Thursday, March 3, 2011

California Adventure, Day 2

See, I’m already forgetting little details! 

We saw Lightning McQueen and Mater right when we got into California Adventure, that was a fun surprise!

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And then Minnie Mouse the Aviator was there too!  So we got a couple of really fun pics!  Once again, Austin didn’t want to be in the photo with Minnie! Smile

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Then Carlos, Jaiden and I went on the Grizzly River Rapids.  I really didn’t want to get wet but I didn’t want to miss out either.  The other two boys weren’t tall enough so Grandma stayed with them and they watched everyone as they came around a corner on the rafts and some of them got sprayed with the geyser.  We were one of those rafts!  This picture is one I took after the ride, but we got it both just before and just after we passed it!  Luckily, I didn’t sit on the edge and Carlos had taken off his outer shirt to let me put over myself to help keep me drier.  He and Jaiden got pretty wet though and it took quite a while for his t-shirt to dry because, well, it wasn’t middle of the summer weather! 

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Then we went over to Bug’s Land (after we picked up our lanyards and trading pins that came with the package…yay!).  We started with the show “It’s Tough to be a Bug”  It was really scary for the little kids and Grandma and I held Austin and Zach the whole time and covered their eyes and ears!  Then we did some of the rides in Bug’s Land, Zach fell asleep so he didn’t go on all of them.

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I specifically didn’t go on this ride so that I could get some pictures of them but they all ended up sitting in a “box” on the other side of the pillar and when they were in the air, all I could see was the top of their heads!

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Carlos and I then went on the Tower of Terror.  Jaiden was tall enough, but I’m glad that we decided not to take him.  I think he may have actually liked the falling and stuff, but it the story and other stuff would have scared him.  I’ve never wanted to go on it, but, once again, didn’t want to miss out.  So I went, and I actually really liked it.  The drops weren’t AS extreme as I thought they would be.

While we were gone, I guess that a bunch of toy soldiers and other Pixar characters marched by the kids, but it’s too hard to juggle all three of them and a camera, so Grandma didn’t get any pictures of them.

We are a…..

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Love the flowers:

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Again, they were doing a lot of construction, but at least the barriers were fun!

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We had passes to return to the wheelchair entrance for the Toy Story Mania in 30 minutes so we decided to go on Mickey’s Fun Wheel again, but went on the non-swinging ones because the line was shorter and you do get to go up higher in those.  Jaiden wasn’t happy about that decision:

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When we were done, he said, “Okay, I DO like this one too!”  It was a really pretty view from up there!  Carlos was a bit nervous, though…

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You could see the set up for the World of Color down below.  Amazing how they make it all work.  There was a guy walking out on one of the platforms earlier, probably checking component!

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We then ran back to Toy Story Mania.  Zach didn’t want to go on it again, but this time he figured out how to shoot better and had a fun time. This was before we went in!

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Then we went back to Disneyland and got our picture in front of the flowers:

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We then took the train that goes all the way around the park, and got to go as all the lights were coming on again.  I had never been on it and had no idea that they had the little dinosaur and Grand Canyon scenes in the buildings towards the end.  Very interesting!  I was having issues with my camera because I’m a dork and so most of the  pictures on the train didn’t turn out that great.  But they are part of the story, and the subjects are way cute!

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It was nice that we didn’t have to go clear back into the park but got to see all of it!

Austin playing with Zach’s toy:

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Jaiden buying a Donald Duck Pez:

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Then we went out and had dinner at the McDonald’s just outside of the park.  There was hardly anyone there when we were ordering but just as we sat down, a TON of people came in.  We sure timed it just right!

We got the boys to bed pretty early and even Grandma and Carlos were asleep by 9:00!  It took me a little longer, but it was great!

Just one of the many details that make Disneyland so fun!

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Still one more day to come!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Disneyland, Day 2!

So, this has been Carlos’ long weekend off and I would much rather spend my nights with him than blogging, so I’ve taken a break for a few days!

On Thursday, we had the hotel’s continental breakfast, which was great!  They had a huge variety and you could even make waffles if you wanted to.  We did that on the last morning when we actually had some time.  This morning, there wasn’t any room to sit inside, so we *had* to sit on the deck, which I thought was pretty cool.  Jaiden didn’t though and cried and cried because he was cold.  It wasn’t that cold.  He finally calmed down and we headed over to the ‘Land’.  IMG_2108

We had the Magic Morning passes where we could get into Fantasyland and hour early, but we didn’t really get there until about 9:40ish.  But it was still fine, especially since we didn’t have to wait long in most lines. 

Love the TeAcUpS!

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Then we went on the Alice in Wonderland Ride.  This was going in.

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Zach didn’t want to even go in, he was with Carlos.  It was a little scary, especially after the Roger Rabbit ride the day before…  This was Zach coming out, after the ride…

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Makes me want to cry just looking at the picture!

We went on the Storybook Village ride where the kind attendant advised us on rides we might want to avoid because they could be scary for the kids.  That was very nice of her and we did just stay away from them. 

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I really liked the Peter Pan’s Flight though.  I don’t think I’d ever been on it before, I thought it was really cool!  Totally blurry pic, but I thought the ride was fun!

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Our family in Fantasyland.

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The next King Arthur???

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Dumbo, the little train and Austin, our navigator.

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Probably my favorite photo of the trip!

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Woody and Jessie:

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Seriously, ANOTHER picture???

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Jaiden, in line for his first roller coaster, the Thunder Mountain Railroad!  He LOVED it!  He did say that he closed his eyes in the dark parts!

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Jaiden took a picture of us while waiting.

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On the ship:

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Sitting in the shade for some lunch of PB&J sandwiches:

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Getting Ice Cream:

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I LOVED the window display of the ice cream shop, every time we walked past it, it made me happy!

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Then we were off to California Adventure for the afternoon!  More on that to come, I don’t want to overwhelm anyone with my craziness!