Spring Break 2012: Disneyland

The Happiest Place on Earth
April 3rd, 2012

We love Disneyland!! Ethan, the lucky little son of a gun, has been to Disneyland FOUR times. Oh, the blessing of having family an hour away from the Magic Kingdom. :)

We did our usual 15-hour stint at the Happiest Place on Earth and knew it was going to be a good day when there was no line to park, no line to buy tickets and no line to get in. Awesome.

First up was getting Ethan a birthday pin. We were 6 days early, but close enough that we decided we were celebrating Ethan's birthday. His admission ticket was his birthday present from us. Ethan got a "Happy Birthday" pin that we could write his name on and then we all got "I'm Celebrating" pins. {FYI: The pins are free and you can get them at City Hall or many of the retail stores on Main St.}Can I just say that I highly recommend going to Disneyland when you are celebrating something - especially a child's birthday?! Ethan LOVED it!! ALL day people wished him a "happy birthday"... strangers while we waited in line, cast members and other Disney employees. On Star Tours, the cast member checking that seatbelts were on noticed Ethan's pin and had everyone in the room clap for him. Ethan was always very gracious and remembered to say "thank you" each time. It made for a very fun and special day.

In all my visits to Disneyland I have never been on any of the Main St. modes of transportation.

First stop after that was Space Mountain for some fast passes for later in the day. Next, we headed back to the other side of the park for my tried-and-true method of sticking to the left side of the park first thing in the morning. Jungle Cruise, like most visits, was our first ride of the day.

"The amazing back side of water!" Ha ha!

We skipped Indiana Jones entirely this visit. The height requirement is 46 inches and Ethan's still got a couple inches to go. Since it was just the three of us (for the first time ever!) we decided to skip the stroller/parent swap since it meant riding alone - which isn't nearly as fun. Actually, we completely opted out of a stroller, too. Saved us $15 and we sure moved through those crowds a lot quicker! Granted, it meant a lot more shoulder rides and nowhere for Ethan to take a catnap, but it was worth it to not have to deal with it all day.

Next up was Pirates of the Caribbean. A must. Standing in line made me realize, corny and weird as it may sound, how much I like the musty smell of the recycled water in D-land water rides. I don't know, it's just one of those smell-induced memories I have from all the times I went as a kid. I texted my mom and sisters - my sisters totally got it. My mom was a little confused.


We got off the ride and took a couple quick photos by the infamous Club 33. {A seemingly unimportant backdrop of New Orleans, Club 33 is actually an exclusive club with a 14-year waiting list. It is also the only place in the park that sells alcohol. It is not advertised.}


From there we continued on in New Orleans Square and rode our DOOM buggy on the Haunted Mansion. Sean and I were so excited to have the Haunted Mansion not in Christmas mode!! I think it has been 8 years since we last saw it not decked out with Nightmare Before Christmas stuff - it was such a novelty the first time I went to Disneyland at Christmas-time. I'm over it for now.

Um. Things kind of went downhill from there. Metaphorically and literally. We got in line for Splash Mountain. Big mistake. Huge. {In my head, I totally just heard Julia Roberts saying that in Pretty Woman. "You work on commission here, right? Big mistake. Big. Huge. I have to go shopping now!"}Ethan tried to tell us he didn't want to ride it. But we waited in line anyway. And listened to whining and pleading. And we countered with talks of fun and mommy and daddy being right there and how he rode Splash Mountain last time we were here. And then we tried ice cream bribery. The pleading of both cases continued right up until we got on the ride. And then Ethan refused to sit his bum down. And do you know what happens when it takes too long to get the previous riders off and the new ones on a ride at Disneyland?? Well, let me tell you. It is all automated and if the ride is delayed the whole thing shuts down and has to reset.

Guess who made Splash Mountain shut down and reset?

Yep. Our precious little Ethan.

But by then Sean had already gotten out of the log boat with him and told me I could go ahead and ride. So I got to sit there, completely red-faced, while everyone had to wait extra long because my kid threw a major fit. So embarrassing! If I could have, I would have buried my head in shame. Instead, I just avoided eye contact.

