This year we decided to try Disneyland in November instead of October so we could catch the Christmas Decorations. ALSO for the first time, we drove. I was terrified about how my kids would be during a 12 hour road trip, but they were honestly really good. It helped that we let them watch stuff on the portable DVD player, played Disney music, and had lots of snacks.
On the way up we stopped in Las Vegas and spent the night at my Brother Mike and his wife Jenna's house. They were so nice to help us split up the drive that way. We had to make good time in the morning so Scott figured out a way to let Crystal eat breakfast as quickly as possible.
When we finally got there, the kids were really happy to just hang out in the hotel room because they were so sick of the car.
Seth always gets into mischief if you give him a good 3-5 minutes and sure enough he got himself stuck in the suitcase thing.
Since we were so tired we just relaxed at the hotel during the afternoon. We usually go to the beach, but since we drove instead of flying this year we were wiped out. That night we went to Black Angus restaurant.
It was here that we discovered that Seth knew how to balance a spoon on his nose. We couldn't stop laughing. We found out later on that my cousin Roger taught him how one time when my parents were watching him.
Of course you can't go to Black Angus without eating their amazing chocolate cake with TONS of fudge.
The next day we went to Disneyland. I loved all the Christmas decorations!
The first ride we went to was the Haunted Mansion. During the Halloween and Christmas season they center the ride around the movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas" a movie our kids love, so they would naturally love the ride, right? Wrong. Seth was TERRIFIED. For those who've never been, during the beginning part of the ride you step into an elevator where the portraits on the wall seem to get longer and there's a scary voice narrating that you'll never escape, then projections of ghosts float to the ceiling, there's a crash of thunder and lighting, an image appears on the ceiling (since it was Christmas, it was Jack the Skeleton's face) and then the lights go out and it's pitch black. As soon as the lights went out following the thunder Seth screamed "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!" in full terror, and the whole elevator laughed. Other than that the rest of the ride was okay for him. Though he refused to go on it again.
We went on a bunch of rides,the kids loved the Teacups and the Merry go round, and Seth's favorites were Mr. Toad's wild ride, and Winnie the Pooh. Crystal loved Snow White and Peter Pan. We always bring sack lunches to the park so we can save money. The restaurants there are really expensive, and we were already eating out every night. It's fun to find a bench with some shade and have a mini-picnic.
When Seth, who's still only two, got tired of walking, he got to ride in the baby carrier. I wanna take a minute to plug the ERGO baby carrier. It's seriously the best and safest baby carrier on the market. It's the most comfortable carrier for me AND Seth. It doesn't ride up his crotch like a lot of other carriers do, it gently cradles his bum as if someone were actually holding him. We've used it for three years at Disneyland to carry Seth in and every year it does an awesome job. It can carry up to forty pounds, so I can even carry Crystal on it if I wanted to, and it doesn't even feel heavy because of the way it's designed and because there's a waist belt that helps balance the weight of your child on your body so that you're not feeling pain in your back, shoulders or neck. If you go to the website you can see that it's a little pricey, but for us it's been well worth the price. He even fell asleep in it while we were waiting in the FOREVER long line for the Peter Pan ride.
Seth couldn't stop laughing on the merry go round. He even sang "The Lone Ranger" music. (My Dad introduced him to that show).
"Weeeee!"
We watched the Disney Christmas parade that night. Disney always does an amazing job at their parades, there not like the boring stuff we see at home, you can tell they put a lot of money into it, and of course the Christmas music in the background is playing the whole time. At the end of the parade Santa makes an appearance in his sleigh and the kids went nuts for it. The pictures don't ever do it justice.
"Ho Ho Ho! Meeerry Christmas!!!"
We ate dinner at the Cheesecake factory that night. Seth loved the black beans, which was kind of a good thing since riding in the car from the road trip made him constipated.
Every day we took a bus from our hotel to the park so we wouldn't have to pay for parking. Here we are the next day waiting for the bus.
