Flashback Friday - Disneyland November 2016

We were planning on going to Disneyland this October (with a little baby) since we've never been for Halloween before, but now I'm hoping to be too pregnant in October to go. So we decided to go in February instead! It's supposed to be a good time to go (less crowds) and my sister is also coming with her family (plus my parents are coming too), so we're really excited. 

My motto for this trip is, "When life gives you lemons (a miscarriage), go to Disneyland!"

Anyway, it seemed ridiculous to me to go to Disneyland without having blogged about our last Disneyland trip (over a year ago 🙈), so here we go!

Roger didn't have enough vacation time built up, so he didn't get to come with us. My parents met us there and stayed in the same hotel room as us to help me with the kids. We got a room at Del Sol with two queens, a bunk bed, and a crib for Logan, so it worked out perfectly.

We flew on a Sunday and had a layover in Sacramento on the way down. Logan enjoyed watching the planes and then fell asleep in my arms on the second flight (heaven). 

We had said we would go to the Newport Beach temple that afternoon/evening and walk around, but we figured out it would have taken hours each way to get there using mass transit and we couldn't take an Uber because we didn't bring carseats. (The shuttle we took from the airport to our hotel had carseats provided.) Then we figured out that our Annual Passes weren't good the last day we were going to be there (Veteran's Day), so our resolve to not go to Disneyland on Sunday was shaken. We ate an early dinner at Denny's. (This picture! 😂)

And then we went into California Adventure and saw the sneak peak of Moana.

And the new Frozen show. We rationalized that these are cultural things. At least that was better than riding rides on Sunday, right? 😉 

I'm not going to attempt a summary for each day. It's been so long and I definitely can't remember all the details! Rather I'll talk about the highlights.

Rides

Peyton was finally tall enough to ride the Matterhorn!

It's one of my favorites and she loved it too. (Corbyn doesn't like it too much because he thinks the Abominable Snowman is scary, but he will ride it.)

She was also tall enough to ride Grizzly River Run.

She was grateful for that because we had some really hot days and it felt nice to cool off!

Corbyn was tall enough to ride California Screamin'. He was nervous the first time he rode.

But much more confident the next day. 👍

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad selfies are the best selfies.

Star Tours (and Star Wars in general) is not my thing. Rog normally takes the kids on it, but since he wasn't there it fell to me. I had to take this picture as proof since I didn't think Rog would actually believe that I took them.

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters is still Corbyn's favorite.

Even though we all know Toy Story Mania is way better. We had a morning where we got there before everyone else and we rode it over and over until the line got too long!

We knew this was going to be our last time riding Tower of Terror before they changed it to be Guardian's of the Galaxy. 👎

They were getting Christmas all set up while we were there and we got to ride "it's a small world" Holiday. I'm a no-Christmas-until-after-Thanksgiving purist, so it seemed too early for Christmas for me. But that ride is beautiful all lit up for Christmas.

Characters

Corbyn and Peyton love Nightmare Before Christmas, so they were beyond excited to meet Jack Skellington. I think they were a little nervous when they actually got in there though. Can't blame them - he is kind of scary.

No matter how old you get, it's always fun to see Mickey!

Chip (or Dale) was collecting acorns on Main Street. Peyton joined him and thought it was the best thing ever. So fun!

Buzz was not out at all the week we were there (and when we asked they said he hadn't been out for at least a month). I don't know why. We only got to see him during a parade and Logan wasn't even with us. 😢

We did get to see Woody though.

We had the best time meeting Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps from Zootopia. Judy had Logan laughing so hard!

We visited Mickey at his house early in the day and he was just inside the door. We liked this better than when he's all the way down in his studio.

Little kids and Mickey's nose. Always.

😍😍😍

Logan was obsessed with Pluto this trip.

He loved him!

We didn't meet a lot of princesses, but we did meet Tiana.

And meeting Rapunzel may have been the highlight of the trip for Peyton. She wore her Little Adventures Rapunzel dress and her new Rapunzel hat she picked as her souvenir and it was pretty much perfect!

Food

We always love the corn chowder in a bread bowl from the French Market Restaurant. I'd never realized they turn it into Mickey with the inside of the bowl before though. Makes it that much better!

We tried the Boysen Apple Freeze from Maurice's Treats. It was good, not great.

I'm not sure how this is possible, but I think this was our first time trying the famous corn dogs!

I heard they had a Matterhorn Macaroon and I had to try one. It ended up being way too much coconut for me, but it was oh so cute!

Shows

Mickey and the Magical Map has become a favorite and is a must-see show for us.

We went to the Holiday World of Color which ends with huge bubble hearts floating in the air. We prefer the regular World of Color, but this was fun to do once.

I ended up carrying a sleeping Peyton back to the hotel after.

Toon Town

We had never taken the time to take the kids to Toon Town, so we made sure to fit it in this trip. We went one night when it was dark and soon realized it would be better to come back in the light.

So we did the next morning. The kids had fun playing.

And exploring everything Toon Town has to offer.

So many fun photo opps in there!

Other Fun Pictures

I wasn't ready to be in the Christmas spirit, but the castle sure was beautiful.

As is Radiator Springs at night!

Trying on hats is always fun and makes for cute pictures.

Seeing the ducks may have been Logan's favorite part of this day. I just love this picture!

Grandma and Grandpa took Logan back to the hotel most afternoons for a nap, but he did take an occasional stroller nap.

During those afternoon naps, I got to hang out with the big kids at the park. We had some fun adventures. I took them through the Sleeping Beauty Castle one afternoon and they thought it was pretty cool.

Souvenirs

Corbyn was so excited to build his own lightsaber. I was clueless, so it was a good thing the employees helped him!

Corbyn and Peyton both really wanted a stretched penny, so we made that happen.

As I said, Peyton got a Rapunzel hat and Logan got an "it's a small world" bath toy. And I got a Monster's University hat.

Our Last Day

I still can't believe we forgot to check the calendar and ended up with a day where our passes weren't valid. We made the most of it though. The Lego Store in Downtown Disney is a fun one to visit.

We didn't bring our swimsuits because we hardly ever end up using them, but since we had this extra day we found Peyton a cheap swimsuit at one of the stores along Harbor Boulevard. 

Corbyn wore some athletic shorts.

Logan wore just a swim diaper and we bought him this little tube to float around in. And my mom had brought her swimsuit, so she let me wear that. 

They don't heat the pool at Del Sol and even though it had been a hot week, the pool is in the shade and it was cold in that water! The big kids didn't mind, but I don't think Logan lasted too long!

We flew home on Saturday and we were all glad to see Dad after a week away from him!

We had so much fun and made so many memories with our annual passes! I can't wait to get back there in just 10 days! And maybe this time I won't wait over a year to blog about it. 😂