Disneyland Finale

I had planned on breaking up the trip into more parts, but at the rate I'm going I might not be through until next year. So I have to decided to get it ALL out of the way so get ready for a lot of pictures. I last left off with our trip to Hollywood and our first day at Disneyland. In hindsight, we are so glad that we went to LA at the beginning of the week because later that week was when Michael Jackson died. When we would watch the footage in our room, you could see the crowds in the places we had been a few days earlier.



At the end of the first day, all the kids had picked out their souvenir hats so we snapped a few shots before we went in the next morning.





As I said before, we would get there at around 7:30 every morning and stand in line for the gates to open. Below is a picture of how crowded it gets before the gates open. With a 3 or 5 day hopper ticket you are allowed one morning to go in one hour early at 7:00 and we chose the next morning to do that.

According to Pam's schedule, we headed straight to the back of the park for the Winnie The Pooh ride. We were the first ones on the ride. No waiting! Yeah!

This was a safari boat ride that was so fun. The boat driver was a hoot. I thought it was a good picture of Penni and Todd.

Then we headed to Toon Town on the train that goes around the park.

Paw Paw and Shane in a Toon car. Shane had to drive, of course.

Where's Waldo, I mean, Jody.

Shane trying to drive Donald Duck's boat. At this point, going in and out these small opening is when I hit my head so hard that I thought I was going to pass out. I didn't, but I definitely had a headache.

These guys are silly!

Savanna loved this little roller coaster. They were able to ride it about 3 times in row because there wasn't a long line. We came back another day to visit Mickey and his house and this line was sooo long.

After you come out of Toon Town, there is a theatre up the hill and there is a wall out front with this huge line. By it is a concession stand and restrooms. We took a break in this area and Jody just had to go see what everyone was waiting for in line. Of course all of the girls knew this is where the princesses were. I took a picture this day but we went back later when the line was shorter. They have 3 princesses there at a time and they rotate them so you never know who will be there. If you look real close you can see Snow White is the first one - she waved at us looking over the hedge. When Pam and her family came 2 summers ago, the princesses were out and about like the other characters but they had to change it up because it got to where so many people would bombard them, so now you have to wait in line to see them - yuck.





Next, we rode the Auto Car ride. This was fun.

Randal and Anna

Penni and Elli Kate.

Jody and Shane (driving of course) He loved it.

At the end of one day, we went over to the California Disney side and got a feel for it. We spent most of our time here on Friday before we drove back up to LA and caught our flight out Saturday afternoon.

The next morning we used our one pass to get in at 7 am instead of at 8 when the park normally opens. We headed straight for the Finding Nemo Submarine ride. The line for it is always long but being one of the first ones in, we didn't have to wait as long. If you are claustrophobic, I don't recommend that you ride this - very close quarters.

Now we have come back to see the princesses. This was a hoot with our large crowd of kiddos.

Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)

O look, she's with her Prince Charming. Ha!

Sorry for the blurry photos. Snow White. Ashlyn was so excited she was there. She is her favorite. I loved the little poses the princesses had.

Next we went over to an island (can't remember the name of it) and the kids had a blast! There were all kinds of caves and look outs for them to climb around on.

Back over at California Disney, they rode some kid friendly rides. The Woody one was the best. And the one where you are flying over California was my all time favorite ride. We rode it twice. If we ever do go back, I would love to spend more time in this park.

Ice cream break - I don't think you can tell but these ice cream sticks were in the shape of Mickey - so cute.

My fireworks pictures didn't turn out to well.

I have to interject this little story about the face painting. Savanna was just dying to have her face painted when we were at the San Diego Zoo, but it was really expensive and we were able to talk her out of it. But when we were at Disneyland we finally gave in on the last day and let her have her face painted. After Savanna had her face painted (which I thought turned out great), Shane proceeded to have a fit to have his face painted. Let's just say it wasn't within our budget to have paint on Shane's face so Jody had a great idea and asked Shane if he wanted him to draw a football on his face. Below is the picture of the pen drawn football (one lady said it looked like lips, oh well) - Shane thought it was the greatest thing ever. Jody saved the day and kept Shane from having a melt down.

Sorry about the goofy faced Jody. It was the only picture I had of Shane showing off his football.

The front of Mickey's house.

After we went through Mickey's house, you stood in line to meet Mickey. We lucked out and didn't have to wait long.

Then we went on to meet the fairies.

Silvermist & Tinkerbell - yeah!

By the end of the day, Shane was tuckered out. And at this point, I had wished that this stroller was big enough for both of us.

We would definitely love to go back - it was a wonderful trip!

