We got to go to Disneyland with our little family and my family this October. It was our kids' first time, and it was so memorable!! We had never been there in the fall, and it was tons of fun! Everything was decorated for Halloween, and we even stayed really late one night after the park closed to trick-or-treat!
Here we are at the end of our last night there. We ran those kids ragged!
Chels and I, waiting to ride Dumbo.
We stuck with the kiddie rides after I led the boys astray letting them ride Space Mountain alone, essentially. Here's how it went down: I kept telling them how cool it was, that it was my favorite ride, yada yada yada. I got them pumped. When we got there, Hudson got a little nervous. There was this big, scary face, kind of in the vicinity of the ride. He asked if that face would be on the ride. I told him of course not! I told him he would love it! I told him it was just a roller coaster (which he loves) in space. And he LOVES space! He was worried there would be scary noises. I said "No honey, there are just space noises. I promise, there is nothing to be scared of!" The wait for the ride was 25 minutes, so Steve ran to get us some food we could eat in line. The wait ended up being 5 minutes, max. So as I was nearing the front and saw there were only 2 seats across, I hurried and called Steve to see if he was close so neither boy would have to ride alone. He said he was close, but then the kid operating the ride was ushering us on, and I felt helpless! He instructed me to just have the two boys (remember how they are only ages 5 & 4?) sit together, and me alone, and they would be fine. Well that sounded reasonable enough, right? I sat in back of them so I could reach forward and let them know I was there just in case they needed me.
Off we went!
Ok. Remember how I said the whole park was decorated for Halloween?
Not only was the scary face thing in there, but he was there around every corner, at every turn, SCREAMING horrifying sounds. Sometimes it was just his head, sometimes it was his whole ghastly, ghostly body zipping about.
I knew this was not going to go over well.
I kept trying to yell above the "thing's" wailing: "Isn't this fun?!" And "This is just fake boys!!"
I tried to reach forward and pat their little heads, only to be thrown back into my seat at the sheer velocity of it! I had forgotten what a fast-paced, jerky ride it was!
When we screeched to a stop, I ran to them. And what I saw was worse than I thought.
Both boys were sitting there, paralyzed with fear...tears streaming down their little faces. They couldn't even get off the ride they were sobbing so hard!
Mother of the Year.
I had to try to carry BOTH of them to try and find Steve (and you know how long that walk is to the exit of that dang ride anyway...). Talk about trauma. I got Hudson calmed down enough to walk the last few feet, and then at the entrance he saw "The Face" again. Fresh tears and wailing all over again. It was a full 30 minutes before we could calm them down again.
We tried to stay and watch the night firework show to try to end things on a happy note, but realized it wasn't going to work as soon as ghosts started flying through the air over Cinderella's castle & the speakers blaring THIS IS HALLOWEEN, THIS IS HALLOWEEN over and over until I thought I would cry myself!
Maybe our first night there was a little too full-tilt. THAT's not like me at all though!
The next morning, this is what Oliver said:
"Mom, I couldn't handle Space Mountain. I knew the face was fake, so I wasn't scared of that. I just didn't like the dark and the fast!"
Hudson said: "I liked the dark and the fast! I was just so scared of that mean guy! What kind of people would make a ride like that to scare little kids?"
More like: What kind of mother would take her little kids on a ride like that?!?
I hope they are not going to need therapy.
This was actually hilarious and sad at the same time! We got on the train and everyone was scrambling for a spot. All the kids kept trading cars up until the last second, trying to decide who they were going to ride with, and poor PopC got stuck all alone! We took this pic of him taking a picture of us... he was trying to be a good sport but you could tell he felt like a tool. Hee hee hee!
The Little Mermaid in California Adventure was one of my fave rides! That was our first time to that park, and it was fun. Not as fun as Disneyland, but I'm glad we got the chance to see what it was all about.
Seeing Buzz Lightyear was a total highlight, of course!
Mimi's highlight were these gigantic turkey legs. She couldn't get enough! She said she grew up eating these, except there was only 1 leg to feed 7 kids and her 2 parents.
What?!? Did everyone just get one little shard?
I had never seen turkey legs before (not much of a carni goer apparently), and I kept wondering why everyone was eating these ginormous waffle cones that all looked like the same flavor of ice cream!
(Upon closer inspection, I realized that was definitely not it, and made a mental note to get an update on my eye exam when I got home.)
More carni food! Mickey pretzels!
Mimi, me, and Chels, all waiting for the World of Color Show!
The kids did a good job keeping themselves entertained waiting the 45 minutes for the show to start. Gretel did her famous "face" for us every time we asked her!
Ollie thought he'd give it at try. I laugh out loud whenever I look at this pictures!
Hud did the face too, but this one was just too sweet of him not to post!
Penelope was an absolute trooper! All she did was sleep and eat-- she was the PERFECT age to take. What an angel baby!
Olf and Pops, having a blast during the show.
I'm glad my parents are as youthful as they are. It's so nice that they have the energy they do to keep up their grand kids!
A major highlight of the trip was going to breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen. The food was excellent, it wasn't too crowded, and the kids loved seeing all the characters!
Loving this darling picture!
Sweet cousins
And finally, after many failed attempts to get a photo by the ever-popular Mickey flowers, we finally managed... only now Penelope was back at the hotel with Mimi, the boys were out like a light, and my hair and makeup had long since been ruined by Splash Mountain. Oh well... You can tell we had a fab time!
Thanks Mom and Dad, for such a fun trip we'll always remember!
Let's do it again soon.
