Disneyland

We just had a whirlwind trip to Disneyland! It was not in our plans, but then Jeff had an opportunity to go to a conference for investors near Anaheim, so with some finagling and the kids helping with tickets, we went for it.  We started our trip Tuesday night, Dec. 2 and drove until we reached the Mayfields, our friends who have recently moved to Utah from our ward.  Actually the drive wasn't bad.  It didn't hurt that the Mayfields were so fun and hospitable.  The next morning we got going on to California. We all expected it to be painful, but it wasn't awful either.  Going to Nauvoo may have gotten the kids in the driving mode.  The best part of the drive was that Annalisa had games and activities for every hour (I will blog about this just in case anyone wants some travel ideas).  It was pretty dreamy.
Then we got to our hotel by 6:00pm. Jeff dropped me off by the gates of Disneyland, so I could buy the tickets.  It was raining the whole time and rained until about 4:00am. We got settled in and got a good night's rest.

We woke up filled with excitement.  We're going to  Disneyland!!!!!!!

These first few pictures are pretty blurry.  We used an old ipod. The second day the pictures are a lot easier to look at.

 It didn't rain once while we were in the park.  In the morning it seemed like a lot of the rides were closed because they were drying out.  So we ran to the Toy Story Mania and got on in about 20 minutes.

We did Grizzly Rapids in the morning when it was cooler, so we could get some rides in before others riders came.
We kind of ran everywhere we went the first day because we wanted to be sure to get all the rides.  I'm so glad that we did because Friday was a lot busier and had longer waits. 

Cars was closed at first, but we got our fast passes later and luckily got on.  This ride is so fun.  Some day we will get to ride it more often.  It is definitely a favorite. The next day we couldn't get fast passes and tried to be single riders, then it closed.  Then when Jeff came we tried the single rider again and he got on.

We did Soarin', Indiana Jones, Pirates, The Aladdin Show, Splash Mountain (Anna and I did this one at night and without our rain ponchos.)  We lucked out so bad and did not get too wet.  Tower of Terror was with Natalie, Olivia, Anna and I.  They really know how to give you the creeps by the time you get on that ride. The others had already done it and didn't really care to do it again, so they did Symphony Swingers and the Ferris Wheel.  We went on Space Mountain a few times, Star Tours and  Buzz Light Year.

Innoventions had Captain  America and Thor.  Anna and I got fast passes, while the others met these guys.

The Thor really looked good.

My favorite thing that we did on the first day/night was go on Thunder Mountain Railroad during the fireworks show.  It was the most magical moment at Disneyland.  I would recommend it to anyone.  It was so cool!

So the next day we got up bright and early and took a few family pictures on our way to fantasy land.

We rode It's a Small World first because you just gotta and we pretty much walked on.  Then we did the tea cups and had only been in Fantasy Land for about 30 minutes, when the big kids were ready to leave.  We were hoping to run into a lot of characters.  So they left for Tomorrow Land.  Liv and I stayed for a few more rides hoping to see someone.

We rode the carousel and
Dumbo with my favorite color of elephant.We just couldn't wait for 50 minutes to ride Peter Pan or Snow White.

Then guess who we ran into?  Who gets to hold hands with Captain Hook and walk down the street?







By chance we ran into Sleeping Beauty while she was going to her destination.

Then our favorite characters came along while we walked toward Tomorrow Land.  It was Studio C.  I'm realizing that some people don't know them.  They are a comedy group that have episodes on BYU TV.  This is James and Matt, who are actors and Matt is a writer as well. The rest of them were there, but I didn't see them.  Livvy told me later who else was standing there.  So when we told Kristen, she was so disappointed.  Later at night she saw them and took a picture with Kate's ipod, but at least she got to talk to them. 

This is Kristen, Natalie and Anna's night picture with Studio C.

The ride we rode the most was Space Mountain.  Everyone likes that ride.  The first day when we went Livvy wouldn't go.  She said that she had been dramatized by it last time. Finally by our second time, she said Ok and ended up loving it so much that she wanted to go again and was sad when the ride was over.

This was our best ride picture.  Kristen and Kyle didn't even plan it together.  We laughed at how perfect it turned out.

California Adventure was a little less busy on Friday than Disney, so we ran over there and met some characters.

We were really lucky to see Goofy.  He had a street show right after our picture.

The "Five and Dime," was my favorite show.  They played Ain't We Got Fun, Blues Skies, etc.  Then the main singer was acting like she was looking for a man and she was walking toward Kyle.  Kristen was laughing so hard.  I thought she was going to choose Kyle, then she chose this old guy behind him.  She sang, "I Wanta Be Loved By You." Kyle would have died.  Then she gathered a group of girls to do the show.  Nat and Liv jumped in.  It was a darling show.

Then we ran into Mickey. 

The Green Army Men let kids be in their show as well.

Finally Jeff joined us on Soarin' Through California.  It was so great to have him with us.  Jeff  is the reason we got to go and he had to be in meetings.  He actually enjoyed the meetings. 

Natalie and Olivia got their gumption up and finally wanted to ride Screamin'.  I personally have loved roller coasters for a long time, but I know they are not for everyone.  So they chose.  Natalie was a bit nervous.

Kristen expected to be nervous, but claims no. 

Here we go!  They both ended up loving it.  Natalie went again with Annalisa.

While Dad and the big kids tried to get on Cars, Liv and I rode a Tow Mater ride and got to see Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater. 

Bugs Life was the last character.  Then we watched the parade in California Adventure, the kids traded a few pins and then we rode the bus back to get some dinner at Taco Bell. At this point Olivia was done, so she and I stayed and the others went back to play until almost midnight.

This was our last family picture before we left to go eat.  It was so fun and so worth it.  We did not expect to get this family memory, but it just worked out. It didn't hurt that it was Christmas in Disneyland with carols being played and decorations everywhere.  The drive home was all done on Saturday, and it ended up going OK.  With Anna's games and activities and watching some Christmas movies we were fine.