Friday, October 1, 2010

Disneyland October 2010

One of our Family Goals for 2010 was to go to Disneyland, and while I thought it wouldn't happen, we saved and finally made it work! So the first week in October we packed up the van and headed for California!
Our kids, especially Ella, were REALLY Excited!!!
We got a late start after Chad got done with work, but were still wanting to get on the road and just drive all night.
This girl was cracking me up!!! She would insist that every 30 sec I turn around, look at her, and listen to her tell me that she was indeed, a real mermaid!... EVERY 30 SEC :)




Lily's new seahorse toy that she picked out for the trip, don't worry that its for babies, she took one look at it and had to have it, she LOVES SEAHORSES!
So, in between UT and CA we stopped in Las Vegas for the night because we got too tired and thought it might be nice to stop and get a good night's sleep for all of us. We found a super cheap hotel just outside the city and got a nice rest, hot breakfast and even swam in the pool and exercised a bit. Then we were on the road again and didn't stop till we hit Irvine to stay with my Aunt and her family.
They have a fun backyard and the weather was soooo nice, the girls played out there with my 2 yr old cousin a lot.
They played a little Rock Band.
They have a park across the street from their house so in between conference sessions we went to play.

Walking UP the SLIDE is always fun because it's kind of against the rules, but since no one else was there the kids LOVED it

They had some really cool trees all around the park so of course we tried to climb them

And played in the LEAVES



Then we tried to exercise on the equipment they had around the park walkways








Lily LOVED their dog Gunther, even though he LoVED her a little too much and wanted to play and jump all over her, so he was loved behind the fence most of the time

Then we headed down to the beach one night, and it was....an experience! I LOVE the beach, but for the girls, this was their first experience and because it was getting dark at night and it was loud with the waves, needless to say they were a bit scared
This was ELLA before the beach
So BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Lily clung to Chad the entire time


Ella putting on a brave face


This was their faces MOST of the time

Lily thought she found a cool, little sea creature in the dark, in the light of day we found out it was the top of a lime cut off.
Grandma was in charge of the SEAHORSE
I'm SO HAPPY my mom could come to CA with us for a few of the days we were there!
DISNEYLAND DAY 1:

We got there and it was a bit cloudy and sprinkling but not too bad. I felt bad because I only packed one hooded sweatshirt for each of the girls to wear and a couple long pants, I was planning on sunny 70 degree weather! We headed straight to Fantasyland and one of the first stops OF COURSE was the Princess Promenade, which is basically a meet and greet/picture taking with the princess'. Cinderella was actually just leaving as we arrived but we caught her before she was off to somewhere else.

It was so cute to watch my girls just oogle over their pretty dresses, and just talk to them and be in awe of them.


Then we hit It's a Small World, and the girls LOVED it!!!!

Ella pretty much hung onto my MOM the entire time, and she was oh-so-happy to do so!



Then we got in line for Dumbo and got a little more wet, but we were all too happy and excited to care.



PURE JOY
LOVE THIS ONE
Then we rode King Arthur's Carousel and Lily and Ella had their horses picked out while we were standing in line!







Ah, the choke hold always works


Happy with Grandma
Then we headed over to do Snow White (a little bit scary), Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty's Castle, and Pirates of the Caribbean.





Then we got to go on one of my favorite rides, The Haunted Mansion, and it's the best during the holidays because it's all redecorated to be The Nightmare Before Christmas. The girls actually liked this one a lot and have since learned to LOVE that movie!

After the mansion, we took Lily with Chad and I and went on Splash Mountain. I think her face says it all for what she thought of the experience! SO TERRIFIED!
Feeling better once we got off of the ride!
Then we met up with Grandma, Ella, Michelle, and Sleater and did Winnie the Pooh.
And then (I don't know what we were thinking) we took Lily with us again to do a big kid ride, Indiana Jones Adventure.


Lily pretty much hated it, and told me she never wants to go on a scary ride again! Then we sat with the babies while Gma and Michelle went on it. They were TOTALLY occupied with mickey mouse suckers, and Lily fell asleep in the stroller after her frightening times.

While Lily slept, Ella and I ran to meet Aladdin and Jasmine.

Then we went on the Jungle Cruise, and walked our way around the park some more!
Ella loved Jesse, Lily was a bit scared of her at first. Then they met Pocahontas. Probably the nicest character we met. She talked to the girls for like 5 minutes about their beautiful brown skin cloaks and how they must have been sisters because they were of the same cloak, and asking them about their favorite colors of the wind.... So Sweet!

Onto the TEACUPS. So pretty at night once they were all lit up!




EVERYONE loved the Teacups

We all (Gma, Chad, Me, Lily and Ella) managed to squeeze into one and it was a tight squeeze, but a fun one!
Chad and I ran over to do the Matterhorn once that night before the main street parade while my mom took the girls on a couple more Fantasyland rides. Chad and I squished together to ride in the same seat so we wouldn't have to wait any longer and it was fun, but I'm sooooo glad we didn't try to drag Lily with us again cuz it was scary!
Then we got over to main street early to get good spots for the parade, and the girls ate some cotton candy and danced a bit while waiting for the show to start.