The kids enjoyed riding the bus like it was an actual ride at Disneyland. Every time the bus would start driving, a voice on the intercom would say "The bus is now departing." For some reason, Seth really liked this sentence, and would continue to practice saying "The bus is now departing" over and over again every time we rode the bus. Even randomly walking through the park he would turn to me and say. "Mommy, the bus is now departing" and he would feel smart because he was saying big words. He made me laugh a lot during the whole trip.
Since we had a hopper pass, and we spent the entirety of the previous day in Disneyland, we decided to spend the whole day in California Adventures this time.
We ran into "Sulley" from the movie 'Monster's Inc.' RIGHT after we got off the 'Monster's Inc' ride, so it was sort of perfect. I love the excitement on Seth's face in this picture.
There are a lot of 3D shows in California Adventure. The two we saw were 'The Muppets' and 'Bugs Life.'Again, Seth was TERRIFIED of the Bugs Life show. Since his poor two year old mind still has a hard time discerning pretend from reality, he thought the movie was coming to life and trying to destroy him. To be fair, it is a little intense. A huge evil Grasshopper literally bursts through the walls and threatens to kill everyone in the theater. At one point giant tarantulas lower from the ceiling in an attempt to land on the viewers, and along with smells and bursts of wind and sprays of water that go on during the show, it was all too much for Seth and I had to take him out of the theater before he went hysterical. I took him out into the hall and a Disneyland worker who felt sorry for him game him a "Disneyland Employee" pin he could wear on his shirt, which cheered him up a lot.
Seth holding his pin while sitting in the hall. He's still a little sad here and wouldn't look at the camera, pretending to be distracted by his shoe instead.
Crystal on Crystal on the 'Flicks flyer' ride
During the night we actually crossed back over to Disneyland because we wanted to see the fireworks show. The fireworks were Seth's favorite part of Disneyland I think. We were able to get a really good spot right underneath the castle and the fireworks were so close that Seth kept putting his arms out to try and catch them. People nearby were yet again laughing at him because he kept squealing and laughing because of how happy he was.
After the fireworks the lines get a lot smaller for the rides because a lot of people go home. We were able to get on the "Small world" ride, which usually had a ridiculous line this time of year because of all the Christmas stuff they do to it. Again, these pictures don't really do it justice.
Scott and Crystal on the elephant behind us during the Dumbo ride.
Crystal and Seth posing outside of "Mr Toad's Wild Ride" this was Seth's favorite ride because he got to drive.
On the last and final day, we had to head over to California Adventure again because to see the new "World of Colur" Show, you need to get in line for a "fast pass" in order to get a good viewing spot. The world of color show is fantastic. It's basically the fountain show outside Las Vegas' Bellagio on steroids. Huge colored fountains of water burst into the air with images of beloved Disney Characters projected on them, along with perfectly orchestrated music and timing. The show lasts a half an hour and is well worth the wait.
Scott heading over to get a fast pass
After we got the fast pass we got in line for the famous Toy Story ride. This is one of my favorite rides. Unfortunately since it's most peoples favorite ride, the line was almost an hour long. Here are some pics of us in line:
During the afternoon, we went back to the hotel to take a nap because we were all tired. Seth hadn't pooped in almost 3 days and finally had to go. Unfortunately he's not quite potty trained, but REFUSES to poo where people can see him. He tried to hide his head under the bedtable desk, but it wasn't quite working for him:
He still felt exposed, so I built a blanket fort for him to go in so he could go do his business in his diaper, which he was really happy about.
When we went back, we went and met the Princesses. This is what Crystal had been waiting for the whole trip. She even had her princess dress on, and had the best night ever when she got to meet her idols. It was so cute seeing how excited she was when we were waiting in line to go in. For those who haven't been, it's really nice because your child goes through and can meet and talk to the princesses one on one, and then pose for a picture. It was her favorite night ever.
While we were waiting for the World of Colur show to start, Seth got bored and started acting loopy
All in all it was a successful trip. We had a lot of fun, a lot of laughs and the kids had a blast. Since we've gone every year for the past three years though, we're thinking of taking a break for a while and maybe going again in another 2 or 3 years.
I leave you with the only complete family picture we took. Have a nice day.
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