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Old 12 May 15, 08:55 PM  
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LLKJDisney
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The Moretons Amazing California Adventure - Day 1 Travel day

DAY 1 – TRAVEL DAY

The Cast – quick intro

Me – Kerry – 37 year old Disney Fanatic, been an obsessive planner and researcher since we booked our West Coast Trip. I am the driver but a little nervous about driving this time.
Lee – 36 year old – Loves all theme parks, doesn’t like to sit down and rest especially on holiday. Main job is to read the maps and get us to places (doesn’t always go to plan)
Jacob – 6 year old – Moody teenager already, likes a drama and makes out he is scared of everything until he does it then loves it.
Lucas – 3 year old – Another high maintenance little boy who knows what he wants (and often gets it) His smile is his secret weapon
Granddad – Dick – 63 year old – Very young at heart still has the energy to keep up with boys. Not so keen on the Roller coasters after riding the Hulk.
Grandma – Sue –62-year-old – Loves Donald Duck and is the chief tea maker of the group. Also loves any animal based park

As always I write my trip reports so that I can look back at them in the future with my boys and show them things they may not remember. If anybody else gets any enjoyment or picks up any hints or tips then that is even better. I hope you enjoy the read’

The day that we had all been waiting for had finally arrived, we booked this trip just under a year ago but we had been planning it a lot longer. All the adults had the Friday off work to complete the last minute jobs. The boys were not given the same luxury and were at school/playgroup; otherwise those last minute jobs would never get done.

We set the alarm for 6.15am on Saturday morning, as we wanted to leave for Heathrow around 8am. Even though our flight was not until 3.30pm, we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time incise we encountered any traffic. We need not have bothered with the alarm as Lee was up at 5.15am! It was just like Christmas morning he is always up first then as well. No drama’s meant we left our house at 7.55am and made our way over to Sue and Dick’s and arrived there at 8.10am which is 10 mins later than planned but still pretty good by our standards.

Ready for the off!

It was a painless journey down to Heathrow; we even afforded ourselves the luxury of stopping twice. Once because Dick needed a wee and the other time because Dick needed a Marks & Spencer sandwich! Although the rest of us did eat as well. If Dick is travelling anywhere on a motorway over 50 miles a Marks & Spencer sandwich stop is mandatory.

We pulled into Purple Parking at 10.50am and from here all I can say is was great service the whole thing was. We were given a ticket on entrance at a manned barrier, where a nice lady in a booth whose computer said Yes, was expecting us we were told where to unload in a parking bay just around the corner and make our way inside where we needed to give our keys to the bus driver. It was almost too easy.

The drive was no problems at all and we were dropped off at Terminal 2 where we made our way inside, as expected it was quite busy! We used the self-check in machines, which seemed to take forever. Machine printed off our luggage labels and we stuck them on our cases, we then joined another queue to check our bags in. We were greeted by a very stern faced lady who most certainly wasn’t in the holiday spirit (don’t think she worked for Air NZ), who proceeded to tell me that as I hadn’t got 6 months remaining on my passport I was unable to fly! she would have to check with her supervisor that I was ok to fly. Well of course I panicked, but I knew that I had triple checked this information. After checking with the lady on check in next to her, who confirmed that no, I was good to travel and that with the US it was fine. She then tried to charge us £160 for our booster seats as she thought they were extra luggage, another lady soon corrected this and we were on our way to security.
No real issues here apart from Lee getting frisked (only one in group) and his trainers being taken away for 5 mins to be looked at.

Once in departures we based ourselves by the soft play area so the boys could let off steam. It’s not very big but big enough for them to burn off energy and it’s free which is always a bonus.


Boarding was to begin at 2.15pm and time went quite slowly. Dick had a couple of pints at the bar. Sue and I browsed duty free. While we were there the boys had their first character meet of the holiday


Once we were called it was a 10-minute walk to B33. True to form just before we were about to board Lucas announced he needed a number 2. For normal 3 year olds this wouldn’t be too much of a problem but Lucas takes a minimum of 20 minutes on the toilet. I had visions of us being last on the plane and everyone shaking their head and tutting at us as we went by. Thankfully we were fine and made our way to Rows 42 and 43 on the right hand side, more or less on the wing. First impressions of the plane were that it looked new and the sky couches and business class section looked very nice. Our economy seats were ok too. First impressions of Air New Zealand were thumbs up all round.


We ended up taking off just after 4pm, which wasn’t to bad. There seemed to be lots of families on the plane and a few people going through to Auckland via LAX. The boys loved the seat back TV’s and their tablets were soon cast a side. Lucas watched Looney Toons on repeat, for about 3 hours! Jacob watched Big Hero 6 and played on the games. The leg rests on the chairs were also very popular with the boys. The adults also made the most of the IFE. I watched The Fault in our Stars and Gone Girl, Lee watched Rock ‘n’ Rolla and Sleepers. Sue and Dick watched The Bodyguard and Fury.



