A Magical Week in a Magical Place

Disneyland was better than great. It deserves every bit of its good reputation. Going with my sister, Jen, and her family was the best way to go as my boys had their best buddies for rides and keeping each other entertained in lines, which, I was reminded several times, were not nearly as long as they could have been (but were still plenty long in my crowd-phobic opinion).  Plus, their expertise kept us from being that rookie family that decides what ride they want to ride on next and go stand in line.  Pssshhh!  Not us!  We, on our very first time there, followed my savvy brother-in-law's schedule using fast passes and ride max.  There was a schedule!  While that flabbergasted me at first, I am very grateful to have done it that way.  We saw a lot of the park in a very efficient manner.

The weather was hot...really hot....but that only bothered me on the last day after I could claim I had ridden every ride in both Disneyland and California Adventure (except Dumbo, and the little train right next to it)and I felt totally justified riding Pirates of the Caribbean, splash mountain, Grizzly River Run, Space Mountain and any ride that didn't require me to feel hot as many times as I felt like. All in all, it was a dreamy week. It was essentially all of our first time to the famed park (I did go when I was five, but I've talked about my bad memory before so no further explanation of why that doesn't count is necessary) and it was worth the cost, week off work/school/responsibilities. It's just so....clean. And cute. And happy. We loved it!

Here are some pictures in no real particular order. I'd cut and paste but no one really cares about the chronological order of rides and days, do you?

One perk to 90 plus degree weather is how good ice cream tastes.

Sam and Owen were great buddies all week.   They also both got lost during the week (Sam once, Owen twice.  Nerve racking but those Disney employees are great!).

First time I rode this, Jen made sure I was in the front seat.  It was so, so, so fun.

I love the Sword in the Stone.  Too bad they didn't have a ride because I would have recognized THOSE movie scenes.  As for most of the other rides in Fantasy Land, I realized I need to brush up on my Disney Movies.  Seriously.

Waiting in line for the Matterhorn.  Fun!

A frequent sight.  It was great having kids old enough to not need a stroller or diaper bag but Henry's little legs occasionally got tired and his dad's shoulders got a lot of use.

Have you rafted over to the Pirate's Lair?  I thought it would be lame but the kids LOVED it.  It was so fun to watch them play with all those great props.

We saw almost all of the shows, I think.  The musical, Aladdin, was really good.  I only felt bad when, near the end of the show when Jasmine is marrying Prince Ali, Sam leaned over to Jay and asked what happened to Aladdin.  Yeah...our kids don't watch much Disney either.

Gotta ride the tea cups!  It's iconic!

I love the movie Cars.  If it's a Pixar movie, I've seen it.  I definitely want to go back in 2012 when the Cars ride opens.

We saw Mickey on our first day.  That was the one thing Henry was expecting to see so it was fun to watch him have that experience.

Pluto poses with the boys.

A Bug's Life land was really fun for the younger kids.  That movie, "It's Tough To Be a Bug" can't be missed. I screamed, laughed and got grossed out.  These bumper bugs don't go fast but it was still fun.

In front of the famous castle.

This ride was great appreciated when the temps got close to one-hundred degrees.

Henry and Sadie could ride every ride except California Screamin' and Indiana Jones.  That didn't stop the employees from checking and re-checking every. single. time, though.

From Jen's camera.  I don't even know when this happened.

We had breakfast with Minnie and friends and even though it was pricey, it was a great morning.  So many characters and great food.  Plus, that air conditioning felt fantastic:)

This really should have been the first picture.  This is most of the group waiting for the shuttle to take us to our first day at Disneyland.  We were all so excited.

Especially this little guy.

We got there early every morning because it was all part of the master schedule to ride some of the notoriously long wait time rides first off in the the morning.  I do realize that the crowds could have been worse but these were difficult moments for me.

Hello, Walt!

Love Jonas's face in this one.

Checking out the helpful map.

Henry almost always hugged the characters.  Most of my pictures are of Henry.  That gives me Mom guilt but, honestly, Seth and Sam didn't really care and Seth just plain old hates to have his picture taken.  So...Henry it is.

Henry really wanted a picture on the L.  We were there to see some of the transition from Halloween to Christmas since we were there the first week of November.

Any kind of water toy was in demand in this heat.

Our travel companions.  Love them!

More messy ice cream.

I thought this was a funny picture.  A raccoon with a skunk.  It's funny if you know the back stories.

I took Henry and Sadie up to Tarzan's tree house twice while the others rode Indiana Jones for the second or third time.  That was a ride that always seemed to have a long wait.

Jen and I in our matching BYU shirts.  Seriously, announcing our affiliation with this school made the other, many, many BYU fans come out of the closet with friendly greetings.

More Breakfast with Minnie pictures.

I know Sam had no clue who the lady in blue and pink was.

Or this helpful seamstress.  I need a daughter!  Not really.  I'm good.

Pirate's Lair.

We went to the Innovations "ride" and were horrified to find ourselves in a Home Builder sales pitch.  But, upstairs, they did have a few cool gadgets and gizmos, including this face ager.   It's a bit freaky to look at, but this is what Henry could look like should he become a chronic smoker and likes to tan and overeat.  At least he kept his lovely blond locks!

Riding the Nemo Submarines.  It was pretty cool!

Henry loved, loved, loved all things Buzz Lightyear so it was really fun to see him outside of the Astroblaster ride.  None of us could get enough of the Toy Story Mania ride.  Too bad that line was always long too.

We did a bit of shopping.  The hats were not purchased.

Riding the Swings late at night.  Oddly enough, I found myself the most nervous on this ride.  Just something about only a chain keeping me from flying out into the middle of the park's pond got my heart racing.

Sam declared the Symphony swings his favorite ride.

A picture of Seth.  See?  He was there and happy.

All week long, Henry wanted to see Donald and on the last day we found him!  So cute.

Not very cute but this just might be on our Christmas card.

Crazily enough, my sister-in-law, Bekki, also planned a trip to Disneyland and our last day there was their first.  We rode several rides together, the first being the rafting ride and Sam and Brooke got absolutely soaked.

I am not a fan of Ferris Wheels and it wasn't until the last day, when there was no line and I had already ridden everything else, that I decided to give Mickey' Big Wheel a go.  it was Surprisingly not bad.  The swinging gondola kind of freaked Jay out once but he did not actually need to use this bag.

Nearing the end of the day and both of the youngest needed a big of help from their dad.

One more chance for ice cream before heading back to a Colorado November.

Now that I got that post finished, maybe my brain can wrap itself around blogging again:)