Friday, July 29, 2011
We were sad to leave our awesome beach house...but excited to spend some fun days at Disneyland! Kim made us these shirts for Christmas! We were so excited to have a chance to wear them in warmer weather. We headed out around 10 AM down the coast to Anaheim.
We arrived at our hotel around 3:00pm and quickly checked in, dumped our stuff and headed off to the parks! We arrived around 4:00pm to the main gate. We went into California Adventure first and collected fast passes. We rode the new Little Mermaid ride twice, ate some dinner and rode a few more rides.
Then off to Disneyland! We hit a few favorite rides like Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones.... We watched the fireworks show and ate Mickey Bars. Then we hit Space Mountain and jumped in line for Star Tours at about 11:45pm! We had all been dying to ride this new attraction & we were not disappointed! We absolutely loved it!
Closing down the park!
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Today our AP's were blocked out, so we took a "rest" day. We slept in a bit, went and had a delicious breakfast at "The Original Pancake House". We headed into Downtown Disney and saw Captain America at the movie theater. Then we shopped and hung around. Bill and Kim met us there and we all headed over to get some dinner at Oggi's Pizza place. Back at the hotel, Chris took the boys swimming for a bit while I headed to the grocery store. We all got cleaned up and headed to bed early. We were all sharing a hotel room so it took awhile to settle down. Kinley was so excited for Disneyland the next day! At around 9:30, we could hear the fireworks going off and the kids could hardly contain themselves! William and I took all the kids outside to watch the fireworks show. We had the most amazing view from the sidewalk by our room! We could see perfectly and could even hear the music! It was better than the previous night when we were sitting in the crowded hub in front of the castle! Finally...off to sleep for a busy day tomorrow!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
This is our Disney Day with William, Kim, & Kinley! We all wore our matching Tye-Dye Mickey shirts that we made a few weeks ago. We looked great! We had a rough plan of the main things we wanted to do today as Bill & Kim only had one day in the parks. We wanted to really focus on the stuff Kinley would enjoy...and that is what we did! We also did some bigger rides that Bill could enjoy too! Poor Kim couldn't really ride any bigger rides as she is growing a baby....
We opened the park this morning! Our first stop......Minnie Mouse!
Then quickly off to Fantasyland to spend our morning. First ride: Peter Pan to fly over London!
We had a bit of rain this morning, so our plans to ride Alice & Teacups went out the window! We headed into Small World (my favorite ride).
Then off to meet the Princesses! This is something I have always wanted to do, but have never been able to talk the boys into. Having Kinley there was the perfect excuse! : )
We got to meet Belle. She was so nice! She asked Logan where we were from and then told him we must be from the World of Color because of our colorful shirts! LOL
We met Tiana from Princess & the Frog.
And we met Ariel.
It was so cool! I finally got to see some Princess action!
Finishing up Fantasyland.
We headed over to Adventureland to ride Jungle Cruise. I think this was William and Kinley's favorite ride.
Stopping to listen to the Jazz Band in New Orlean's Square!
Over to Critter Country. We rode Winnie the Pooh and then everyone rode Splash Mountain while I took Kinley back on Pooh. Kinley and I met Eeyore and saw Pooh & Tigger.
Time for lunch! We ate our picnic lunch in New Orleans Square. Here are the guys in their FAVORITE shirts! : )
After we ate, Kim put Kinley in the stroller to nap. We had debated going back to the hotel to have her nap, but Kim thought she would have a hard time going to sleep. She did fall asleep in the stroller so it worked out well. All the boys went to ride Thunder Mountain Railroad while Kim & I walked around Frontierland. We met up with Pocahontas! She was so beautiful! I am almost positive that her hair is real!
After that we decided we had done all the main things we wanted to at Disneyland, so we headed over to California Adventure. Ran into an old friend...Stitch!
Kim wanted to keep Kinley in her stroller sleeping for a bit longer, so the rest of us rode Tower of Terror!
The guys took Logan and Ethan over to ride Screamin', while Kim, Kinley, Ryan and I explored Bugsland.
We rode Little Mermaid again!
