Ever since the boys arrived Butch and I had been talking about one day taking them to Disneyland. I've been twice, but Butch and the boys hadn't been. We attempted to plan a trip and surprise them last Christmas, but when the dollar dropped we decided we just couldn't afford it. Well when we received a larger than expected tax return this year, I worked out the cost of the trip and THEN presented it to Butch... if we scrimped and saved until we left, we could afford to go. We managed to save, and left on our whirlwind trip on July 24th.
We flew from Comox... we had to be up at 3:00 in order to be at the airport for 4:30 (we live 45 minutes away). The boys were nervous as they had never flown. When we walked up the ramp to get on the plane, the pilot looked out and waved - and I said - "first time fliers" and pointed at the boys - so the pilot told them to come into the cockpit... so cool!!! The boys talked with the pilot and co-pilot for a good 10-15 minutes. I really think that put them at ease. Brayden was a little nervous during the flight, but all in all did very well. It was a pretty smooth flight.
We landed in Calgary, picked up our luggage and went through US Customs...we had about 30 minutes to wait before we boarded our flight to Los Angeles. The boys weren't nervous this time as they knew what to expect - I was sooo proud!! We had one bad bit of turbulance right before we landed at LAX - which scared us all!!!
Once we landed we quickly got our luggage, found a shuttle into Anaheim, checked in to the hotel, walked down to pick up the rental car, had lunch and then went to Target to pick up some snacks/drinks for the hotel room. We headed back to the hotel and had a swim. We had an early night in preparation for Disney in the morning.
Saturday we spent the day at Disneyland we were very excited to meet Pooh, Eyeore, Mickey, and Goofy on our first morning. We took a break for a few hours in the afternoon - we had lunch and a swim and went back in the evening to catch the Alladin show at California Adventure - an absolute must do if you go - the Genie is soooo hilarious! We then headed back to Disneyland to ride Splash Mountain - not smart at 8:00 when it is cool ... we were soaked while watching Nightastic and the fireworks. Awesome first day!! The boys were sooooo excited.
Sunday - We were able to sleep in a little, and then spent the afternoon watching an Anaheim Angels baseball game. I'm still in a bit of shock that our tickets only cost $7.00 each - but lunch cost us $85 for the four of us. OUCH!!! The Angel's lost - but it was nice to see Canadian Justin Morneau hit two homeruns... too bad we weren't a few rows up - we might have caught one of them!! The rest of the day we spent recovering from the heat - it was 100 degrees!!
Monday - Carsyn's birthday - we hit Disneyland right at 8:00... we got Carsyn's birthday button, our "Celebrating" buttons and our special birthday fast passes. We did a few rides and wandered around Toontown - met Minnie at her house and then headed to California Adventure to use our fast passes.
We went on the Grizzly River Rapid's and got SOAKED but really enjoyed it. Next up was Soarin' Over California.. a definite must! We decided that we needed to go back for a swim and to change clothes so headed back to the hotel for a few hours. When we went back we went to California Adventure and rode The Hollywood Tower of Terror - OMG!!! it was not fun - but I'm a wimp! Next was California Screamin' Brayden wimped out so Carsyn and Butch went first and then Carsyn and I rode it - total blast - by far my most favourite ride!!! We then headed back to Disneyland to try and ride a few more rides from our birthday fast passes. We had dinner reservations at 8.. tried to get the Monorail - but it had broken down - so we had to rush to get over to Goofy's Kitchen.
Now.. I have to admit - this was expensive - but by far the best money we spent. The buffet was AMAZING - the food was fresh and tasty. We were greeted by Minnie Mouse, and then had visits to our table from Chef Goofy - of course... Chef Pluto, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Chip and Dale. They were awesome and totally hammed it up with the boys - Dale took Carsyn's birthday ears and swung them on his nose and then tried to give them to the table next to us.. Goofy 'spit' polished my hubby's bald head.. and then had Sleeping Beauty "pierce" his ear... it was a blast and I totally recommend it to everyone.
Tuesday - This was our "Magic Morning"... we were able to enter the park at 7:00. We figured this was the best time to ride the Matterhorn - as there is no Fast Pass for this ride. So we headed there first - and rode it... not sure why it is so popular - but it didn't do anything for me - Brayden however LOVED it and has said that it was his favourite ride. We then headed back to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain... I had been to Disney twice prior to this and have never been on Space Mountain because my sister was too chicken. I LOVED it, and think it is probably my favourite ride in Disneyland. We then did the Star Tours ride.. well.. after three rather 'thrilling' rides, my stomach was ready for a break.
We headed to meet my Splitcoast scrapbook friend Michelle (SCS: Shelly Suit) and her family. This was so very cool that we were able to meet and had a nice visit and our picture taken. Her family was so nice and my boys are still talking about Brittany... she was so suit to them! After our visit did a few more rides and then took a break for lunch and a swim at the pool. We headed back to California Adventure and rode California Screamin' again... and Brayden went this time.. he loved it ...as we knew he would! We let the boys climb through the Brother Bear Forest (not sure if that is the right name at the moment).. and we had a nice rest. We managed to catch the Pixar parade, quite by accident - but it was fun to see all the characters - the people have an incredible amount of energy and it was well worth standing in the crowds to see it. We had dinner at CA and then found our spot to watch the Electric Light Parade .. it was as amazing as I remember. We headed back to the hotel after watching the fireworks. Our time at Disneyland was done... the boys were teary and very thankful that we had taken them there... it was an emotional time for us all.
We took Wednesday as a day to do a little shopping and to do our laundry so we had fresh clothes for the last leg of our journey.
I'll save the rest for another post.. hopefully tomorrow.
