DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally. FINALLY!!!! 

I can stop begrudging every person that takes a picture in front of the Disneyland castle and posts to Instagram. (Seriously, I did not have kind thoughts every time I saw those happy faces. I'm such a pill.)

I can stop DREAMING, and I mean literally having dreams, about riding the rides at Disneyland. (They were amazing, btw. I'd be having sooo much fun, then wake up in bed, realizing that once again... cuz they were recurring... I was duped.) 

I can finally join the rest of humanity when they speak of their vacation at Disneyland and not be recalling glimpses of memories from 13 years ago. 13 YEARS AGO!!!

Whewwww! 

It feels good.

So this trip was actually a while in the making. Back in May, when Travis turned 30, I had started scheming about my perfect 30th birthday present. I trip to the Magic Kingdom, of course!! But I decided that it may as well be DisneyWORLD since that would get a trip in to see my best friend in Florida. I knew my baby would only be 6 months, but I told myself that was OK. 6 months was enough time to be done nursing. I'd have no problem leaving my baby. Well, baby was born and I started remembering my plans and feeling like maybe 6 months was too young to leave her. Then, I was able to go visit Rachel in November for her birthday. I knew we couldn't go back so soon. So Disney was sadly dismissed from my mind. Come the beginning of February, I suddenly announced to Travis how overwhelmed I was with everything happening in February. I ticked off my fingers... Weston's birthday, Valentine's Day, the Superbowl party, and Pinewood Derby! How could I fit it all in?! With a guilty face, Travis sighed and brought up, "Wellllll, I guess there's no way I could keep this a secret..." Then proceeded to tell me he wanted to surprise me with a trip to Disneyland for Valentine's Day. I think I melted inside. Sweetest guy!!! But I was also thinking, yeahhhh, I don't think so. We don't need to spend the money. Too much going on. Major brownie points for even suggesting it, but no. Not going to happen. And from there, I'm not sure how we got to here. I guess I puzzled on it too long. Let my mind entertain the idea of it actually happening, too often. I don't know... but we made it work! YAYYYY!!!! SO SO glad we did!! I had the time of my life. Seriously, loved all of it!

Besides driving our car across the country together after dental school, we haven't had a vacation with just the two of us since our kids were born. I highly suggest it for everyone!! It is so fun to just focus on the two of you. And I'm so grateful for my mom and sisters that watched our kids so it could happen!

(Here's where I have to include the pictures that Marcie took of Olive while she watched her. I die! My baby is scrumptious! Marcie took such good care of her! And Austin too! :)

Our flight out of Phoenix was a Sunday at 8:50pm. (I felt so bad because before we even boarded the plane, I found out that Shelley got stung by a scorpion that was on Weston's bag!! Yikes. Way to take one for the team, Shell!) It was a short, relaxing flight that I actually got to read on! From there, we got right on a shuttle to our hotel, the Marriott Garden Grove. Fairly nice hotel, but our room was right next to the ice dispenser. And it's not so helpful going on a trip without your kids, only to be woken up each morning by someone else's screaming kids in the hall. Oh well. It couldn't dampen my spirits too much! In fact, I'm not sure if it was just my body being used to waking up to a crying baby or my excitement, but I woke up Monday morning at 5:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. The big downside to going during the off season, is that the park doesn't open until 10am. But we got on the 9:15 hotel shuttle to be there a bit early. Too bad, everyone else must have decided the end of February would be a non-busy time too. It was PACKED! I guess it still wasn't as bad as their really busy days are, but it was by no means slow or empty. Plus, some really fun rides were closed for renovations: Soarin' Over California, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Railroad and It's a Small World. 

MONDAY

(Spent the whole day at Disneyland only)

OK, because I'm a documenter, I wrote down everything we did each day. So you'll probably just want to skip over this, but here is 

Monday:

Peter Pan

Canal Boats

Matterhorn

*Bengal BBQ*

Indian Jones

Jungle Cruise

Indian Jones

*Dole Whips*

*Churro*

Space Mountain

Dancing in front of the castle :)

Pirates of the Caribbean

(Pumping in the bathroom)

Haunted Mansion

Window Shopping

*Blue Bayou*

Toad's Wild Ride

Mickey's Magical Map Show

Roger Rabbit Toon Town

Watched parade

Tea Cups

Alice in Wonderland

*Ice cream sundaes*

*Denotes FOOD!!! ;)

Waiting for our shuttle and the fun to begin!!!

