couldn't just go to sleep, of course we had to check out the pool, no matter how cool it was outside! We all made our way for some hot tub time before bed.
The next morning, we had to get up pretty early to make our early entrance at the Super Mario Exhibit at Universal. We tried to get there for shortly after 7, but we didn't actually make it to the entrance of the exhibit until about 7:30. We did our best! We got in line for the Mario ride (which was already at 45 minutes long) and Adam wasn't doing too well. He wasn't all that excited to be in this long line first thing in the morning, and did not care about how cool the surroundings were - the waiting area was pretty cool. We hadn't had time to visit guest services to get the disability access pass so we just toughed it out. Turns out this ride was one you had to wear these glasses for - mostly VR type ride - so totally not up Adam's alley. It was a pretty cool ride and the other kids enjoyed it, but Adam was upset the whole time, Brian reported. He calmed down shortly after and we explored the rest of the lower lot. Brian, Lynsey and Nathan did a few rides on their own while I hung out with Adam, and we made our way upstairs to do the studio tour. Adam wasn't thrilled with this one either, as we had promised him it "wouldn't be dark" and there were a few parts that were dark:-/. Oops! We had lunch at the Krusty Burger after, eating helped. I did get the disability access pass but we really only used it for one ride - there was a small rollercoaster in the Harry Potter area that we all did together. He did enjoy that one.
We went back to the room mid afternoon for some down time, and Brian and Lynsey went back to Universal to do some more rides (Nathan enjoyed himself but decided he didn't want to go back that evening). I took the boys to California Pizza Kitchen for some dinner and then we went back to the room for some much needed sleep. Brian and Lynsey were able to do lots of rides that night and stayed right until closing. A good first day at Universal!
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We didn't have early entry on Sunday so we were a bit more relaxed getting up that day. We still got to the park around 8:30 so we could get on some popular rides before the longer wait times. Brian and I switched today and I did some more rides with the kids while he hung out with Adam (he insisted that he had done as much as he needed to do the night before). I don't mind virtual reality rides so I did some of those with Lynsey and Nathan. The Harry Potter one was about the last straw for me - got a bit motion sick on that one! I enjoyed them but I have done as many rides as I need to do for a while now!
Getting Adam to the WaterWorld show was quite a feat. He had been burned a few times by us not being accurate with descriptions so he did not trust that this show would not be dark. Thankfully we were able to convince him to try it out (it may have involved me threatening to not go on the cruise, not my favorite tactic but it did work in this case. We were desperate, needless to say). He relaxed once the show started and he realized that we were in fact going to be outside in the daylight the whole time. It was a neat show and I'm glad we all got to watch it together. We had lunch in the Harry Potter area where we got to have some delicious Butter Beer (who would have guessed it would be as good as it was!) and after a few more rides made our way back to the hotel for some downtime. We walked to downtown Burbank to have dinner and ultimately decided on Ramen (it was a bit of an ordeal as everyone wanted something different of course) and went to bed. Next day - cruise time!
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Monday, April 10th
We were in no rush this morning as we had breakfast and packed up for the cruise. Our Uber down to the cruise dock was quite an experience, we were all pretty carsick by the time we got there! Not to mention this guy had a pretty small SUV for an Uber XL, we BARELY fit in there with all our luggage! Thankfully we made it there and no one threw up, phew! Getting onto the ship was relatively painless, except for when we got to Guest Services. There was music playing so loudly I could not hear anything they were telling me as I was trying to learn of what accommodations there would be for Adam on the ship (turns out there wasn't much to speak of anyway). I could not handle the music, already so stressful just getting onto the ship with all our stuff and then not being able to hear myself think. Thankfully we were able to get on our way to our stateroom to drop off our bags quite quickly and go get some lunch. This was also a zoo situation. We could hardly find a table. Apparently we weren't the only ones to get on early to have lunch! Our staterooms were completely ready shortly after 1 so we went there and got settled for a bit. We all needed a minute! The rooms were nice and big which was a nice surprise. So nice to have the adjoining rooms.
After a bit of down time, we went to the pool area. It was warm-ish (the warmest it would be all cruise apparently!) so it was pretty busy. The boys had a few runs down the waterslide and spent some time in the pool. Again the music was very loud so Adam was struggling a bit with that. We didn't know about the pool in the rear of the ship which was quieter, we went there next time. We went to the dining room for dinner and turned in pretty early - everyone was feeling pretty exhausted. A pretty good first day on the cruise!
