Disneyland - Day 2

We decided for Day 2 that we would skip the 'scary' rides and focus on the fun rides. We thought that Dan deserved a break from freakin' him out on Day 1. With this in mind, we headed directly to Fantasyland first thing. We rode Alice in Wonderland and then headed to the teacups.



I personally do not like the teacups since my body cannot handle tight spinning. Dan doesn't like spinning either so he and I are teacup buddies!


After the teacups we headed to Dumbo.


I like how they handle the rider numbers at Disneyland better than at Magic Kingdom. Here at Disneyland they give you a wooden 'magic' feather instead of the colored card at MK. Much better effect.




Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is still one of our (Jen and myself) favorites. Sam is the only one of the four that enjoyed it. Later in the day, Sam and I went on it again with me while everyone else rode the carousel for a second time.






Everyone had to try to see if they were the rightful King of England. Unfortunately, no one was able to pull the sword from the stone. Looks like I need to keep my day job.





Casey Jr. was a fun ride. We were at the front of the line for our group which allowed our kids to pick the train car they wanted to ride in. They picked very appropriately.







After Casey Jr. it was time to hit ToonTown. Michael drove everyone into a mailbox.


We were able to meet Mickey (again). He seems to be everywhere, hmmmmm.



After ToonTown we headed to New Orleans Square to one of our (Jen and myself) favorite rides, the Haunted Mansion. Jen took my picture in front of the funeral carriage. This carriage was the actual carriage that was used for Brigham Young's funeral. It went up for auction years ago and Disney bought it because of the condition and white color. Great bit of Church history!


We then headed to Critter Country to see Pooh and Friends and to ride Splash Mountain.







Here is our picture as we are going over the big falls. They put this single lady in front which gave us quite a bit of front weight which means that I got soaked.


I love Dan and Becca's faces in this picture. This is one of Becca's favorite rides and not one of Dan's.

It has been 15 years since we had been to Disneyland, minus four kids as well. We stayed for 3 days and had a blast. These are pictures from our first day at Disneyland and California Adventure. We told the kids that they had to ride every ride at least once. Then they were allowed to say that they didn't like a specific ride because they had ridden it. Dan had quite a list of rides that he didn't like by the end of the day which included, Space Mountain and Tower of Terror.




Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters is still a favorite ride whether we are at DisneyWorld or Disneyland.


Everyone had a blast driving the cars. My kidneys and spleen can't handle another ride with the kids driving.





Becca was happy to be able to meet the fairies, especially Tinkerbell.


We were on our way into 'California Adventure'.


Just inside the park we found Minnie replacing Mickey at the character greeting and she was wiping off a kiss she gave him on his nose.



Snack time (cotton candy and Mickey-head ice-cream bars) outside of the 'Tower of Terror'.

We ended our first day hanging out and watching the 'Celebrate' parade.

Baptism

Last Saturday Sam was baptized. The weather was not too great but the event was very spiritual. Sam really enjoyed his baptism and getting his own set of scriptures. The only disappointing part of the evening was that somehow I did not get a picture of Sam with Jen.

Golden Birthday Trip to Magic Kingdom

This past week was Sam's golden birthday. To celebrate I took him to Disney World for the day. We used the Give a Day Vouchers that we earned by making our Linus Project blankets. We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort in the new pirate themed rooms. Our room was awesome and the view from the balcony was outstanding. It was right on the beach (lagoon) and we could watch the fireworks from Epcot and the Magic Kingdom each night.

This is the T-Rex that is in the airport.


This is what our room looked like. The beds were pirate ships (with cannons poking out the sides), end tables were barrels and treasure chests, even the fridge was hidden in a front opening hinged barrel.



I wanted to get a picture of the palm trees at the resort to show how nice the weather was in FL while back home was getting 18" of snow. We were heading down to the pool for a dip and fun on the waterslide.


The wind made swimming outside a bit chilly, but again, we were not getting 18" of snow (he-he).


Prior to going to the Magic Kingdom, we went shopping at Downtown Disney to get a Disney Birthday hat. We also stopped for lunch at Rainforest Cafe (one of my personal favorites).


We went to the Magic Kingdom on his birthday and he had his Disney Birthday button on. Sam received birthday wishes from over 100 people during the day including characters (Marry Poppins and Alice) that were in the Spectromagic Light Parade.





He had the chance to meet Mickey and Minnie in Toontown for a special birthday visit. Minnie loved his light-up birthday hat and Mickey loved his special light-up Mickey pen.




Sam even was chosen to be an honorary pirate and had the opportunity to sword fight Cap't Jack Sparrow (other kids only fought with Mack his assistant).



We had lunch at the Magic Kingdom at the Liberty Tree Tavern (another favorite of mine) and were able to meet Pluto, Dale, Chip and Minnie. The food was outstanding. They even brought out a birthday cupcake with a candle to blow out while singing a special Disney Happy Birthday.

Part of the Magic at the Magic Kingdom is enjoying a Mickey Bar.


The day was just about perfect, weather was perfect and the park was a blast. Not a bad birthday if you ask me.

Project Linus

Sam and I completed our blankets for Project Linus over the weekend (with a little help from Jen). We made blankets to fulfill our service agreement for the Disney Give a Day Service Program. By making two blankets for Project Linus, Sam and I will receive two day passes to DisneyWorld. We are very excited, I plan on taking Sam to DisneyWorld for his golden birthday this year, just the two of us. It should be a blast!