Disneyland 2014

As we prepare to make the trip again, I figured it is time to finally record the trip from last year.

It was my first trip to Disneyland with a daughter dressed head to toe like Aurora.

I figured it was probably also my last.

It is hard to gauge the passage of time while wrapped up in the moments of day-to-day life.  But, trips like this one make me see how rapidly things are changing.  Everyone is growing up.

Early in June 2014, we had a nine-day-vacation-adventure.  Four days at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, one day at the beach, and four days of driving.

It was our first hotel trip as a family in a long time.  Suddenly the three older kids needed privacy.  They had opinions and demands.  It was much different from when they were small and Brian and I made all of the decisions.  

Back then on Disney trips, we carried them in our arms, pushed them in their strollers, ate smooshed PB&J sandwiches out of a backpack and sipped warm water from the drinking fountains.  Back then, we didn’t think of buying the expensive theme-park food or high-priced souvenirs.  We didn’t have a princess dress for our oldest daughter to wear to the park when she was small.  We were content and they were content and we were all grateful to be on vacation.

This time, we were blessed to have my mom and dad join us.  My mom has come with us to Disneyland before.  She joined us twice when our immediate family went (one of those times we were blessed to go with Brian’s parents too--in 2006, on our way to China) and once in 2011 when she took the kids and me.  She is the biggest fan of Disneyland I know.  In 2010-2011, she bought a season pass and went several times.  One month before our 2014 trip, she went to Disneyland with her best friend.  But, she was still as excited as ever to go with us a few weeks later.  This was the first time my dad joined us.  His schedule has been more open since he retired a year-and-a-half ago.  I was so grateful for the chance to make memories with them.

On a Saturday morning, we loaded tons of luggage and eight of us into a twelve-passenger van.  We drove and drove and dined at Costa Vida.  Then, we drove some more and stopped off for delicious shakes at the Iceberg Drive-In in St. George.  My mom always gets cherry-pecan, made with giant chunks of pecans and whole maraschino cherries.  This time, we also discovered Nutella shakes.  Yum!

We finally reached our destination for the day – a La Quinta near the Las Vegas airport.  The kids and I swam in their beautiful pool and watched the planes as they descended to the nearby runway. 

The sky was so blue and palm trees lined my view.  As I sat in the hot tub and watched my kids splashing and laughing against that backdrop, it felt like paradise.  All of my stresses from regular life melted away.

We ordered pizza delivered right to the room that night and watched T.V. from comfy beds.  In the morning, we enjoyed the hotel’s wonderful free, hot breakfast and took one more quick dip in the pool before we were back on the road.

When we reached Anaheim, we checked into the Castle Inn & Suites.  It is an older property that has been remodeled.  I wasn’t overly concerned with our accommodations since we weren’t planning to spend much time in the room.  It was adequate, clean and comfortable.  The best part was its location right across the street from the entrance to the park.  There was no breakfast, but I found out it was more convenient and time efficient to stock the room with milk, juice, instant oatmeal and cereal.

My dad took the kids to the pool for their second swim of the day while the other adults unpacked and organized the rooms.  We got to bed early in preparation for Monday – our first day at Disneyland!!!

The park was open from 8 a.m.-midnight every day, making it pretty hard to be there from opening until closing -- the way my mom and I did three years before when it was open from 9 a.m.-10 p.m. 

On the first day, we arrived at California Adventure close to 8 a.m.  Our first order of business was to claim fast passes for a popular ride in the newest attraction – Cars Land.  We got our passes at 8:30 a.m., and so many people had already been in line that our passes weren’t good until 3:30 p.m. 

After that, our first ride of the trip was Soarin’ Over California.  What a delight!  I love the sensation of flying and the smells that go along with the images projected on the screen.  All eight of us rode it together and everyone loved it. 

After that, we rode the Tower of Terror and stupidly took Katie when the guy at the entrance announced that she met the height requirement.  She was terrified by that ride (and, later felt the same about the Matterhorn), but loved everything else we took her on.

Then, we split into a few groups because the boys wanted to ride California Screamin’ and Sophie is not a fan of roller coasters or wild rides.  We spent a lot of time at California Adventure that first day and had fun.  We also rode a few rides in Disneyland and watched the Main Street Parade.

The other highlight of the first day was that my mom, Sophie, Katie and I got to eat lunch in Aerial’s Grotto.  It was fabulous!  The food was so tasty and the presentation was perfect.  I loved how they served the fruits and vegetables so beautifully fancy to try to entice Katie to take a bite.  I adored the trays of tiny desserts they brought out at the end.  And, I was so happy they had gluten-free options for everything (even a warm brownie with ice-cream for dessert). 

The food was wonderful and it was fun for the girls to get to meet Aerial, Cinderella, Aurora, Snow White and Belle individually for photos and autographs.  That was the day Katie was dressed up like Aurora.  My mom bought her the dress, crown, wand and matching shoes for her birthday the week before our trip.

We left the park around 9 p.m. and got everyone to bed by 10 p.m. because Brian wanted to take advantage of our magic morning entrance the next day at 7 a.m.!

Everyone got up early and got ready to go, but at 6:45 a.m., Katie was still slumbering soundly.  I didn’t want to wake our sleeping beauty, so my mom and I both decided to stay behind while the others walked to Disneyland.  They went on a few of the popular rides like Splash Mountain and the Big Thunder Railroad before the lines got long. 

