California City Pass - I

Life has been a complete whirlwind lately. My goal this summer is to catch up on everything from the last few months (and if I really get with it maybe all of last summer too).

Our big adventure for the year was to take the family to Disneyland. My parents have been wanting us to go for the past several years - but since we knew it would be a once (but hopefully twice) in a life time experience we wanted to wait until all the kids were old enough to enjoy and remember it.

I bought a "California City Pass" for everyone and we took full advantage of it. We spent one week in California experiencing Disneyland, California Adventure, Universal Studios, Sea World, the San Diego Zoo and the beach in San Diego (and also major traffic jams).

Our adventure started out on Sunday, March 28th. We attended 6th ward sacrament meeting since they have the early schedule this year. Our kids were so excited to see so many of their friends/acquaintances there. They were also extremely twitchy. They knew that as soon as sacrament meeting was over that we could be heading for the airport and then Disneyland. Who wants to sit through church and be reverent when you have Disneyland on the brain?!

The first leg of our flight was from Spokane to Salt Lake City. At Salt Lake City everything got a little crazy. We were originally supposed to just stop in SLC, stay on the plane, have my parents board the same plane, and then proceed to CA. But, no! It would be just crazy talk to let the airlines keep it that simple. At SLC they had everyone get off the plane. They gave us a different plane to depart from. Then a different one. And, yes, yet another one. We changed gates and planes three different times. We finally started boarding one (my mom had a first class ticket and boarded first) when they changed their minds yet again!!!!! After just 2 hours we were finally on our way to Disneyland.

Finally in California! John Wayne Airport in Orange County. The kids had no clue who John Wayne was but loved the statue.

Sean went right for the gun.

Chad trying to make everyone laugh.

After getting our rental car, driving to Disneyland, finding our Hotel and eating dinner it was quite late. But that didn't stop up from walking over to Disneyland and showing our kids were we would be having tons of fun for the next three days. You can see Sean reading a map and already planning what rides he wants to go on. My parents are just thrilled to be with the grand kids and to have Chris and I there to do the babysitting (official disciplining etc.).

We got loads of advise from friends that had been to Disneyland before. We tried to take full advantage of everything. We got up early every morning and were always at the gate before opening. Here we are inside the park but still waiting for the official opening so that everyone can run to the most exciting rides before the lines get ridiculously long.

The first ride we went for was Indiana Jones. We would have been among the first in line - but it was closed!!!! Which meant the fast pass was shut down too. So, our very first ride at Disneyland was the Haunted House. The kids thought it was so cool and totally amazing. Our second ride was Pirates of the Caribbean. Again the kids thought we had brought them to Heaven. After those two rides (with no lines at all) we headed back to Indiana Jones which was working again. The line didn't seem too long so we got straight in line. Little did we know there was another whole line winding around for ever inside. It was all worth it! Again the kids thought that was the most exciting thing they had ever done in their life.

The only character we saw the whole time was Buzz Light Year. We took a quick picture of Buzz in the background while waiting for StarTours.

C3PO talking to us. The kids were amazed to find their favorite Star Wars friends.

The best ride ever with a fastpass was the Buzz Light Year ride. The kids (and grandparents) enjoyed shooting at everything!

Princess Halle welcomes us to her kingdom at Disneyland.

The kids were enthralled with Jedi Training but were too chicken to volunteer to be Jedi. The sith really was pretty scary.

One of Sean's highlights was to touch one of the geometrically shaped trees outside of It's A Small World.

My little munchkin's ready for the boat ride and an experience of a life time with It's A Small World. And yes, they caught onto the tune and words mighty fast. Just thinking about this ride makes me sing the song - very contagious!

We watched the street parade. It was nice to sit down for a while and just relax. Sean loved dancing to the music as everything went by.

We took the jungle boat ride at night when it was dark - it made it kind of spooky for the kids which was great as mom and dad love to tease. Our very last adventure for the night was to go to the Tiki Tiki room. This is what my dad had looked forward to all day.