How was vacation?

I need a vacation after my vacation. The most frequently asked question after the Southern California road trip was how did Megan (the 2 year old) handle the road trip. Well, it was pretty rough. This was in contrast to a similar Southern California road trip when our oldest daughter was 2 years old. Emily at age 2 handled a one week road trip to Southern California theme parks very well.

On this trip, Megan was great when we did overnight stays at friends’ houses in Southern California (hanging out at houses or by a pool). The 7 hour car trip each way wasn’t too bad. Both kids slept most of the way and we had a portable DVD player to keep them entertained.

San Diego Zoo, Legoland, and 4 days at Disneyland were a different matter. As you can see in the vacation pictures (see slideshow), there were periods when Megan had fun. However, there were other times when she was miserable. It could have been the heat, the humidity, the huge masses of people, and long lines for rides and food). It could also have been the Peter Pan ride being one of the first rides she rode at Disneyland (it traumatized her from wanting to go on any more rides that were indoors).

After a few days, Megan was fine with rides that were totally outdoors (tea cups, Dumbo, the rockets at the entrance of Tomorrowland, merry-go-rounds, Jungle Cruise, most of the kid rides at California Adventure and Legoland). We went to a lot of shows while at Disneyland which both kids enjoyed. They went to the Aladdin musical and the Playhouse Disney shows multiple times.

When Megan got mad, she would throw tantrums where ever she was at.

As with all previous road trips, Emily (age 6) did fine.

We are thinking that it might be another 2 years before making a similar road trip. We are thinking about a cruise for next year. It would be more of a routine (same room for a week, same pool on the ship to swim at each day, same dining room table to eat meals at each day, less of a mass of people and fewer lines). The more kids-friendly the cruise, the better. We’ve heard good things about Disney Cruises and Carnival as far as kids activities on their ships (link).