The Rest Of Disney (In A Nutshell)

I took a record number of pictures this time around at Disneyland, so I have been having a really hard time going through them all and trying to pick out only a handful to post.  There are so many good ones… I can't wait to get them all into a photo book.  We really did have a great time.  The kids were so much fun and easy to travel with.  Ryder was scared of two characters (Darth Maul and Captain Hook) and that's it, he wasn't scared of any ride, scaredy cat Savannah came out of her shell a little bit and actually rode some roller coasters, we didn't have to stop to change diapers, there were very few attitude adjustments needed, Ryder napped perfectly in the stroller, Disney was insanely allergy friendly for Ryder, Savannah was a trooper and walked all three days with maybe a handful of complaints, there was no crying for souvenirs… I really could go on and on.  It was a fantastic family trip!  It really does get easier and far more enjoyable to travel as the kids get older (hang in there parents of little littles).

One of my most favorite pictures from the trip.  I have one just like this with Savannah when she was Ryder's age.

Savannah and Cheridan in their princess ears.

One of the best things about all of the pictures from our trip is this toothless smile.  I love that she is toothless in all of our pictures.  What a perfect time stamp.

That moment when you get to meet the princess who you are dressed up as.  Totally a special moment for a little girl.

These two little people are the best two little people in the whole world.

Savannah's "which character are you?" quiz resulted in her being Maleficent.  She was so excited about that!  My little villain lover.

Having characters sign his autograph book was one of his favorite things about Disneyland.  He was very committed to getting as many as he could.

You will laugh when I tell you that I showed up to the park at 6 a.m. one morning with the kids so that we could be at the front of the line to meet these two ladies.  We ended up being fifth in line and only had to wait maybe 25 minutes.  The wait time on average throughout the day is 3 hours plus.  No way was I waiting in that long of a line… I knew how much both the kids wanted to see Elsa and Ana though, so waking up way too early seemed like a better option than a long ridiculous line in the middle of the day.  It was worth it, Ana and Elsa were perfect and so in character… Savannah and Ryder were in love.

Radiator Springs Comes To Life

Ryder's absolute favorite movie for well over a year now has been CARS (one and two).  Eric and I both were both looking forward to getting to take Ryder to Cars Land while we were at Disney.  No joke, the boy plays with his CARS cars every. single. day. all. day. long.  The movie is always on somewhere or being quoted by him while he is driving his cars around.  We have grown to love it as much as him.  The look on his face when he saw Tow Mater and all his other favorites cruising down the streets of Radiator Springs was priceless.  This is why people pay the high prices to take their family to Disneyland over and over again.  Disneyland is magical and the way that they bring the movies to life is amazing.  Getting to see Ryder blown away by their animated favorites coming to life in a real life built Radiator Springs made our trip worth every penny.

It is seriously unreal how they brought this movie to life.  Every little detail is perfect.

Disney Day Three: One Last Hoorah!

Our third and final day at Disneyland was spent riding all the rides we didn't get a chance to on day one and then re-riding or re-visiting anything that we absolutely loved and just had to do again.  We also caught the parade and a couple of shows that we didn't have time for on the first day.  Truth be told, we probably could have used a fourth day... that is just how much there is to do.  Not sure any of the adults would have been up for that though.  Three long days at an amusement park with the three kids was exhausting.  Totally worth it, but totally exhausting.  

Good thing we realized on the last day that we hadn't even taken a group photo... otherwise we wouldn't have this picture (which is one of my favorites).

We started the day off with a breakfast buffet (that got the boys' attention) with the characters (that got the girls' and kids' attention).  The food was awesome and the characters were all over the place.  I love that we just sit there and they come to us for play time and pictures.  No waiting in lines or fighting other parents for pictures and autographs.

We made sure to make it to the Jedi Knight Training show.  Savannah really really really wanted her daddy to see her participate in the show.  Thankfully she was chosen... seriously almost the last kid they picked to come up and train.  That would have been a bummer if she had to sit that one out and just watch.  As an added bonus, she got to fight Darth Vader this year.  Score!