Yay for Disneyland!
Radiator Springs was our first ride of the day, it quickly became one of our favorites!
Cars Land was pretty magical for anyone whose ever been a fan of the Cars movie. I loved it!
What a great idea!
My kids loved this drawing class on our last trip to Disneyland, we just had to go again so Austin could see how much fun it was. I loved how his drawing of Baymax turned out!
Austin was excited to try out the Tower of Terror, but once was enough for him.
He had similar feelings about California Screaming.
I loved that Austin was tall enough to go on all the rides, and that he was willing to try anything and really loved most everything. It was so nice to not have to split up and even better to skip all those boring kiddie rides.
There were definitely a lot of people at Disneyland. It even rained a little the first evening we were there. We thought for sure if we stuck it out, the crowds would die down, but Disney fans these days are hard core. It seemed to us like no one left.
Our first day was spent mostly at California Adventure, so on our second day we started out at Disneyland. It's such a magical, wonderful place!
Toon town was a big deal for my older kids on our last trip, we had to let Austin have those same experiences. We laughed as we remembered how hard we tried to track Pluto down for Emma.
It was rainy just for an hour or so in the morning on Thursday, but again - Disney fans are hard core and it didn't seem to keep anyone away. We avoided long lines by utilizing fast passes, single rider lines, and getting up early every morning.
It was so much fun, but also exhausting. Any time we sat, we were tired.
We stayed from morning til night, but we'd head back to our hotel late in the afternoon for our one big meal of the day. We ate breakfast before leaving the hotel and then we'd stuff our bags full of snacks to get us through til 2 or 3. We grabbed pizza or made sandwiches at our hotel and actually slept for an hour - all of us sacked out only waking up to an alarm. Then, we'd head back to the park feeling refreshed and energized, ready to play til it closed.
Friday was our last day at Disneyland. We tried to sign Austin up at the Star Wars Jedi training academy, but didn't get a spot the day before so this was our final chance. We got to the ticket gate 45 minutes before the park opened and waited first in line. It was actually kind of fun to be right up there as they opened the gate. I've been in line before, but not close enough I guess because this was the first time I heard someone from inside the park interact with the crowd, "When I say Mickey, you say Mouse!" "When I say Donald, you say Duck!" He counted down from 10 and announced, "Let the Magic begin!" The gates were opened and those of us at the front had already had our tickets scanned so we were able to run into the park and down the empty main street.
The stroller definitely came in handy. We had to wait again once we got to Tomorrow land, but, we were first in line and easily got Austin signed up and then raced to meet up with the rest of our family who had been first in line to get into California Adventure! Way to go team McInelly!
We all enjoyed watching Austin have his moment on the stage. He was a Star Wars fan before, but now it's at a whole new level.
This moment with Austin & Pluto totally reminded me of Emma back in 2010.
The World of Color show is pretty incredible!
I was on the fence about whether or not to bring a stroller for my 6 almost 7 year old. I found a cheap one at Walmart for only $14, and decided it might be nice to bring, just in case. It was SOOOO worth the money and we were really glad to have it. We used it every single day in Disneyland! Austin rarely complained, his little legs just didn't keep up with the rest of us and by the end of the day, this is usually how he ended up.
On our way home, souvenirs and all. One of our best vacations!
