Fort Vancouver

Earlier this month, we were in Portland, so we drove into Washington to see the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. In the 19th century, Fort Vancouver was founded by the British Hudson Bay Company as a fur trading site. For many years it was run by John McLoughlin. The current buildings are a recreation of the originals.

 

We also drove by the nearby US Army buildings. These were built after the Oregon Territory became part of the U.S.

Later we went by the house in Oregon City that John McLoughlin lived in after he retired from running Fort Vancouver. Although it is part of Fort Vancouver NHS, it had a separate Junior Ranger program.

Grand Californian

 

We usually stay at the Disneyland Hotel, but this time we got a great rate at the Grand Californian. It's a beautiful property, and its location between Disneyland and California Adventure can't be beat. We love the craftsman style theming.

We had a great view of the Paradise Pier area of California Adventure from our balcony.

We swam in the pool and, after completing a scavenger hunt Monday afternoon, were named "Family of the Day". That night we got to hang out in the concierge lounge, had free snacks, and listened to a story.

Tuesday morning we enjoyed a breakfast at Storyteller's Cafe. The buffet was good and the kids had fun meeting characters. We then spent the day in the parks and headed out Tuesday night. Wednesday we drove back to Bend. 

California Adventure

After Disney opened a second park, California Adventure, at the resort in 2001, we started spending a couple of days each trip hopping back and forth between the parks, meeting characters and enjoying the rides. 

California Adventure features three major areas - Paradise Pier, Hollywood Backlot, and Golden State. Golden State is further divided into Condor Flats, Grizzly Peak, Pacific Wharf, and a Bug's Land.

Paradise Pier has the majority of the park’s rides. There’s the big coaster, California Screamin’, the Sun Wheel, and the Maliboomer. There’s also a carousel, a swing ride, a wild mouse coaster, and another flat ride called the Golden Zephyr. 

Golden State has a raft ride in Grizzly Peak and Soaring Over California, a suspended simulator, in Condor Flats, as well as the movies Season of the Vine and Golden Dreams. Bug’s Land has a handful of kiddie rides. Pacific Wharf doesn’t have any rides, but we enjoy getting samples of bread and tortillas at there, as well as eating at the restaurants. 

In Hollywood Backlot, we experienced the new Turtle Talk show in the Animation Building and the Monsters Inc. ride. The Turtle Talk show was cute, but while Monsters is a better ride than Superstar Limo which it replaced, it doesn’t fit as well with the California theme. This area also contains the Hyperion Theater, Muppet-Vision 3D, and the Tower of Terror.

Disneyland

On Saturday, we headed down to California for a few days at Disneyland. We've been taking the kids down an average of once a year since they were little. After a stop at my parent's house, we arrived at the resort on Sunday morning. Disneyland was still celebrating its 50th Anniversary.

The castle was decorated for the anniversary, and many attractions had golden ride vehicles out front for photo opportunities. There was also a special film showing in the Lincoln theater on the history of Disneyland featuring Steve Martin.  

A couple of new things have been added since we visited last in 2004. We enjoyed the new Buzz Lightyear ride and the refurbished Space Mountain in Tomorrowland. We liked Disneyland’s version of Buzz better than WDW’s; the guns are on tethers rather mounted to the vehicle and it has different shaped targets worth different points.

Space Mountain is much smoother than before.