Tuesday, August 26, 2008

I'm BACK! Disneyland Triple Slide Show

We had such a great vacation! M took an extra day off this time, so we had both Friday and Monday and it just made the trip so much more relaxed. We took it slow and easy since I am pregnant (usually we push ourselves and do like 12+ hour days at Disneyland). I apologize in advance for the marathon length post you are about to stumble into . . .

FRIDAY

We drove to Anaheim, arrived around 2 pm. Had a quick lunch at El Pollo Loco (aren't we classy?) and then checked in to the hotel. We relaxed for a half hour or so and then headed off to California Adventure. We headed over to Soarin' Over California, to check if J was tall enough and we discovered he was! What a happy surprise. It opened up all sorts of new options for us since he had FINALLY reached 40 inches. We got a fast pass for that ride, and then headed over to the Jumping Jellyfish. J had never been able to go on it before and was super excited. It was fun. After that, it was time for the Pixar Play Parade and we managed to snag an AWESOME spot on the far end of the parade route. I got some great pictures and we were even sitting in the shade which was just lovely!!! We somehow convinced the kids to go on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. In hindsight, I probably should NOT have gone on that. I worried for about an hour afterward until I felt the baby kicking again. It scared J so bad and E did not even scream at all. She was so brave!!! We went on Monsters Inc. and then it was time to go on Soarin' using our fast passes. We had such a great evening! My feet were a little sore from wearing my sketchers flip flops, so M looked up where I could buy some crocs (I could not find mine before we left) and we went to a sports authority store and I got a pair of pink classic ones for only $20. YAY! They felt SO much better!!! I would highly recommend these for walking around Disney!!




SATURDAY

We slept in till 8:45 or so . . . I love hotel black out curtains. Usually at home, my kids wake up at like 7 am, or earlier. We had a relaxed breakfast at the hotel, and then got ready and headed to Disneyland. The pace felt so relaxed and happy! We went on a bunch of our favorite rides (Autopia, Pooh Bear). We got a chance to see the Indiana Jones show that we did not get to see last time. J even was chosen to be a helper, and at the end of the show, one of the girls who was hostessing, chose us to go on a search for the stones to help Indiana Jones (it was like a private guided tour since the other people who were chosen quit half way). It was cool cause it lead us around to all the places where the show was happening throughout Adventureland, and at the end, J got to shake Indiana's hand and he said "I remember you" -- it was super fun for him. We went on splash mountain using a fast pass for the first time with J and when we got off it, he said, let's go again! He loved it!!! We went over to the Jedi Training Academy show and by some miracle, both of our kids were selected to be padawan learner. They both got to fight Darth Vader (they call him Dark Vader) and they both got a certificate at the end of the show saying that they had participated. Super fun!!! And what luck??? We left and went to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (M had never been there and he enjoyed it). After dinner, we rested for a bit and then we went back to Disneyland in time to watch fireworks and ride a couple more rides. It was a great day! I was SO tired at the end of the day!





SUNDAY

We decided to take Sunday nice and easy and have a beach morning. We ended up making to to the beach by 12:30 . . . after sleeping in, having breakfast, lazing around our hotel room (due in part to my lack of motivation to get ready to go) and driving there. We went to Huntington beach for about 2 hours. M had fun playing with E in the water and J and I had fun splashing at M. J is usually scared of the waves and this was fun for him -- he had a good time. Then M, E, and J made a sand castle and played in the sand a bit. They had lots of fun! I only have a total of two pictures from the beach because my camera battery decided to die right when we got there. One happens to be a butt shot of M, so we will leave that one out and just post this cute one of E! Ooops - oh well!!!

After the beach, we headed back to the hotel, got showered and de-sanded and dressed and went to Disneyland for the evening. It was fun but crowded, I was surprised. We went on a few rides and ended up going back to the hotel well before close because we were all tired and felt like crashing. I guess all that fresh ocean air and being in the sun sucked the life out of us!

MONDAY

We woke up around 8 am and got breakfast, got dressed and ready for the day and after checking out, headed to Disneyland! We planned to stay only till noon or 1 pm. We knew we wanted to go build light sabres with the kids. We also HAD to go on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters because it broke down the night before and we could not go on it and it is one of our favorites. We also managed to catch a bit of the show at the Golden Horseshoe, shoot a round at the shooting gallery and go on Pirates of the Caribbean to end the time we spent at Disneyland. On the way home we stopped at The Old Spaghetti Factory. M really liked it and it was a relaxing place to have lunch before we headed on home. We got home by 9 pm, which is really not bad at all. Overall, I think this was our best Disney vacation so far.



3 comments:

KA said...

Wow. I've NEVER seen the Disneyland parades before. I hope you kids know how lucky they are. Your family is turning into the D-Land experts.

Anonymous said...

You must have had a fabulous trip! Everyone looks sooooooo happy! Love the way you've set this all up too!
~Bev

Leslie said...

is that the spaghetti factory in Riverside? If it was you were like 20 mins away from me. LOL