Intermission 2

Another intermission for your enjoyment. This summer I enrolled the kids in swim lessons. I can't believe I haven't done it sooner - sometimes I feel like a bad mother. They loved every minute and learned so much. I was more surprised with Savanna because she was doing some things I never thought she would do. Parents were not allowed to stay during lessons but on the last day they had a show off day in which the parents could watch.

This is one of things that I never thought Savanna would do - jump into a pool by herself. - below

I was so proud of both of them!

Summer Vacation - Part 2

Since we were all going to be at Disneyland on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, then Monday was going to be an open day for each family to do what they wanted. But we all decided we would travel on up to LA and go on a bus tour. On this tour you started at the Chinese Theatre and then you could stop off at different places along the way. You would have about 30 minutes at each stop or you could wait until the next bus arrived. Anyway, we stopped at the tar pits (very interesting), the farmer's market (the neatest place ever - wish we could have stayed longer but pressed for time) and finally stopped at the famous Pinks Hot Dog stand to eat their famous hot dogs. Dummy me forgot to charge my battery on the camera so I didn't get as many shots as I would have liked. Just think, I could have had 550 vacation pictures, dang. Ha.





The traffic getting there was awful. I've heard that it's normal.

We were in a rush to get our bus tour tickets so these were some of the stars around that area.

Hugh Jackman - he's hot.

Chinese Theatre - below

I just had to snap a picture of Stanley Street along the tour. - below

House of Blues - above



Shoot! Camera went DEAD! Crap.

Monday night after we got back from LA, we walked down to Disneyland to go ahead and pick up our tickets with my voucher so I wouldn't have to worry about doing it the next morning. Our rooms were about an 8 minute walk from the park but by the 4th day, it felt like an 800 minute walk. No tellin how many miles we walked. Man, I wish I was in better shape.

Across from Disneyland there is another park called Disney's California Adventure. If you buy a hopper ticket then you are able to go back and forth between the two parks. Being the planner that I am I purchased my 3 day hopper tickets online way in advance. My sister, on the other hand, waited til closer to time and took advantage of buying 5 day hopper tickets for the price of a 3 day. Oh, was I mad, but not for long because the sweet, nice lady at the window upgraded me. Yeah! We weren't able to go all 5 days but we did go 4!

My sister, Pam, and her family had been to Disneyland before so we just simply listened to her and followed her lead which made it so nice. She had purchased a book that told all about Disneyland secrets - for example, they had done some kind of study that proved you could ride certain rides in certain order and you wouldn't have to wait in line so long. I was really sceptical, but it really works. We would be in a line for a ride and I would be thinking that it was pretty long but when we would get off the ride the line was sooo much longer. I don't know how they know but they do. Also, we would get there at 7:30, wait for the gates to open at 8:00, stay til around 1:00 and then go back to the room to swim or rest and then go back in the evening and watch the beautiful fireworks. We had a good routine.

The following pictures are from day one. The blurry picture (sorry) below shows all the kiddos running to get to Disneyland. They were so excited.

Waiting for the gates to open. Silly Shane. - below

Yeah! I couldn't believe that we were finally here. Everything was so beautiful.

Paw Paw - he's so funny! - below

I definitely recommend a stroller for the little ones. Randal and Pam have a Disney Visa card and with that we were able to get 2 strollers at no cost everyday. It made is so nice.

All the kids had their autograph books ready for all the Disney characters to sign. We saw Donald right when we came in.

On this first day, we scheduled a breakfast with Disney characters. The guys didn't really care to go so they all rode rides while the girls and the kids went. It was an all you can eat buffet that was out of this world good. And seeing all the characters was such a treat for the kiddos. It was a little pricey, but worth it.

The fairy godmother was my favorite. I loved the way she talked and she was so friendly. I have a video of her if I can get it to download later.

And I must say that the rides were so efficient. They moved the line along so fast with the way each one was set up. Nothing like Six Flags.

Hayden and Ashlyn trying on hats. - above

Intermission

I thought I would give a little intermission between the "parts" of our vacation. The star of this intermission is Shane and I am sure it will get a few laughs. I was in the kitchen one day and the kids were in their rooms playing. Shane appeared and had obviously been into Savanna's dressup or play clothes. I just had to grab my camera for the picture below. Jody would hate knowing that I have posted pictures of Shane not only wearing make-up but now wearing a girls dance suit. Oh, the joys!

Also, Jody recently took a business trip to Denver and brought back gifts for the kids, but I thought the gift for Savanna was so neat. It's a Breyer horse that you can paint any way you want.

Hope you have enjoyed this little break - I should be back soon with Part 2.