Disneyland for Spring Break!

The kids wanted to go somewhere for Spring Break.  They had been bugging us and bugging us but they couldn't ever figure out what they wanted to do.  Friday was the last day of school so on Saturday afternoon Bryan decided we had had enough of listening to them.  Courtney got a hat while Bryan got a bunch of slips of paper ready and then everyone was able to put 2 ideas into the hat of things to do for Spring Break.  This has worked for them before and they had hopes that it would work again.  The ideas that were put in were: pulling weeds (Bryan's suggestion), going to Denver, camping, going to Bryce Canyon, Disneyland, and a couple others I can't remember.  Bryan put each suggestion in the hat twice.

We each got to pull something out of the hat and the first suggestion that was pulled out twice would be what we would do.  After 4 draws it was....Disneyland!  The kids were excited!

I sent a quick text to Kristina to let her know it was all on and then we started packing.  After Sacrament Meeting on Sunday, and a quick trip to a missionary welcome back luncheon, we were off to California.  We didn't make very good time and were late getting to the Freeman's house but Sydney was still up!!  She is the MOST smiley baby ever...and that is saying a lot because our nephew Tyler is really smiley too.  The kids got to play with her for a bit until it was time to eat dinner and Sydney had to go to bed.

It was pretty late so we went to check into our hotel.  We stayed at the Del Sol which is our favorite because it is right across from the park.  It used to have free parking but they make you pay for it now, but it's less than at Disneyland so I was fine with it.  This little elephant greeted us in our room when we arrived.

The next morning we were up, bright and early, and then took off to go to Disneyland.  We had tickets that were for one park each day, no park hoppers for us this time, and I was a bit nervous because we haven't ever done that before.  I like having the option but figured that it was so much cheaper not to park hop that we didn't need it this time.  Plus, it was our Spring Break and so many people come down that I figured it would be crowded and would take us all day to go through Disneyland anyway so we wouldn't need the park hopper.

We were so early that the park still had a while to open so we walked around Downtown Disney.  We haven't been there before so we thought it would be fun to see.  Courtney immediately found "her store!"  If you don't know this about her, she rarely wears socks that match.  She has them but she likes to wear mismatched socks.  This store had all kinds of mismatched things and she loved looking in the window!  Ethan found a store with RC cars that he was drooling over.  It was a fun way to pass the time before the park opened.

 When it was time to go in, we got in line and were kind of amazed at the lack of people.  Don't get me wrong, there were still a lot of people but nothing like we are used to.  I was a bit in shock.  When they let us in, 15 minutes before the park opened, we went to Tomorrowland so we could get into Star Tours quickly.  We waited at the rope until it was time and then we dashed into Star Tours.  It was great, as usual.  When we got out we walked right into Astro Blaster, then we went back and walked into Star Tours again, then we walked back and went right onto Star Tours again.  As you can tell, the amount of people was a lot less than we were used to.

I then took Courtney on the Astro Orbitors which had a line but wasn't more than 10 minutes while Bryan and Ethan waited for us.  We should have sent them to get fast passes for another ride but we didn't think about it until afterward.  We then went to get fast passes for Indiana Jones (I think) and after this it gets kind of blurry because we went on SO MANY rides.  We ended up riding Pirates of the Carribean 3 or 4 times, Indiana Jones, the railroad ride a couple (I think), the Haunted Mansion (which kept breaking down), going to Tom Sawyer's island, riding the river boat and then Ethan and I went to Innoventions and pretended to be IronMan while Courtney and Bryan drove the cars at Autopia a couple of times.

In all seriousness, by noon we had been on everything we wanted to at least twice!  It was amazing.  A lot of it was due to our great luck at picking lines.  But it really didn't seem like there were a ton of people there until the afternoon when it started filling up a bit more.  So we went back to the hotel in the early afternoon and went swimming and napped.  It was a great relaxer between everything!

Kristina and Sydney met us after work in Disneyland and we subjected Ethan to the worst form of punishment around...It's a Small World!  Poor kid has nightmares of "creepy little dolls" that sing.  But Sydney loved it so that's all that mattered.  She smiled and we had a great time walking in her parade (she waves and smiles at people as you go by so it really feels like you are in a "Sydney Parade.")

We then rode the teacups (well, Courtney and I did) and I realized that I don't like spinning around.  I did really well  until I looked up and then it was too much.  So I just spun us and focused on the wheel in the middle.  Not a ride I need to go on again.

We went to eat dinner and then we went on Pirates again...with Sydney!  She did really well and we all had fun watching to see how she would react.  She is now a seasoned Disneyland girl!

After a little more, it was time for us to use another fast pass (I think) and Kristina had to go to put Sydney to bed.  It was great to see them.

We didn't stick around Disneyland too late because we had done everything we wanted to do and we were tired. Ethan did go back and buy himself a custom light saber as his souvenir.  It's pretty cool.  It was a great day!

Tuesday we woke up and went to California Adventure.  We immediately got a fast pass for Radiator Springs Racer because those go fast!  Then we went to the Toy Story ride and didn't have to wait very long.  We had the kids get back in that line while Bryan and I went on California Screaming.  It was a fun ride but really long!  We then hopped in line with the kids and did the Toy Story ride again.  Then we went to use our fast pass but the Radiator Springs Racers were broken.  They told us they would accept our fast passes later so we weren't too worried.  We went to Bug's Life land and Courtney rode on the bumper cars while Ethan relaxed and I went to get myself a fast pass for the Tower of Terror (no one will ride it with me).  Then Ethan and I went back to Car's Land while Courtney rode another ride in Bug's Land with Bryan.

We then went back to the Radiator Spring Racers and they were working so Ethan and I got in the Single Rider line.  It was really short so we got on pretty quickly.  When we got off we saw Bryan and Courtney in the Single Rider line not too far behind us.  So we went to the shade and waited for them to finish.  Then we all went together using our fast passes.  It wasn't a bad wait for us but when we got off the line was HUGE!  Once again, we got really lucky.

Then it was time for my fast pass so I went to the Tower of Terror while the rest of the group got in line for Alladin, the musical.  I finished, met up with them and we watched Alladin.  It was pretty good.

By this time we were pretty tired.  We went on a couple more rides, I think, got a treat and then were ready to go.  Courtney wanted a Build a Bear for her souvenir so we went there and she got to make one.  She bought a dog. 

 Then we loaded in the van and drove home.  We didn't get home until really late but we had a great time at Disneyland.  It was such a fun trip!!