Disneyland and California Adventure! (Days 3, 4 & 5)

YAY!

My Ninja Turtle fan

Enjoying all of his presents

Daddy's so excited about all the new toys!

When we awoke Christmas morning, the boys immediately found the Ninja Turtle stuffed animals left by Santa Claus. They were thrilled Santa had found them in California (at a hotel no less!) We spent the morning exchanging presents with the Dunlaps and opening gifts from Santa. This was the boys favorite part of the entire trip! The magic of Christmas morning is certainly hard to beat! After a scrumptious breakfast provided by the hotel, we headed off to the happiest (and most crowded) place on earth ... Disneyland!

Mama and Papa Dunlap generously paid for three days at Disney for our entire family! What a wonderful treat! We spent two days at Disney and one at California Adventure. I was taken aback by how busy and crowded it was. We later found out that the park had to close its doors to visitors because it reached the fire code limit. It was as packed as it could possibly be! We did SO much in those three days that it's hard to capture it all without writing a novel! I'll go ahead and spare you and just outline the attractions we saw and some of our favorite memories.

Disney Day 1 Highlights:

• We rode to Disneyland from the parking garage in these cute little shuttles. 
• Seb and I packed "72-Hour" kits for each member of our family. It was so fun having our own baggie full of treats and goodies to keep us going all day! 
• Tarzan's Treehouse
• Jungle Cruise - we lost Mama and Papa Dunlap and Hudson while getting into line, but luckily reunited on the ride! Beau slept the entire time!
• The Haunted Mansion (2x for Seb and Hudson thanks to some nice people giving us two fast passes) - when poor Beau went, he had just woken up from a nap and was absolutely terrified! To make matters worse, the ride broke down when we were next to a jack-in-the-box cat that shrieked over and over again!
• We saw Jack the Skeleton scaring people at the Haunted Mansion exit. 
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - Beau loved this one (great to lift his spirits after being terrorized in the Haunted Mansion.
• We saw Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger.
• The Christmas Parade (my favorites parts included the Frozen float and seeing Buzz Lightyear and Woody for the boys) - it was way too crowded, though, and we were squeezed into a small roped area like cattle! Ha ha!
• Fried chicken for dinner at a cute little cafeteria-style restaurant - unknowingly, we entered through a side door and skipped waiting in a super long line to get in! Ha ha - nice dumb luck!
• We saw Sleeping Beauty's castle light up for the evening - it was breathtaking! They even had it "snow" down Main Street for the lighting ceremony. 
• Pirates of the Caribbean - everyone's favorite ride! 
• We saw bits of Fantasmic and the firework show. 
• Disneyland Railroad (both boys were fast asleep for the entire ride). 
• We got home so late that we had to carry both boys into the hotel and place them in their beds. Without our normal night time routine, Hudson wet the bed! I called the front desk and they told me to clean it up by soaking it with our towels. Sick! I sure hope that isn't their policy for mattress cleaning!

Ready for some fun!

Beau was a little testy!

Hudson, too! Poor Grandma!

Those boys look like they're having the time of their lives!

Beneath Tarzan's Treehouse

Waiting to get on the Jungle Cruise

What a fun first ride!

Enjoying themselves while waiting in another line

Our sweet baby bug

Excited to see so many Disney characters!

Princesses galore!

A better view on Grandpa's shoulders

This doesn't do the gorgeous enormous tree justice!

California Adventure Highlights:

• I thought California Adventure was a breath of fresh air - it was a lot less crowded, the lines were much shorter, and the boys and I LOVED Cars Land. 
• Mater's Junkyard Jamboree
• It's Tough to Be a Big 3D Show was awesome! It was a multi-sensory show including black widows that dropped from the ceiling and bugs crawling beneath our bottoms. This show sure freaked out Hudson!
• Aladdin Show
• Pixar Parade
• Lunch at Flo's Cafe in Car's Land. I had gone inside to buy a snack when Hudson came running towards me with the biggest smile on his face. "Red" the firetruck from Cars had just driven by! Soon after, we also got to see Lightning McQueen, Mater, and DJ. For any of you who have seen the Cars movies, Cars Land was a must see - it was absolutely adorable! It was like you stepped into Radiator Springs and could visit all of the shops and stores along Route 66. It was my favorite part of both theme parks. 
• Monster's Inc. Ride
• Golden Zephyr
• Ariel's Undersea Adventure
• World of Color Show. I got a huge turkey leg for dinner!
• Radiator Springs Racers was Hudson and Sebastian's favorite ride! While everyone else ride, I took half asleep Beau and we rode every ride that we could in A Bug's Land: Heimlich's Choo Choo Train, Francis' Ladybug Boogie, and Flik's Flyers. 
• On our way out of the park, we were able to get a picture with Goofy and Pluto. 

I'm digging Beau's outfit!

Check this out!!

Hudson LOVED the giant cars :)

No big deal - just eating some macaroni and fruit at Flo's Cafe

Our own Hudson Hornet

This is amazing!

What an awesome car!

Hudson was picture happy! He was posing next to everything!

It was so cute to see Beau touch Mater so gently

And we even got to see Daddy's favorite, Goofy :)

Disney Day 2 Highlights:

• When we first arrived, we were lucky enough to get a picture with Mickey Mouse :) He was all decked out in a holiday sweater. 
• Big Thunder Ranch Petting Zoo
• We met Jessie from Toy Story
• Storybook Land Canal Boats - I loved this ride! The little castle scenes were darling. 
• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• We saw Iron Man's suits at Innovention and had spaghetti and meatballs for lunch while Mama Dunlap shopped for souvenirs on Main Street.
• Mark Twain River Boat 
• Pirates of the Caribbean (again!)
• Beau and I enjoyed a show in the Enchanted Tiki Room while the others went on the Indiana Jones Adventure ride. That was one of Seb's favorite memories of the trip. Hudson was terrified and covered his eyes with his santa hat for the entire ride.  Poor thing!
• Mickey's Magical Map - a really fun show. I was so glad we got to see it because Beau was dying to see Mickey again!
• Toured Mickey and Minnie's homes. 
• That night, we checked into another hotel close to the airport and church building. 

A big hug and kiss for Beau's beloved Mickey!

This was pretty magical :)

The tree was gorgeous! Too bad this picture stinks!

Who's this familiar cowgirl??

It's Jessie!!!

Enjoying the goats in Frontierland

So fun!

Storybook Canal Boats

The tiny castles were darling! This one is Elsa and Anna's castle.

Ready for the Buzz Lightyear ride

Both boys were SO excited to see Iron Man's suit!!!

We adore Elsa and Anna around here!