(Selfie warning for this entire post!!!)

Matterhorn

I must be getting old... this was a rough one!

Jungle Cruise

I hate my ears!! I LOVE corny jokes, and the Jungle Cruise is where corny jokes are born, but I could barely understand the tour guide. I would have been his #1 esteem builder for the day with my laughter, but I had to keep asking Travis what he said. 

I was told the Dole whip stand would be closed, but it WASN'T!! Yummm. These are so good. And they tasted the best on the first day, because it was so warm. I was in heaven. Pineapple heaven.

Just to give you an idea of how excited I was to be here....

 Travis looks like he's throwing a tantrum, but I love him for even trying to "dance"! He's the best!

We knew our friends, the Parkers, would be there this week so we met up with them for lunch on Tuesday, but we still ran into them on Monday!

Space Mountain

So many people suggested making a reservation at the Blue Bayou. SO glad we did! It's the cozy restaurant that you see when you're on Pirates of the Caribbean. It's so dark and quiet that you almost forget you're even at Disneyland. I loved the lanterns and ambiance. Travis got the Louisiana Lemonade which came with a raver's icecube that changed colors. Snazzy. I tried the Mint Julup. Fun to try, but probably wouldn't get it again. We both succumbed and got the surf and turf. Oh. My. I have now liked steak for almost two years. But this was the best one I've had, hands down. It literally melted in my mouth. And the lobster was really good too. We started out with bread and gumbo so I was too full to even finish. The biggest shame. Travis enjoyed my last two bites. Highly recommend this place! Plus, you might get our waitress, Nancy, whom acted like our long, lost Grandmother and told us her name at least 6 times. She was a gem!

I'll admit. I did think of the kids a lot. I tried my best to kick them out of my head, but at times like the parade, you couldn't help but think of how much they would have loved it. 

 The 3 Caballeros!!! I think it's so funny they have them in the parade! Do kids nowadays even know who they are?? That used to be one of our favorite movies!

 The Teacups are actually pretty fun if you just don't spin them. No pukey for us, thanks.

 The park closed at 8pm, which was a bummer, but we were pretty exhausted. We soaked in the hot tub back at the hotel then called it a night!

TUESDAY

(Basically spent the whole day at California Adventure except for going to Disney for food.)

Radiator Racers

Luigi's Tires

California Screamin'

Goofy Sky School- twice

Grizzly River Run

(Ran into our friends, the Penningtons)

California Screamin'

*Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante* with the Parkers

Tower of Terror

It's Tough to be a Bug

Aladdin Show

Tower of Terror

*Funnel cakes and corn dog*

Radiator racers

Talk with Crush

Parade 

Mater's Junkyard

Mickey's Fun Ferris wheel

Boudin bakery tour

*Pacific Warf Cafe*

*Ghiradelli hot chocolate*

World of Color show

So, before our trip I had paid for something called RideMax. It's software that you can plug in which rides you want to do and it gives you an itinerary of exactly what order to go on based on what days you're there and such. Well, we didn't end up sticking to it, but it gave us a lot of useful tips. One of which was how to get on Radiator Racers first! It is the most popular ride of both parks and the Fast Passes run out an hour after the park opens. So we were at the gates for California Adventure early. They let you in 1/2 early and you want to get to the very far RIGHT of the crowds. When the park opens, the workers walk you into the park, carrying a rope across the street so no one can run ahead. You stay to the absolute right, even if it means you're farther back than you could have been in the middle. Anyway, it worked! And we were probably one of the first 15-20 people to get on the ride that day! We just walked right up and got into a car. This is a ride that has a 60-90 min. wait time all day! I can see why it's so popular. It really is a fun little ride. Nothing crazy, but just really well done and at the end you get some good speed and a bit of a thrill. It was a blast.

How cool is the waterfall they imitated from the movie?!

Yeah, Luigi's tires isn't so cool, but there was no line, so it's all good.

Now, California Screamin'.... FUN!! We were in the back, the first time we rode it. It is a WHOLE different ride when you're in the back. You get whipped around pretty good. So good, that I was hurting afterward. It tweaked something in the my left shoulder and I could hardly move. I felt so old and lame! 4 Advil did the trick though. 

