Day 2: Everyone was up and ready to go. Perhaps not quite as efficiently as I would have liked but they were ready. It just takes awhile to get everyone out the door with lunches packed and all the things as organized as possible.
As we made the walk in, Brandon ran into to Starbucks to grab coffee for us but unfortunately it took WAY longer than we were expecting and we hadn't left as early as I would have liked. This meant the kids and I and Grammy were standing near the gate waiting and watching as the park opened and the lines grow longer and longer. I thought we might loose some of the kids before we even got through the gates. When we did get in it was much busier than we were expecting. I guess you forget about the lines and the crowds. Anyway, we had an app that was suppose to guide us through the park with the least amount of waiting but it ended up being more frustrating than anything so we scraped it a few hours in as the tension rose a bit.
Littles wanted to do one thing, Bigs another, I wanted to please everyone, Brandon wanted to make a decision without being to assertive, and ya it was a little rough. A big change Disneyland made since our last visit was eliminating the fast pass and adding the lighting lane. Unfortunately $36 per person per day didn't seem awesome for our budget as a big family as it would have add $972 to our trip. So we skipped this but it was very frustrating standing and waiting for so long as you watched person after person walk right on. I'm not sure what we'd do if we went again.... we definitely had to adjust our mindset. Usually the wait times posted were actually pretty accurate you just couldn't watch how many people were getting on ahead of you.
Aside from all this it was so fun to be here with all the kids. I love Disneyland!!!! Amidst all the chaos somehow it really is magical. Maybe it's the memories that are really magical because they somehow omit all the hard parts.
It was about a mile and a half walk from our condo to Disneyland.
So nice having big kids.
Astro Orbitor
First ride for the twinkies was the Astro Orbitor and it was a hit!
Maddie was my buddy this trip. A bit more cautious than Aubrey.
Sadie and Evie
Wyatt and Cooper
Daddy and Aubrey
Micky and Minnie Runaway Railroad
We were surprised how much we liked this one. We got to the movie part and and the kids were like "What?!?! This is it?!?!" And then it opened up to the ride. They were totally surprised and the ride was a lot of fun.
Matterhorn Bobsleds
Lets just say Maddie was not a fan of this one :)
Mad Tea Party
It's not a trip to Disneyland unless you've been spun by Daddy in the tea cups. He is the most extreme teacup operator you'll find anywhere.
Maddie and I on the other hand are just fine with a slow spin.
JESSIE
The girls love getting their books signed.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
MIRABEL
We waited a long time to see Mirabel and the girls' books are already falling apart which is kind of disappointing. I have mixed feelings on this. I always love the photos and the girls seem to really like finding and meeting characters but i don't know...and in this instance there wasn't even a photographer so the photos just turned out so so. O well!
While we did this the oldest 3 and Brandon rode Indiana Jones. We tried a ride swap which ended up being dumb because the ride broke down while Hazel, Evie, Grammy and I waited to ride. All in all we waited I think 2 hours to get everyone who wanted to go on Indiana Jones on and by the end Daddy was spent and twinnies were all done and ya....
KING ARTHUR CARROUSEL
We also road the King Arthur Carrousel while we waited.
SPACE MOUNTAIN
We ended the day on a high with Space Mountain. We had raced into line earlier in the day when the ride reopened from being shut down which was another new thing... there were a lot of rides closures throughout the day. I don't remember that in the past. Anyway, we got to the front of the line and it went down again so we were given a lightning lane pass to return later in the day. The lighting lane is pretty slick if you have one.
I was so proud of Maddie for being so brave but I definitely held on to her tight and kinda felt like a bad mom for encouraging her to get on this one.
Funny how their personalities come out. Evie is quite the little dare devil.
This was one of their very favorite rides. What a bunch of goof balls!
Then it was home for frozen pizza and salad. Day 1 was filled with so many fun memories and also some pretty tense moments. Tomorrow Kendra and Andy will be with us. They have lighting lane passes that they're willing to let us use so we're hoping to get everyone on a few more rides tomorrow.
