Disneyland!!



The week of Halloween we went to Disneyland!  It was our first trip there this time of year and we were excited to see the decor and Halloween themed rides Disney had to offer for Halloween.  Also, to bribe Sadie into speaking her part for the Primary Program at sacrament meeting at church, we told her and Braden that we would take them to Disneyland if she would do it (We had already planned the trip anyway, but they didn't know that!).  Braden was excited to say his part and complained he didn't get a longer part, but Sadie wouldn't speak into the microphone.  She wouldn't even practice at home in front of us until I gave her the bribe!  And it worked!  She did her part in front of the entire congregation!  We left that Sunday after church for our long drive so we could have an early start at Disneyland on Monday.

Nana and Papa joined up with us at our hotel, Staybridge Suites.  It was nice staying there where we could have two separate rooms with a joined private living and kitchen area.  And the hot breakfasts were great every morning.  We rode the shuttle 15 min. to/from the park every day but it was actually nice to get a break from walking so we didn't mind it wasn't walking distance from the park.

The kids all brought their Halloween costumes to wear around the park, they loved the excuse to dress up!

  

    

We were so glad to have Nana and Papa with us for the trip, it was Papa's first big trip since his surgery!  He did awesome!  He rented a automatic wheelchair for the first day but found it was more uncomfortable for him and walked the remaining 2 days at the park.  He had to take it easy and rest sometimes but for the most part he was keeping up with the rest of us - and believe me we did a LOT of walking! 

Here we are all together at the pumpkin on "Main Street"

It had been raining for the 3 days previous, but on the days we were there it was perfectly sunny!  We actually were hot and glad that the park had water mist you could walk under at some points and water rides to go on! 

It wasn't too busy since we were there for the week days and the lines were pretty short, which I loved.  One of the days there was a Halloween trick or treat party at Disneyland Park and it was super busy on that day, but we went across to California Adventure instead and it wasn't bad at all.  Also that night we went to eat at Goofy's kitchen and it was DEAD in there!  I think there was only 3 or 4 tables in use since it was the party that night and all the characters kept visiting our tables, the kids LOVED it!

We were seated next to Goofy's kitchen special kitchen supplies that he used for his demonstrations (cooking and music) with the kids every 30 min. so he kept coming by to get his stuff.  At one point he bent over with his butt towards me and did a fart sound with his mouth as he did it.  I of course acted completely grossed out and the kids were rolling, they were laughing so hard.  Every time Minnie Mouse came over she would smother Braden with kisses because he was wearing his mickey ears.  Braden was so embarrassed but loving it at the same time.  Chip took Sadie's magic wand and pretended to turn some of the adults into different animals (since he doesn't talk, he drew a picture of what he was going to turn us into before he did it).  We all played along and then he would turn us back.  It was a lot of fun.  And the food was excellent as well. 

Besides walking and eating, we also were very busy trying to get to all the rides and events!  I couldn't go on some of them since I was 5 months pregnant, but most of the kids rides I could go on, which was fine with me.  Mackenzie was my ride buddy.  :)

Braden went on the Tower of Terror, he acted like it wasn't scary at all (a ride you get strapped into seats inside an "elevator" of a haunted hotel and then you free fall couple times) but he kept saying he wanted to go again "later".  ;) 

He LOVED the roller coaster rides, he tall enough to ride all of them except one (by a quarter of an inch!).  He was so sad.  Sadie did get to go though and she HATED the roller coasters!  There are automatic cameras on some of the rides to capture expressions on the scary parts and Jason took a picture of the picture displayed on the screen.  I don't know if you can see it but both Jason huge mouth and Sadie's terrified face on this log ride was hilarious!

The kids saw lots of Characters inside the park, but for some reason they were very shy about posing with them!

Disney inspired Halloween pumpkin display at Frontier Land (they must be adding and taking away from this daily to keep all the pumpkins fresh!):

Some of my favorite parts of the trip was the World Of Color water and light show, the live musical "Aladdin", the Haunted Mansion (decorated special for the holidays), Frontier Land (also decorated special for the holidays with all kind of amazing pumpkin carvings), loved taking the kids on the little kid rides at Bug's Land and Fantasy Land, loved the company, loved all the food... Had a GREAT time!  And at the end of it all of course we were all worn out!