Disneyland: Day Three

Having such a busy "Magic Morning" on Tuesday shifted all our plans for the remaining trip. We decided to head back to Disney on Day Three, because it wasn't the early opening for that park. (So we did heed my friends advice, just a day late,) We knew this would be our final day at Disney, so we finished any souvenir shopping, went on our favorite rides one last time, and took all the needed pictures. Then, late in the afternoon my parents staked out a seat for the parade, because we knew we didn't want to miss that again!

First thing in the morning we slowly waited for the Peter Pan ride (most inefficient line system in the whole park!). It is a neat ride, and one that is very special in my mom's memory. I'm glad the boys could share it with her! I love this picture!

Next my parents headed off to go on Pirates of the Caribbean again, and we took the kids to ride the carousel again. Here's Sam and Ben.

Joshy really liked the carousels

Josh, Daddy, and Seth

The big boys wanted to go on Goofy's Roller Coaster again, so we headed back to Toon Town. Ben took this picture to show that there were indeed times where it wasn't absolutely packed with people.

We realized that Josh met the height requirement for this roller coaster, so Ben took him on his first fast ride. He loved it!

We discovered that there is much more to Mickey's House than the facade would say. We enjoyed exploring it and then ran into a very short line to wait for meeting Mickey. I'm really thankful for this experience! I really got a kick out of this "working" washing machine with Mickey's gloves in it.

Sam and Seth getting Mickey's autograph

I splurged and bought our photopass pictures for this experience. I think they are great pics!

Framing this one!

And this one too!

Another necessary picture of the day was one where the boys were trying to pull out the sword in the stone. I love that they are still young and naive enough to think that maybe they will be the ONE to pull it out! (Seth, Sam)

Or maybe together they might do it!

We ordered groceries for the trip through vons.com: something I would recommend to anyone flying down there! We ate at least one packed lunch a day and never had to waste time going to a store!

Meeting Woody was also really fun!

This is the best picture of all of us from the trip. I love it!

We ate a late lunch this day at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. It has such an amazing atmosphere! Josh loved the fish.

What better way to read a menu than with your sunglasses on!

The crew at lunch. This was after Josh managed to spill an entire cup of strawberry lemonade.

Everyone took an afternoon rest, and then my parents found the perfect bench to save for the parade and fireworks. We all took turns taking the kids on rides or saving the spot. First, my mom and I took the kids to Dumbo while the men held the bench. Here's a picture depicting how close Josh's hat bill was always by my face. Oh that Donald Ducky hat!

Me, Seth and Josh

Titi and Sam

My parents treated the big boys to ice cream, and Ben, Josh and I held down the fort. Thankfully Josh was content with his Mickey sucker since he can't have ice cream due to a dairy allergy.

Holding our place on the bench was a funny experience. There was a large family behind us that was disgruntled that they didn't have front row seats and kept trying to weasel their kids to the curb in front of us. I even watched one of them complain to a Disney worker about the position of the bench. I refused to be left alone holding the bench, because I was sure they would take advantage of my niceness and take away our spot!

But we held strong through the challenge of "bench covet" behind us, and seriously had the best seats for the parade! Look how happy the twins are!

I know that this picture is blurry, but it totally cracks me up. How wiggly Seth got positioned on my Dad's lap, I'll never know, but it was hilarious. Dad was so patient with him. It was a blast to watch the boys have so much fun during the parade. The music was infectious!

Here comes the parade: it starts with Tinkerbell.

Seeing Lightning McQueen and the truck Mac were some of the boys' favorite.

I loved how the boys waved to everyone as they passed by.

Seth

Joshy loved it too, especially seeing his Donald Ducky

Josh has an Olaff bath towel, so it was fun to see him and the frozen castle was amazing

And of course, Mickey at the end! 

Pictures cannot even come close to portraying how amazing the parade was!

Unfortunately, that evening was windy and the firework show got cancelled, which was a real bummer. We had all taken naps, so our kids weren't going to be ready for bed anytime soon. We decided to stop at some shops to souvenir buy (unfortunately a lot of other people had that idea too! It was crazy busy!). The entire trip Josh would find these pillow pets and just hug and love them. I foresee one in his future for a birthday gift. (Olaff ears for Seth).

The kids loved the lighted up hat and it was right by our hotel room. The pictures under it didn't come out great, but I have a sweet memory of the boys making silly faces for my pictures. By this time at night it's about 10 and they are all still totally hyped up.

I love these boys!

Tomorrow is our last day of the trip and we spend it at California Adventure!

