Disneyland Day 2–March 22

On Tuesday, we had a “Magic Morning” pass with our Disneyland tickets, so we got to the gates early that day and headed straight for the Finding Nemo ride.  This ride always had a really long wait, and we didn’t feel like waiting for it.  Jake and Stacey didn’t have the early morning, so they stayed home while my mom and dad came with us.  The line moved rather slowly, and Landon ended up not liking the ride (the bubbles in front of the window made him nervous), so we were glad we didn’t wait too long and got it over with!

Jake and Stacey joined us just in time to ride on Alice in Wonderland, and Davis and Kallie wanted to try the tea cups, and Shane and Stacey agreed to take them.  Davis was excited the entire time he waited in line, but as soon as they walked out to go to the teacups, he got nervous and didn’t want to go!  Shane convinced him to get on, and he finally warmed up to it about halfway through the ride. 

   

Notice Davis’s nervousness in the first picture – he gradually warmed up a little bit as the ride went on.

   

Davis and Kallie knocking on the rabbit’s door.  It was just their size!

   

The three cute Mickey-eared cousins, all the grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa, and Davis enjoying a ride on Shane’s shoulders with his new Mickey ears hat on.

We then headed over to California Adventure.  This was my first time to go there, and although it’s not Disneyland, there were a lot of fun things.  We started out by heading over to Toy Story Mania.  This was probably the longest line we waited in, but the kids were good and patient while we waited, especially once they got suckers.

 

Landon and Davis standing by the big Mr. Potato Head while in line, and Shane and Landon just getting on the ride.  Toy Story Mania was one of our favorites!

The kids then hung out for awhile while we each took turns on the California Screamin’ roller coaster.  It was the best roller coaster I have ever been on, and so much fun!  We ended up each going on it twice.  Meanwhile, Davis and Kallie found another carousel and of course wanted to ride on it.  They were able to ride a couple of times while waiting for us, choosing a different sea animal to ride on each time.

   

Kallie was so cute and always wanted to hold Davis’s hand. 

After California Screamin’, we headed over to the Bug’s Life land.  There was a nice little spot where we ate our lunch, and then the kids wanted to ride the bumper cars.  It was the longest line ever for the slowest bumper cars, but the kids seemed to enjoy it.

   

Sitting around eating lunch, Grandpa and Ethan, and the fun clovers that tower over your head in the Bug’s Land.

   

Mom and Stacey sat out with Ethan and James.  Here she is holding them both.  Kallie waving at the camera, and my dad “zooming” around in his bumper car.

 

Waiting in the fun line, and Jake zooming around with Kallie

Landon and I, with Shane and Davis behind us, in the bumper cars.

 

James trying on a Mickey hat, and my dad, Jake, Ethan, and my mom enjoying a snack.  Just after this shot, my dad decided to climb up on that fence he’s sitting on to see a parade that was coming down the street, and then he got in trouble by one of the park workers.  I tried to capture a picture of it, but Dad hopped down too fast.  We all thought it was pretty funny that Dad got in trouble! 

Before leaving the Bug’s Land, we also took a ride on the Caterpillar train.  This was also one of those really long waits for a super short ride, but all the kids really liked it and wanted to ride it again.

 

Some other things we tried at California Adventure that day were Soarin’ over California, Monster’s Inc, the Aladdin show, and the boys did the Tower of Terror.  Landon went on Soarin’ over California with us, and although he got a little nervous as we went up high and swayed as we watched the movie, he enjoyed it and was glad he went.

Towards evening, we headed back over to Disneyland.  This was Jake and Stacey’s last day there before they headed home, so we decided to go and try a few more rides at Disneyland.

By the time we got something to eat, James was pretty tired.  He fell asleep and slept on my lap like this for quite awhile.

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We then decided to stay at the park for the rest of the night, riding again on any rides Jake and Stacey wanted to do.  We did the buzz ride again, and Landon and Davis each picked out one of these spinning light toys (one Lightning one and one Buzz one).  Davis sat down in this stroller, and soon the spinning stopped, started again, stopped, started one more time, then stopped for good as Davis nodded off to sleep.  Landon held in there just a little bit longer, but not much. 