So that ride was a little awkward. But Sean used the time wisely and talked with Ethan about the other rides we would be going on and that it was not ok to act like that. Ethan agreed to behave in order to have an enjoyable rest of the day. Smart kid.

Per Ethan's insistence we climbed/walked through Tarzan's treehouse - something that I was hoping to avoid but willing to do if it meant skipping Small World. The view was nice at least.
Brave parents that we are, our next stop was Space Mountain to use our fast passes. The whole time we were in line I was convinced there would be another meltdown. The only thing we had going for us was the fact that Ethan had never been on Space Mountain so he didn't know what to expect. He decided to sit by Daddy {A pretty common theme that day. Mommy was pretty much chopped liver. Ethan was all about being with Daddy. I think I could've stayed home and Ethan wouldn't have missed me! Oh, well. He gets enough of me every day.} and I told Sean to hold him tight! As we finished the ride I listened for screaming and crying from Ethan. Nothing. I checked his face as we got off - no tears and he didn't looked distraught. Fingers crossed, we asked him if he liked it... He loved it!

Wait.

What?

The kid who just threw a monster fit over the happy, woodland creature-loaded, sing-songy, zip-a-dee-doo-dah-day Splash Mountain actually liked the total darkness and high-speed rollercoaster that is Space Mountain?

I'll take it!!

Sean went right back to the Fast Pass kiosks and got another set for the evening!

While in Tomorrowland we had to ride on the new and improved Star Tours. Oh. My. Gosh. It was AWESOME!! We loved it. And rode it two more times just before the park closed. Now the ride is in 3D and C-3P0 is your accidental pilot. There are several different beginning, middle and ending options forming lots of different combinations for your adventure. There's also a rebel spy aboard every flight and they scan the "passengers" and take a picture of someone so everyone can see.

Seriously?! How cool is that?! Build your own light saber. Awesome. And $22 for a completely customized light saber WITH lights and sound is a very good price. Next time, we are totally getting one!

From there we headed over to Toontown. One of my absolute least favorite parts of the park, but Ethan was dying to meet Mickey Mouse, so we went. And ran into another family from our ward! Small world. (Pun intended.) Luckily the line to meet Mickey wasn't too terribly long, and his house has air conditioning. Nice.

Scenes from inside Mickey's house/movie barn.

Ethan was a little bummed that Mickey wasn't "dressed regular" but let it slide since he was busy working on a movie and therefore in costume.

Scenes from Toontown. Sean and Ethan went on Donald's boat and that's Goofy's house in the bottom right picture.

It was about 3pm before we finally sat down and ate a late lunch - we had packed our own to save some cash.

And then it was back to the lines and the rides. We decided to take it easy and hung out in Fantasyland for a while.

No, we didn't ride the teacups... Haven't done it in years. It's not that we don't like it, but it definitely falls toward the bottom the priority list!

So bummed that Matterhorn was being renovated. It's one of our favorites.

Big Thunder Mountain came next. It was about 5pm and other than lunch, we'd been going strong for 8 hours. Ethan was sitting on Sean's shoulders when I looked up and realized he was completely asleep! Totally wiped out from a day full of fun.

That top right picture is my favorite.

I tried taking a picture of the front of the train as it went through the water. I think this was my 3rd attempt. This guy totally photo-bombed my perfect shot and he didn't even know it!

I sat behind my boys and it was kind of fun to snap a couple pictures while actually riding the rollercoaster!

While in Frontierland we caught the Laughing Stock Co. show inside the Golden Horseshoe. Sean has a friend who works for Disney and sometimes performs for this show. He wasn't there this particular day, but the show's pretty funny.
So, by about 5:45pm we had done {almost} everything we had set out to do that day... Done all the major rides, met Mickey Mouse, watched a show, ate a churro.... All that was left was Fantasmic! but we still had several hours until the first show. {Other random bonus for not going to D-land at Christmas-time that we didn't think about? It stayed light a heck of a lot longer with daylight-savings-time!} So we decided to finally go watch the Lincoln thing down on Main St. My dad's been bugging us to go for years! We had a few pit-stops along the way... First we rode Jungle Cruise again per Ethan's request. Sad to say, the jokes aren't nearly as funny the second time around in one day! Second, we attempted a family picture in front of the castle. Both are ok, but neither Ethan nor I are looking at the camera in the first one and in the second one my eyes are closed, Ethan has a weird smile and you can't see much of the castle. Bummer!


