Disneyland at Christmas

Last week, we took a trip with Jared's family. Everyone, but Jerika, was able to go with us to Disneyland. This was our kids first trip to Disneyland and it was so much fun.

The drive was around 6 hours which was a lot shorter than I was anticipating. We stopped in Vegas for lunch at In-N-Out. The kids were feeding the pigeons and Aydri was calling them puppies. I had to pack all of Aydri's meals to bring with us because of her food allergies. I was stressed about it at first, but always having her food with us was a convenience.

After we got to L. A. we checked into our hotel and decided to take the kids to see the ocean. Kendi had never seen it before and had been asking about it. We managed to get lost and didn't get to the beach until the sun was setting. It looks really dark in these pictures, but it was still pretty light when we first got there.

The mist was picked up by the flash of the camera. Sometimes the waves would crash really loud and scare the kids. Aydri was shaking. Poor thing. Some of the adults wanted to walk on the pier. Going out on a pier in the dark with two young kids that don't know how to swim was terrifying to me. Jared found some Filipino's that were fishing and talked Tagalog with them.
The next day was a beautiful day. The kids were so excited to be there. I think the funnest way to experience Disneyland is through the eyes of your kids. This was the first time I've ever been able to forget everything else going on with life and just enjoy the vacation. I guess I can understand why people like to travel now. In fact, it could become addicting.
We mostly rode little kid rides the first day. The kids especially loved It's a Small World. When I went as a teenager we hated this ride and thought it was the dumbest one in the park. At Christmastime they completely decorate it and sing Christmas songs. Aydri was dancing.

Kendi and Hope sang their little hearts out. I didn't get to record it this time so we came back on the third day. The kids were a little worn out and not so enthusiastic about singing. It was funny to notice how the excitement wore off as we all got tired. I don't think I could have done it for more than three days. It was still a blast though.

Aydri was a little trooper. The only ride she didn't like was Dumbo and we didn't take her on the big rides. So many people told us it would be a waste and hassle to take a toddler, but I was glad we had her with us. We've been so busy lately building the house that we needed some family togetherness time.

It was nice to have Jen and Justin there as our personal guides. Their kids are close to ours in age and they have done this a few times already. They really know how to have a good time at Disneyland. I would have been lost without them. Kendi had so much more fun with her cousins being there too.

Jen and Justin knew about this Animation Studio place in California Adventure. We got a lesson in drawing (fun for Jared) and we got to see which Disney Character we most resemble. Kendi was Nala, I was Jane (from Tarzan), Jared was Jafar (haha), Jen was Mrs. Potts, Hope was Lady (Lady and the Tramp), Halle was Ariel and Justin was Scar.

Aydri was good to sleep in her stroller. The adults took turns sitting with the kids. Aydri and Sydney are close in age and probably won't remember any of this trip.
Two umbrella strollers and a backpack was all we needed. I carried the old point and shoot camera with me all the time and was able to leave everything else outside the rides. Aydri had to have her diaper changed while waiting in line a few times. It took a team of three of us, but it was a quick change. She was a good sport.

We had beautiful weather the first day. The second day we woke up to fog and moist cool air. It was still nice weather to us. I put on a jacket because I was tired of people asking if I was cold in my t-shirt. We anticipated the last day to be the coldest so I put double layers of clothes on my kids, but it ended up being better weather then the previous day. We were lucky to get such nice weather in December. As far as crowdedness went it wasn't too bad either. The first day was pretty slammed and we ended up getting stuck in a huge crowd after the fireworks ended. We were able to avoid that on the next two nights.

We saw "It's Tough to be a Bug" in 3D. It was a short 9 minute show. We got sprayed by stink bugs and poisonous bugs and stung by bees. I couldn't wait to get out of there. haha.

Kendi's favorite Princess is Jasmin. We happened upon her on Aladdin's little house thing. The wait was only a few minutes. Thank heavens for that. We waited in line for an hour on the last day to see three more princesses. Cinderella, Tiana and Ariel.

The castle was gorgeous. The whole park was decorated for Christmas. It was unseasonably warm though. Kendi asked me if they celebrated Christmas in California. When I told her that they did she was confused about there not being any snow. She wondered if Santa even came to California. It really doesn't feel like Christmas to us without the snow.
Aydri didn't like the Characters and I don't blame her. People in costume have always freaked me out.

Jared's mom waited and saved spots for the parade. Some people got nasty about it and I began to wonder if the parade was worth fighting for. It was fun and Kendi got excited about seeing more characters. They did a lot of Christmas dancing and even had Santa Claus.
We convinced Kendi to ride Splash Mountain with us. In the picture she was completely ducking in her seat. After the end of the ride she told Jared, "I don't think I should have done that." She rode Thunder Mountain with us, but didn't love it. The only ride she wasn't big enough to so was Indiana Jones. We didn't push her to go on any more fast rides. Kendi absolutely loved Pirates of the Caribbean. It was fun to see it all redone. Kendi has been watching the movies almost everyday since we got home.

This picture doesn't do the castle justice at night. I just took it as we were trying to fight the crowd. There is a tree blocking the middle and it is a view from the side. It's a Small World was light up really well too, but I didn't have time to take a picture. The whole place really was magical.
On the second night, Jared and I left the kids at the hotel with Gma and Gpa. We spent some time in California Adventure with Greg and Jaelyn. We rode the big rides and had dinner with them. It was nice to have some adult time.

I rode Tower of Terror three times and Screamin' California twice. I would have done it more, but we just didn't have time. The Fast Passes were the only way to go. I don't know why anyone would not do the fast passes. Sometimes the wait to use the fast pass was shorter than the wait in the regular line.

The first day that we were there was busy I think because of the nice weather. The next two days were cloudy, but not busy at all. Most of our waiting in line was 5 to 15 minutes even on the busy day thanks to the fast passes on the big rides. We waited forever for the princesses and for the new Toy Story ride in California Adventure though.

The night that we got back home Kendi came crying into our room. She was begging to go back to Disneyland. We told her that we would try to take her when Aydri is big enough to enjoy it too.