And saw the Aladdin show. Bill & Kim didn't really care for it- a bit too old for Kinley. But the boys & Chris & I loved it as usual! The boys think this is the funniest show ever! : )
We ate dinner at Taste Pilot's Grill and then headed over to the Brother Bear Playground to let the kids run around a bit. They love this area!
After playing for awhile, we lined up to watch World of Color. This is (as you all know) is my favorite show in all of Disney. I love this show! I get teary-eyed just thinking about it!
While we were waiting, Chris, William, Logan and Ethan went to ride Soarin' while Kim, Kinley, Ryan & I held our spot.
The show was fabulous as usual! Can't think of a better way to end a day at Disney! We headed back to the hotel exhausted but very happy!
Monday, August 1, 2011
Today it was just our family. We headed straight over to Star Tours and got in line for that. I got in the fast pass line to pick up fast passes for later and then joined the boys in line. After Star Tours we hit some of our favorite rides. Here we are on Thunder Mountain.
These baby ducks were the cutest little things! There were 4 of them swimming around!
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| We took the ferry over to explore at Pirate's Island. |
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| Brer Bear |
This cowboy in Frontierland was awesome! He taught the boys how to Lasso! They had a blast!
As we headed out of Disneyland we ran into Peter Pan in the front pavilion. The boys went right up and got his autograph and while we were talking to him, Ariel walked up. She was being so nice and Peter Pan started whispering to the boys about how he doesn't like "stinky girls". When I went to take the picture, Ariel asked if she could be in it too. After I took it Peter said "Do you want to take another one with out her in it?" I said- yes and he said, "This one will be much better without a stinky girl in it!" It was the funniest exchange! The boys were cracking up!
We headed over to California Adventure to hit a few of our favorite rides before dinner.
Chris and the boys rode Screamin' as single riders. They all got on and rode within 10 minutes! But both Ethan and Logan said they would never do that again because the only like to ride in the front! LOL! Spoiled!
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| Logan |
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| Chris |
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| Ethan |
We decided to head into DTD to eat dinner at Rainforest Cafe. The kids really like it here! It is alot of fun!
After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and Chris got a few things. We took him to the airport and dropped him off. The boys and I headed back to the hotel to swim and hang out a bit. Then off to bed to start our last Disney day!
Tuesday, August 2
Today we started off with Star Tours! Then we headed off to Thunder Mountain and some of our other favorites. I knew we wouldn't be able to ride as many rides today as we had no fast-pass runner. But we did our best and made the most of it!
Pirates of the Caribbean...with Blackbeard instead of Davy Jones!
We went back to the hotel and took a nap after lunch. It was so hot and we knew we would close down the parks tonight! On the way back in we decided to ride one of the double-decker street cars. We have never ridden one before, so that was new to us!
Views from the top of the double-decker bus!
The kids had been wanting to go to this new show in the Brother Bear Playground. Actually it is now more about the characters from "Up". We went to the 4:30 showing. They did a little presentation where the kids got up and did a Wilderness Explorer Pledge. Then they got to meet Russell and Dug.
We stopped to see "It's Tough to be a Bug". The kids loved this from last time!
A nice cool, wet ride on Grizzly River!
We headed back to Disneyland to get to Toon Town before it closed for the day. We had picked up a fast-pass for Roger Rabbit as we had never ridden that before. It was totally lame! Terrible ride!
Logan really wanted to have a clam chowder bread bowl, so we ate dinner at the French Market. I tried to get us in at Cafe Orleans because I really wanted to try the Monte Cristo sandwich. But it was too late and they close at 8:00. So Logan and I had clam chowder bread bowls, while Ethan and Ryan had chicken nuggets. We found a little spot in New Orleans Square to eat- it was very crowded as the 1st Fantasmic was going on.
After we ate, we headed over to Star Tours to use our fast-pass from earlier. Then back to the Rivers of America to get a spot for Fantasmic. We love this show...but I love World of Color the best! : ) My pictures never turn out very good though!
After Fantasmic we quickly hopped on Pirates to avoid the crowds. Then over to use our Space Mountain fast-pass. Then we headed out of the park, tired but happy from our long day!
Wednesday, August 3
This morning we slept in a little and then packed up. We headed over to Downtown Disney so the kids could finish up their last minute shopping. Then we headed back home!
