Disneyland Trip

We were crazy enough to book a Disneyland trip with the Westensee and Hurless gang. We did 4 days in a hotel, doing Disneyland Day 1, CA Adventure Day 2, playing at the hotel water park/recovery Day 3, and Disneyland Day 4. I planned and packed with the kids have no idea. We loaded them in the car Sunday morning and just told them we were going on a road trip. About 2 hours out, we told them that we were going to Disneyland. ....it wasn't exactly the most exciting response ever, but they were happy. Brielle had no idea what we were talking about, so we told her that we were going to "Mimmi's house" and she gave us a video-worthy reaction. Some highlights during the drive--Mav's water bottle had built up some pressure and gave a geyser-like explosion when he tried to drink out of it. (He took off his shirt to dry and Lincoln followed suit). Mav also said when he was in the stall during a bathroom break there were some bad words written on the wall so he didn't look at them. We talked about graffiti and he told us how much he didn't like it. Lincoln decided he needed to pee the very instant he told us about it (between potty/gas breaks) so we pulled off the side of the road and provided him cover with the van, had him go on the side of the road. He just so happened to position himself right by the mirror camera, so we got a good view of a full moon in the midafternoon sun. Maverick requested we play Wellerman (many times).

The one thing we DIDN'T tell them was the Westensee family and Grandma McDonald would be there too...at the same hotel. After we unloaded all the gear/suitcases into the room, I went to Bobo's room and we had her kids go knock on our door. They all just stared at each other for a second and then all started talking and jumping around. Cousin reunions are the best.

I suppose now would be a good time to mention that after scheming and having sisters all contribute to her park tickets, Bobo showed up at Mom's house and told her she had an hour to pack and get in the car because she was going to Disneyland with us! She didn't believe Tasha and told her to shut up and then got all stressed out (and swore) when she realized it was happening. The video is so so funny.

Day 1 Disneyland

Bobo had the "Cousin Crew" shirts made for us and the kiddos all wore them. We got to the park as it opened, heading straight to Rise of the Resistance (the newest Star Wars ride). We took pictures as we walked through Star Wars land and took in all the sights. Then we had to coordinate who was going to stay with babies/kiddos not old enough to ride and who was going to get in line. It was a little bit crazy, with 13 kids and 7 adults to try to figure out (especially what kids needed an adult vs riding solo, who would be with who, etc). I went on the ride along with Bobo, Richael, and Andrew as adults and stood in line for about an hour and a half. The other adults stayed with Brielle, Maddie, Camryn, and Mak. While in line/on the ride, Mak decided to be really nice and share her Cheetos with Camryn...who immediately started to break out in a rash because of her dairy allergy. Ronnie thought Mom had given her the Cheeto and yelled, "Mom!!! You Can't give her those!!" And went into stressed-out mode and started digging for the Benadryl she had packed. Mom was so confused and felt so bad, but she hadn't given Camryn anything. It took them a bit to realize it was Mak, that has done the allergy-flaring deed. When the rest of us got off the ride, we walked into a figurative hornet's nest and were wondering what the heck happened!

After the meds kicked in and things calmed down, we headed to another ride. We traded adults and they went to the Millennial Falcon. Lincoln chatted with a Storm Trooper on our way (really the only character interaction we had the whole day) and we tried the blue milk....it was terrible. By the time we waited in line (or waited with littles), it was time to eat lunch. Disneyland was so packed and crowded. It was so hot and frankly a little miserable. We got a table to sit at and started unpacking the kid's lunches/snacks. Our group was spread all over the small eating area since there were so many of us. Lehi and I looked at each other and said, "What have we done? This is awful." Luckily, things got better as the afternoon progressed, lines were not as horrific, but still bad, and the kids were all really good. Bring in our own food was a really good idea for the wallet. Maddie was a dream and so good, despite the heat and being stuck in someone's arms or a stroller the whole day. She did go on a few of the little rides with us though.

We went back to the hotel to rest/give the babies a good opportunity to nap and then headed back to the park after about two hours. Before we headed back, Bobo said, "Treats on Uncle Andrew!" and they bought all the kids a cold treat of their choice. They were so excited. Going back to the hotel was a much-needed break and something I highly recommend, especially with littles.

Lincoln somehow managed to get onto Indiana Jones. Lehi decided it was a good idea to run ahead, hide, and scare Maverick. The poor kid was already afraid. Mav closed his eyes on most of the ride and absolutely hated it.

In line for Space Mountain, Maverick leaned over to me and said, "I am not alone on this ride. The Holy Ghost is with me."

At the end of the night, Lehi and I got to ride our first ride together (hahaha) and did Splash Mountain. Clearly, there are a ton of pictures. The kids all had a blast, Lehi and I were exhausted, and memories were made

Favorite Rides:

Lehi: Rise of the Resistance

Brei: Space Mountain

Maverick: Millennial Falcon

Lincoln: Millennial Falcon, Space Mountain (he said it was a tie)

Least Favorite:

Indiana Jones (for both kids)

Day 2 California Adventure

Webslinger was first up for CA Adventure. It was the newest ride there and super fun. All of our arms were tired from slinging our webs non-stop. Lehi beat everyone (adults included) and loved being able to brag about that (I attribute the win to his gaming as much as his arm strength/speed--his score was 289,500 for future reference). We did decide to get the Geine pass for the day since it was Ronnie's last day in the parks and our only day in CA Adventure. It did help us get on pretty much everything we wanted to. I wasn't able to ride Cars (by far the longest line) but Lehi and the boys did, so I was totally fine with missing it.

