So I have been really bad at blogging so I really need to catch up! Labor Day weekend we got to go to Disneyland to celebrate my grandma's 80th birthday and my grandpa's 89th birthday. This is the first time that all of us cousin's have been together in 5 years I think and everyone in probably 8 or 9 years! So it was interesting to say the least.
We actually got to Cali on Thursday because we thought that a "weekend" trip with 2 small children would be too much. Plus this way we got to go to both parks! California Adventure and Disneyland!
I had a blast. I just love Disney period! Gabriel on the other hand was not as thrilled...not sure if it was being with all his in-laws in close quarters, or whining/tired babies, or what. He enjoyed himself I believe but he is not planning another trip to Disneyland anytime soon. I want to go back when the girls are a little older. We will return when we don't have children that need naps during the day.
Travis also got to California on Thursday so he could go to both parks. So on Friday I had us all up and early marching into the park around 8:30! It was Labor Day weekend and the Disney half marathon weekend so I assumed the park was going to be packed! I download RideMax and had a detailed schedule of what we were riding and at what times! It was a little much because California Adventure was not that busy of Friday. RideMax did help with a few tricks and time savers but after 10:30 the plan was out the window! RideMax over predicted how busy they would be and wait times really weren't bad expect for the Cars ride! So it really wasn't that bad but it was HOT!!!
Here are pictures from day 1 at California Adventure!
We just started loving Toy Story before we came to Disneyland so it was perfect timing. She first just saw Jessie and Woody walking by and got upset because she couldn't say Hi. But later Jessie was around to talk. Jessie is the only character she was NOT afraid to talk to. She walked right up to Jessie and said YEE-HAW! Everyone started laughing!
Cars in another favorite movie of ours now. Not as much as Toy Story but close. Kind of freaked me out when we took a picture because there is actually someone in there and he talks to you. Was not expecting that. He even told Brigitte Happy Birthday!
Getting ready for our Toy Story Ride.
The beloved Little Mermaid Ride....Adults loved it too because is was nice and cool in there! No waiting in line either!
Hi Ariel!
Day 2 at Disneyland
My RideMax plan pretty much went out the window when we got to Disneyland. We decided we should do group photos first since we probably would never be all together with clean shirts again. This was like a 45 minute ordeal...not the best start but hey we did it!
All the cousins and new 2nd cousins...minus Brigitte who was busy meeting Cinderella.
Here we are! All 23 of us! So we did matching shirts and it was so much fun! I figured there would be all of kind of people with matching shirts but we only saw one other group and they only had 8 people in their group. People all over the park "knew" us! We even did a park hop jump (Parkhopper is a waster of money!!!) and while in line for a ride they said "hey we wished grandma Happy Birthday at Splash Mountain!" Then as we were walking back at night we had someone stop Gabriel and I and said "Goodness more of you! How many are there!?" Probably the most common question though was "Where's Grandma?" because we were hardly with her!
I was really disappointed with the lack of characters roaming around! Word of advice...as you are walking in in the morning a lot of charcters are out in front! If you are wanting to meet them wait in line because you will probably never see them again! Here are the one she got to meet.
Was very nervous to meet Alice because Mad Hatter was there too and she was totally freaked out! Alice even had a British accent!
Seriously the only princess we saw at the park! Luckily it just happened to be her favorite one! As you can see nervous again...
Oh Minnie Mouse...How we love you!
We saw Mickey from a distance and Cruella da Vil. We did see Goofy but didn't really get any good pictures. But that was really all the characters that were out roaming the park that day!
Mickey, Minnie, and Donald's Houses...
Rides, Rides, and More Rides...
The Carousel...
Her favorite!
While mommy and daddy were on a ride Grandpa took her on Autopia. She got to drive and she was so excited!
Boarding Star Wars(our favorite ride!) and a better picture of our shirts that were creatively designed by none other than my talented brother Travis!
Pirates of the Caribbean and Violet's sleep position! Everyone(I mean my cousins and uncle!) had to take a picture because apparently they have never see a baby do this! Probably not a good thing that Violet was trying to sleep on our first ride of the day! And she wasn't even scared!
As I am posting this once again Violet is getting shorted in the pictures... Poor thing couldn't do much but she was also with Grandma and Grandpa most of the time so we didn't get many pictures. She did enjoy Disneyland more than California adventure because there was a lot more stuff she could do!
Last but not least...It's A Small World!!
We get to ride in our own boat!?!?! She said...
Both of the girls LOVED this ride. The got up and danced and Violet was giggling so much. Brigitte waved to everyone and had fun finding all the Disney characters. She was most excited about Woody and Jessie and Nemo! They loved this ride so much they turned around and rode it again! We rode it the first time during the firework show and the rest of the group was walking to meet up with us so everyone got to ride the second time! There other favorite ride of course was Dumbo! We tried to ride it twice and it was like a teaser for Brigitte because we would get up to the line and then realize how long it was and go on a different ride! We finally went back at night and she got to ride it twice!
We were very tired and way off of our schedule by the end of the weekend but we did enjoy our short trip and are very grateful we got to go!
