Downtown Disney and 5 months old

 On Saturday we took a break from the parks and hung out at the hotel for most f the day swimming and playing in the game room. Later that evening we headed to Downtown Disney to walk around, shop and eat dinner.
It was beautifully decorated and fun walking around. The weather was great, as you can see were all wearing shorts in December!

 Our favorite store, by far, was the Lego Store. Outside and in are several huge Lego creations. My favorite is, of course, Belle!

 Marceline's Confectionery is a fun candy and chocolate store. We bought several yummy treats there for dessert. Carmel and chocolate covered pretzels and apples, fudge, suckers and much more!

 On Saturday was also Little P's 5 month birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRESTON!! He's such a wonderful addition to our family. Always happy, always smiling. His new smile is with his tongue hanging out. Too cute!

DISNEYLAND!!!

 We have been wanting, desperately, to go back to Disneyland for sometime now. We decided we'd go right after Thanksgiving, but before the Christmas rush.

We headed to California for an entire week, which included going to Disneyland for 4 awesome days!

We went on everything, and it wasn't very busy either! We rode every ride, several times. Watched every parade, light show, movie and fireworks displays that both parks offered. It was incredible! It was so fun.

My mom and Bill met us at Disneyland and made the trip so much better having grandparents to share in these incredible family memories.

 I, of course, was super excited to go to Disneyland. But, I was even more excited to take Nathan. He just loves Mickey Mouse so much. I knew he'd have fun, but wasn't sure how he'd react to seeing a real Mickey Mouse. A life size Mickey. Some kids cry. Not Nathan! He ran right over to him and hugged him. That moment made my entire trip. Everything else was just bonus!

 We found several new (new to us!) hidden Mickey's around the park's. Can you find this one?

It's on the caterpillar ride in the Bug's life area. Cool!

 We scored these FREE buttons that say it's their first visit to Disneyland. The other boys received free buttons with other sayings on them too.

 Another fun activity we did a lot of on this trip was pin trading. We bought lanyards and cheap, dumb Disney pins.  We then traded them with Disney employees in both parks and collected some really rare, cool pins!

 Brigham, my 4 year old's, favorite ride was "the upside down ride", otherwise known as California Screamin'.

Nathan, my 3 year old's, favorite ride was Tower of Terror!!

Both boys went on everything!!! It was awesome! 42" is the magical number!

 My trickster, conniving, mean husband lied to me about going on this terrible, frightful ride. I HATE Ferris wheels, especially the ones that swing!! Everyone got in line to go, but me and my mom. All of a sudden the crowd of people waiting to go on the ride started chanting "Lori, Lori, Lori...!!!!" Then different people kept yelling out that I should go on the ride, it'll be fun, it's not scary...So I went. Peer pressure! Once I was on the ride I realized it was the swinging car and not the one that stays still. I screamed, and yelled. Then cried. All the boys were trying to comfort me, even cute Nathan and Brigs!

 While the fam was standing in line I ran to buy a snack. I ran out of hands to hold the 2 cokes, and 2 turkey legs I purchased...Those were dang good legs! Totally worth the $9.00 each!

 

 Yes, my family is so large we took up the entire car of many rides while wandering around the different parks!

 We would get Fast Passes for rides, we took advantage of single rider lines and always asked for a baby switch pass. That helped to cut down on wait times to the popular rides.

It was great weather, great memories, great company, great time. I am so glad we went. Can't wait to go again!

Disneyland Secrets

I love, love, love Disneyland. I have been there well over 100 times in my life, seriously! I love reading and learning more about fun facts about Disneyland. When I think I've learned all I can, I find another site or book and learn more! LOVE IT!!

