Disney Day 3: California Adventure

We woke up the next day pumped and ready to Disney :). I have a hard time not getting giddy, even when I'm just describing our day. It started out with a wonderful surprise...Dole Whip! I was thrilled to discover that the coffee shop at the Disneyland Hotel offers Dole Whip. I am proud to say that this was one of just two Dole Whips that I had the entire week. Dole Whip is, in my opinion, the single best thing to eat in all of Disney. 

Our first day was spent in California Adventure.

The kids were super excited to see this statue of Walt Disney, who they are each developing a great respect for. I love that they are just as excited about this statue as they are about the rides and characters and treats.

We headed straight for Cars Land, and hung out there for most of the morning. Mater was our first find, but Makenzie wasn't at all interested in meeting him :).

Grandma and Grandpa kept the little kids while we did Radiator Springs Racers for the first time. This cute picture of them was on Makenzie's first ride, Luigi's dancing cars. She loved it, and spent at least the first 6 rides just grinning and laughing the whole time. Such a fun ride buddy!

I was completely unsure of how Carter would react to the roller-coaster type rides, so we made sure that Radiator Springs was his first ride. He has been looking forward to this ride for 2 years, even celebrating a few months ago when he officially measured over 40 inches at his annual checkup.

I shouldn't have been nervous, he totally loved it. Couldn't wait to go again, and tell everyone about the different parts of the ride.

I love that Carter's too small to be seen in the picture.

Pictures from Luigi's Dancing Cars :)

We were lucky enough to see Lightning McQueen on our walk to Mater's Tractor Pull.  Again, one kid wasn't interested in being in the picture :). Carter was so fun, he totally wanted to have a conversation with each car that we saw. This corner of California Adventure is Carter's happy place.

Next, I stayed with the two littles while everyone else went back on Radiator Springs.

We spent our lunch at Ariel's Grotto. This was definitely the highlight of the trip for Makenzie. She had a list a mile long of princesses she wanted to meet, starting with Belle. The lunch at Ariel's Grotto was such a perfect way to knock our way through that list. She was the perfect little model after she got changed into her Belle dress.

We were welcomed to the restaurant by Ariel, and we sat out on the patio where we could watch all the other rides going while we waited.

Hunter definitely loved all the attention on this trip, and loved watching and listening to the new stuff around him. This kid is going to be a great traveler :).

Makenzie was more than a little skeptical of the guy that sang the welcoming song, but she didn't actually cry, so we're calling it a win. I'm pretty sure she was expecting princesses and this guy just wasn't making the cut :).

Belle was our first princess, which was a huge relief to me. Makenzie stared up in wonder as she signed everyone's autograph books, and was too excited to speak or answer Belle's questions. There hasn't been a day since our trip when I didn't hear 'Belle...I meet her!' at least 5 times, and she tells everyone we meet, from parents at Tball games to grocery store cashiers :).

Tiana has spent the most time at the top of Olivia's favorite princess list, so this was an added bonus. Character meals have always exceeded all of our expectations, we just can't wait until there is an Avenger's meal :).

Silly boy...he loved dessert and might have been flirting with the princesses a little :).

Immediately after lunch we headed to Midway Mania, which quickly became Olivia and Carter's favorite rides. I shouldn't say favorite, because everyone on the trip had at least 5 favorite things, but Disney has a way of doing that to us.

I'm pretty sure the grownups went on California Screamin' while Mary and I took the kiddos on King Triton's carousel. Last time we came I felt like we ended up riding this ride constantly, but this time we had a lot more adventurous kiddos, and this was our only carousel ride. Hunter was really happy on his dolphin, and spent the whole ride kicking and grabbing the pole, which made me too nervous to back up for a good picture. He was sliding all around the seat, but didn't seem at all scared of falling off.

I love Carter's smile in this picture...pure joy when he found his dad in the crowd!

These next pictures are from the Little Mermaid ride. It was our first time on it (it was under construction last time we were at DL), and I loved it. I'm always happy for a fun, continuously moving ride that everyone can enjoy. This was our second time on the ride, out of at least 3 times. One time I took just the two youngest on by myself, and that totally worked as well. You can't get better than a ride that I can take a baby and 2 year old on and make it through happily!

I love how engrossed they get in the story, and how real everything is. Old style animatronics or new technology doesn't make a difference, to them it's all magical.

After Ariel, I went with Olivia, Mary, Ashley, Tyler, and Andy to California Screamin'. It was my first time to bite the bullet and go on (I prefer themed rides to pure roller coasters) and also Olivia's first time. I was a little nervous that she would get scared and not want to go on, but I'm pretty sure I was projecting my own reservations. This girl was totally gung ho, and even after was proud of herself for going on it. After the ride I asked her about it, and she said going upside down was great, everything was fine except the straight down sections. She didn't go on it again this trip, but she continued to surprise me with her bravery throughout the trip.

