Disneyland

Ah, we felt much more at home here! Somehow we didn't quite fit in at Las Vegas. Here we stayed at the Desert Inn and Suites which I would also highly recommend. It's a no-frill hotel but the rooms are a good size and it's as close as you can get to Disneyland. It was so nice being able to just walk across the street to the parks. We were able to come back to our room for breaks a couple of times and grab jackets for the evening. The location was fabulous. My parents and brother Nate were able to join us on this trip and we got a suite that had 2 bedrooms and a small living room and slept all of us comfortably. We got to our hotel Monday at about 2:00 but couldn't get into our room until 3:00 so we headed over to Downtown Disney for a bit.

One of the best-value souvenirs we found was at the lego store. You can fill a large cup with whatever legos you want for $15. We filled up a cup and tried to be strategic, filling in gaps with the teeny tiny legos. I was worried about those with a baby who puts everything in her mouth, but my dad said not to worry "they'll go right through her then you can wash them off and play with them again!" It gave the kids something fun to play with in the hotel.

Tanner loved this Woody made out of legos.

While on the subject of souvenirs, another good value toy is the Build Your Own Mr. Potato Head package at Enginears in California Adventure. You can fill a box with all the Mr. Potato Head parts you want for $20 or a large plastic Potato Head container for $50. My mom and I split one and got almost 2 of every part the had available. We only got one head so the kids could play with it in the hotel. You can get heads for cheap at wal-mart. They had really cute parts that were Disneyland themed.

The crowds and weather couldn't have been more perfect. We didn't wait for than 30 minutes in line for anything (except Toy Story Mania when it broke down) and most rides didn't have more than a 5 minute wait. We met tons of characters. The only ones we wanted to see and didn't get to were Jasmine and Aladdin.

My very favorite part of the whole trip was when Tanner met Buzz. On our 2nd day we headed to Tomorrowland around 10 because we'd heard he appears there around that time. We hung out around that area for about an hour Josh waited for him while we went on autopia quickly and we missed him!! He came out for a few minutes, didn't really attract a crowd, and left. We were so disappointed. So we waited some more. Josh told us all to go on and he'd wait with Tanner. He asked an employee if she knew when he might be out again. She pulled some strings and worked with a few other employees to arrange Buzz to come out again just for Tanner. Buzz knew right where Tanner would be and walked straight to him and pointed at him. I've never seen Tanner so happy. Buzz took his hand and walked with him the photo spot while a huge parade of people formed behind us. I went and thanked the employees who arranged it afterwards and they were all teared up. This is what make Disneyland magical.

After that Josh and Tanner rode Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters 13 times in a row.

While Josh and Tanner fought the Evil Emperor Zurg, my mom and I took the girls to Ariel's Grotto for their lunch with the princesses.

Last time we went we took Sydney and she was pretty much like Tanner when he met Buzz. I was a little disappointed with my girls' reactions this time around. They didn't seem to care that much. Maybe it was because we'd already met a few princesses the day. Camryn, however, was quite taken with Princess Aurora. She just got so excited about her for some reason.

There were no parades at either park this time, which was sad because I love the parades. They are being re-choreographed. We did see the World of Color show though which was amazing. We bought the picnics that came with fastpasses which was nice and I'm glad we did that. Even with priority seating though it can still be difficult to see the show. We had just one family in front of us and it was a bit hard to see and it's a long time to stand, but it's totally worth it. The next night we were in California Adventure during the time of the show and realized you can see it great from the sides as well. You can't see the images projected onto the water so well but we got a better view of the fountains than we had the previous night.

No I did not take this picture.

Another one of my favorite things that we did was the Talking with Crush in the Hollywood Backlot. I'd never even heard of this before but it was so fun! Crush would be on a screen and the audience would ask questions and he would answer and be funny and make up nicknames for people. I'm still not sure how they did it! I can't imagine they have preprogrammed responses for every possibly question or comment. We spent quite a bit of time in that area in the Animation Academy and Sorcerer's Workshop. It's a great place to have a little downtime and get inside for a bit.

I just love Disneyland. I'm so happy my parents and brother could come. At least one adult per kid is the best way to do Disney I think!

Camryn was a little angel, by the way. I call her my portable baby. She's even travel-size for added convenience. She fell asleep whenever and wherever she felt like it and was just happy as could be the whole time.

You know it's been a good day when they fall asleep in the stroller before you even get home.