Day 1~ Saturday
Our morning started out early as we boarded our plane at 7:35am. Brooklyn was very excited for her first plane ride, but napped most of the way there. Tyler and Kinley were so wound up and didn't nap at all. Go figure. We arrived at LAX at 8:40am and Travis got us a rental car with his VIP status. :-) Seriously, this was the best thing. We didn't have to wait in a line or even check in. Our car was waiting for us with keys in it and we were off! Already such a better experience than the first time!! We rented a cute condo across from the park entrance, but we didn't waste any time and headed straight to Disney! We went to a different park each day and hit up Adventure Park first. Brooklyn was being typical Brooklyn. She was fussy and we found out very quickly that she wasn't a fan of rides! She screamed and cried her little eyes out while riding the first one, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. :-/ Tyler and Kinley were crazy excited though! I already had us on a schedule! We figured out where to spend a little extra money each day to make for some better experiences. We wanted to see Frozen Live and purchased pre-show tickets for it. Instead of waiting in a line for 1 1/2 hours for the show, we went to a large Frozen-themed warehouse and enjoyed frozen treats, popcorn, picture opportunities, meeting Olaf AND snow! Then we had reserved seating for the show! It was so great!! Of course, Tyler moaned about having to see Frozen, but even he was glued to the production. My little princesses loved it! We decided to check in to the condo afterwards with hopes of resting and coming back to the park for some evening fun, but the kids were enjoying the Mickey-themed condo and we were exhausted, so we called it a night.
Heading to Adventure Park and look who is already being crabby.
Cars Land
Being prepared 101- We brought costumes to change into for the Frozen show!
Meeting Judy and Nick from Zootopia! I was shocked that Brooklyn went up to her!
Frozen Pre-Show~
Ready for the show! I wish I could upload the videos!
I was so happy that we brought costumes and princesses!
On our way back to condo- this little one couldn't hang.
Checking out the condo and Kinley is already at it with her selfies. This was so much better than staying at a hotel... even a Disney one! It was a 2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath that came with everything we needed (even strollers!).
Day 2~ Sunday
We slept in (because who wants to get up early when you're on vacation!) and had a late breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen in the Disneyland Hotel. This was our "extra" for the day. It was a nice way to see several characters and get our bellies full at the same time. Pretty pricey for kids that don't eat much, but it was about the experience, right?? :-) Very similar to another little girl I know that was here three years ago, Minnie Mouse was about the only character that Brooklyn was interested seeing, so this was an exciting moment! She didn't want much to do with anyone else. Notice all the super cute Disney outfits?! I'm proud of myself for all the planning! :-) After breakfast, we headed over to Disneyland. We rode some rides and then went to the Star Wars Launch Bay. This was perfect for Travis and Tyler! I didn't realize that we would get to meet characters, so it was a nice treat to see Chewbacca, Kylo Ren and Boba Fett! Travis has turned Tyler into quite the Star Wars fan and this was exciting! We split up for a bit so that the boys could ride bigger rides and I could take the girls to do the smaller stuff. It was so nice knowing which rides to grab Fast Passes for this time around. We really didn't wait in any lines too long. We met back up for Mickey's parade and the Paint the Night parade. I was a little bummed that we didn't do some of the iconic things (like the teapots) as a family, but it worked out and everyone had fun. This also resulted in not as many pictures.
Breakfast with Goofy
Lego store
Astro Blasters- one of our favs
Star Wars Launch Bay
Mary Poppins
Mickey's parade
Crashed out for the second night~
Day 3~ Monday
We headed back to Adventure Park and used our Magic morning tickets that let us get into the park an hour eariler than the general public. We headed straight for Fast Passes for the Cars ride. I think this one is still my favorite from both parks! Afterwards, we split up again and the boys went off to ride bigger rides. I took the girls on the Ariel ride... three times! I think they could have rode that one all day. It set us up for our lunch plans. We booked a princess lunch at Ariel's Grotto and Kinley got to meet Ariel, Cinderella, Snow White, Belle and Tiana. I couldn't pay Tyler to take his picture with any princess, but he did enjoy the ocean-themed lunch. Brooklyn was scared. Travis and I enjoyed our margaritas. HaHa! After lunch, we really spent the day back and forth between splitting up and meeting back up for parades, etc.
