Amtrak to the Rescue for Disney California Adventure

Our second trip to Disneyland on the train was kind of like a Disney movie "in which a youthful protagonist is forced to venture into the world alone. Without parental guidance and protection, the character learns the lessons necessary to overcome obstacles, and eventually succeeds in the face of adversity." http://www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/culture/film/216573-disney-single-parents-dead-mothers

It's not just me that thinks some Disney movies shockingly murder one of the characters early in the plotline, it's a well-documented pattern. Kind of like what happened in our saga. Off we went on an adventure that started off on the wrong foot in many ways, some might argue that the trip was doomed or not meant to be, but I would say that like a Disney hero, we eventually made our way through an early tragedy to a happy ending. I have to say even writing about this now is kind of triggering. I can't believe it happened and that we made the best of it.

Metrolink VC 100 departs Northridge at 5:33am, Strikes pedestrian shortly after (near Balboa / Roscoe).

At this point, I was considering lots of possibilities. My husband was sick at home. I had our only set of car keys. My kid was pretty content just hanging out on the train. We didn't have a carseat. I wasn't sure exactly where we were and which bus would take us back to the Northridge Metrolink station. I wasn't sure how Disneyland reservations worked if we were a no-show. I couldn't research any of this stuff because my kid was watching cartoons on my phone. So I kind of scratched out the options of Uber, Lyft, Metro bus or someone coming to pick us up. I had experience with this kind of tragedy before, as had several other passengers on the train. We watched through the windows as various coroners and sheriffs paced back and forth outside with the conductor and engineer. I knew that we would be released after about half a day. I knew we had a whole day's worth of food (and diapers) with us. So I made the bold decision to catch an Amtrak Pacific Surfliner train at LA Union Station that would take us down to Anaheim. 

9:30am Metrolink train VC 100 continues. Albert falls asleep

Because of course as soon as the train is moving the baby falls asleep. It was nice for me to have a short break to eat and get myself together and decide what to do. And get my phone back.

Train 682 - 6:29am

Train 600 - 7:58am

Train 684 - 2:11pm

If we had waited for Metrolink OC 684, we would have arrived at the park at the hottest, busiest time of the day. I jumped on Amtrak 770 which departed a teeny bit late at 10:30am and arrived at Anaheim about 40 minutes later. The reason for switching from Metrolink to Amtrak is that Metrolink OC line doesn't have a lot of midday trains. We had missed all the morning trains and the next train would have been at 2:11pm. I guess I could have waited that long, but another 4 hour wait just didn't seem like the right answer.

10:30am Amtrak 770 to Anaheim

It was very easy to get on the Amtrak train at Los Angeles Union Station because it stops there for a long time. The doors open just 10 minutes prior to departure, but since this train was already 20 minutes delayed they opened the doors and got moving really quickly. It was no problem to fold my stroller and store it in the luggage area. We had just enough time on the train for a conversation with a new friend, and a walk to the Cafe car to buy some pretzels and a cheese tray. These snacks became important for our journey later on.

Having already done the OCTA Bus 50 in a prior visit, this part was also no problem. We had our reservation for California Adventure and entered with no issues. Since we arrived at an unusual time, there was absolutely no line. I would also say that it seemed like California Adventure was in general less crowded than Disneyland. Maybe because it was a Tuesday. I don't know.

11:30am Bus 50 to park
12:30pm in park. Ate Mickey bar.
1pm rode Jessie's Carousel.
1:45pm Walked Grizzly Peak.
2:30pm Rode 2 rides at Cars Land.

3:30pm Albert falls asleep. Mom gets dinner at Pym Test Kitchen

Every time your kid takes a stroller nap, an angel gets their wings. No not really, but it feels so magical to be able to rest your mind, eyes, ears, hips, arms, back and feet. Taking a little one to the parks is exhausting on the best of days. I will say that having a Lillebaby Carryon (toddler) buckle carrier was a lifesaver. I wore my son while boarding the train and stowing my stroller in the luggage area. I wore him while we were waiting in line for some rides. It's like having a second set of arms. I wore him at Grizzly Peak while he was having a boob snack.

