Disneyland and California Adventure
Disneyland really is so magical. We left the Christoffersons house early on Monday morning, checked in to our hotel and walked straight to Disneyland. We asked the Genie for our three wishes, toured the Tarzan tree, rode the Jungle Tours boat and headed to Toon Town for rides and lunch.
We left the park about 3:30 to go and grab something to eat. The hard part about being at Disneyland over Thanksgiving break is that there are SO many people. Coming early, using fast passes and Single Rider lines, leaving during the middle of the day, and staying until the park closes are the key to making it a great visit. We ate a good dinner at Panera Bread two blocks from the entrance of Disney – they we headed back to the hotel, grabbed another sweatshirt and headed back to enjoy California Adventure until the park closed. We LOVED the swings and the Goofy’s Wild Ride Roller Coaster. When California Adventure closed we ran over to Disneyland for a few more rides.
DAY 2 – California Adventure!
We were there EARLY so we could run straight to California Screamin’ as soon as the gates opened. What a great roller coaster! It was in everyone’s top 5. It’s fun that even Matthew could ride on it with us. After the first ride we decided to ride again, this time using the single rider line – even Matthew! I’m sure that the adult sitting next to him thought, “Where is your mother?” But we were either before him or behind him on the next couple of coasters. It was a good way to do the ride a couple more times.
Riding the big Ferris Wheel was really fun – and a little bit scary. The kids really enjoyed it – even Luke, who’s expressive face seemed to capture his emotions as the individual compartment slide around as the Ferris wheel moved. These make me laugh out loud.
We rode Soarin’ Over the World – our first time seeing the new one – and it was awesome. Then we rode the Grizzly Rapids Ride – even though it really wasn’t ‘hot’ enough to warrant getting soaked – but the kids couldn’t care less about that and we got some fun video.
For ‘lunch’ we stopped at Ghirardelli's and got some salted caramel brownie Sundae’s and then we headed into CARS land and Bug’s Life Land.
We were getting pretty tired. Dad decided to run over to Disneyland to grab Fast Passes and meet us back at the hotel to take a break. The kids and I grabbed a ride on the trolley back to the entrance.
We knew everyone was tired but we had no idea that when we turned off all the lights and laid on the beds that all seven of us would sleep for almost three hours. It was wonderful – and we obviously needed it. Disneyland can be pretty exhausting – especially the way we do it. We got ready for the night, stopped by Walgreens to get snacks for the evening and headed over to Panera Bread for dinner – for the second night in a row. We are creatures of habit for those kinds of things. While we ordered soup and sandwiches for dinner, Matthew was so confused. He thought it was supposed to be breakfast since we had just woken up. Ha ha. It’s hard to keep track of the days!!
We split up into two groups. The ‘Tower of Terror Lovers’ and the ‘Terrified of Tower of Terror’ group. Emily and Matt love the ride and Katie, Megan and Luke would just rather not. Luke actually tried it earlier in the day just to be brave and HATED it. Poor guy.
Katie, Megan and Luke waited in line for Captain America and Spider-Man – and were so excited about it!
Spider-Man was so funny and spent a lot of time with the kids. He shook Katie’s hand and then pretended he was stuck and wasn’t able to let go. It was pretty funny. After our pictures then we asked Spider-Man if he would do a mannequin challenge with the kids. He did and it was awesome! After he said, “Oh shoot. I think I blinked!” It was funny.
We ended the night in Paradise Pier with more swings, Goofy’s Wild Ride and California Screamin’. We love California Adventure!
We headed back over to Disneyland for some more rides and found a great spot for the Light Parade just as it came by. Matthew was so excited about it – especially when Mickey waved “right to him”. It was pretty magical. Dad leaned over to me and said, “We do have a 7 year old.” Seeing characters and watching Parades hasn’t been our top priority as our kids get older but it sure was fun to watch Matthew during this one. -- Then more Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain and more…
DAY 3: Last Day
One more early morning. Chris ran to get Fast Passes for the new CARS ride and we needed straight for California Screamin’ again. Then we headed to Woody’s Round Up.
The new CARS ride was really fun!
We waited in line for seats to the big FROZEN musical. Dad left to go out and find us something to eat and I’m not surprised one bit that he back with Mickey bread.
The FROZEN Musical was really fun… glad we could see it!
The Christoffersons gifted Luke with Disney money so he bought a nice Mickey hat as we left the park. It was really fun he could spend his birthday at Disneyland. We left at about 2:30 and picked up our luggage and got on the road headed towards St. George with thousands of other people leaving LA. We had a great time in California!