Here are some things I do know:

• There are hidden Mickey Mouse heads ALL over he parks, hundreds of them!
• After you buy those adorable pins you can trade them with any Disney worker you come across.
• There are several different large round buttons that say "It's your birthday", or your "first time to D-land" or you're a "newlywed"...These are free and can be found at different areas in the parks.
• When Disneyland was under construction in the early 1950s, Walt didn’t want to miss a moment of his dream coming to life. He installed a small private apartment above the Fire Department with a lamp in the window. Today the lamp stays lit in honor of the man behind the mouse.
• The dog holding the keys in the Pirates of the Caribbean and the dog in the Carousel of Progress are both modeled after Walt Disney’s dog.
• In the evening show when Tinker Bell fly off the Matterhorn, it's really a man dressed up. They needed a larger body for the people to see.
• The light bulbs are changed every night throughout the park.
• After construction of the Matterhorn was completed in 1959, the roller coaster occupied the bottom two-thirds of the mountain, while the top third remained empty. What to do with the extra space? Disney employees voted to put in a basketball court. Because a regulation court wouldn't fit inside the mountaintop (sometimes magic can't trump physics), only one goal was installed.
• There is a secret club in the heart of Disneyland called Club 33, a VIP lounge, found in the New Orleans Square.
• There is a 10 year waiting list but Club 33 is the only place at Disneyland where you can ditch the kids for a cocktail.
• Ever notice the telegraph clicking at the New Orleans' train station? It's ticking out the speech Disney gave out on the park's opening day.

 

Hmm...So many others....

 

Here are a few I recently just learned about:

• Every night after closing time, 200 feral cats are released into the park to help keep the rodent population under control. The cats spend their days resting in the park’s well- concealed “cat houses.”
• Main Street Disneyland represents Marceline, Missouri, Walt Disney’s boyhood town.
• The scent of vanilla is pumped into the air along Main Street. During the holidays, the scent is changed to peppermint.
• The asphalt in Disneyland is actually a mixture of asphalt and rubber, making it more comfortable for guests to walk on.
• Steve Martin used to work in the magic shop.
• Even though Walt Disney had a mustache himself, he wanted his employees clean-shaven. The idea was to make sure they looked as different from the stereotypical image of a creepy carnival worker as possible.
• So, for 43 years, Disney theme park workers were forbidden from growing facial hair. But on a momentous day in March 2000, the company took a giant leap forward and decided to grant the park's male employees the right to sport mustaches. When several employees started to grow out their facial hair, management realized that they hated the stubbly look. The rule was quickly amended.
• Today, in order to have a mustache at the park, Disney employees must either have them when they're hired or grow them during vacation.
• Coke gives the park free soda to eliminate competition in the park and for the advertising.

 

If you know of others let me know! If you're planning a trip soon, search out the hidden mickey's around the park, its fun for the entire family!

Give a Day...Get a Day!

Our family participated in the Give a Day...Get a Day program through Disneyland. A couple months ago we helped in a service project that the entire family did together. It was a fun service project. We were very excited to use our FREE Disneyland passes, and as soon school was over we hopped in the car and took off to our favorite place on earth.
It was a very fun trip, they always are, but it was 2 day's of NEW stuff for us. We bought a book before hand that tel us where a ton of hidden Mickey's are located around the park. While we were waiting in line or walking over to anther ride, we'd also look in our book for clues. It was a lot of fun. We found over 50 new hidden Mickey's we'd never found before.
Other NEW stuff we did was rides for some of the boys. Gavin had a huge growth spurt and was able to go on several new rides this trip. Even Brig's went on a few newbies too. (The roller coaster in Toon Town...Picture above)

Scott and I took the younger kids to the Play House Disney Show. Brig's and Gavin were in heaven dancing and singing away...But Nathan was enthralled with everything too.

Brigham and I went on the rocket ride for the first time. Well, his first time. My 54th time. (or something like that!)

Gavin's first time on a family favorite ride, the trail ride. i totally forgot the name of it. Darn it! But anyhow, we had to go like 4 times in a row because Gavin loved it so much.

Scott took the 2 babies over to the kiddy rides in Bug's Life area. They had a fun time.

Gavin was also able to go on Soaring over California for the first time. It was fun to have him there. We also found several hidden Mickey's.

We spent a long time on day one over on Tom Sawyer's Island. It had been YEARS since we'd been over there. I think will was a toddler and I was preggers with Jackson. Too long, because we had a blast. So many things for us to do and my boys had a ball.

Yet another wonderful trip to D-land! We sure love that place. Thanks Mickey for the wonderful memories!!