Disneyland

It rained all through the night.
We were nervous it would continue in the day, but once we were inside to the park,

it cleared out and we never got wet!

This was our only day at Disneyland, so we had a lot of ground to cover!

Got the long wait at Space Mountain out of the way. 

I always think of my sister in law, Jael, at the Matterhorn!
So cool to think that was in her backyard growing up in Switzerland. 

We seemed to have had a lot of time with the girls that day while the boys were

off with the K's. 

Which meant lots of treats for them:)

The stress of getting a que number for Rise of the Resistance was intense!
We got in! But, halfway through the line the ride broke down.
Womp, womp. 

Dole whips made us feel better:)
And we did go back later and got on the ride!

Everybody but us 3 went on Indiana Jones.
It was fun spending time with just 1 child.

We took her to Fantasy Land where I thought we could bust out a bunch of kiddie rides.

Nope.

The dumbo line was ridiculously long and slowwwwww. 
It was the only one we got in before we needed to meet up with everyone else.

We ate dinner in the park to keep the momentum going.
At the end of the night we found ourselves in the passenger seats at autopia.

 

We watched the fireworks for a brief moment and fought our way through the crowds
to get to the exit!

Magic Time!

We woke up in the dark morning, loaded the car and left the beach house to

start the next leg of our trip, DISNEYLAND!

Our first trip back since it had closed for over a year due to Covid.

It was trippy to think that this bustling place was just sitting empty all of that time!

And this was our very first trip with ALL of our kids!
I have a strict policy of no kids under 5.

Call me mean, but it's not worth it to me. 

It costs too much, its not worth my sanity and they don't even know
what they are missing out on that young. 
I still had my reservations with Della, but she was turning five in the next week

and so it was a go!

We unloaded everything from the car into the hotel and ran across the street to meet

up with Jesse, Kristen and their girls who also decided to do Disney. 

They were almost on a ride, so we decided to go to Radiator Springs.

And that is when I got my first eye roll of the day when I said smile for a picture:)

We met up with everyone and did a couple of rides together.

Ordered a pre lunch snack at Pyms Test Kitchen.
It was, meh.
I sometimes wonder if the Disney food instagrammers are telling the truth 
on their reviews. 
So sub par. 
It could have been because Della decided to have a melt down right then.
She was upset that she didn't get her own pretzel the size of her face. 
I was losing my shiz and we had only been there 2 hours tops.
The obnoxious crowds were also playing a big part of it. 

Luckily she got over it quickly, because I was about to say I knew
 I had a no kid policy for this very reason!

The ever so popular $10 candy bar that was beyond waxy and gross. 

The much anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy!
Strangely, the girls were pumped for this.
I forget they are ride junkies!

Which made it a BIG bummer when Della was too short of the Incredicoaster!
She was so sad, and rightfully so.

Nothing a carousel and cotton candy can't fix!

I ran into Leah!!

It was a major fight with the girls on each ride on who got to sit next to Kennedy, lol!
She was a trooper with putting up with them!
Clearly they were infatuated with her. 

After our let down of lunch, I was ready for something I knew would be good.
Gimme all the corn dogs!!!!

Yes, Rusty.
Savor every bite!

Jesse and Kristen took the older kids while Casey and I rode the kiddie stuff with the girls.

We didn't realize that CA Adventure closed early for Spooky Ookie 
trick or treating. Boo!
We would have done Disneyland that day instead if we had known.

Oh well, live and learn.

It ended up being fine.
We went to Downtown Disney and ate Black Tap for dinner. 
I have had that on my list for a while now. 

It was ok.
 I think everything was being massed produced which made it not as hot
when we got it. 

I think I was just bugged at how Disney claimed they were capping tickets to control
the corona virus.

Ummm, there was nothing controlling the crowds.
I have never been with so. many. people.

And no fast passes.

We waited a minimum 45 minutes for every ride. 

But the cookie shakes did hit the spot!

 An earlier evening wasn't so bad either since we had been up at the crack of dawn.