Tuesday, April 11th
The next morning we were docked at Catalina Island, and were greeted with the most amazing dolphin show right outside our window! There were so many of them and they entertained us for a solid 15-20 minutes. So fun! We had breakfast and made our way to the water taxi to get to the island. It was a cute island, not a lot to do but it was a fun little stop. We walked around, stopped at a coffee shop for some drinks and a cinnamon bun. Nathan finally convinced me to rent a pedal boat and we went pedaling around the harbor for a bit. The sun finally came out, yay! We made our way back to the line to get on a water taxi around 1:30, and the process to get back on the ship was a bit of a pain. We got on the first water taxi, but then it took forever to dock at the ship, and then it took forever to get off because they were making everyone go through security. Adam was pretty much done with waiting by this time and we were all at the end of our ropes. We didn't quite make it to the all you can eat pasta bar (which closed at 2:30 and we were there just at 2:30) so we got the buffet for lunch. Had some down time and then Brian took Adam swimming while I took Nathan and Lynsey to explore some more of the boat. We did the mini golf once, but it was pretty cold so we went back to the room after. We went to dinner and again everyone was just zonked out and so we had an early bedtime.
Wednesday, April 12th
Another cool morning. We had breakfast and got off the ship into Ensanada. We weren't really sure what to do here, as my plan had been to just go to the beach and hang out, so we went and did that even though it wasn't really beach weather. Adam enjoyed his beach time, Nathan dug another hole, we hung out for a bit. We decided to pack it in early and just go back to the ship for lunch. It was a bit unfortunate that it wasn't warmer but what can you do! We went to the all you can eat pasta bar and then went upstairs so Nathan could do the ropes course. After that we hung out in the room for a while, and then Brian and I skipped out to have a drink at the sports bar. It was nice to get some adult time. Brian took Nathan and Lynsey to a "Deal or No Deal" show later which they really enjoyed (we tried to take Adam but he refused so I hung back with him) and then we had dinner at the buffet. We came back to the buffet line later for some hot chocolate before going to bed. Not a very eventful day but everyone was happy enough with the slower pace!
Thursday, April 13th
Fun Sea Day incoming! Once again the weather wasn't super warm, so there wasn't a whole lot for us to do. Brian, Lynsey and Nathan went to do some Harry Potter trivia, and we did go to the pool for a bit. It just wasn't warm enough unfortunately. Adam was a trooper and did some swimming anyway! Brian said it was so cold it hurt his legs, the rest of us braved only the hot tub. Brian and I went for a drink, and Brian took Lynsey and Nathan to see a comedian for a bit. We had dinner and Brian, Lynsey and I watched a creepy movie called "Megan". It was a nice ending to the cruise, I think everyone was ready to get back to port the next morning.
Friday, April 14th
We got up and got packing first thing, as we had to be off the ship by 9:30. We had some breakfast and made our way off around 9am. The debarking process was smooth thankfully, no lines to wait in. It took a bit to get a car to get over to Long Beach airport where we were picking up our rental car, but we made it there eventually. We drove to our hotel up by LAX (where we were flying out the next day) but our room wasn't quite ready so we went to a beach close by for a bit. Again - it was cold, but Adam didn't seem to mind. We had lunch at In n Out burger and went back to the hotel where our room was ready for us. We had some downtime and went to the pool for a bit. It was a lovely pool area and they had adequately heated the pool thankfully. After getting cleaned up from swimming, we made our way over to Santa Monica Pier. The kids did some rides and we hung out on the beach for a bit. We went to the taco place that Brian and I really liked the last time we were there - it was as good as I remember it! Great last dinner for our vacation!
We packed up the next morning and made our trek back to the airport. Dropping off the car was pretty straightforward and we made it to our gate with time to spare. All in all a fun vacation! We would do a cruise again, but definitely one in the Caribbean next time (and probably on a higher end cruise line). Carnival wasn't bad, I was aware of the level of cruise we were going on and it was about what I expected, I just think I might want something a bit nicer next time (aware that it will cost more). For the price we paid, this was a perfectly good first cruise experience for our family!