Churros for breakfast!

Grizzly River Run was so fun too! (Just a slightly awkward encounter with trying to squeeze next to a 300lb lady and finally having to get off so she could have two seats. :/ )

There is a ride like this at Sea World that our family loves, but this one was even better, with a pretty big plunge and lots of rapids. We got. Soaked.

We had grabbed a fast past, so it was back to Screamin'. This time we were in the front with our friend, Emily and her son and it was WAY better. Just as fun, but not so jerky. 

I had heard LOTS about Tower of Terror. It's the reason my Mom lives. Her FAVORITE ride. In fact, she text me, "Have fun and ride Tower of Terror 15 times for me!" My MIL, who hates roller coasters, admitted she liked it too. Well, I HATE free falls. I mean, cut my legs off instead, hate them. There is no more terrifying feeling than free falling. It makes me go clinically psychotic. But I knew I had to try it. It's FUN, they said. You'll love it, they said. 

 Well, what does this face tell you??!!

I'm not even kidding, people, I was thrashing and screaming. THRASHING. I just remember it started and I was whipping my whole body back and forth, side to side, just SCREAMING for bloody mercy. It was AWFUL! I knew I was making a scene. I knew  4 year old children wouldn't have behaved like that if they literally saw Freddy Krewger. I swear I couldn't help it. If I were slowly murdered, I don't think I would have acted any differently. It couldn't be over soon enough. And I've ridden the flippen Stratosphere Tower free fall ride in Vegas many times. I've become such a pansy.

Well, after that we relaxed at It's Tough to Be a Bug, then went to Hyperion Theater to see Aladdin! I had read so much about the Aladdin show and it did not disappoint! Total Broadway quality, squeezed into 45 min. Loved it. From the funny genie making Miley Cyrus jokes, to the life like elephant Prince Ali rode in on, to the actual flying carpet, it was amazing.

Then we rode Tower of Terror again. Why? Cuz I'm an idiot. I guess I thought after doing it once, I'd know what to expect and not be so scared. Yeahhh, that didn't happen. This time we were on the first row! It was maybe slightlyyy better because I clung to Travis's arm the whole time, but slightly better compares to only getting one eye poked out instead of two. That is an evil, evil ride.

But deep fried dough helped take the edge off. :)

 Trav was a little excited for his funnel cake.

We had a fast pass, so then it was back to Radiator Racers. It's still fun, but definitely get the front seat when you go.

 They did such a good job with Cars Land. You really felt like you were right in the movie.

 In the Disney Animation building, there were some quizzes you could take to see which Disney character you were. Trav got Peter Pan. I got the chick off Wall-E. Still need to see that one!

 The California Adventure parade was fun too! Again, thought of the kids.

Heard lots about these amazing bread boules. First, I made him go on the bakery tour with me. :) No kids means I actually get to do stuff like that!

 We were freezing our pattooties off by then, so we got some Ghirardelli hot chocolate and squeezed onto the bridge for the World of Color show at 8pm. Imagine the Bellagio fountains on steroids. Plus an animated show projected onto the mist/spray of the fountains. It was pretty amazing. But we were also pretty worn out and cold. It felt good to get on that shuttle back to the hotel. No energy for even the hot tub this time. Straight to bed for us old folks!

WEDNESDAY

Space Mountain

Buzz Lightyear

Star Tours

Toy Story Mania

California Screamin'

Disney Animation

*Cafe Orleans*

Pinocchio's Daring Journey

Snow White's Scary Adventure

*Dole Whips* 

Radiator Racers

Silly Symphony Swings

Monster's Inc

Souvenir shopping

*Chimichangas*

On our first day, I got to thinking that 3 days was probably not completely necessary. Boy, was I wrong! I was SO glad we had a third day to make sure and cover all the bases. There was still several things I wanted to do and places I wanted to eat! I would have felt super stressed if I had to fit it into just 2 days!! So thank you, Shelley, for offering to have our boys for 2 days so I felt like I could make it a 3 day trip!!!!

