Disneyland Day 2

Our second day was our early entrance day. It was so organized and easy trying to get in to California Adventure and then it was sheer chaos getting in to Cars Land. But, we got the fast passes and it was all worth it. I don't know if Scott, who battled the crowds, would say the same thing!

Olive and I had it easy because we went over and got right in line for the Toy Story ride. I thought Milo would love this ride but turns out it was kinda loud and he had a hard time shooting the gun. Later in the day we went on the Buzz Lightyear ride and that was a huge hit. Milo rode the Buzz ride like 7 more times. But the rest of us all loved Toy Story.

They had the green Army guys performing when we came out of Ariel. Olive jumped right in and Milo hung back on the sidelines, so funny that they can be so different. 

Here is Olive acting out the orders from the drill sergeant. I love how she has no fear. 

It was time to use our fast passes for the Cars ride. Milo was so excited to be in Cars Land!!!

Milo thought it was fun to see some of the characters although he didn't want to meet any of them, not even Lightening.

This is Milo with his button. This button has quite a story. We went over to the Cars ride and poor Milo was just barely too short. Scott hadn't never been on this ride before so he took Olive.  Milo was devastated. Major mom fail moment! I should have made sure he had tall shoes on or checked his height.  Poor guy. This was the ride he was looking forward to, and now his favorite person was riding it without him. 

He was so sad. As I tried to distract him he was kinda crying and upset. Not bad, no tantrums or anything just sad. One of the nice Disney officers (you know those guys in uniforms and wide brimmed white hats that you never notice until you do) saw that he was crying and came up to see what was wrong. 

I explained that Milo wasn't tall enough to go on the ride and was disappointed. This sweet man told Milo "I know what you need! You need a button!" and he kindly walked us to the nearest gift shop and got Milo one of the Disney buttons. It said "Honorary Disney Citizen" on it. Milo made me put it on immediately and it brightened his whole day. That was a really special, magical moment thanks to that kind Disney officer. 

Milo wanted to rush over and show Scott and Olive his new treasured button. Olive rushed over with her excitement of how she conquered this ride that she was afraid of. Go Olive!  She was so excited to ride it again with me on the rider swap pass. 

This little champ is ready to race!

 After Cars Land, it was time for some lunch. The kids got matching Mickey cookies and basically only ate that for lunch.

Scott had to get in on the action too!

We had also gotten fast passes to meet Anna and Elsa and see their sing-a-long performance in the theater. So much Frozen Fun!

These were the best Anna and Elsa we have met. Olive was excited to get their autographs. 

This is Milo explaining the story of his button because Anna asked him about it. He told her "The cowboy gave it to me because I couldn't ride the fast ride" She was so sweet and trying to follow along with his story. She asked him "Oh the cowboy? Did Woody give you that button?" And Milo was like "No, not Woody! The cowboy!" It was kinda hilarious. But look at how cute he is explaining the whole story. 

Here they are getting their books signed. 

And giving hugs. 

Cute cute cute!

Then it was off the see the performance in the theater that they had redone just like Arendale. It was pretty impressive. 

Although she doesn't look it, Olive was excited to do the Frozen Sing-a-long. 

There was a light show,  songs and actors and at one point bubbles came from the ceiling. It was a huge hit with our kids!

After spending most of the day at California Adventure we headed over to Disneyland to get some ice cream for dinner. It's no rules on our family vacations!

We had fast passes to my favorite ride, Space Mountain. Olive was not nervous because she had braved lots of other big rides that day. She made a little friend in line (typical Olive style) and they talked about how excited they were to ride it. Well, Olive and I got put on the first row. One the first row there was a lot of wind blowing in our faces and I think that might have ruined the experience for Olive. She came around the next day and rode it with Scott and loved it. But not sitting on the front row was her one requirement. 

She looks kinda stressed right?

While Scott and Milo waited for us, they went on Buzz Lightyear, like 4 times. Then we all went over to ride Autopia and Milo fell in love again. He rode that ride lots of times too. I went with him and he kept saying "I'm a crazy driver! I'm a crazy driver!" It was kinda hilarious!