 

We finished off the night with one more ride on the Matterhorn (much more enjoyable without the freezing cold and pouring rain!), and another ride on Thunder Mountain.  Thunder Mountain was especially entertaining with Jake and Stacey behind us, challenging Shane and I to see who could hold a kiss the longest on the curves.  It wasn’t really a fair competition though since Shane’s face was like sandpaper.  My mom was great to sit with the kids while we went on the rides, and she even kept a smile on her face when Davis sat on her lap on the tram back to the car and her lap got surprisingly “warm” as Davis peed on her in his sleep. Good thing it was the end of the night!

Disneyland–Day 1–March 21

Monday morning, we woke up bright an early to begin our first day at Disneyland!  This picture was taken just after we got through the gates. 

We started off by heading over to the Buzz Lightyear ride in Tomorrowland. This the ride that Landon and Davis had been most excited about riding.  Even just standing in line was exciting as there was a huge Buzz Lightyear that talks to you and explains your mission on the ride.  They had fun shooting the lazers, and we ended up riding this ride more than once on our Disneyland trip. 

Me and Landon and Shane with Davis (can’t really see him) on the Buzz ride

After the Buzz ride, we headed over to Autopia.  I always loved that ride when I was little.  The boys had fun driving in their cars, and this also became one of their favorite rides.  I shot a little video of my ride with Davis.  He could barely see over the steering wheel, but he did pretty good except for when he would let go of the steering wheel, and we’d jerk back and forth. 

   

After our sunny Autopia ride, we got in line for the Matterhorn when the weather started to change.  After being in line for about ten minutes, we started to feel rain drops.  Before long, it was pouring rain!  We only had jackets and one poncho to put over the stroller, but of course James wouldn’t stay in there anyway, so we were all getting soaked.  My mom came to the rescue and ran to buy us all ponchos as we stood in line.  Before she got back, these kind women behind us gave us this extra poncho they had for James.  They probably thought I was the worst mother ever because he was getting so wet, but I couldn’t put him in the stroller where he would be dry.  We got all in our ponchos just as we got to the front of the line.  The ride on the Matterhorn was less than idea as we were sopping wet, and we got even more wet as we sat down on the wet seats.  We’d come around the corners on the ride and out into the rain, making it not so fun.   I was just freezing, holding on, and hoping it would soon be over!  Landon didn’t want to ride (smart kid), but Davis went with Shane and he got scared because it was dark at first, then it was cold and raining in his eyes, then the monsters, so by the time it was over, he wasn’t too happy! 

We hung out under this Monorail bridge for awhile after the ride trying to decide what to do next.  Landon was really excited to get a Mickey ears hat, so my mom took him over to a hat shop to get a hat with his name stitched on the back.  He was so excited, and wore it proudly the rest of our Disneyland trip!  Davis and Kallie got one the next day to wear too. 

                   

We finally decided to head over to Space Mountain.  We had fast passes there, so we ate lunch in this covered area while each of the couples took turns going on Space Mountain.  We were all freezing, but we were dry and had some yummy chicken salad sandwiches. 

Jake holding Ethan and Landon and Davis playing the itouch and with Jake’s phone while Shane and I rode on Space Mountain.

Luckily, by the time we all took our turns on Space Mountain, the rain had stopped and the sun had come back out, and the weather was perfect the rest of the day.  We headed to It’s a Small World, which was another favorite for the boys.  In fact, Davis could be heard throughout the rest of the day, and the trip, singing It’s a small world after all . . . in various funny versions.

   

Waiting in line at “It’s a Small World”

 

On the boats just before going in

Another favorite was the boat ride in Storybook land.  The boys loved going in the whale’s mouth, and it was fun to see the houses of the three little pigs, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, and others.

 

While we were waiting in line at Peter Pan, Davis and Kallie saw the carousel in the middle of Fantasyland.   They were so excited to go on it! Luckily the carousel has a short wait time.  James took a nice nap with grandpa during this time.  He did really well on the Disneyland trip – napping in the stroller or in our arms as we took him from place to place.

       

Kallie was also excited to ride on Dumbo, and she convinced Landon and Davis to go with her.  They were a little nervous, but liked it in the end.  Kalli really wanted a pink one, so when it was our turn, we all ran out to get her one.  Luckily, there were plenty of pink ones when we were getting out there.  We ate dinner at the Hungry Bear restaurant, which was pretty quiet since Splash Mountain was closed.  After dinner, we did a quick ride of Winnie the Pooh, and the adults took turns on Indiana Jones before we finished off the night on a dark Jungle Cruise ride.  Overall, it was a successful first day at Disneyland!