During Ryan and Vanessa's off-track vacation from school, Scott and I took the Crack Monkeys to Disneyland. Our last visit was over 5 years ago, which meant Vanessa had been too little to remember anything, and Jeff had never been. We thought it was the perfect time to reacquaint ourselves with the Big Mouse!
We also decided it would be cheaper if we drove there and that proved to be an adventure! We left on a Tuesday afternoon, after Scott finished with work. It wasn't too hard packing up the car, but it was a little squished because the kids decided they needed a lot of stuff to keep them occupied. Turns out, we really didn't need half of the stuff I packed to keep them entertained; they were content with just watching movies the whole way!
We did have one hiccup during our drive: just outside of St. George, I-15 Southbound had been closed, so we had to take a detour. It took us over an hour to drive through the curves and whatnot and by the time we finally got back onto I-15, I was totally car sick!
We made it to Primm, Nevada at about 11pm that night. Scott decided he didn't want to drive straight through to California, so we'd reserved rooms at Buffalo bill's. The kids had never seen (or couldn't remember) casinos before, so they were pretty entranced by the lights.
The next morning we had breakfast at Denny's on the casino main floor, where Vanessa decided she was in love with their pancakes; she made me promise that we'd eat at Denny's again when we reached California, lol. Anyway, the kids were pretty well-behaved, despite the noise from the slot machines, and I was pleasantly surprised when an older woman came up to our table to compliment me on our well-behaved children. Woohoo!
The rest of the ride went smoothly and we finally reached Anaheim around 2pm. Unfortunately, our hotel room wasn't ready, so I convinced Scott and the kids to eat lunch at L&L's. For those of you that don't know, L&L's is a Hawaiian food restaurant; I try to go there when I'm feeling homesick for Hawaii. Scott and I got the teriyaki and the kids shared chicken katsu plates, although they didn't eat much because they didn't have Papa's katsu sauce, lol.
After lunch, we were able to check-in (Desert Palm Inn & Suites), and were impressed with our suite. It was on the small side, but the six of us fit well. It had an awesome bunk bed that the kids fought over, as well as a sofa bed in one room, while a queen-sized bed in the main room was for Scott and me. Another interesting note: the hotel backed up right against Disney's California Adventure, so the kids thought it was funny that they could hear the screams from people riding California Screamin'.
Once we were settled in, the kids asked to go to Disneyland. I really thought they'd be tired from the long drive, but they insisted, so off we went. We got a deal from GetAwayToday.com for Park Hopper tickets; they were included in the price for the hotel, so we had to pick those up first.
After that, it's kind of a blur. I recall screams of delight, meeting Mickey, aching feet, hungry kids, lots of photo ops and plain ol' fun for the following three days! The kids really surprised me by going on some of the "scarier" rides like roller coasters, but it was a blast for me since I LOVE roller coasters! We ate at Goofy's Kitchen and met Goofy, Pluto, Chip N' Dale, Aurora, and some other characters, got splashed on Splash Mountain and Bear River Run, and got a little scared on the big Mickey Mouse Wheel (or whatever you call it!).
All said and done, it turned out to be an awesome family adventure!
Here come the pictures!
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| Ooohh, water! |
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| Meeting Mater & Lightning McQueen |
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| "Git 'er done, Mom!" |
Breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen
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| Meeting Pluto |
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| "It's that crazy monkey from Lion King, Mom!" |
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| Two Princesses |
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| Enjoying breakfast |
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| "YUMMY!" |
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| "Can I have another cupcake?" |
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| Ethan had to protect his cupcake from Dale, and then Chip and Pluto later. |
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| Meeting Chip |
Riding the Silly Symphony Swings (California Adventure)
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| His face says it all! ^_^ |
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| More happy faces on the Silly Symphony Swings |
The kids thought it was awesome that a pair of Storm Troopers were wandering around after we got off Space Mountain!
We also visited Mickey's Toontown and saw lots of fun stuff, but Jeff seemed most fascinated by this old-style Toontown fire truck. (Pardon the wonky lighting; I'm still figuring out the settings on my dslr camera!)
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| Buzz Lightyear! Jeff's eyes got so big when he saw him! |
Getting ready to ride the
Jumpin' Jellyfish (California Adventure)
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| Doesn't he look so excited? |
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| Vanessa & Daddy high in the sky |
