Quick June Trip

So with a lot of planning, saving, (and help from my lovely mom) we were able to go to Disneyland for a few days. It was . . . interesting. I guess planning didn't help the fact that I had a 4 day conference right before we left. I was gone from Monday-Thursday evening (arrived at 8pm) and had an 8am flight Friday. Also, Jakob was fighting a pretty bad head cold. But despite the fact that for the first couple days I wasn't feeling all that great, it was fun to be able to spend some time with family. And a huge thanks to my dad who stayed home and house/kitty-sat for us.

DAY 1: FRIDAY

So after arriving around 10am, we dropped off our luggage at the hotel and headed to the park. And I was hungry so we went to the place that we would eat the most at: The Jolly Holiday Station. It was the Mary Poppins theme eatery at the end of Main Street. It also had the cheapest food. We ate there many times during the weekend. Tomato Basil soup and Grilled Cheese sandwich. I was happy.

Yeah, flying is not my favorite thing and it takes me a while afterwards to "relax". And after only a few hours of sleep the night before and traveling, I wasn't feeling all that great.

We decided to walk to the back of the park and look around Toon Town for a while. Jakob had fun pulling on some of the boxes that made sound.

And he expected the TNT to make a boom, but I think all it did was "meow". Yeah, not what I expected either. There were a few other things that we wanted to get pictures of, but there were a bunch of little kids running around and a few parents not caring what they did, so we decided to go away. Which is really sad because there is a water fountain back there that has colored lights so you're drinking "colored" water. It's cute.

One of the rides we went on again and again and again (probably because the longest we spent in line was 5 -10 minutes) and the fact that my mom and I get motion sickness really easily (this is something new for me) it was a fun ride to sit down on and just relax. Pirates of the Caribbean. Loved looking at some of the changes they've made.

Another ride that my mom and I went on a few times. Yeah, you can tell that Michael isn't that excited about it. One thing I learned is when you're at the station that has the telegraph going on in the background, it is actually tapping out the speech that Walt Disney gave on the opening day of Disneyland.

We stayed the first night for the fireworks afterwards. It was actually kind of cold, so I was happy that I brought with me a jacket. Jakob didn't pack a jacket so off we went to find a jacket that he liked. We ended up finding a Star Wars jacket he liked. It wasn't Disney, but I think that he liked it better than something really "Disney".

After the fireworks we decided to hit up Star Tours. The last time we went on it was before the "revamp" and I was actually able to enjoy it. This time, not so much. Within the first few minutes, I had to close my eyes and just listen to everything. It was cute with C-3PO and R2 now controlling the pod.

And afterwards we did have to do the classic Leia-With-The-Droid thing. Yes, it isn't R2, but it was cute anyway.

On our way out of the park we stopped for a picture with the castle. Yes, I look like I'm about to kill someone, but I really was enjoying my time. I was just tired.

DAY 2: SATURDAY

We decided to start off in California Adventure.

They had just opened (the day before) the Cars Land. It was absolutely crazy packed! But it was really well done. I loved the little details. It really made you feel like you were walking around Radiator Springs.

My mom is a big fan of Ferris Wheels but this one has a "sliding" feature that we didn't like. But we did enjoy the "Goofy Conducts" water feature. It was hot that day compared to the day before.

Michael could have gone on the Screamin' California over and over and over. I was a once-and-done, but Michael went a few more times. 

One feature that both parks included was a "Single Riders" line. Michael really enjoyed that. He can make friends with almost anyone so the rides that he went on by himself he came of smiling and those around him were laughing.

I had to have some sort of crafty moment with my camera and I like Michael's picture more than Jakob's. We were waiting for Soarin' Over California.

We had to do the Muppets 3D. It's just something we've always done since all of use grew up with the Muppets and it was in homage for my dad (since he didn't come on the trip).

Jakob and I had a few times we broke away and did things together. My mom wanted to go over to the other park because California Adventure is really, really, really, loud and she was getting a headache. So we were able to go into the Sorcerer's Workshop area. I really loved the details around. I took so many pictures of how the room looked.

I was trying to get Maleficent, but it just kept giving me the Evil Queen from Snow White. Eh, at least it was a villain. 

And of course I needed the classic car they had in the park entrance.

Short little backstory: my sunglasses broke while I was at the conference earlier in the week and I thought I had repaired them and they lasted for the first day, but by the second day they weren't usable anymore. So in my quest to find another set I liked, Michael found these for me. He has good taste.

DAY 3: SUNDAY (last day at the parks)

We had planned to do the Radiator Springs rides on Sunday, but found out something rather interesting:

If you clicked on the picture and looked at what Michael is pointing at, it does say "300 Minute Stand By Wait". That means over 5 hours of waiting. And all the fast passes were gone within 1 hour of the park opening. Needless to say, we didn't go on the rides out there.

But we did have fun looking at everything.

Jakob wanted a set of ears and we found a few but they wouldn't put his name on it because apparently they can only do certain styles. That's fine with me, I'll do it at home for free. =)

I am a Maleficent junkie. Favorite villain. Favorite character. I will grab anything with her on it. Obsessive? Yes and I enjoy it.

We had to do the carousel. And I learned that all the horses on the carousel are different. None are repeated.

The boys tried to pull the sword from the stone. There was a little girl who was amazed watching them. When they stopped and were laughing, she said "You aren't very strong if you can't get it out". I was laughing.

Another homage for my dad. We went on this a bunch of times, including once at night (which is completely different).

And of course you can't leave without ice cream. No matter how bad I was feeling, we had to do the ice cream.

DAY 4: MONDAY (last day)

This day was supposed to be laid back. We had been told that we could stay at the hotel past check-out since we had a late flight so the boys could swim and we could just veg out. The hotel decided to change our plans. We were told (rather rudely) that we had to leave before check-out and that they could hold our luggage. So we went out to get some food. 

Michael bought a leather Indiana Jones hat. It looks amazing on him.

But not so amazing on Jakob. Sorry hun. 

It was a fun weekend. Looks like we'll be saving up for another trip soon.