The next morning was the only major mess up. So when I booked our hotel/Disney package, I was told we got one "Magic Morning" ticket. Meaning we could get into one of the parks an hour early one of the days. So we picked Wednesday, since we had to leave early that day. Well, turns out, it was only good for Disneyland, not California Adventure. So on Wednesdays, California Adventure opened an hour early, not Disneyland. So we woke up early, packed our bags, booked it to the ticket counters at 8:15, so we could get in at 9am and were told we didn't have the right ticket, we'd have to wait until 10am. BOO!!! I was sooooooo fuming. Like they couldn't have made that a little clearer when we booked our tickets!! Ugh. So since we knew California Adventure would already be swamped with people at 10am, we got in line for Disneyland to open at 10am. We were definitely the first in line. I got us some Jamba Juice at Downtown Disney which made it the only day we ate a legit breakfast. 

We decided to hit up Tomorrowland and get on Space Mountain first. Only we got the geriatric Disney worker taking down the rope at 10am. You're not supposed to run, but when we were getting shoved aside by fat, 40 year old women, we finally said, screw it and hauled booty to get in line. It's so nice to be able to just walk through all those lines of ropes and just hop on a ride!

 This ride is SO much more fun in the front. We screamed and laughed through the whole thing. Such a fun roller coaster!

 After that we did Buzz Light Year (thumbs down! At least there was no wait.) Then, Star Tours. That one was cool, but made me sick! And I sat next to my shirt twin (some lady was wearing my same yellow striped shirt!) and got picked as the one who's picture showed up on the screen as being an imposter??? I didn't really get it. But I think we were getting shot at because I was on board. I'm famous. :)

Then we switched parks and did the Toy Story Mania ride. This one was really fun! Like being in a virtual arcade. And it felt long, so more worth the lengthy wait. 

Look who we ran into?! ;) Everyone thought it was so weird that we were going to be there the same day as the Shaheens, but weren't planning on sticking together. Obviously, just the difference between having your kids and not. It was really fun to see them though, and especially the Marchants!!! I hadn't seen Crescent in a year and it was so fun to finally meet her #4, Dash. Cutest little guy.

I guess Trav was either #1- so bored of California Screamin', #2- passed out, or #3- being my goofball husband. I'm leaning toward #3. ;)

Someone recommended doing one of the animation classes and I'm glad we did! I'm not much of an artist, but it was fun giving it a try and being guided through a sketch. The one we made it to was sketching Phineas and Ferb. Ha! We also ran into some of the Rogers and Rooneys there.

 Oh, I'm SO HUNGRY!!! 

These Parmesan fries were crazy yummy!! Cafe Orleans was a good place for lunch. Just know to split the Monte Cristo sandwich! It's huge! And delicious. 

I remembered Autopia from my first trip when I was 8. I thought it was so cool. Standing in line, relaying that information to Travis, he chided me, "Yeah, it was probably cool because you couldn't drive yet." Haha, so yep, turns out he was right. Autopia really kinda sucks. But maybe that was also due to my lame-o car that stalled 3 different times. That could be a really fun ride. Could be. But I guess it's always fun to pretend you're a kid again in a mini car.

With the whole ticket mix up in the morning, we weren't able to be first in line for Radiator Racers and the fast passes were sold out by the time we got there, BUT we figured we could try the single rider line. Score! It worked perfect. We waited maybe 10 min. and got right on! Even in the same car! Can't get tired of that ride!

At the end of the day we spent probably an hour going through souvenir shops, looking for something for the boys and our family. Holy overpriced! And I wouldn't even mind paying a lot for something if it was actually cool or a really neat shirt or something. Really, really not though. We finally settled on some Woody cowboy hats for the boys and those suckers that kids love. 

Then we grabbed a chimichanga from the street vendor and sat to eat and behold the castle, one last time. (Spoiler alert, the castle is NOT that big. I was actually disappointed. Dang pictures make it look so majestic. I swear Sunsplash's ghetto castle kicks Disney's castle's butt.) But, regardless, it IS the Disney castle and therefore holds the magic that is so Disney. I was sad to say goodbye. It really didn't feel like 3 days had passed at all. Didn't we just get here???!! But I couldn't have asked for a better trip! Just being with Travis and having fun like little kids (and stuffing our faces like little kids) for 3 days was all I could have ever asked for! The envy, the dreams, and the wait, were all worth it. 

Thanks to my Prince Charming for making my fairy tale come true!!