I do like this picture I got of just the castle, though!

3rd pitstop was catching the tail-end of the parade. Sean's not really into the parades so we usually skip it, but I kind of missed it and Ethan said he wanted to watch it too. Next time we're putting that near the top of the must-do list.
I've gotta say, "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" was kinda cool. And it was nice to sit down in the air-conditioning. {It wasn't really hot that day, just high 70s, but hot in comparison to the 45+ degree days we were used to.} And the animatronic Abe Lincoln was freakishly life-like. Like, I wouldn't want to be alone in a room with it!!


After listening to Honest Abe, it was time for round 2 of Space Mountain!

Waiting in line.

Been meaning to get a picture of Ethan by the height requirement for a couple years. Last time he was right at those red arrows!

All set for another ride on Space Mtn!

The last few hours of the day were spent...
- eating dinner at the Plaza cafe on Main St. - a cafeteria-style restaurant that had a kids' meal with things Ethan actually eats {pasta (Ethan got no sauce), carrot sticks, apple slices and chocolate milk} and a pasta dinner that Sean and I shared with an extra side salad.
- me getting randomly sick to my stomach (that was not fun, but luckily it was temporary)
- getting good "seats" for the 2nd showing of Fantasmic!
- randomly sitting right next to an LDS family and chatting with them to kill time before Fantasmic!
- watching Fantasmic!
- riding Star Tours for the 2nd time and fingers crossed that we would get 1. stopped by Darth Vader and 2. get to do the underwater part. We did! It was awesome.
- having no line and walking on to the Buzz Lightyear ride - not sure what Sean was doing... clearly we didn't know when/where the camera was. Pretty cool that they will email you your picture, though.- getting to be one of the last people in line to ride Star Tours for the night (right at midnight!) and since the odds were in our favor and there were only 7-8 people on our "flight"... Ethan was the Rebel Spy!!! So, so cool! It's all he could talk about the next day when he was talking to Nana, Papa, Aunt Muffy, Uncle Todd and cousin Spencer about Disneyland.
- one of the awesome cast members at the Disney Emporium on Main St. noticing Ethan's birthday pin and asking if Ethan had had his "birthday phone call" and then letting Ethan take the call right there - it was Goofy wishing him a happy birthday!- Ethan totally crashing within 5 minutes of the drive home - complete with hand in the cracker bag!
We had a wonderful day at Disneyland, just the 3 of us, celebrating Ethan's birthday!

One of my favorite pictures of the day - Ethan in front of the Birthday Cake prop in the movie barn, waiting to meet Mickey!

Spring Break 2012: SoCal

Let's see...

Oregon's Spring Break 2012 (last week of March) weather: Rainy.

Washington's Spring Break 2012 (first week of April) weather: Rainy.

SoCal weather while we were down for WA Spring Break 2012: SUNNY, mid-70s all week!! It was heaven!! So warm and sunny and such a nice break from the gray skies and rain. Just the kind of weather you want for Spring Break.

And now, here's a little look at our trip...

Thursday (3/29) night, about 10pm in WA: "Ok. Let's do it. Let's go to CA for Spring Break!" {Yes, we are crazy.}

Friday (3/30): Packed bags for Ethan and I, packed snack box, packed toy bag for Ethan, cleaned house, did laundry, ran errands, worked out and had Explorer checked out {time for new rear brake pads!} while Sean worked and then taught two piano lessons and packed his own suitcase.

Ethan all ready to go in the car - about 1/2 hour before we drove away. He was just a little excited. :)

Sean and I just before we left - Sean said he was photo-bombing the picture but I don't think it's that bad.

Left at about 9pm, made a bathroom pit-stop at 11pm in Springfield at my parents' house to say goodbye and continued driving through the night.Sunrise... I was asleep.

