Disneyland (day 4)

We went back to California Adventures on Wednesday. The game plan for the day was to ride the few rides we missed on Monday, go to some of the awesome shows, and ride our favorites at least one more time. But we planned to take it easy and leave earlier than normal because we would be up early the next morning and we were out late the night before. And that's what we did.

We went to talk with Crush (Kacin got to ask a question).

We re-rode all of the big rides.

We successfully rode the Ferris Wheel without Eric throwing up this time because we did not getting on the swinging one.

We also split up for a few hours. The boys went off by themselves to ride some rides while we took Layla and Perry to the Disney Jr. show. Then Eric took Perry back to the hotel while I took Layla to see the "Frozen" play (we thought it was absolutely amazing!!).

The boys had a little adventure of their own. While they were riding California Screamin', the rollercoaster broke down! They eventually had to climb down the stairs on the side of the rollercoater in order to get off. It was hilarious because we had just been talking that morning about what it would be like if that rode broke down while you were on it. And then they experienced it.

It was such a great day!! When we left California Adventures later that evening, we had ridden on or experienced every open ride and big show except for one (the jelly fish ride that we would've gone on except we were taking care of Layla's foot that day). California Adventures gave us two happy days.

Disneyland (day 3)

We had the chance to experience Mickey's Halloween Party for the first time this year.

It didn't start until 3pm so we got to spend a leisurely morning catching up on sleep from our late night on Monday, swimming in the pool, and relaxing in the hotel room.

Then we donned our costumes and transformed into a Star Wars family.

Meet Hans Solo

Princess Leia

A Stormtrooper

R2D2

Obi-wan Kenobi

C3PO

and Chewbacca

We spent a big chunk of time riding everything in Fantasyland.

We caught a peek of the parade while we rode on Alice in Wonderland.

Then Layla tried to wave to Tinkerbell from the teacups.

Princess Leia wasn't always very thrilled about having her hair in buns.

But  wasn't she adorable?

Perry sang loud and strong when we rode "It's a Small World". He loves that song.

Perry also loved "driving" us on Indiana Jones (which became the source of some challenges when it came to that ride, but we handled it) .

It was Layla's first time riding Indiana Jones (she was finally 46 inches!) and this quickly became her favorite ride.

We got to experience Space Mountain turned monster.

I didn't get any pictures of trick or treating, but the kids had a blast going trough the trick or treat trails for candy and snacks. They filled their bags.

I think the only thing we would do differently next time is skip the parade and spend time riding rides or on the trick or treat trails. And since we were dressed as Star Wars characters we should've gone on Star Tours! But, since we had baby we tried to do all of the things we could go on as a family first and then everyone got to pick a ride they wanted to go on. And so with that plan we just forgot about Star Tours until it was too late.

We weren't sure how long we would all make it that night, but all of the kids were such troopers (one of them quite literally). We ended up closing the park at 11pm! The last ride of the night was Autopia.

Mickey sure knows how to throw a fun party!

Disneyland (day 2)

We spent our first full Disney day at California Adventures.

The first stop of the day was to the Chamber of Commerce to get a special assistance pass. I mention this here because that disability pass is the only reason that our family can visit Disneyland. And it makes Disneyland a vacation that our entire family can actually enjoy. And I am the most grateful person in the world that Disneyland has this system in place and is so very accommodating to people of all needs. And I think the way the system works is quite fair to everybody. We have to check in at different stations around the park with all of our tickets and then we are assigned a return time to a particular attraction. So it just means that we can wait in other places besides a crowded line. And quite honestly, there are times that we wait for our return time and then still wait a little bit longer once we get to the ride, but being able to wait away from the crowd and with Perry's wheelchair/stroller is a huge blessing. Luckily, we can still use the fastpass system at the same time. And at the disneyland park we can also use wheelchair access. So between all of that we get the chance to do things in a way that Perry can handle. So thank you Disney!!!

Here are some highlights from our first day at California Adventures:

We rode the rapids ride two times in a row and everyone got really wet! The kids would've ridden it again and again (and later on we rode it at least 3 more times). This was definitely a family favorite ride.


We spent time in Cars Land. We rode all of the rides and tried out the mac and cheese in a cone.

We got to ride the Guardians of the Galaxy ride. Layla loved it when it was Tower of Terror last time, but this time it felt a little more intense so after this first time, most of us were ok not riding it again. Though, all of our kids are so brave when it comes to rides I'm sure she would've done it again if we asked her to.

Perry was tall enough to ride California Screamin'! I thought he was going to fall out, but, of course, he was just fine and happy to go on it again.



After we rode Toy Story, Perry was ready for a little break. All he wanted to do was look at all the toys in the stores. He didn't ask once to buy anything, he just wanted to look around.





Eric ended up taking Perry back to the hotel for a little rest and to pick up baby B. Yes, we were blessed with aunt Jenny as B's babysitter for a few of the days. We were so grateful to her for taking care of our baby girl!


I stayed with the other three kids and we rode some more rides together.











Layla had begun complaining a little bit about her foot hurting her. Eventually, I took heed to her complaints and we took off her shoe to check it out. Well, her shoe and sock on her right foot were still soaked from the rapids ride that morning and it caused her foot to shrivel up. No wonder her foot was hurting her! We took off her shoes and socks and let her feet dry out while we watched a disney street performance. After about twenty minutes, her foot was back to normal. And we learned to make sure she had sandals on when we rode the water rides the other days.

We went back to the hotel for dinner and then brought baby B back to California Adventures with us. She went on her first rides! Toy Story and the Little Mermaid were her favorites.

We ended the night by watching the World of Color. That show amazes me. I just love it. And I especially love these people that I got to watch it with.