Disneyland: Day Two

Our second day at Disneyland is the day we regretted not heeding the advice of a friend. You see, each park does an early open "Magic Morning," where a select number of people can get into the park an hour early if you have a special pass. Enticing, right? My friend told me that they let way too many people into the park for early opening and to go to the opposite park. But, feeling very special and select, we joined the literally THOUSANDS of people that had magic morning passes. As we arrived at the gates of Disneyland and they were totally packed with people, we should have jumped ship and headed to California Adventure instead! But we didn't. Even though we got in by about 8:30, Disneyland was already packed.

I thought it would be a good morning to take a picture of my parents with the kids in front of the castle. Nope. Hundreds of people speed walking to their selective ride lines. So frustrating! This unfortunately is our only castle picture.

Snow White's fountain was a much better place for a family picture.

Thankfully, the line for the carousel was short. We found carousel's to be a great "bang for your wait."

Here is Seth

Sammy

Titi and Josh

Next, we headed to "It's a Small World." Notice the look on my Dad's face: he's not a fan and humored the kids by going. Notice my mom's smile in the row behind: she LOVES the ride! The kids loved it too!

Look at the wonder on Josh's face.

Another place where the crowds were manageable was Toon Town. It's towards the back of Disneyland and not as popular as other places.  

 There were fun places to explore and all of the character's "houses."

 Before we went to Disneyland, I had given the boys their Mickey Mouse shirts. Josh was very excited about his and told me one day before our trip, "I'm going to wear my Mickey shirt in Disneyland and go poop in it." That dream indeed came true.

The boys loved "Goofy's Gadget Coaster." This is Ben and Seth.

I wanted the boys to find a hat for a souvenir, so we spent some time in a shop trying on silly hats. 

 Joshy quickly became attached to his "Donald Ducky" hat. Of all the hats to pick out, this was the only one Josh wanted. He wore it the whole rest of the trip and we didn't see one other person wearing it. The overly large bill constantly smacked us in the face as we were holding him. 

 Next we went over to Tomorrow Land, which is total madness because of all the Star Wars stuff. The kids all really enjoyed the Buzz Lightyear ride, though. Then we had our fast passes for Space Mountain. Me, Josh, and the Donald Ducky hat waited for everyone else to get out of Space Mountain and ate lunch.

 Sam didn't love Space Mountain because it was so loud. Seth loved it though and went on it again with Ben and I with our stroller pass.

 We left the park after eating a packed lunch to rest and swim. Ben took Josh back to put him down for a nap and I let Seth and Sam play at the Lego Store for a bit. They made cars to race and Seth's won. It was a nice, calm non-ride thing to do. 

 I loved the hat that Sam picked out!

 Seth's was pretty cute too.

My parents and I then took the twins swimming at the amazing Disneyland hotel pool. It's designed to look like the monorail and had slides of three different sizes.

Small slide

 Medium slide

 And large slide! (This was the boys on their way up to the top of the big slide).

 Having already done big slides at Great Wolf Lodge, the boys were pros and bravely went down.

Swimming was fun and a great break from the parks. 

In the late afternoon, we switched parks and went to California Adventure. It was noticeably less busy. We spent some time in Bug's Land doing some little kid rides for Josh. The kids all really enjoyed the Mater Ride with grandparents while Ben and I watched "It's a Bug's Life," in 4D.

Then we walked through Radiator springs, which was absolutely amazing! We couldn't wait to further explore it on another day. This is one of my favorite pictures of the trip! (Seth, Sam)

And I know this next one isn't a great picture, but I had to include it because I have such funny memories of Josh being totally wired and crazy while waiting for our dinner. He kept running in circles and laughing. Sometimes you just have to embrace your kids craziness when you know they are tired and hungry! I'm sure the people around us were too impressed!

After dinner we went on a couple more rides as a family.

The big boys loved the Goofy roller coaster in this park too. We quickly learned that they loved the fast rides! (Seth, Sam)

After going on "Soaring Over California," my parents went back to the hotel for the night, and we decided to head back over to Disney to try to catch the parade and fireworks. We arrived just before the parade started and that was kind of a disaster. We couldn't find anywhere that the kids could stop and watch because the walk ways all have to stay open. We were all getting frustrated until a really nice lady let the kids stand in front of her to get a glimpse of the lighted up floats. Thankfully, it ended up being a pretty good spot for the firework show over the castle and we were able to stay and watch that. It was an absolutely amazing show, complete with a couple minutes of Frozen's "Let it Go," song and real snow coming down on us. Truly magical.

As we slogged back to the hotel after fireworks, we were all absolutely exhausted! Remember, we had started the day at Disney, then went to the hotel, went swimming, went to California Adventure, then back to Disney. So. Much. Walking. The kids were troopers and it was a great day! Least to say, everyone slept amazing that night!