What a great end to such a fantastic first day! The girls loved it and were able to dance with the characters in the big dance party at the end.
This is how we all felt when we finally made it to the car at about 10:00 that night! The drivers of the shuttles to and from the parking lot were pretty darn funny. They made jokes about all the "big" food items in the park like turkey legs, and giant corndogs and how they should just be put onto necklaces so you could eat them hands free while walking the park. Maybe we were just really tired so everything was funnier.

DISNEY DAY 2:
The very first thing we did on day 2 was to run and get in line, as soon as the park opened, to get tickets for the World Of Color show in California Adventure. So as we did we saw Minnie along the way and she was super cute. Then we went on Soarin' Over California, which was fun but since poor Ella was about 3 inches too short we turn turns with a stroller pass so everyone could ride. Lily loved that one so much, I think she ended up going on it about 3 times!
Then we ended up in A Bug's Life land, where first off we rode the chubby catapiller Heimlich's Train. All of these rides we catered right to the little kids so they had a BLAST!

Then we did the bumper cars


Then Grandma took the girls on the Ladybug Boogie spin ride, while we moved the stroller and got ready for lunch. After lunch we went on Flick's Flyers the little flying swing ride and by then it was getting pretty wet, SOOO glad we made a Target run the night before to get the girls some raincoats.
Then it started POURING rain, so we went into the little 3D movie they have of bugs and because it was inside we got to dry out a bit. Let's just say the girls were TERRIFIED and I was pretty much holding onto them forcing them t0 stay in their seats instead of run out of the theater for their lives!! But seriously, a bit too realistic for them having bugs look like they are coming at them for real.
We then headed over to the Hollywood Lot area and got to be first in line for the Playhouse Disney show, also inside, which was nice because the front of the line had benches and was covered so Ella fell asleep and we just chilled and watched the rain for a minute.
The show was really fun and since my girls are familiar with all the shows I think they liked it even more, plus we were on the front row. I know I look way more into it than she does, but in her defense she had just woken up and this is her concentration face.
Handy Manny
Bubbles from the ceiling
Little Einsteins
After that we headed into the Disney Animation building (also inside, do you see a trend for the day, trying to stay dry) and walked around. They have an awesome little show all about Crush the turtle, which was really cool. Somehow the turtle (or voice) can see the audience and asks questions to specific people and then people can ask him questions. This time we saw it, he asked me how I like to swim, fast or slow. The next time Lily got to ask him his fav. food, she said hers was grapes, his was seaweed.
After that we walked around the other fun exhibits inside and met Micky

Chip & Dale


Saw this really neat Toy Story "viroscope"? that shows how they make animation work, the girls loved it so much we watched it like 5 times in a row.
Wishing on a Star with Tiana

Then they had a room similar to the library in the Beast's castle, and these enchanted books that ask you questions to see what character you are most like. Lily's said she was Dot the ant princess from Bug's Life.
Ella's said Maleficent, from Sleeping beauty. Yikes!
Then we saw Pluto
Cinderella again, version 2
Jesse


Then we headed to the pier where my Mom took the girls on a sea themed carousel, while we went on California Screamin'. So FUN!!!

Then we all went on the Ferris Wheel, non-swinging car, the swings, the jellyfish, and I took Lil on the Mad Dash little roller coaster (she wasn't a fan). After we finished up there we headed over to World of Color early and got the best seats ever, front row center. There was a little bit more time so Chad and I ran (literally, I was paranoid that we would be late getting back and I didn't want to miss it) over to go on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride.
World of Color was sooooo amazing, and after that it was closing time and we headed home again, exhausted after another great day. Jokes from this night's parking lot tram were: Why did Tigger always bounce on his Tail? So he wouldn't step on Pooh. Why did Capt. Hook cross the road? To get to the second hand store. hahahahaha


DISNEYLAND DAY 3: After taking WED. off because of the rain, we went back Thursday refreshed and ready to conquer all the rides we had left to do. We started off with the Astroblaster ride, which for some reason Lily thought was gonna be scary (maybe remembering the splash mt and indiana terror). But it wasn't and the girls liked it. Then we did the Buzz Blaster game, and then headed over to California Adventure for some more Fun!
We got early in a good spot for the HSM parade because we LOVE us some High School Musical in our house!!
It was awesome, and I took video but it takes too long to upload, so just take my word, the girls loved it!!!

Next we headed over to see the Aladdin show, which was fun but we didn't get there early and so had seats waaaaaay up high. It was still fun though and nice to rest our feet for a minute.


Then we did Soarin' over CA again, Flick's Flyers again, Ladybug boogie again, and then went back to Disneyland to do Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted mansion again! We tried to go on the Thunder Mountain RR unsuccessfully 3 times, but every time about half way through the line it would break down for repairs. We were NOT meant to go on that ride, so maybe next time? We thought it would be fun to check out Toon town for the kids and it was kind of a disappointment. The one ride had a wait time of about 60 min for a ride that lasted about 60 sec, yeah not gonna happen. So...we explored the chipmunks tree house, Micky and Minnie's abodes, Donald's boat, and Goofy's playhouse.