Little Mermaid
Princess Lunch
Meeting Woody! This one takes me back! Woody was one of Tyler's first favs as a very little guy and I had to practically beg him to go take a picture with me. Ha.
Disney Jr Live
Meeting Elsa and Anna at the Frozen castle!
Pixar parade
Radiator Springs just before the neon comes on~
World of Color Show.
Last ride for the evening-
Crashing
Day 4~ Tuesday
Back to Disneyland for our final day. We went straight back to Toon Town and there was hardly anybody there! It was great! We went to Mickey's house and got to meet Mickey right away. The fan fav was going to Minnie's house again. I couldn't help but think about Kinley walking through there at the same age as Brooklyn. Same experience and reaction, just a different kid. Brooklyn loved Minnie and went straight up to her. The highlight today was Star Wars Jedi Knight Training. It was so cute. Tyler and Kinley did it. My girl was first up... out of a ton of kids and rocked it! Tyler was in his element with a lightsaber in hand. :-) We did a lot more splitting up after and as I'm going through pictures, it's pretty evident since there are so many more of the girls than Tyler during this vacation. :-( He loves those big rides though, so I'm glad he got to do all of that! The only bummer for this day was missing the fireworks show. We caught some of it from our condo the first night and from the other park on the second night, but the kids were looking forward to seeing the entire show. It was our lucky day when a staff member pulled us from a crowded, standing only section and took us to a very small, roped off VIP section (with chairs!) smack in front of the castle! You couldn't have a better seat for fireworks AND the Paint the Night parade. We got to enjoy the parade again and as it was time for the fireworks to begin, they had to cancel the show due to wind. We were so disappointed, but it was hard to really be upset since we were laid back and watching the parade the whole time.
Mickey's house
Minnie's house
The kiddie coaster that even Kinley liked (she doesn't do big rides)~
Playing around Toon Town while the boys were off riding big rides
Pixie Hollow and meeting Tinkerbell~
Star Wars Jedi Training~
Paint the Night parade
Until next time, Disneyland!!
All in all, I think we loved Disney this time around!! I loved that everyone seemed like a perfect age to experience Disney. Brooklyn was pretty difficult, but that's to be expected from her these days. She still had a blast at Toon Town and meeting Mickey and Minnie and she was mesmerized by Frozen Live. She's never sat so still! Tyler and Kinley were great! Tyler was big enough to do the big rides, but not too old or too cool to enjoy the Star Wars fun and characters. Kinley is still young enough to believe in the magic and all things princess-y, but old enough to really enjoy it! This was a perfect treat before the kids head back to school! We'll definitely be back!
Day 5~ Wednesday
We reserved this day to visit with family (Clark and Cathy) in southern Cali, but couldn't connect with them. We actually planned this trip pretty quick, only a few weeks out and they were on vacation when we did call, or we didn't have the right number... we just didn't connect. We were hoping it would still work out by the time we got there, but it didn't. It left us with an entire day open and with no plans. We really just wandered around and made our way to the beach and walked around a bit. We had to check into another hotel and decided to just be lazy and lounge.
Day 6~ Thursday
Time to pack up and head home! As we were skimming through the touristy things in our hotel brochure, we decided to check out The Aquarium of the Pacific before going to the airport. We had been a little down after having such an uneventful day the day before and Travis said this saved it! Haha. It was actually a really cool aquarium and we didn't get to stay nearly as long as we could have. We should have stuck with being appreciative of uneventful because that sure did change a few hours later and not in a fun way! Brooklyn showed no signs of being ill at all and about mid-way into our flight home, she had an explosive diarrhea diaper. I searched everywhere and I still can't believe this, but I didn't have one single extra diaper with me! I had wipes and a Tampax (of all things!), so I cleaned her up and neatly placed a Tampax in her pants. After she got settled again, she started throwing up all over the place. I mean, try to picture this for 1/2 a second as we were stuck on a plane! It was a nightmare! Of course, I didn't have extra clothes either. She had to strip naked and wear Tyler's jacket and I just prayed that she didn't pee on anything! She didn't! I was able to change her once we landed and got our bags only to have her throw up on the way home and all over the place at home. Not exactly the welcome home that I imagined, but it's always nice to be back home after vacation!
The most excitement I had over 6 days- the plane ride home!