We joined them around 9 a.m. and had another great day at the parks.  We bought Katie and Isaac guns that lit up and shot bubbles and they l-o-v-e-d them endlessly.  I bought about 20 bubble refills through the week.  We ate lunch at the Hungry Bear Café, near the Winnie the Pooh ride, where they served fried green tomato sandwiches, yummy salad, and beautiful lemon cupcakes with lemon cheesecake filling, beehive frosting and an edible bee on top.

That night we watched the fireworks with Tinkerbell and Dumbo flying overhead.  They were breathtaking.  We also stayed for the 10:30 p.m. Fantasmic show.  It was a long and wonderful day at the park.

On Wednesday, we slept in and took it easy.  It was almost noon by the time we were riding rides.  We went to an afternoon production of Aladdin and got Dole Whips to cool off outside the Tiki Room.  I love Dole Whips.  The whole group rode Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Tours together.

It was a beautiful day.  Everyone except Ian and Brian were back to the room by 6:30 p.m.  We were worn out from the day before.  But, those two stayed until 10 p.m.

Since Thursday was our last day at the parks, we decided to get there at 8 a.m.  We got fast passes to the ride in Cars Land and passes to the evening show of World of Color.

Isaac had a goal to ride California Screamin’ eight times, so we got an early start on that before the line was long.  It was a lofty goal since the line for that ride is often 40-60 minutes long.  But, somehow, with the aid of fast passes and good planning, he got to ride it nine times by the end of the day!

We all rode Toy Story and The Little Mermaid together.  We split into groups and came back together throughout the day.  We bought Ian skewers of BBQ meat from a place near the Jungle Cruise. 

We had lunch in Tommorrowland and got to see a class of Jedi students fighting Darth Vader while we ate.  The boys made their own light sabers to take home as souvenirs.  Sophie picked out sandals, a bracelet and an Eeyore nightshirt.

It was a wonderful trip!  We met Mickey and Minnie, Winnie the Pooh and his friends and so many other characters.  We rode pretty much every ride we wanted to.  We rode our favorites more than once.  We ate so many treats – cotton candy, popcorn, slurpees, funnel cakes and Mickey Mouse shaped ice-cream on a stick.  Sophie and my mom snuck off for a Monte Cristo sandwich that they shared.

As the end of our last day approached, everything looked so pretty lit up after dark.  The neon signs in Cars Land were colorful and the rocks glowed in the distance.

We secured perfect viewing spots on the bridge near the water to watch World of Color.  We were on the front row.  The show was spectacular.  It was the perfect way to end our memorable trip.  In some ways, it was a relief to get to the end of the fourth day.  I felt content knowing we had done everything we had come there to do.  And, also relieved to know we didn’t have to do it again the next day – wow, my feet were killing me!

As we walked toward the exit to leave, Sophie, Ian and Isaac said they would like to go on Star Tours just one more time.  My mom volunteered to take the kids back into Disneyland while the rest of us carried our things (and Katie) back to the hotel.  It’s funny, because now my mom says that late night trip to Star Tours with three of the kids is one of her favorite memories.  I remember feeling so relieved to be back at the hotel room and amazed that she had the energy to keep going until midnight on the fourth day in a row.

We went to bed late, exhausted and happy.  Just the way I like things to be at the end of a visit to Disneyland.

The next day, we slept in and stayed in our P.J.’s for a long time.  Around 11:30 a.m. we finally put ourselves together enough to head off to the beach.  When we got to Laguna, we first stopped at Ruby’s Diner.  Early in our marriage, Brian and I ate at a Ruby’s Diner while visiting Southern California.  On our next trip, we ate there again.  The next thing we knew, it became a tradition to eat there every time we visit SoCal.  As per tradition, we feasted on an amazing meal of burgers, fries and shakes.  (And, Ian got shrimp tacos).

Then, we were off to the gorgeous beach at Laguna.  The weather was perfect!  The waves were large.  We made a giant sandcastle before the tide came in and swept it away.  Sophie, Ian and Isaac loved standing waist deep in the ocean, letting the waves crash over their heads over and over.  Katie stayed where the water covered just her ankles and let the tide chase her up the beach over and over.  They were all so happy!  I think they loved it as much as Disneyland.

On Saturday, when we packed up our things and got ready to leave, we all felt a hollow feeling inside.  We were sad our amazing vacation had to end.  We had had so much fun.  It was the best. 

Isaac begged us for one more day at Disneyland or one more day at the beach.  Sophie’s bracelet she had bought was lost.  So, we decided to take one last walk through the shops at Downtown Disney.  We replaced the bracelet and I bought Isaac 10 more refills for his beloved bubble gun. 

We drove and drove and drove until we got to St. George where we swam some more and ate more shakes at the Iceberg Drive-In.  Our hotel rooms were conveniently poolside.

I forgot to say that Brian and Ian also got to go to an Anaheim Angels game Friday night after we got back from the beach.

When we woke up Sunday morning, the vacation really was over.  We ate the hotel’s free breakfast.  Katie and Isaac had a quick dip in the pool.  We had to pack up the van one last time to drive back to our homes in Ogden.

It was sad when it was over.  But, we will always have the memories.  I was grateful that we had this trip while we still had one little one to dress up like a princess.  I’m sorry you missed out on that Sophie!  Will it help if I tell you the moment you met Snow White when you were two was the first truly magical Disney character moment our family has ever experienced?  I will never forget it.  Gown or no gown, the memories are the best.