Disneyland Family Vacation

Jeremy and I have had this trip planned since August!!  And it finally happened!!  Although, the original plan was to check in on New Years Day.  But, of course, in true Wilson fashion, we didn't check all of our facts, and I realized that the Annual Passes wouldn't work that week!  So, we postponed it to Sunday the 6th.  Luckily, the hotel moved our date with no problem and still gave us the discount we had gotten...phew!  So, Sunday came and so did a migraine for me...a bad one...and I was out of my meds :-(.  We didn't end up leaving until that night, because I was bedridden for a few hours after church.  But we made it to Anaheim and to the Howard Johnson Hotel just across the street from Disneyland, in time to watch the fireworks from our awesome Disneyland view room!  Then, we (I) passed out!

Monday 1/7/2013

Still plagued with a headache, I pretended to feel fine and we got up and ready for our first day.  First stop, McDonald's for breakfast.  Our hotel was near all sorts of restaurants, and it was so nice to just be able to walk to get food and over to the parks!  Here's #3 & #4 having fun, pre-disneyland in the McD's bathroom-

 We got to the gate right at opening time, so it was CROWDED!  And, we still had to get our passes.  The nice man at the ticket window, was so patient and helpful as I upgraded 5 1-Day Park Hoppers to Annual Passes!  Then, when we went to purchase Jer's 3 Day Park Hopper, he decided he wanted an Annual Pass too!  (It was only $50 more...he can't pass up the better deal!)

 The whole family was armed with our new annual passes, so it was time to PLAY!!!  Jeremy was actually EXCITED and skipped his way down Main Street with the kids...

So happy to be here all together!

 First Ride (Duh!)-

 Lunch at our favorite spot-

 Mommy and Cali convinced the boys to ride Alice w/ us...

Gavin was not happy...

 And, of course, they got the PINK one!  Oh Yeah!

 Woo Hoo!!!

 These 2 got to be whale watchers...their favorite...

 And Cali got to meet Merida!!

 I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, because I was just trying to make it through the day.  We had a great time, though and finished off the night with Splash Mountain.  It was so cold...brrrrrr!

They rode it twice!  Crazies!

 The Parks closed at 8 and we headed to Denny's for dinner.  I could barely keep my head up and Brody passed out at the table.  So, we bagged up our food and headed back to the hotel.  We did it!  We (I) made it through Day 1!

Tuesday 1/8/2013

I woke up feeling SO MUCH BETTER!  I was tired, from an awful night's sleep, but I could function!  We packed up and checked out and had a McD's breakfast again, then headed for California Adventure.  We haven't been there since they changed it.  We were so excited to see all the new stuff!

 IT IS AWESOME!!  It just seems so much more magical and the whole park flows together so much better!  I love the new Buena Vista Street and we met Goofy there...

 Then we headed to-

 This place is AMAZING!  It's like walking into another world!  They did such a great job!  We loved walking down the street of Radiator Springs.  There was so much attention to detail.  The rides, the stores, the restaurants and even the street light!  We had so much fun playing in Radiator Springs-

Luigi's Flying Tires

 These 2 liked the "giant air hockey table".  It makes them look tough!

 Stanley!!!

 We did head over to the rest of the Park and ride some of our favorites, but returned to Cars Land for dinner-

DELICIOUS!

 And we enjoyed Mater's petting zoo-

 The line for Mater's Junkyard Jamboree was down to 5 min...so the kids rode it again-

 Daddy doesn't do Space Mountain and Mommy was feeling better, so we headed back to Disneyland to ride Space Mountain!  Do you like our poses?

 We did some souvenir shopping, then headed back to Radiator Springs for one last ride!

So pretty at night!

 Radiator Springs Racers-

this had the longest wait time of all the rides.  So, we got fast passes that morning and didn't get to ride it until 7:00 PM!  But it was so worth the wait!  Best ride of the trip (not according to Luke...)!  I am so proud of Lukey though...he tried the ride so that we could all ride together.  He really liked the beginning, just not the end!  And shhh...don't tell him I posted this pic!

 He got over it quick though, especially since we were still able to get in Monsters Inc. and The Muppet Show before the park closed!

Me and My Route 66 Boy

 We shut the place down!  We had so much fun!  I wish I could have felt better the first 2 days...but so glad I was able to keep it together so that we could give this fun family gift to ourselves!  I love spending time with my family.  Thanks Walt and Mickey for giving us such fun memories!

To see all the pics...click HERE.