Lil throwin' up her peace signs while waiting in another line.
Then we hit up It's a Small World again and then we went back to California Adventure for World of Color again!!! This time though Lily was completely pooped and we couldn't even wake her up for the show, but Chad, Ella and I really enjoyed it again. Funny story about that, they have these signs up everywhere that if you stand in the front row you WILL GET WET, basically making it sound like the splash zone at the Shamu show. Anyway since we knew you didn't get more than a misty spray we didn't much worry about it but the people around us did. Since we still had our ponchos that we bought for the downpour on Tue, we successfully sold one to someone who didn't want to get all wet. Well after the non-soaking show, we felt bad for the guy and gave him his money back.

DISNEYLAND DAY 4:
The top of our list this day was to hit up PIXIE Hollow, where you can meet and greet with all the fairies. Even though we booked it there as soon as we got to the park at its opening, we still had a 45 min wait in line. So we just tried to take in the sights, which were really quite cute little signs of fairies everywhere you looked.












I took a picture of the show schedules so I could refer back to it and not have to keep track of the paper.


Finally after a LONG wait, we got to the fairy house and found out that only Silvermist and Tink were there today but oh well we were excited!!
Autograph books ready to go!


Silvermist was super cute

And Tinkerbell, well she was just as you would imagine! I don't think Ella could stop gazing at her!




Then we went on the race car track at Autotopia and the girls really liked it. Lily drove with me the first time and she just went with it and took the wheel happily.





After Autotopia, we hit up the Storybook Boat ride, Alice & Wonderland, the Teacups again, the Buzz ride again, and then we watched the Celebrate Parade again while eating a giant corndog for lunch. Pretty much everyday I packed a cooler with drinks, and snacks and sandwiches, but because we were there almost all day everyday, we ended up buying 1 or 2 items from the magical place itself. And even though the prices were a bit inflated, they were pretty tasty!
Before the parade started, Mary Poppins and Bert walked by and the girls followed them to do the Chimney sweep dance with them!
After the parade, we went to discover the Tiki Room and also discovered the Pineapple ice cream floats! OH MY TASTY!!!!! Then we went on the Jungle Cruise and toured the Tarzan tree house. Then back on the Autotopia again, this time I drove with Ella and she let the wheel hit the guardrails back and forth and was just busting a gut at how funny it was!
More Parade pictures








Then after a full day at Disneyland, we headed back over to CA Adventure for the Pixar Parade and Talking with Crush the turtle again. To finish off the day we convinced the girls to go on a swinging car on the ferris wheel. It took some cotton candy bribery, but they did it and Lily was curled up on Chad's lap the whole time, while Ella was having a great time! It was a bit adrenaline pumping but a great way to end the day with a thrill!

When everything got all lit up at night, Ella pretended it was all made of candy. I put together the dots one day when during Christmas every house we passed she said, "Mmmm that house tastes good, and that one too!"
DISNEYLAND DAY 5: Our last day at the parks we tried to do all our favorites one last time and just enjoy the day together taking our time not running around trying to fit everything in.
So we started with Alice and Wonderland again which the girls really liked the first time.


The Carousel was another favorite and the lines weren't that long first thing in the morning

Then we rode the Casey Jr. Dumbo train, did Small World for the 3rd time and then headed to the Coronation Princess Ball! It was so fun for the girls to see the princesses again up close and even dance with them!

Doing the May pole dance



After the ceremony, the girls wanted to pose on this fancy chair. Lily looks great, Ella was trying to get the point but not quite...

See what I mean?
What the crooked smile?

She's looking at Chad off to the side, not the camera, FUNNY GIRL!


After a half day there we finally made it to the Newport Beach!! It was a perfect day and we took lunch and our gear and set up shop for the rest of the day.


You're looking at my future beach house, pretty much any of them will do, GORGEOUS!
Ella wanted to stay next to me on the blanket just relaxing!
And feeding the birds all her cheese puffs!



She also loved showing me all her cool moves!


The little crab Lily and Dad found near the water
These seagulls were beasts, I mean they just commanded the place though. Do you see that huge bag of Doritos they swiped from some beach goers stash? I was scared to leave our loot alone


So happy in the SUN!
Sticky, Sandy and Soooo happy







Giant sand pile they played in FOREVER


Pretty much after today I was ready to pack my bags and be a beach bum for life! Just looking at these pictures makes me want to go back tomorrow!! Oh well, just have to wait for Summer. The most FUN trip ever and pretty great for our FIRST family trip. I hope there are many, many more to come!!! THE END

2 comments:

Nicolle said...

Im so GLAD you posted these picts!! What a fun trip! Ella was so funny on the way down..cutest picts! It makes me so excited to go!

lramey said...

love times a million! you guys are beautiful!