It is true! We went to Disneyland with the Winston side of the family, aside from Uncle Bryan and Aunt Rachel and their family. We had so much fun and definitely want to go again when the girls are old enough to ride all of the rides! We decided to go on this trip on such short notice because Uncle Nathan had joined the Army and was going to be leaving for Basic Training soon. He and his family decided to do one last hoorah before they embarked on this adventure and invited us to go with them! I was able to get some good deals for lodging and transportation from the Hotel to the Park via Get Away Today Vacations (www.getawaytoday.com), and Grandpa was able to get us some great 3-day Park Hopper tickets due to being retired Military! Yay! We were gone from Feb 1st-6th. Here is a breakdown, pictures, and videos from our trip. Enjoy!
February 1st: I made a humongous commitment and took Jared to work the night before which meant that I would need to get up and ready, pack the car, get the girls ready, make breakfast, tidy the house, take Ebony to be boarded, AND be there to pick up Jared from work at 8am! First of all, I have NEVER packed the car by myself so I was super nervous! However, I did it! And luckily Jared had to work a bit late so the fact that I wasn't there until about 8:30 wasn't a big deal at all because he wasn't finished until 8:45. Whew!
I will admit that when I went to Little Dogs Resort to drop off Ebony, I actually kinda lost it! It was almost like leaving a child for a few days and I was sad that he couldn't go with me. The lady that owns the place is a SUPER dog lover and was actually camping out at the place while they were redoing the floors, so she completely understood. He did great though! We will definitely be taking him back for play dates and whenever we need to board him again.
When we finally got on the road (I was driving), we were almost to our exit when I realized we wanted to be going South, not North! I was so used to driving to Washington that we were going the wrong direction! Oops! We took an exit, turned around, and then we were going towards California. Our drive was actually pretty good! The only bad thing that happened was that Ella threw up at around Provo. It must be all of the construction curves that caused her to get car sick as she did the same thing when we've gone to Provo in the past. Jared caught it though and I was able to pull over. We got it all cleaned up and it wasn't a big deal at all. We got to Las Vegas around 4pm which meant rush hour, but it wasn't bad at all! We arrived in Anaheim, CA at around 7:20pm (8:20pm our time). Our hotel offered a barbecue dinner on Wednesday nights from 6-7:30pm I believe. Since we got there so late, we would have missed it had Grammy and Grandpa not grabbed us some. :) We just enjoyed visiting, getting settled into our rooms, and went to bed in anticipation for Disneyland the next day!
February 2nd: DISNEYLAND
Ella, of course, woke up early and her and I got ready for the day while Daddy, Uncle Aaron, and Milee slept. They had brought a crib up for Milee which was nice (the first 2 nights. After that she slept with us) and Milee slept pretty well. After we got ready we headed downstairs for their super yummy hot breakfast that the hotel offered; scrambled eggs, a different meat choice each day, muffins or dessert bread, waffles, toast, oatmeal, hard-boiled eggs and peaches, yogurt, etc. Sooo good! We actually spent very little on food during this trip. We bought lunchables at Costco and just put those in the backpack with an ice pack. We had tons of snacks and fresh apples. It was really nice, especially since Disneyland is so expensive when it comes to food.
After breakfast we headed down to our bus/transportation and eagerly boarded to head to Disneyland. We decided to go to Disneyland first and save California Adventures for the next day. We hopped on the Disneyland Railroad:
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| Jack and Milee getting to know each other |
Autopia located in TOMORROWLAND:
and then went over to Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage:
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| Milee loved the bubbles that went past the windows |
We went on Astro Blaster's which was fun, and Milee could go too! It was essentially a video game ride where you held a device and tried to shoot a target to get points. Here's a pic of Nathan and Andrea:
It kept stopping while we were on the ride so I racked up a bunch of points I wouldn't have otherwise gotten since I have terrible aim!
Uncle Aaron took Ella and Milee to Tarzan's Treehouse in ADVENTURELAND while Jared, Grammy, Nathan, and I rode Splash Mountain in CRITTER COUNTRY:
We then visited Tigger:
and Piglet:
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| Ella nor Milee showed a fear of any of the characters! |
At some point during this day (it's hard to remember the exact chronological timeline of each ride we rode. I thought Jared was keeping track but unfortunately he wasn't) we went on Star Tours- The Adventure Continues (TOMORROWLAND), Indiana Jones Adventure, Jungle Cruise, and were entertained by Enchanted Tiki Room (ADVENTURELAND). We also visited NEW ORLEANS SQUARE and rode Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion (Ella got to go on this, but it kept stopping which was annoying and really took away from the ride. Ella liked it okay though, it made it less scary, I think).