To top it all off we caught the train and Milo was so happy. 

Poor boy fell asleep before we even left the park. That is a sign of great success in my book!

Disneyland Day 1

We had been counting down for this trip for awhile and were so excited when the time finally came! Everything went so perfectly that in lots of ways it was one of our most magical trips. We love doing Disney with cousins but it was a special, low key trip doing it just with the four of us. 

We left straight from school to drive to St George.

Then we woke up really early the next morning and did the rest of the drive to Cali. We got there around noon and checked in to our condo and were in Disneyland by 1pm. It was so easy!

Breaking the drive up really makes a big difference. Our kids did so awesome. They didn't fight or cry and we didn't even have to make that many potty stops. I saw this cute idea on pinterest of bringing Legos in the car and our kids really loved it. They played with these for quite a long time.

And of course they took some awesome naps. 

Olive made us these adorable maps on the drive. They show St George, Las Vegas and Disneyland. She also made one with the weather on it in case we were worried about running in to rain or snow on the way home. She is such a cute girl!

Of course we had to do the Mickey as our very first picture. Yay!

This was our attempt at taking a picture on Main Street. This was our first time not using our stroller at Disneyland. We used it to walk over to the park and then we stashed it for the day with our bags full of sweatshirts and treats. It was so liberating being able to walk around the park and not have to fight the crowds with our stroller. My heart kinda hurts that we are at a point where we don't have little tiny kids that need a stroller, but it is exciting at the same time. 

We had already discussed that our very first ride just HAD to be Small World because we are nerds like that. 

And it was a perfect choice! The kids loved that ride, and how could you not? The kids had so much fun looking at all the costumes and different countries and especially trying to find the Disney characters throughout. Such a perfect way to start a perfect trip. 

Then it was on the the carousel. 

You just have to try and pull the sword out of the stone. I didn't think my kids have ever seen that movie though. 

See that cute Olaf on the roof? He would talk and say funny things to the crowd. The kids loved it!

We stopped for some yummy snacks. Nothing like a churro break!

Then Olive and I braved the Tea Cups alone.

When we got off it was right near the parade that was getting ready to start. I have about a million pictures of Olive and her dad just like this and I love every one of them. She is getting so big that she won't be able to do this for much longer. 

They had Anna and Elsa on the opening float of the parade. Everyone was so excited to see them!

This is how our kids spent a lot of time in line. 

Oh look at this sweet boy! He saw something funny in the parade. Isn't he just the cutest?

I'm kinda obsessed with him!

Check out those cool shades that he borrowed from me. 

This is how Milo spent a lot of his time on this trip, up on dad's shoulders. Here he is being cute and waving to the people in the parade. 

Olive's huge smile is because Mary Poppins just waved right to her. Actually all the princesses made eye contact with her and waved. She felt extra special. Olive's charm works again! She said to me at one point "All of the princesses must remember me because they keep waving to me!" Yep, that is a girl who doesn't lack any confidence!

When the parade ended we happened to be right next to Storybook Land and got first in line which was a total score because that ride always has a long line. 

Our cute clan. 

Then it was off to Toontown to meet Minnie. I found this cute Minnie sweatshirt at the store before our trip and I surprised Olive with it. She was ecstatic to meet Minnie dressed as Minnie sweatshirt. Those things really matter to her. And Milo got an Emmet sweatshirt which he was pretty excited about too. 

This was the first year we have ever done any autographs and the kids really liked it. 

Notice Milo's cute thumbs up.

I have a picture of baby Olive going down this exact slide 5 years ago. Man how time has flown by! Now she is nearly too big to play in this playground. It was a kinda surreal moment.

Milo and I had fun running around Toontown and playing in the fountain while we waited for Scott and Olive to ride the Chipmunk roller coaster. 

We ended the day with one more surprise, glowing toys! I knew that they would see them there and that I wouldn't want to spend a fortune on the Disney ones. Olive got a wand and Milo got a gun and they were so satisfied that they didn't even ask for anything! We left at 8pm when the park closed and walked back to our condo and it was a lovely day!