USA Anaheim Holiday Day #1 - Welcome to the United States of America!

So exciting! I was planning to stay up all night to make my body clock switch to US times but that plan was foiled - I put the kids to bed at a really late time but I ended up falling asleep with them!  So I dragged them out of bed early hoping to make them tired so they would sleep on the plane - with mixed success!

I was pleased to be flying over an an A380 - much comfier and excellent inflight entertainment than a standard Boeing 747 - and I was pleased the kids were really well behaved.  My son slept for most of the flight, and was well behaved, watching TV or playing iPad the other times, and my daughter was very good watching TV quietly, and eating her airplane food politely without much fuss. 13 hours was going slow at first but by the end it was quick.  Apparently I managed to snatch some zzz's on the plane even though I felt like I didn't!  The plane wasn't very full, and we could spread out across 9 seats instead of just 7.  I was worried about long queues at LAX to but it wasn't that bad - we got fast tracked because we had children, which was pretty cool.  Not so cool for Lush and my friend and her daughter who had come to look after the kids for me whilst we're at Blizzcon - they got stuck in the long queue and we had to wait for them.

Getting to the hotel was pretty straightforward - we went to the green sign just under the terminal that was for shuttles and long distance buses and caught the Disneyland resort Express which was $36 return for adults and $28 return for the kids.  Took us about 45 minutes or so to get to our hotel.

A quick freshen up after 24 hours of travelling and we went out to get some lunch.  Around the corner we went to a place called Starburger which looked like it was run by Korean people.  I had a bulgogi burger which was ok, but hubby had a chilli burger which he didn't enjoy.  The place was full of people who were something to do with Blizzcon, wearing ESL lanyards and Blizzcon wristbands.  One of them looked like Corey Stockton to me, but I didn't think he'd be wearingan ESL lanyard! LOL.

What is weird is that the convenience stores sell alcohol!  I found that rather strange as I was trying to get milk, to see rows and rows of booze.  Oh, and the other thing - codeine is prescription in the US but over the counter in Australia, and melatonin is a health supplement here, so you can buy it over the counter, but in Australia it's prescription ($30 for 10) - go figure!

When we walked back to the hotel there was a girl with red hair sitting outside the hotel texting on her phone with a shirt emblazoned with rogue, and carrying a bag with the alliance emblem on it.  I smiled at her and she smiled back, but I was too chicken to start a conversation.  Makes you wonder if it was anyone I would know and would like to say hi to!

We lazed our afternoon away with a nap and then I messaged Arvash to say I was in LA, and so was he!  He was with Chewy, and so we decided to meet up for a quick coffee before dinner, only to find that all the Starbucks were closed.  We were outside the Anaheim Convention centre, and all the Blizzcon stuff was up - it was a bit dark for photos though, and I forgot to bring our new fancy schmancy camera.

They walked with us to our restaurant and then I invited them to stay for dinner. We were at Napa Rose, at the Grand Californian Hotel in Disneyland.  A pretty fancy hotel, and the meal was quite enjoyable though on the higher end side!

Lush and I had the 4 course tasting menu (excuse the poor photos taken from my phone!):

Citrus Seared Skuna Bay Salmon Carpaccio Shaved Radishes, Chives, Black Bread Croutons and Lemon Aioli

Cavatelli Pasta Tossed with Spigarello Broccoli and Fontina Cheese Housemade Lamb Meatballs and Rich Lamb Jus

Grilled "Red Deer' Venison Chop Sauteed Wild Mushrooms, Pumpkin Gnocchi and Huckleberry Essence

Milk Chocolate Creme Puffs Crunch Pumpkin Ice Cream and Vanilla Sugar

The others othered some of the a la carte dishes:

Slowly braised Angus Beef Short Rib Sweet Potato Tots, Orange Gremolata and Pomegranate-Zinfandel Jus

Grilled Black Angus Beef tenderloin Hazelnut Potato Gnocchi, Brussel Sprouts, Smoked Ham and Mustard Essence

Breast of Free Range Chicken stuffed with imported Truffle Butter Golden Chanterelle Mushrooms, Local Apples and Thyme Essence

Dark Chocolate Cake with Ice cream

Pumpkin Sorbet

Even the kids meals looked rather fancy!

Good food, probably a little pricey for what we got, but good service.  Not a fan of that dessert I had - the crunch things were like eating toasted bran - probably would have preferred one of the sorbets!  Even Lush ate his fish and all his vegetables and quite enjoyed the meal.  My son found himself quite attached to Arv and Chewy and they had turns taking pics holding my son who seemed quite content to snuggle up to them or ride on their shoulders. You know what else was cool about the hotel?  They had a bar called hearthstone! Exhausted, we went back to our hotel.  Everyone was falling asleep after the long day and full tummies, looking forward to registering and getting our passes for tomorrow!  I think I shall spend the morning shopping!