We ended the day with Mickey's Soundsational Parade:
February 3rd: CALIFORNIA ADVENTURES
Since we played at Disneyland the previous day, we decided to spend this day at California Adventures.
Ella was so upset the night before because she really wanted to sit on these Mickey head benches. We were in a rush to get back to the hotel so we promised that she could the next day. She was so happy!
We immediately went in and got tickets for the World of Color show. Then we hit California Screamin' at PARADISE PIER. Such a super fun ride! I loved that it would shoot you off rather than making you psych yourself out during the tink tink tink of the coaster going up the big incline before going over the hump and down the other side. I am not a fan of roller coasters because I don't like the feeling of "losing your stomach" but this one was so fast that I never felt that! We went on it a few times!
Unfortunately nearly all of the rides were closed on PARADISE PIER, so we didn't get to ride them. I would have liked to give the Silly Symphony Swings a try.
I think this park was the most frustrating for me because Ella was just an inch too short for pretty much all of the rides. She really wanted to go on the Jumpin' Jellyfish, but couldn't. I felt bad when Kira, Caity, Jared, and I went on Goofy's Sky School. We kept saying "Ella would have loved this". We will be sure and have our kiddos be at least 42" tall before we go back to Disney :)
After PARADISE PIER, we went to "a bug's land" FLIK'S FUN FAIR. We visited Francis' Ladybug Boogie first. I rode this ride with Grammy and Ella. Jared can no longer do spinning rides because they make him sick.
Afterwards we went to watch "It's Tough to Be a Bug", a 3D interactive movie. It was fun! We especially loved the glasses!
We also rode Heimlich's Chew Chew Train and Tuck and Roll's Drive 'Em Buggies. Ella really wanted to go on Flik's Flyers but she wasn't tall enough :(
We visited Mater and Lightening McQueen
At HOLLYWOOD PICTURES BACKLOT, I actually rode The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror twice! Not in succession though. It is literally the scariest ride I have ever been on and I literally cried through it the first time. The second time I actually opened my eyes for a second or two. Basically the ride takes you into this dark elevator type thing where you are strapped into metal chairs and then shot up and dropped, up and dropped, up and dropped from higher and longer drops etc. If you are brave enough there is a few times that you can look out over the park. I bet it was a beautiful view.
Yep, everyone on the first row is watching me, aside from Kira, and Jared who is laughing at me!
We finished the day with World of Color which was absolutely amazing! They used water and lights to create images. The Finale was worth seeing! I highly recommend it and hope to see it again when we return someday.
Sooo tired after such a busy day!
February 4th: CALIFORNIA ADVENTURES and DISNEYLAND
A few pics of Ella all excited to go back to the parks
This was our last day at the parks and we had a few places/things we wanted to see and do. We decided to start the day, it being Saturday and probably the busiest day of the week (go early in the week! It is so worth it! Thursday was the best for us), by going on Space Mountain (TOMORROWLAND of Disneyland) a couple of times.
Yes, I actually put my arms up! Go me!
Love this video of Ella walking from Disneyland to California Adventures
I believe we started California Adventures with The Little Mermaid-Ariel's Undersea Adventure at PARADISE PIER but I could have mistaken this for the day before.
We then went to Disney's Aladdin-A Musical Spectacular in HOLLYWOOD PICTURES BACKLOT which was fun and entertaining.
Doesn't it look like the street keeps going? It's actually a wall painted to look like that!
We then went to Muppet Vision 3D, Turtle Talk with Crush, (I really liked this one. It was cool because the kids sat on the floor and Crush talked specifically to them, and more specifically directly to Ella. She loved it!) Monster's Inc. Mike and Sulley to the Rescue, and Character Close-up and Sorcerer's Workshop.
A few decided to ride Tower of Terror again of which I declined since I'd ridden it twice and had nothing to prove :)
Before leaving California Adventures, we rode Soarin' Over California. I remember it as so much more spectacular but there's nothing like seeing it for the first time. I think that it makes a different too if you are on the top not the bottom of the ride. Really cool regardless.
