Disneyland 2015

In the interest of getting my blog caught up sooner rather than later, I decided for this Disneyland trip instead of doing a detailed post about each day, I'd just do a summary post about the highlights. I tried to be selective about which pictures to post, but I still ended up picking about 1/3 of all the pictures we took. (So if you think this is a lot, I could have included many more!)

Traveling to Disneyland/Logan's First Flight

We went to our sacrament meeting at 9:00 am and then after quickly changing, went straight to the airport. We were going to be rushing, but our flight got delayed an hour, so we had some breathing room. We let Logan crawl around and get some wiggles out before boarding the plane.

He did great for his first flight. He fell asleep during take off and then slept most of the way.

After landing in LA, we took a shuttle to our hotel and got settled in our rooms.

We decided to get annual passes (so we could do this trip, a few days after Ragnar in April, and another trip next November before our year is up). After getting some dinner, we headed over to the park to get our passes printed. And then we couldn't resist going into the park for a few rides. (Don't judge.)

Logan's First Visit

We've taken all our kids to Disneyland (or for Peyton, Disney World) for their first visit at about this age. It's a great age because they are old enough to enjoy it (as much as a baby can), but not so old that they hate being in the stroller too much. Logan was no exception. He was so good and so fun to have with us.

This picture is a good representation of how he was most of the trip. Happily eating puffs with Papa George while we were on a ride.

He got pink eye on Tuesday, but he was still pretty happy (although he didn't look so cute). Fortunately Peyton had pink eye a few days before our trip, so we had some drops with us that helped clear it up pretty quickly.

(While we're on the subject of sickness, my dad was unlucky enough to get the stomach flu we all had the week before our trip while we were there. No fun!) 

Rides

We were excited that all the rides were open for us (especially since so many were closed last time we were there). The parks were packed full of people, but with Fast Passes and Rider Swap, we didn't have to wait more than about 15-20 minutes for any ride (other than Peter Pan - we waited an hour for that one). Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters was still Corbyn's favorite and we rode it at least a few times daily. Peyton says her favorite ride was Ariel, but we only rode it twice. (I think her favorites were actually all the big kid rides she got to do for the first time.)

Toy Story Mania consistently had about a 30-40 minute wait, but that one's always worth the wait!

For Christmas they turn the Jungle Cruise into the Jingle Cruise, Haunted Mansion into Haunted Mansion Holiday, and "it's a small world" into "it's a small world" Holiday. After going on Haunted Mansion Holiday a few times, Corbyn and Peyton became quite obsessed with the Nightmare Before Christmas and watched it daily until we finally had to "take it away" because they were starting to say they were scared of ghosts, zombies, etc... at bedtime. All of the special holiday rides were very well done, but "it's a small world" was our favorite.

Peyton and Rog were the only ones brave enough for the Mad Tea Party.

I love this picture of Peyton and Grandma on Dumbo.

A happy Logan boy on Casey Jr. Circus Train.

For some reason we'd never been on the Monster's Inc ride before, so I made sure we did that this time around. It was fun to get to experience a new (to us) ride.

Big Kid Rides

We knew Peyton was getting close to hitting 40 inches (the magic height where you can ride almost every ride). So for a few months before our trip we got her to eat her vegetables by telling her they'd make her tall enough to ride the big kid rides. She made it to 40 inches and Corbyn made it to 46 inches, so he got to ride Indiana Jones.

Peyton's first time on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - she loved it!

Rog put Peyton right up front for Splash Mountain - she was so brave and she got SOAKED!

Corbyn remembered Tower of Terror and as you can see, he was pretty terrified for it! 

They had made some improvements to the Matterhorn and we were very impressed with the new abominable snowman. Corbyn didn't really like it last time, but was much more into it this time. It's one of my favorites, so the two of us rode it many times. One of the times we rode it, they had to move our sled over at the end for some reason, so they let us ride it again without getting out.

Parades/Entertainment

Normally we aren't big fans of parades, but we do love Disney parades. Monday afternoon we got great seats for the Christmas parade. 

And then after dinner we got great seats for the new Paint the Night parade. 

It really was amazing, but the best part for me was watching the kids watch it. Corbyn is getting older and I didn't know if he would be too cool for Buzz and Mickey. Mickey was the very last float in the parade and when he came by Corbyn was so excited. His face lit up and he was waving at him and saying, "Mickey! Mickey!" That's the magic of Disney right there!

Right after the parade we moved into the center of the street to watch the fireworks. Those were pretty cool too, but not as awesome as the Paint the Night parade. By the time they were over the kids looked like this.

And this!