While we went on the ride, Alex took Carter to search out Spiderman. He wasn't disappointed, and was just about to meet him when we got there.

Carter's reaction to just about every character was so sweet. He just stared and nodded, too stunned to speak. I love how his face doesn't change the entire time. Spiderman was an awesome character to meet. He was super chatty with all of his youngest fans, and even made a point to wave to Hunter when he signed his autograph book.

Hunter was too busy flirting with this cast member to pay any attention to Spiderman, but I'm sure that will change in the next few years.

Haha...I think Grandpa is the only one who understands web-slinging :). In his defense, I'm not sure Carter has ever seen a spiderman show or movie or anything like that, his knowledge is limited to books and the Lego video game.

It was REALLY hot all day, so we took a mid-day break inside the animation academy. We gave everyone a choice, and Makenzie wanted to wait in line to meet Anna while the others all went to Turtle Talk. I made the sacrifice of waiting in a character line...anything for your kids! I'm so glad I waited in this line though, because 35 minutes later (I was curious so I timed it) we were led back into the room where Anna and Elsa were waiting. They were so sweet to Makenzie, and didn't mind when she told them that Belle was her favorite. After this day of meeting 7 princesses, the trip couldn't get better. She just sat and cuddled with them while they signed her book and asked her all about her trip to Disneyland. They listened so well, and understood her 2 year old speak way better than I thought they would.

One of my favorite things was her little tongue, which went from side to side the entire time we were in there.

After We saw Anna and Elsa, we met everyone else down in the Beast's Library, which was super fun and instilled a love of roses in Makenzie. Belle is her new favorite princess, but she has only seen the movie once or twice. I'm not sure she realized the significance of the rose in the movie before this, and she now points out every rose (and peony, and rhododendron, and iris) that she sees to ask if this is one of Belle's flowers :).

We went for a little adventure in the Redwood Forest adventure section. I'm not actually sure what this is called but it's a fun break from rides and the kids love climbing up all the ropes and things. Andy, Tyler, and Ashley took the older kids up and around the nature trail while the rest of us stayed with Makenzie and Hunter in the lower section. Carter passed the 42" mark to do this rope swing, and I was so surprised that they let him on (he was only barely 42", if that) that I didn't think about what he was actually doing. After the swing hit it's stopping point and bounced back (you can see in the picture below that Olivia has already bounced) Carter flew off and took a faceful of rubber chips. He jumped right up - thanks in large part to the cheering section standing right next to him - and was off to the next thing. I noticed that he wasn't overly anxious to try again though ;).

We had a couple fast passes or rider switch passes (we made good use of these the entire trip and I don't remember which we had this time) left for Midway Mania, so we split up and just our little family went on the ride one more time. I wanted to try without holding Hunter, so Alex took him and still beat me ... luckily I had Makenzie sitting next to me, so I could still blame my poor performance on helping kids. Alex and I might have a slight competition problem...

We had Italian food for dinner (including an amazing pesto ravioli) from Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta with plans to stay out for another hour or so. I noticed that all of the kids were really tired though, and it culminated in Olivia eating her salad like this...

So I took the two littlest back to the hotel for bed and Alex was going to use the rider switch passes from earlier to take the bigger kids on Radiator Springs one more time. They totally loved this ride :)

On the way back through Cars Land they got sidetracked by some cool sights and lights (and one more ride on Luigi's dancing cars as well) Someday I will post the video of them on this ride...it was hilarious. Mostly I just love how happy they are after a full day of rides and heat and craziness. Disneyland truly is our family's happy place :)

And that was Day 1 in the parks! Day 2 was in Disneyland, so all new rides and adventures :)

Disneyland: Travel Days (1 & 2)

At the end of April we headed with the Casqueiros to Disneyland! The kids (who learned about the trip 2 weeks earlier) were SO excited, especially Makenzie, who had a list a mile long of all the princesses she was going to meet. Olivia was all about the roller coasters - daredevil child - and Carter was most excited because Spiderman and Captain America recently moved to Disneyland, so he might be able to meet them. Alex and I are total Disney lovers as well, so we were all really excited for the trip. Apparently we got on the road a little too early though, because this was the kids reaction when I told them I was taking a picture to send to Grandma.

Later in the day, after a few snacks and a pit stop to run around, the kids were in much better spirits. We also turned Hunter around just for this long trip (so he could see the movie) and he was totally thrilled about it. He hasn't complained much about getting turned back around after we got home, but I am excited for the day when I can just hand stuff back to him again...it's so nice to have the kids facing forward!

There were two highlights of the drive to Seattle (where we were meeting everyone to fly down). The first was while we watched Planes, our first movie. About halfway through the movie we passed a real cropduster on the field next to the highway, and the kids were convinced it was Dusty, sending us on our way to see his friends :).