Then we went back to Disneyland. We still had some places there that we hadn't been to yet and they were the places that Ella really could have fun. I regret that we didn't make it a point to make it to these places sooner as by the time we got there Ella was pretty much spent which made me sad.
Had to get a few group shots in front of the castle!
Could miss out on "it's a small world" in FANTASYLAND. They changed a few things and actually added some of the Disney characters which I was surprised to see.
Then it was Ella time! We went to the Disney Princess Fantasy Faire-FANTASYLAND and started with Disney Princess Storytelling (after some pictures),
SISTERS!
Ella was so cute! She requested a photo with these "princes and princesses"
Aunt Kira sitting down with the girls for the storytime
Princess Jasmine told her story!
then Disney Princess Royal Walk,
Princess Ariel
Princess Belle
Princess Mulan (I've heard her appearance is very rare!)
It was so cool! Princess Mulan actually led Ella down to the Royal Coronation Ceremony as we were the last group able to get photos with her. Ella felt so special!
Princess Arora, Princess Snow White, and Princess Cinderella! YAY!!!! Cinderella had a wardrobe malfunction where one sleeve of her dress was punched down, hehe.
I think Ella had fun!
We then moved on to TOON TOWN! This is one of the places I wish we had spent more time in when it wasn't so crowded. I had Milee in the stroller and we had gone off just our family so I couldn't participate in most of what they were doing, but since this was both Jared and Ella's first time in Disneyland I was okay with them going for it! They had fun, even though we had to hurry to go to dinner.
They started with Gadget's Go Coaster and Ella LOVED it! Jared wishes he had taken her on it over and over again but the crowd was so huge, the line was so long, and we were short on time. Next time.
I just zoomed behind them as they rushed through each of the character's houses. I believe they were able to visit Chip 'n Dale Treehouse, Donald's Boat, Goofy's Playhouse (so fun with it being completely bouncy), Mickey's House (not much to see, such a long line to visit Mickey), Minnie's House, and then these fun cars. Doesn't Ella look so big?!
Two of my favorite people!
After TOON TOWN we zoomed through Disneyland to go to Downtown Disney for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. We ate there with Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Dave, Cousin Lindsey and Kaylie and Sophie. It was nice to see them and the food was so yummy! Afterwards we visited the Lego shop and a Souvenir shop to find our special something to remember Disneyland by. We ended up with a castle with Mickey and Tinkerbell on it.
Our last stop for our time at Disneyland was back at FANTASYLAND, by this point Ella was tuckered and the crowd was a swarm but we wanted to go on as many rides as possible as nearly all of these rides Ella was big enough for. This is the place I truly regretted not visiting sooner and wished we had at least gone to on our first day when it wasn't so busy. We were able to go on Alice in Wonderland (I think it was this one where they stopped the ride and turned all the lights on because somebody had lost something. Interesting!), Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Peter Pan's Flight (Ella zonked out in the line when we were going to go on this one), Pinocchio's Daring Journey, and Snow White's Scary Adventures. We tried to go on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride but it was closed. Matterhorn Bobsleds was closed as well for construction :(.
A picture with Dumbo to end our Disneyland fun!
February 5th: The beach!
Even though it was Sunday, we decided we couldn't leave California without hitting the beach just once.
Ella loved it but didn't like the salt water in her mouth. Who does?!
Milee, Grammy, and me chilling on the beach.
We had originally planned on heading back to Utah this day but changed our mind and headed to Cousin Lindsey's house for the night instead. It was nice of her to graciously offer her home and a yummy dinner! We loved catching up with them!
February 6th: Heading Home!
We had to get up early so that we could be back in time to pick up Ebony from the place we were boarding him and I realized midway through the night that we actually needed to leave even earlier than I had originally thought, so unfortunately we weren't able to stay for the yummy breakfast Lindsey had planned.
We hit a detour along the way which added some time to our trip, so I was grateful that we left when we did. We made it back to pick up Ebony about 15 minutes before they closed. Phew!
Afterwards we headed home. Man it felt good to be home, although we had so much fun at Disneyland and California Adventures and especially spending time with family. Can't wait to do it again!
