Disneyland Day 3 2012

Day 3!  Our final day at Disneyland and it was a beautiful day!  Gorgeous weather and we checked off everything on our list!  Can  you see Cade's grip on the sea horse?  He loved rides and didn't want to get off of the carousel!

Here's the Toy Story Mania ride again...quickly became one of our favorites!

Jesse was super happy to see Kyle!

 I love the Disneyland entrance!  Isn't it beautiful!

My boys after Small World.

Autopia was awesome!  They let us get take Cade this time since he had shoes on.  And they let us sit three people to a car!  And they let us switch drivers right when we got back!

Ryan, Cade and I drove together first and it was awesome!  Ryan bumped at first just by happenstance and Cade went hysterically laughing...so Ryan drove horrible on purpose to make Cade laugh.  It was so fun!

He was in heaven!

Then we chased down this guy and got a picture!

This was our best food find of our trip!  Such a nice little shaded outdoor area...with a little Jazz band.  So chill and a nice little break!

Last night and last parade!

Dad found a six pack of little unicorn lollipops, made the wait go a little faster!

Here they come!  This drum line was awesome!  We can't get their part out of our heads!

M. I. C. !  bum bum bum... K. E. Y. ! bum bum bum... M. O. U. S. E. !

except...this version is totally Marching band-esque...so fun!

We had a wonderful vacation at Disneyland!

Thanks Walt!  You are a visionary who has left a tremendous gift to the world!  

We love how Disneyland makes everything an experience.

Whatever Disney does, they do it very well!

Trip synopsis:

• Ryan and Sean both claim California Screamin was their favorite ride. 
• They also loved Indiana Jones, and Toy Story Mania...and Tower of Terror.

• I had fun taking them on Space Mountain...and realizing the last time I rode that ride was about 25 years ago...and upon this realization thought it was really weird that I could say something was 25 years ago...that wasn't when I was a tiny child.  Despite my weak stomach, I can still ride Space Mountain and mostly not feel yucky.  
• However, California Screamin is not for me.
• After Tower of Terror...Ryan talked about how crazy and scary the ride was, and Sean piped in, "But the view at the top was really beautiful!"  Amy made me go on Tower of Terror..and I was curling my body towards hers as if she was going to break my fall!
• Taking Kyle on the rockets in the rain!  I love my son.
• Going on the Disneyland Railroad with Atherly's...Seeing the Dinosaurs with Owen...don't remember going on the Railroad and it's extra scenes!
• Cade on Autopia...hilarious!
• Emma on Autopia...Amy said she'd bump into the middle and say, "Whoa! Sorry mom!" every time, while flailing her arms back.
• Gina hanging out with us in some serious rain!  Not minding a bit because "Disneyland is the happiest place on earth!"
• Soarin over California was super neat.
• Sean liking Walt Disney's quote about Disneyland being a place for parents and children to have fun, together!
• PARADE!
• So many firsts for me...Indiana Jones, Tower of Terror {any falling ride}, All CA Adv. rides, Splash Mountain, Nemo, Train...
• Seeing Mr. Lincoln during the rain storm...Kyle taking of his shoes and socks and not putting them back on...
• Cade pointing to everything!
• I'm sure there are more...that I'll add for my journaling...

Disneyland Day 2 2012

Wednesday we met some friends for a few rides in the morning...and met Aunt Gina too!  

Right about the time we found Gina, rain clouds rolled in!

 We hurried and let the kids ride Indiana Jones...but poor Kyle wanted to ride the rockets by Star Tours...and when he was told to wait...he got mad!  Gina, Alyssa, me and all the kids went on Jungle Cruise while the big guys did Indiana Jones...and Kyle was screaming for a good portion of the ride!  He did calm down, but was grumpy...but was asking if the animals were real...finally was sorta happy at this point, though wouldn't pose for a picture...and moments after this picture was taken, the little elephant in the background squirted water...RIGHT IN KYLE'S FACE!  Oh he was mad!

Trying to get everyone to the right ride with the right adults.

Gina took this super cool picture in Pirates when there was the superimposed image of Davy Jones (I think) over the raining mist...

We also went on Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean with these guys. Poor Anna got Cotton candy and all the big guys kept taking it from her! 

Then it started to rain!  This was just the beginning..

But we mostly carried on!  I was determined to take Kyle on the rockets...he'd wanted to ride it since the day before and kept having to wait for everyone else's things to come first.

So we did...in the rain!  And he stepped in a puddle inside the rocket, soaking his feet...

So then we went to Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln...and got to meet Goofy!  Notice our wet pant and feet!



Kyle sat down and took off his shoes and socks and would not put them back on...so we found some new socks...he was super happy abt them, but he didn't get new dry shoes so he stayed in the stroller or we carried him where he needed to go for the rest of the day!

One of my favorite moments...Gina was taking pictures of us the Walt Statue...and Sean turned around and quietly read his quote on the plaque...which said...

"I think most of all what I want Disneyland to be is a happy place....where parents and children can have fun, together." Walt Disney

Then Sean says out loud, "Well that's a nice comment." 
Then we had a few hours after dinner with no rain, so we headed to Toy Story Mania in CA Adventure.

Oh look!  Kyle put his shoes back on...Toy Story Mania was that important!

We couldn't believe we lasted all day!  But so glad we did and so glad Gina was there with us!  

She kept saying, "Rain at Disneyland is no big deal! It's the happiest place on earth!"

Thanks Gina for a great day!

Disneyland 2012 Day 1

Our school had a week off from school over Valentines Day...so we jumped on the chance to take the family to Disneyland when the crowds would hopefully be sparse!  We lucked out even more on our timing because Amy and Mike were able to join us the first day and get us their amazing Military discount!

We had never been to California Adventure, so it was fun to check it out.  They definitely did a good job of incorporating some neat things into this newer park!  Still Disney, but more regular amusement park too.  A great addition!  The roller coaster behind us is called California Screamin...yikes.  It is CRAZY!  And goes so fast...so fast I had to look it up!  Wikipedia says it goes from 0 to 55 mph in 4 seconds!  Not surprised!

It is really smooth for a fast roller coaster.  If it wasn't so fast, I'd probably like it...but those G forces are too much for my stomach...the boys however claim it's their favorite ride between the two parks.

We had a great day with Mike, Amy, Owen and Emma exploring both parks. 

Here is Cade on his first ride!  He was so cute and interested in everything.

The Toy Story Mania ride was a big favorite at California Adventure!  Kyle kept calling it Toy Story Maniac!

Later at Disneyland when the big kids went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad,

Kyle and Emma showed me their cute faces.

And we saw Woody!

Amy with Pocahontas...word is Camryn has met all of the Princesses except Pocahontas, 

so we had to get a picture for her!

Here is Cade during Small World...

Some of the changes to Small World ... they added in Disney characters...it still fit the theme of A Small World...and they put the characters into appropriate places of the ride...I sorta wondered what they took out...but it's still awesome!  Aladdin, Woody and Jesse, Peter Pan, Ariel, Donald Duck, Nemo and Dori and Pinocchio.

This is the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland...fun even though they all have very serious faces!

And we ended the night with the Parade!  Oh how I love the parade!  Amy and I were talking about how it's so happy and awesome, it can make us cry!

Waiting...waiting....

This character first high fived Ryan, then Amy!

Oh Mary!  We love Mary Poppins and she waved right to us!

 And we called it a night!  Our little boys tuckered out...and Kyle hardly opened his eyes....staying asleep all the way through the walk to the shuttle, shuttle bus (uncle mike holding him cause we had to collapse the stroller), into the van, into the hotel...and onto the bed...and changed into pjs.

 A super great day!