We also passed a huge military convoy (at least 40 trucks) and we got to pass it twice because we stopped for gas. I have passed a lot of military vehicles on the roads before, but I've never seen so many people riding outside the vehicles, the way they would in real battle (I assume...). It was fun to see, and the soldiers were very friendly, waving to the kids as we passed.

After getting to Seattle, we decided to wander around the Space Needle and play until we met up with Gary, Mary, and Ashley, who were driving up from Keizer. The kids (and I, honestly) were amazed by this playground right by the EMP (which now has a different name, but is a music museum in Seattle that I've always wanted to go to. Maybe next time!).

Just kind of cool to see the kids climbing with the Space Needle in the background.

After a little while Mary, Gary, and Ashley found us and we wandered around for a while. We got lunch at a food court of sorts, which was magical for the kids who got to choose from all the different amazing local restaurants. We saw some street performers and checked out all the cool statues and gardens on the Space Needle Complex. We didn't go up this time, but we are planning a long weekend later in the year to show the kids some of the things that Seattle offers.

We drove the 15 minutes to the hotel, and none of the kids made it more than 5. I loved the second shot of the back row kids...how uncomfortable! I can't imagine sleeping that way, but I'm glad they got the rest they apparently desperately needed.

After an early dinner we hit the pool, which is the most important part of any hotel stay :) Somehow I didn't get a single picture of our biggest water baby, who is always the first in and last out. Makenzie is still working on her bravery about jumping :)

Running mascara aside, this might be my favorite picture of Hunter and me :) I love this little caboose!

Sunday morning dawned beautiful and sunny (OK that wasn't true in Seattle, but we headed to Anaheim first thing, so this picture can be our memory of that morning :)) We took a total of 10 roller bags, 8(ish) carryons, 2 strollers, and 11 people onto the Disneyland Express on the last leg of our trip.

We were all SO excited when we got to Disneyland Hotel. Olivia is the only one of our kids who remembers the last time we were at Disneyland, and this was Tyler's first time as well. I just feel like the whole Disney property is a place where only happiness exists.

We arrived in early afternoon, and weren't going into the parks that day, so we explored in Downtown Disney. Carter had to be convinced to pose with the Lego Hulk, I think it was a little realistic for him, since he plays the Lego Avengers video game with Alex. He kept glancing back to make sure that he was still :).

Olivia just seemed WAY too old for her 6 years on this trip, and this picture shows why, the sunglasses, crossed legs, and perfect smile are just too much for me.

These two slept during most of our Downtown Disney exploration. Kenzie insisted on wearing her glasses, and I'm so glad, it's adorable.

Makenzie and Hunter both woke up just in time for the Frozen store. I took this picture just in case it was the only time we saw Anna while we were there. Anna and Belle were the top two on Makenzie's list to meet, and I'm not always keen on spending hours in line, so we took this opportunity just in case. She was also lucky enough to meet Lego Belle while we were out!

Carter really needed a picture with this leaf that was bigger than him. It reminded me how all of the non-ride extra touches Disney puts into their theme parks make all the difference for kids. Everything is an adventure, full of new sights and experiences.

That night, in a first for me, we ate at Goofy's kitchen. It was super fun and loud and crazy, the perfect introduction to characters for the younger kids. Makenzie wasn't a huge fan (Ok she was terrified) of Goofy, but I'm the mom that forces her to be in the picture anyway.

 

During dinner we met Chip, Dale, Minnie, and Pluto. Besides Minnie, all of the classic characters are pretty new to the kids, but they were really excited to bust out their autograph books! My camera was having a hard time in the dark, so I borrowed a bunch of these pictures from everyone else's phones. Actually throughout the trip I stole pictures from everyone, so I will give credit now :).

Hunter was busy checking everything out, so he forgot to eat. This was the theme of the whole week. He was so happy just to watch everyone and all the new things around him, and was quite content to be passed around to all the willing holders.

Makenzie was SO thrilled to meet Minnie, and gave her a sweet hug. I didn't get it on camera, but I did capture Olivia's hug right after.

Pluto came over and 'booped' Hunter with his nose, but that didn't go over too well :). The characters are always good sports, and Hunter got over it fairly fast, but he was a little hesitant after that.

Carter had to show off his dessert plate, which I believe started with 4 different desserts. He made a valiant effort, but didn't actually finish all of them. For his stomach's sake I was glad he decided to quit, but the desserts at Goofy's Kitchen were amazing, so I can't blame him for having a hard time deciding. 

At some point in the afternoon Olivia drew this in the bedside notebook. I asked her about it later, and she said she drew Walt Disney holding a briefcase because it holds all of his plans for Disneyland. I looked all over the hotel room for something that she was replicating, but didn't find any pictures of Disney holding a briefcase, it seems he is always shown holding Mickey's hand. Either way, this was such a sweet note from Olivia, who was totally ready for her first day at Disney the next morning.