Disneyland USA

A few months ago I was perusing the www and kept coming across ads for Disneyland.  AH and I have talked many times about taking the kids there but have been waiting for them to be the perfect age . . .  seems like this year they are the in that perfect zone so I booked a trip that night to spend our mid-winter break at the Happiest Place on Earth.  AH are getting smarter in our advanced years and we DID NOT tell the kids about the trip in order to ensure that we all got a good nights sleep before our very very early morning flight.

The morning of the trip I first snuck into Beeb's room and gently shook her awake.  She ignored me. 

I said to her, "Beeb it's time to get up." 

She still ignored me. 

Then I said, "Beeb how about we go on an adventure today?" 

No response. 

"How about we go on a plane ride today?" 

Still no response. 

"How about we go to Disneyland today?" 

Nothing . . .  I think she actually may have fallen back to sleep. 

"Beeb wake up.  We are going to Disneyland today!" 

FINALLY a response. "No we're not." 

"Yes we are."

"No.  We are going to Grandma's this morning." She still has her eyes closed.

"Yes we are.  That's because Grandma and Grandpa are taking us to the airport this morning because we are going to Disneyland today!"

It finally starts to sink in a bit.  "Really?"

"Yes, really!"

That got her attention.  She finally got up and started yelling that we were going to Disneyland and then started getting dressed.  Then I went into Mr. B's room and had nearly the exact same conversation and response from him, though it did help that Beeb came running into his room screaming that we were going to Disneyland.  And so the adventure began. . .

We arrived that afternoon and checked out Downtown Disney, bought souvenirs and picked up our park passes for our stay.  We were all pretty tired after a 4:00am wake-up so we went to bed and tried to get a bit of sleep.

Thanks for taking the picture daddy!

We'd received lots of great Disney advice from family and friends so when the park opened we headed straight for the Star Tours ride.  The kids were completely mesmerized just by the things to see while waiting in line.  The actual ride blew them away and made me totally nauseated (I subsequently closed my eyes during the other many times we did went on it).  I will admit that it was very cool and that not knowing which show you'll experience made it extra exciting and new each time (during the short periods of time that I had my eyes open).

We drove some fancy new cars: 

Explored Toon Town:

Made friends with a goat (the goat loved Mr. B)

Visited Tarzan's Treehouse:

Canoed around Tom Sawyers Island:

.

Got wet on Splash Mountain: 

(Beeb has her head down, hiding behind AH, so she wouldn't get wet. 

It didn't work - she and I got soaked)

Beeb was picked first for training to become a Jedi:

Mr. B ticked the wrong people off:

Battled:

 Graduated Jedi training:

Had some fun waiting for Indiana Jones:

Learned to drive the Indy way:

Ran out of steam:

Had fun with Nemo:

Got a little Goofy:

Put on some weight:

Saw Radiator Springs:

Became bugs:

Screamed our way through California Screaming eight times!:

Begged Daddy for a piggy-back ride:

Took a piggy-back from anyone who'd give it:

Did some weight training:

Stood next to some freaky strangers (we now know who they are):

Loved Big Thunder Mountain:

Hung with Phineas and Ferb (mom had no idea who they were):

Earned our Wilderness Explores Badges and hung with dog:

Loved Sully:

Stayed up way too late: 

Crashed in our hotel room:

It was a great adventure - so much more than what is pictured here.  The kid's were exactly the perfect age to enjoy all that the parks had to offer.  They are already asking when we can go back again; a sure sign of a good time!