Tuesday night we watched World of Color - Celebrate! Logan and Peyton were already asleep in the stroller, but Corbyn enjoyed it. We made sure to get there plenty early. As we learned last time, World of Color is pretty terrible if you can't see. This was during one of the fire parts.

They also had a Frozen World of Color for Christmas, but we decided to skip that one in the interest of getting our kids to bed at more normal times the rest of the nights we were there.

Jedi Training

They just started doing Jedi Training again in Tomorrowland. Corbyn wanted to do it and even though I'm not a huge fan of Star Wars, it really was fun to watch him. 

The rest of the day he was using the force on us everywhere we went.

Rog was excited to have someone to go on Star Tours with him. 

Meeting Characters

We didn't spend a ton of time meeting characters, but we made sure we got our perfect picture with Mickey for our Christmas card. I paid $15 for this one taken by the Disney photographer because it was much better than the one my mom took on our camera (not her fault).

When I was taking a picture of my parents with Minnie for their Christmas Card, Minnie was so cute with Logan.

We had to meet Buzz. Corbyn was still excited to see him and Logan thought he was pretty cool too.

And it wasn't a coincidence we met Elsa and Anna on the day Peyton was wearing her Elsa and Anna shirt...

Doc on the day she was wearing her Doc shirt...

And Cinderella on the day she was wearing her Cinderella shirt!

Frozen

In California Adventure they have a place were you can meet Olaf, go sledding...

And play in the snow. It was fun, but I'm sure we would have been more impressed if we didn't have an abundant supply of real snow in Utah.

They also have a Frozen Sing-a-long next door that is pretty fun too.

Corbyn saw this funny hat and wanted a picture with it.

Swimming

I never want to do anything other than Disneyland, but the kids really wanted to go swimming in our hotel pool. Rog and Grandpa took them one afternoon. The water was a little chilly, so Logan, Grandma, and I just watched. We had great weather this trip. The first couple days were in the low 80's!

Stunning Night Skies

One evening I noticed a lot of people taking pictures of something behind us. I turned around and was blown away. Well done, California.

Our last night there Grandma watched the kids after we put them to bed, so Rog and I could go back to the parks for a little date. We did a little bit of everything, but made sure to go on "it's a small world" to see it all lit up at night. Incredible. 

The castle was pretty amazing too. I love how the lights make it look like a diamond for the Diamond Celebration.

Food

We try to eat outside the park as much as possible since eating in the park can add up quickly. (Denny's is our favorite place because it's right outside the park and the prices are the same you'd find anywhere else.) We do allow ourselves a few treats. A Dole Whip is always a must. And also not a coincidence that we got one the day I was wearing this shirt.

We heard they had candy cane beignets shaped like Mickey at the Mint Julep Bar in New Orleans Square for Christmas. (We also got good old fashioned beignets at the Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney.)

We got Peyton and Corbyn ice cream and Logan did all he could to sneak a taste.

When we were at Disney World I had a hot dog with pulled pork and coleslaw and I've been dying to have another one since. I was delighted to find that they had one on the holiday menu at the Hungry Bear Restaurant in Critter Country. It was a dream come true.

I've always seen people eating soup in a bread bowl, but had only ever seen it with clam chowder. This trip I found Creamy Corn Chowder in a bread bowl at the French Market Restaurant in New Orleans Square and Broccoli Cheese soup in a bread bowl at the Pacific Wharf Cafe in California Adventure. Yum!  

Photo Opps

A few fun pictures at popular photo spots... 

Sword in the Stone

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

We have a picture in this spot on our Honeymoon. Now over 8.5 years later there's a few more of us and we're still living happily ever after.

Last Day/Traveling Home

Friday was our last day. We were busy doing our favorite rides one last time and buying souvenirs we'd been eyeing all week. Corbyn got a Baymax toy, Peyton, Logan, and Rog got shirts, and I got a sweatshirt. We also got an ornament and a Thomas Kinkade Disneyland 60th Anniversary Puzzle.

We finally got a group shot - on our way out to catch our shuttle to the airport! It's always so great to have my parents come with us. We could do it without them, but it's SO much easier (and so much more fun) with them!

It's never easy saying goodbye to the happiest place on earth, but it was a little easier this time knowing we'll be back so soon. We had an uneventful flight home and then jumped head first back into the craziness that is December.

We went to Disneyland in early December when I was little and back then it was pretty much dead that time of year. This time with the Diamond Celebration going on and all the special holiday stuff they do now, it was very busy - probably the busiest I've ever seen it. But it was still so much fun and definitely a magical trip we will always remember!