Disneyland or Bust!

We will be going to Disneyland this week. The whole family is so excited. In December we went for two days with my mother in law. We got a 3-day Military park hopper ticker for $99. Amazing deal!!! We stayed at the Sheraton Anaheim, which was awesome. The rooms were spacious and clean, this is a must since I am a fanatic about clean hotels. We were able to get early check in which was great. It allowed us to unpack our stuff and head straight to the park instead of leaving all of our luggage locked in the car until check in time. I think one of the best parts of the hotel was the FREE shuttle to and from Disneyland. The shuttle ran every 30 minutes, and it was so convenient. C was 3 months old when we went, so having the shuttle was a must for us. I was able to leave the park on my own to put C down for a a nap, while everybody else stayed for more fun.
The first day we went to California Adventure. This was decided because we knew we would not get to the hotel until late morning. This park is much smaller, and we would be able to accomplish most of the park in a shorter time span. We wanted to save our full day for Disneyland. We were absolutely excited when we went to the park and realized how empty it was. We were just walking onto rides, and getting front row seating at the shows. AMAZING!! Unfortunately we had to cut our day short when it starting pouring rain around 6pm. But thankfully we felt we accomplished a lot in the time that we were there.

The next day we went to Disneyland. We got there about 15 minutes after if was opened. We headed straight to Fantasyland to get on all of the kid ride. We walked right onto Snow  White, Pinocchio, Kasey Jr train ride, and the carousel. It was so much fun! We made a quick detour to Adventure Land and jumped on The Pirates of The Caribbean. I think we waited in line all of 5 minutes!!By this time C needed a diaper change and needed to eat. So mommy headed to the baby center while Daddy, K, and Nana went on some more adventures. We met up about 30 minutes later and headed to It's a Small World. We were told we HAVE to see it during Christmas time. I must say it was beautiful. I haven't been on that ride since I was little. After that we headed to Toon Town where we got to see goofy , meet Mickey, and K rode on the roller coaster with Daddy. We were all very hungry by this time so we grabbed some lunch and sat down to relax. The crowds were really picking up by now and we were all getting a little tired. Mommy needed to go back to the hotel, she had a headache and C needed a nap really bad. Thank goodness for the hotel shuttle. I was able to hop on it no problem and get back to the hotel, where C took a 3 hour nap!! Daddy, K, and Nana stayed a little longer and went on Splash Mountain and climbed the tree house near Indiana Jones. Then they headed back to the hotel for a quick cat nap themselves. We all woke up just in time to make it back to the Park for the Christmas Parade. We were at the beginning of the parade so we were able to make it to Tomorrow land in time to get fast passes for Star Tours and walk right on Buzz Light Year before the mass crowd from the parade started coming. While waiting we grabbed some pizza and had some dinner. K,  Nana, and I then went on Star Tours. It was awesome! I know they redid the ride, and it was more than I expected. K was absolutely in love with the ride. She couldn't stop laughing and screaming. Afterwards she kept saying that it was the best ride she ever went on! Mommy and Daddy got to ride Space Mountain, and then we headed over to the castle for the fireworks show. We were so disappointed to learn that they had to cancel the fireworks due to windy conditions. Oh well maybe next year. By this time we were all exhausted and both kids were passed out, so we decided to call it a night. The next morning we had breakfast with the characters. If you have never done this, I highly recommend it. It's a little pricey, but it's like having the characters all to yourself. They come by your table and sign books and take pictures. It's a lot of fun. This ended our 2 1/2 day vacation at Disneyland. We had so much fun! We can't wait to go this week.



We learned a few tricks while there last time. We will be getting to Disney before the park opens. They let you in a little bit before opening time and have the area roped off at the end of Main St. We will use this time for last minute bathroom trips and make our way to the rope to wait. Here is our "hopeful" ride list for the day.
1. Princess meet and greet-we didn't get to go last time. The line gets LONG,FAST. So we are heading here first.
2. Minnie's house-Line was too long last time
3. Tour the Castle-after all these years of going to Disneyland I never knew you could go inside!
4.We will try to ride a few of the ride in Fanstasyland depending on the lines. We got to ride quite a few last time so it won't be too bad if we don't get to do many of them.
5. Lunch break at Hungry Bear Restaurant-I have read good reviews and have never eaten here before.
Depending on the crowd we will try to ride the follwoing rides after lunch:
6. Splash Mountain
7.Pirated of the Caribbean
8. Jungle Cruise
9. Take the boat over to Tom Sawyer Island
Lunch time is usually when the crowds are in full force. If it's too much we will use this time to take the train and relax and enjoy and nice ride around the park. We will get off near Autotopia and try to ride the Monorail.
Hopefully we will have a few hours for more rides before we find good seats for the Parade and Fantasmic.
This sounds like so much to do, so hopefully we accomplish at least half of what we have planned. Nana and Kappa are coming too. So lots of help with the kids yay! Pictures and updated will follow.