The Land of Disney 2012

One vivid vacation memory I had as a kid was the our trip to California when I was in 2nd grade. I remember opening my suitcase on the first day to all new clothes. My favorite outfit was a mock neck, sleeveless, speckled blue shirt (with matching skorts) that was covered in a neon, puff painted Arizona desert theme- complete with cactus & snake. Pretty sure some hipsters would rock that today. Anyway, we drove to Cali in the back of my Dad's truck- carpet kit, no AC, just Tyler and I. We were there for a pretty long time from what I remember because we visited the beach, Disneyland, Seaworld, the wax museum and Universal Studio. The point of this story- all I really recall of Disneyland was the rain and my souvenir- a plastic cube filled with sweet tarts. I don't remember being wooed by the magic of Disney.



The look of sheer excitement behind LA Gears & sweet denim jackets? The tidal wave bang did not survive the rain either.

The Tea Cups Then

Fast forward to 2004. Mark & I decided to visit our friends Dave & Aish as they lived in Cali and it was again, another opportunity to go to the happiest place on Earth. We got trapped in a mob of people, didn't really enjoy ourselves and vowed we would not return until we had kids. So when the Williamson family decided to plan a Disneyland trip, we were skeptical but knew Mc would LOVE it. The third time really was the charm!

We got up early Wednesday morning and made the drive to Anaheim. The kids maybe slept a total of an hour the ENTIRE drive. The Desert Palms hotel was really nice and we opted for the room with the suite which was smart. The first night we swam, had dinner and chilled before our big Princess Breakfast the following day. Mc chose Princess Aurora to be her costume for the day- it lasted maybe an hour. The breakfast was so great because we didn't have to wait in line to see the Princesses and they came right to our table. I would gladly do it again.



The King

Kingston flirting it up with Princess Aurora

Mc & Belle twirling.

 

This was Mc after the first day as we were leaving the park for a much needed nap. She thought we were never coming back & had a meltdown.

We did end up in Disneyland while there was record breaking heat- 108 & 103 degrees Friday & Saturday. We all went back to the hotel and took naps & went swimming every day- which Mc didn't mind one bit. Saturday we did our Magic Morning and started in the park by 7:30 which made it a lot better. The park wasn't crowded & we got ont to the rides relatively quickly. The coolest part was Thursday (our first day) it was regular Disney and then overnight, the park was turned into HalloweenTown from Nightmare before Christmas. It was awesome! Our kids did SO well & we had so much fun.

 

Highlights:

•  Kingston loved the Small World ride. We rode twice- mainly for the air conditioning.
• Mc's favorites were the Teacups, Little Mermaid (at least six times) and Pirates
• The Dole Whips
• Complaining about our 10 hour drive and then talking to a lady from Israel who flew THIRTY hours to get to there.
• Mc's face when we saw the Princesses
• G crying @ the Princess Breakfast
• The Tower of Terror- my first ride, it was so great!
• Spending time with my two babies who thought everything was real, had no idea that any of it cost money, that the lines were long or that it was hot. They just soaked it all in.

 



Kingston was  a champ and even though it was hot, took a little snooze.




Mc wanted to ride the Tea Cups SO bad! This was our 2nd attempt (after being broken the first time) and it broke again after we got off.

 

Mc chose the baby Pegasus from Hercules as her souvy.