Saturday (3/31): Drove almost the entire length of the state of California and made it to Sean's parents' house at about 1pm. The extra 2 hours on the drive since we moved up north are killer! Sean's brother, Todd, and his family were also visiting for the weekend so we got to hang out with them - their oldest, Spencer, is not quite a year younger than Ethan and they are good buddies! We got there right around the 2nd Saturday session of conference starting and I'll admit, I had a hard time sitting still and listening after being in the car all that time. The boys, Ethan and Spencer, went right to work on their cousin bonding - playing outside, playing with toys inside, watching cartoons/movies and sharing snacks. That evening the men (Sean, his dad and brother) went to the Priesthood session of conference and then we had a late dinner.

Sunday (4/1): General conference. Spent all morning in our PJs, played games in the afternoon while the boys played outside and had a pot roast family dinner in the evening. I still had trouble paying attention to conference, so I'm looking forward to reading all the talks in the Ensign.

Monday (4/2): Sean went to his old high school, met with his former drama teacher and was a guest in a couple of her theater classes. He also got to tour their new auditorium. Meanwhile, Ethan and I stayed at the house - Ethan played with Spencer, I got a work-out in and more games were played in the evening.

Tuesday (4/3): Disneyland!! Just the three of us. Separate post to come later.

Wednesday (4/4): Nana and grandsons date to the movies! Lynnie took Ethan and Spencer to see the chipmunk movie while Sean and I went out to lunch with Marcelle. Poor Marcelle, we always make her go to In-N-Out with us so we can get our In-N-Out burger fix. She puts up with us, though! Later in the afternoon, Lynnie took Ethan out to Target for a little birthday shopping and Ethan ended up with a cool Finn McMissile (Cars 2) toy with pop-out weapons action and also an Optimus Prime Transformer toy with semi trailer (like in the 3rd movie). While they were gone we decorated the dining room and then after dinner celebrated Lynnie's and Ethan's birthdays (April 7th and 9th, respectively). And, believe it or not, the #5 candle was completely accurate for both birthdays... I won't say just how, though! ;)
Thursday (4/5): Got some pictures of Ethan playing outside on the rope swing in the warm CA sun... Pretty sure it was meant to be sat on, but Ethan was just short enough to swing from the bottom, tuck his legs up and not let his bum slide across the ground!


And then we took our dear, sweet time packing up our stuff, hanging out some more, playing games and then loading the car, taking a few quick cousins picture and leaving. We didn't get very far, though, before we decided to have just one more trip to In-N-Out for burgers and shakes. Apparently we weren't the only one with that clever idea on a Thursday night. Not sure if you can see it, but there was quite the line-up at the drive-thru. So rude... All those Cali people can have it anytime they want while us WA folks only get it once a year or so!

It was worth the wait, though. It filled us up and kept us fueled throughout the night on our long drive home.
Friday (4/6): Drove through CA, OR and finally home to WA. Ethan slept almost the entire way home - which, of course, meant he was pretty awake when we got home. Luckily, since he slept and didn't need any entertaining (i.e. portable DVD player or Leapster) we put in a movie and got a little nap. And then had to run errands, start laundry and pick my sister up from the airport for her surprise Easter visit. Separate post to come later.

And here's a closer look at the Ethan-and-Spencer-cousin-bonding...

Outside, in the treehouse and on the rope swing.

Outside, jumping on the trampoline.

Here's a hint on how NOT to get a picture of your child in mid-air while jumping on a trampoline: Pretty much just click the shutter exactly when you think you shouldn't. I got some great pictures of Spencer mid-jump!


And when I finally got Ethan mid-jump, I cut off his head in the picture!Anyway...

Bonding inside while watching Blue's Clues and sharing goldfish.

Such cute kids!! And good friends. {Well, for most of the day... about 4pm or 4:30pm every day they got a little tired of each other and would have to take a break! But within an hour they were best buds again.}

We had a great trip! It was so nice to see some of Sean's family, watch conference together, celebrate birthdays and spend time together! Thanks for having us (in all our last-minute-decision-making-glory!), Loren and Lynnie - as always, you were great hosts!