We went over the two year anniversary of Jacob and Makayla’s unexpected and permanent return to us. This trip meant a lot to me because we were replacing those bad memories with really good memories and celebrating just how far our family has come in the last two years.
Here’s a quick rundown of our trip. We left Sunday, October 31 after church and drove to Mesquite where we stayed the night. Monday we drove the rest of the way, checked in to our hotel, went grocery shopping, visited Downtown Disney, and went swimming. Our hotel room had a small refrigerator and a microwave so we ate dinner there each night. The hotel is across the street from the entrance to Disneyland so we walked in everyday. It was so nice not to have to deal with parking and shuttles with the stroller.
Tuesday we went to Disneyland and had so much fun. Highlights on Tuesday included meeting Mickey first thing (something we spent our whole trip trying to do last time without success), riding lots of rides and enjoying less people in the park than usual, and the Celebrate Parade. Jacob’s not shy and therefore jumped right into all the activities with the parade. Makayla didn't like Space Mountain but she did like Splash Mountain as long as she wasn't in the very front.
This was Makayla's reaction to Space Mountian, one of my favorite rides.
Wednesday we went to California Adventure. We all love the Toy Story Mania ride and thus stood in line for it three times despite how long the wait was. The Ferris Wheel and It’s Tough to Be a Bug were disasters but we survived. It was also 99 degrees so the kids really enjoyed getting wet in the Bug’s Life area. Kaley got soaked but that helped her feel good enough to take a good nap. Kaley really enjoyed Playhouse Disney Live with Makayla and I while Jarl and Jacob rode Grizzly Bear Rapids and the Tower of Terror. We all enjoyed the Pixar Parade but felt that while the World of Color show is cool, it’s nearly impossible to see.
Thursday we went back to Disneyland and had our record ride day. Jarl and Makayla rode 30 rides and Jacob rode 31. Another huge highlight was Jacob participating in Jedi Training. He got to fight Darth Vadar and win (we still hear “left, right, duck, left, right, go for the head”). We also enjoyed a lot of the rides in Fantasyland that we didn’t get to on Tuesday. Thursday temperatures got up to 98 degrees so it was another scorcher. I had a first at Disneyland. While riding Indiana Jones (by myself), the ride broke down. I sat in the car for 15–20 minutes fully expecting to get to walk out of the ride. But they got it running again and I got to go through it with the lights on. It was really interesting. Then they let us ride it again without disembarking.
Jacob is next/behind the big kid in the white shirt.
Friday was much more crowded and busy and was hot of course. We did enjoy meeting princesses for the first time and attending one of their activities. The kids really enjoyed feeding their sandwiches to the ducks in Critter Country instead of eating them. I think they were tired of pb&j. We also caught the Celebrate Parade again. We missed Fantasmic because we waited out the break on Peter Pan to ride it again since that was our family’s favorite ride. Kaley loved “flying.” We did catch the fantastic fireworks show though and scored a great spot in the street where the kids, including Kaley could see it all.
Belle is Makayla's, Kaley's, and my favorite princess so we enjoyed meeting her. She was also the nicest princess we met.
Drumming during the Celebrate Parade.
Flying with Peter Pan was the family favorite ride. We enjoyed being able to ride it all together.
It was a fun, fun trip. And we’re already planning our next one.
That sounds like so much fun!!! You guys are such a cute family.
ReplyDeleteDisney land is a great place for good family fun! You guys look so happy!
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