Today’s Hoda Kotb is ending 2024 at The Happiest Place on Earth.
While in California to host the 2024 Rose Parade, Kotb, 60, enjoyed a magical day at Disneyland with her two daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5. “Oh what fun!” she captioned Instagram pics from their fun outing on Sunday, December 29.
Kotb and her girls — whom she coparents with ex Joel Schiffman — posed for sweet family photos in front of the theme park’s grand Christmas tree and Sleeping Beauty Castle, the latter of which was decked out in lights and fake snow for the holidays. The Today host kept things comfy in a white puffer jacket, sneakers and a black-and-white “Love” T-shirt, while Hope sported a pair of sparkly Mickey Mouse ears. Haley, for her part, rocked a pink sweatshirt featuring NBC’s peacock logo.
The family of three and two friends were led around the park by a Disneyland VIP tour guide. In addition to taking a group selfie, Kotb also snapped adorable pics of Haley and Hope posing with princesses such as Ariel and Cinderella.
Kotb’s Disneyland trip comes amid her week-long absence from the Today show. She and several of her colleagues took a break from the NBC morning series to celebrate the holidays with family and friends. Kotb, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, Craig Melvin, Carson Daly, Sheinelle Jones and Jenna Bush Hager were all missing from the show’s Monday, December 30, episode, while the third and fourth hours were prerecorded.
Before saying goodbye to the Today show on January 10, Kotb will team up with Roker, 70, to cohost the 2024 Rose Bowl. The annual event, which takes place in Pasadena, California, will air live on NBC and Peacock from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday, January 1.
Similar to Kotb, Roker spent some quality time with his son Nick, 22, in California ahead of this year’s parade. “It’s not a visit to #pasadena to cohost the @rose_parade unless we stop to visit @mijaresrestaurant1920 and @rlene_mijares_delang,” the TV personality captioned Instagram pics with his son, wife Deborah Roberts and restaurateur R-lene Mijares de Lang. “We missed see[ing] the restaurant doyenne, Miss Alice and her baby boy, @taquito_tom.”
While Kotb and her girls will be spending New Year’s in California, they recently celebrated their first Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas in their new suburban home. Kotb announced in March that she and her kids were moving outside of New York City.
Schiffman, 66, joined his ex for her Christmas celebrations earlier this month. “For us, our Christmas isn’t huge ‘cause it’s me, my kids, my mom [Sameha], my sister [Hala], Joel,” Kotb shared on the Tuesday, December 24, episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna. “We get together. That’s the group, and it’s kind of just a cozy Christmas. So, we’ll put out cookies tonight for Santa and the carrots. He always seems to like the cookies more.”
Kotb later shared several snaps of her family’s matching holiday pajamas via Instagram, which they kept on all day long. “Time stamp 5:55 dinner a la joel,” she captioned a Wednesday, December 25, Instagram selfie with her loved ones at the dinner table. “Still in Christmas jammies.”