I read that it's not good to cover your stroller with an additional blanket, even though I did use a flour sack towel. I figured it had to be cooler in the sun with a white top on the stroller than a black top. We were parked in partial shade but over the course of the nap, the sun moved because we were under an umbrella at the Avenger's Campus. I did have the battery-powered stroller fan circulating air in there and by that time it was starting to cool off. By 7pm I was grateful that I had brought a light jacket for myself.

5:20pm Guardians of the Galaxy Dance Off
6:00pm got a banana from Fairfax Market on the Hollywood Backlot

We had a meet & greet with Goofy and park hopped to Disneyland
7:00pm shortbread cookies at Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe
8:00pm rode Autotopia

8:45pm parade & fireworks

While on the Metrolink train to Union Station, I booked the Amtrak tickets, filed a reimbursement claim for Metrolink and booked us a hotel at La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Anaheim (1752 S Clementine St, Anaheim, CA 92802). I chose this hotel because we have stayed there before. There's something great about a familiar location and amenities. I didn't check in until after the Main Street Electrical Parade was over. The park was cordoned off in a strange way which channeled people towards Fantasmic! or the park exit. As much as I was tempted to stay and watch, it was loud and I didn't want kiddo to wake up. And I was exhausted.

10pm bed

You might be wondering how we stayed the night if we didn't have a change of clothes. Well, we did what we like to call "practicing homelessness" where I took everything off and hung it to dry and then slept naked in the bed. It was nice. In the morning the clothes were dry and we were just going to get all dirty again anyway. Plus I figured they sell clothes at the park if I really had wanted clean clothes, I could have easily found them. La Quinta provided pre-peeled hard-boiled eggs for breakfast, which was a great healthy option. I ate 4 before we headed out. Albert had cherrios with milk. I grabbed 2 bananas but we didn't end up eating them.

6:45am wake & breakfast

We got our "golden hour." The first ride Albert wanted to do was in Tomorrowland. It was so fun to be on Main Street when the introductory remarks came over the loudspeakers. They said "put on your ears" and so I did. What I didn't know is that the orbiter is so fast, it blows your ears back. The lady before us lost hers and I didn't think to take mine off. They didn't fall but they did get blown back. It was incredible to walk up to rides and have no wait time. Totally worth staying the night.

8am in park. Tomorrowland Astro Orbiter 🚀
8:30am Casey Jr Circus Train
8:45am King Arthur Carousel
9:00am Storybook Land Canal Boats 

9:30am churros & Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge

I was on the hunt for some souvenirs but I just didn't see anything that caught my eye until I saw the poison apple stein. It has glow-in-the-dark outer material. The inner material is sparkly and red. There's a flip-top lid. I thought the stem would be a straw but alas no. It's not good as a drink container because on my stroller, it spilled everywhere. It is for ages 8+ so it wasn't good for my two-year-old to drink Sprite from. He doesn't like Sprite anyway. It cost $21 with the Sprite included. It came in handy to store the leftover shortbread cookies. In fact, as a cookie jar it is perfect. It was kind of underwhelming in the daylight but once I got it home I figured out the inside has a toggle switch and 3 LED lights. You can have it steady on or an ominous flickering mode (or off). I got it a the Churro stand near the Casey Jr Circus Train.

10:45am on bus 50

The ARTIC multimodal transit center claims to have dining options, but don't count on it. None of them were open when we were there. Also, keep your wits about you because if you're spending a long time there, people will approach you asking for strange things. I very much appreciated the Mamava pod at LA Union Station. It gave us a peaceful and clean and quiet place to connect between trains. My son was highly entertained by "City of Dreams/River of History" by Richard Wyatt and May Sun, a sculpture made from rocks from the LA River and Tujunga Creek and artifacts excavated from the original Chinatown in the vicinity of Gateway and Union Station during the building of the Metro Red Line. We got a Subway sandwich which I was able to eat quickly on the train while my kid was watching cartoons.

One thing I learned about my kid is that if I give him the choice of stuff to eat, he'll say no to everything, but if I put an assortment of stuff on his snack tray, he will probably eat something. We ended up having plenty of food and even came back with some stuff that we didn't eat.

12:30pm on Amtrak
2pm Mamava pod
3pm on Metrolink
3:30pm back in Northridge