Disneyland Trip February 2011

Ron's not a big Disneyland guy. I have always loved going and now that I have kids I want to take them ALL the time! Unfortunately, it is SO expensive, ESPECIALLY with kids that aren't free anymore! So we have compromised to go at least once a year. Since I already planned on going, I used it as an opportunity to try to get Michael to stop having accidents at night time. It was getting pretty ridiculous, so I thought I'd give it a try! I told him that if he didn't have an accident for a whole week, we would do something really special (I didn't tell him what it was just in case he didn't make it!) Sure enough, he went over TWO WEEKS without an accident. He's not completely accident free, but he does MUCH better than he used to! I had been pretty excited to go this year and take advantage of the 2fer offer they usually do every spring.....except this year! Instead, they have a promotional deal for $99 for 2 days, one park per day. But times 4 = lots of money! We found out about this website that a friend from Ron's work uses where they rent out park hopper tickets for $55 for one day park hoppers. With much debate on whether it was legit or not, we went ahead and tried it out. I don't know if I'll use it everytime we go, but it was pretty nice to not have to spend a fortune! I had asked my mom if she wanted to go with us since my dad had school and had been with my brother a few months ago. I also thought it would be better to have another adult since there were some rides I wouldn't have been able to ride. As time got closer, Ron's mom and sister worked it out so they could come, too, and since Aaron still had a valid season pass, we brought him along as well! We planned to start out at Disneyland, since they opened earlier, but by the time we got there, California Adventure had just opened, so we decided to just play there for awhile. I immediately got in line to get fastpasses for the World of Color while everyone else went to find cool rides. We rode some rides, watched some shows, and as we passed Tower of Terror, we found that ALL the kids were tall enough to ride! I wasn't sure how they'd take it, but they all went on the "elevator" ride. I waited by the TV's to check out their picture! They didn't like the ride much, but none of them cried! After lunch, we headed over to Disneyland to check out some things over there. We were able to do the Jedi Training Acadamy that Michael was SO excited about. I didn't think he'd do it because when I showed him a YouTube video of it, he said he didn't want to fight Darth Vador. But a few days before we went, that's all he would talk about! I was glad he enjoyed himself. Aaron was fine up until it was his turn to fight, and he backed out. Emma even got a storm trooper and Darth mal (sp?) to jump in front of her to scare her! She was fine, though! After awhile and a few more rides, I stood in the super long wait line for the princesses while they took the kids to Toon Town. They brought Emma to me when I got closer and she was able to see Cinderella & Sleeping Beauty. She was in Heaven! The boys had gone to make their own lightsaber. After picking up the boys, we headed back to California Adventure to watch the World of Color. I hadn't seen it yet, and thought it was really nice, but it was about 1/2 hour long and after a long day of walking around, I was done with standing! When that was over we headed to Downtown Disney for some dinner. We ate at this Mexican restaraunt that was pretty good! As an added bonus, there was a guy there that was making balloon "animals". Michael got Spiderman, Aaron got Buzz, and we had him make an Ariel for Emma (she CRASHED and wouldn't wake up!) After dinner, we headed to our hotel, the Anabella (LOVE this hotel!!!) and had a good nights sleep! we were in no rush to get up and checked out at check out time. On the way home, we stopped at Ikea in Burbank and picked up a new TV cabinet for the playroom that was super cheap and I love it! Ron's Mom and Sister decided to drive to San Diego that night and went to Sea World the next day because it was his sisters birthday! We had a great time and I hope to do it again! I am just planning on staying a little longer! It's too much to try to pack into one day!

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