The food was good for plane food. Choice of Beef Madras or Chicken with a pot of ice cream for dessert, which Lee enjoyed.




I have to say the staff never stopped moving the whole flight. In addition to the standard meals and snacks, you could order drinks and snacks through your TV screen, which meant the staff were always kept busy. A great service for us as customers but seriously the flight attendants were up to somebody all the time. Jacob though it was amazing that he pressed his TV for a cookie and within a minute it was in delivered to him!

The flight seemed to drag on much longer than we expected to see there was still over 8 hours to go after 3 hours in the air was quite disheartening! Out of the 6 of us Lucas was the only one to get any sleep he managed 3 to 4 hours on and off. Jacob got really tired especially on landing and did have a bit of a meltdown at this point. It was around 3am in his little body clock and he hadn’t slept much, he said it was earache but I have to give the boys credit they were both really good on the flight despite my fears.




We landed just after 8pm local time. Immigration was chaotic to say the least. We came across the machines again; my passport was again a problem as it said I had to be reprocessed by an immigration officer, as I didn’t have 6 months left. My advice would be to get your passport renewed if you have less than 6 months left on it. You will be fine to travel but it’s not worth the hassle and the panic and the extra queuing!

A very friendly and chatty immigration officer processed us although we were all a bit tired to have a chat. Reclaiming our luggage was surprisingly easy and we set off in search of the prime time shuttle bus stop to get our transfer to Anaheim. It took us 5 mins to find but it was quite straightforward. The first thing that struck was how busy and manic the airport was, there were people everywhere, and all I thought was I was glad I had a transfer and I didn’t have to battle through this in the dark! Our bus came after about 10 mins, we were the only ones on it, which was good. The journey to Anaheim took about 40 mins. We should have maybe been issued with crash helmets when we got in, as our driver didn’t mess about. The transfer cost us about $100 and I am so glad we did it, there is no way I would have wanted to drive in the dark after a 12 hour flight on the LA freeways. (If you need any info just contact me).

The carpool lanes are fantastic and if you are able to use them I would certainly recommend them, cuts a lot of time of your travelling!
We arrived at our accommodation, Funtierland Link Here! at around 10.20pm local time (now around 4.20am in our body clock). The boys had fallen asleep in the bus.
The house was easy to find, the driver had the address and once he pulled into the little estate it was on it was easy to locate the house.
Our first impression of the house was that it was perfect for us. The boys were very happy with their room. The adults wanted a cup of tea so Lee and Dick went off in search for milk. They were on foot and gone a while. Sue and I started to get worried and when they got back we were too tired to have a cup of tea, this pleased Dick no end! Ooopps.

We eventually got into bed a little before midnight, which was around 7am UK time. Overall I don’t think the day could have gone any smoother apart from my passport there were no hiccups and we had arrived safe and sound. We had nothing planned for tomorrow, just to get our bearings and to pick up our car from DTD.

Edited at 05:19 PM. Reason: amended title
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Old 12 May 15, 09:45 PM  
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joanna23
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Really looking forward to reading all about your adventures. I don't think my nerves would have coped with the passport pressure. Well done you for keeping a cool head xx
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Old 12 May 15, 09:57 PM  
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tracy99
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Really looking Forward to reading your report.
Your little ones seemed to cope really well,with the long flight,bless them!
We go next week & both me & the grandaughter,have less than 6 months on our passport,hope we don't get a grumpy check in person!
I think you did right,getting the transfer,well worth the cost,especially after a long flight & it being dark.
Hope to read more soon
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Old 12 May 15, 10:32 PM  
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Yay, trip report is here! I've been checking each day for it.

Nice to read the details on your travel out. Other than the passport issue, it does sound like things went as smoothly as you could hope for with such a long trip and young children. Wise decision not driving to Anaheim after your arrival. LA traffic is not for the faint of heart- or the jet lagged.

Looking forward to reading more!
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Old 13 May 15, 04:26 AM  
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Sounds like a great start Definitely worth bearing in mind about the passport, think we're good we have a few years left on both.
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Old 13 May 15, 07:39 AM  
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SuzyM
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Great start . Look forward to hearing more. I always find travel day really stressful - I breath a big sigh of relief when we finally get to the hotel/villa.

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Old 13 May 15, 10:04 PM  
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Haha the exact same thing happened to me recently in Miami! I had also done a lot of research which had reassured me that I didn't need 6 months! All I can remember is apologising profusely to the very nice immigration agent while he berated me on USA - European politics on passport control! Won't do that one again
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Old 16 May 15, 09:04 AM  
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Brilliant travel day! I'll have to have a look at this funtierland, as the name has cropped up a few times now

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Old 16 May 15, 07:41 PM  
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Great start Kerry, glad it all went pretty smoothly. Pussycat x
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Old 17 May 15, 07:41 PM  
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Great first day 😃. I'm looking forward to reading the rest and reliving our trip a little as well !
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