Lincoln was SUPER sad he wasn't tall enough to ride the Incredicoaster. He wanted to ride everything and anything, a total thrill seeker. We even tried risers in his shoes to see if we could get him tall enough, but he didn't make the cut. Meanwhile, Lehi was bribing Maverick to ride it. Maverick hates heights and was crying in line the whole time. The deal was struck that Maverick could get a Spiderbot if he rode the ride. Lehi said as soon as it started going/Maverick sat down he was fine and loved it. I was oblivious to this $80 bribe that went down, so when they got off I asked Lehi how Mav did and he said, "It might have cost us a Spiderbot."

The kids saw a lot of Avengers, but only really interacted with Iron Man. They did see Spiderman jump from one building to the next and in the streets and saw all the Avengers on the roof.

Brielle and Mak were hilarious on the Mater Ride--they giggled, screamed, and laughed the whole time.

I had total deja vu in line for the Little Mermaid ride. I looked up at the lights when we were in line and totally remembered them from when I was little. I even remembered dreams they were in from forever ago. It was so weird/cool. I hadn't been to Disney since I was probably Brielle's age.

Mom was kind enough to take Maddie, Brielle, and Mak home late in the evening so we could stay even later with the boys. We did Goofy's Ride and a few others that the kids really liked. It was fun being able to ride together, too.

Perhaps an unpopular opinion, but CA Adventure rides > Disneyland rides. This may be because I am more of an amusement park over theme park fan, but Lehi agreed to too. ;)

Favorite Rides:

Maverick: Grizzly Run, Web Slinger, Incredicoaster (wouldn't you know...)

Linc Guardians of the Gallaxy

(Lehi and I): Incredicoaster

Least Favorite:

(both) NONE!

Lehi & Brei: Soaring over California--I was SO sick...Lehi, too. (Maverick was also terrified via height)

She was so tired she just sat there dazed for a bit.

Day 3: The Day of Rest (but not a Sunday)

I am so glad we planned our trip with a day break from the parks. It was so needed. We started the morning slow and took our time getting ready. Last month, I had broken out a random rash on my cheeks/forehead that hurt really bad. Well, it (or something similar) flared up again and I was not feeling great. There has been talking of an autoimmune disease, but I needed to go back to my dermatologist and see what he thought. So I really needed a day to lay low.

We went to downtown Disney and looked around at the sights there and visited the Lego store. We told the kids we would get them ONE thing each and Lincoln was still looking (Maverick got his Spiderbot bribe--which was considerably more than I had planned on spending for their item haha). Lincoln didn't commit to anything, despite a lot of good options. We grabbed a cookie or two to share and some Salt n Straw to go and enjoyed that back in our hotel room.

Lehi took the older three to the hotel water park, just outside our hotel room, while I napped with Maddie. All the kids absolutely loved it. We were limited to a 2-hour block time (had to reserve it ahead of time) and they soaked up every second. Lehi wasn't able to get pictures of the boys since Brielle needed more supervision. They loved the water slides and Brielle loved the splash pad area.

Later, I ran over to Bobo's hotel room and decorated Brooklynn's bed with sticky notes (courtesy of the hotel) and a roll of streamers that I had packed for the occasion. That night, my boys and I squeezed in Bobo's van (so the valet didn't have to go get both of our vans), picked up Ronnie, and went to Joe's Italian Ice for her birthday. It was miserably cold and the line was so long. But it was really good!

Day 4: Disneyland (Again)

Disneyland does have the most rides for littles, so we decided when planning to go there twice. The Hurlesses left in the morning, so it was just us, Mom, and the Westensee fam. We did splurge on the Giene pass again--when you spend so much between park tickets and hotel, it was worth the extra money to make sure you didn't just stand in lines all day.

All the kids loved driving the cars. We did that one a few times because the line wasn't too terrible.

We got a raspberry macaron and a dole whip. Lehi and I both felt like all the food was good, not amazing. (I know, I know major Disneyland foodies are going to be mad, but we felt like it was all super hyped). The one thing that did live up to the reputation was the churro. In general, we didn't buy a ton of park food, because we pack our own (which we were grateful for due to the sub-par, "meh" we felt towards it all combined with the prices).

We went to the Black Tap in Downtown Disney for lunch--the only meal we really had eaten out for the whole trip. We shared a milkshake as a family but didn't get one of the crazy huge ones.

Brielle got to meet Minnie Mouse and was SO shy. She saw all of the Mickey crew but got pictures with Minnie and Goofy.

We watched one of the parades--Brielle was in heaven. She was super excited when she saw Anna and Elsa. She and Mak together were adorable and so much fun to watch. It was nice being able to see so many characters in one spot since there really weren't many walking around in the park (not sure if that is just a general change or a post-COVID effect).

Lehi got himself a turkey leg, and was very happy about that choice.

One of the last rides of the night was Dumbo, which we hadn't gotten on before. Lincoln, without any prompting from us, told the worker he was 7, so he didn't have to have anyone in his cart with him. Then, when another worker was putting his seatbelt on, they asked how old he was and he said, "5" without thinking about it. They motioned for me to join him. Poor kid almost pulled it off. ;)

The drive home was not eventful (which is a good thing in the case of a road trip). It was a hard goodbye between sisters and cousins and Grandma but it was a lot of fun.

The morning we were going to leave, Lincoln STILL had not picked something he wanted to buy. Naturally, he decided he also wanted a Spiderbot....that was only sold in CA Adventure park, which meant we couldn't get it. Bless Bobo for running to the park (they were going that day), getting his Spiderbot, and running it back to the gate so he could have it. Spoiled stink.

Will we go back? Yes. But Lehi and I both agreed we need a 4-5 year buffer, that way Madeline will remember it, and Brielle and Lincoln will be able to ride anything they want!

Full Discloser--this post took me forever to write/organize pictures/etc. So no proofreading was done. If there are errors, know they are errors of love and simply being tired.