It was another early morning on January 2nd. Rob loaded up the van and roof top carrier and I supervised the packing and clean up. We had breakfast early and drove over to the park. We didn't know where the access to the parking garage was so we spent a little while driving around, but we still got to the park within 15 or 20 minutes of opening. We decided to go back to Disneyland that day since there were a few rides we still wanted to go on, but hadn't yet been able to. One of these was Space Mountain which we went on right away, and I even got to go on twice. We also went on the Indiana Jones ride, which was a quite impressive. We took in a couple of the other favorite rides again (Buzz Lightyear, Star Tours, and Big Thunder Mountain) and Alyssa and I went on Pirates of the Caribean, which a lot of people love, but which I found elaborate, but boring. One highlight was that Preston was able to go to Jedi training again, and this time was chosen to become a padowan. He had to fight Darth Maul. We met up with Kennedy mid morning. She left her and Mark's luggage with the front desk at the hotel and came over when they were ready.
By about noon, I was done. The crowds were getting thick and I was exhausted and my patience wearing thin. I would have been happy to leave at that point and head to Las Vegas to see Joe. But, we stayed another 2 or 3 hours in the park. Rob and I took the boys again while Alyssa and Kennedy went out together. We went over to Toon Town and waited in line for a good hour to see Mickey Mouse in his house. (You know it's a guy in a suit, right?). Then we went around looking for souvenirs. Austin got a shirt that is just perfect for him and Preston bought light up Mickey Mouse ears.
About mid afternoon we left the park via the Monorail and went to Downtown Disney for lunch, to see the lego store and to look for souvenirs. We ended up eating at the ESPN Zone which I think Rob particularly appreciated. The boys liked the lego store which not only had a wide array of lego for sale, it also had huge statues made from lego, and a couple of interactive building centres.
This part of the day dragged for me and I was happy to get on the road to leave....although we left around 5, just in time to be in rush hour traffic for almost 2 hours before being able to travel at high way speeds.
This chair in Mickey Mouse's house is not very comfortable. I think it is made of concrete.
"Do I have to get my picture taken with Mickey Mouse's phone?"
These are all the strollers lined up outside "It's a Small World"
The castle
Drumroll Please! The picture we've all been waiting for!
Mark's favorite part of Disneyland--his music toy.
Goofy in Toon Town.
This hulk at the Lego Store in Downtown Disney is made of lego.
Beauty and the Beast made of lego
One of the interactive stations at the Lego store was to create a race car and race it down the track. Preston said his car won the race he entered!
We arrived at Joe's house in Las Vegas at about 9:30 pm. Joe and Haylee were wonderful hosts. They gave us 3 bedrooms with huge, comfortable beds. They also cooked up a very extensive breakfast for us in the morning. Even though we were only there about 12 hours, including sleep time, I was happy to see the kids frolicking on the floor together, and I found a little time to visit with both Joe and Haylee. I was glad to see their new house, which we had never been to before. They have been installing new hardwood floors and they look great! In the morning we even FaceTimed with John over in Abu Dhabi and had a great time with him while eating breakfast. Thank you, Joe and Haylee for your hospitality! My one big regret is that I didn't get any pictures of being at their house or of our time in Provo (coming up). I think I was just too engrossed in the joy of being with my family and didn't even think of bringing out my camera.
We drove to Provo on Thursday, January 3rd and had time to go to the BYU bookstore before meeting up with Liz and Christian and their family for dinner at Sizzler. You should have seen our poor waitress trying to figure out what food went to whom with l1 kids and 5 adults on three separate bills all seated intermixed! The kids were having a great time together. It ws awesome. We left Sizzler a little after 6 so that we would have time to check Mark and Kennedy into the hotel and get to the BYU basketball game which started at 7.
Unfortunately, that's where we had a problem. Turning from University Ave onto 300 South, we had a minor car accident. It was our fault, but that traffic light worked differently than any we had seen. After our main northbound light turned red, our turn lane still had a flashing yellow arrow and the southbound traffic was full on green. We didn't realize their light was green and thought we needed to quickly move out of the intersection (where we had been waiting to turn) before the East/West traffic started coming. Anyway, we damaged the bumper and headlight of the man we hit and are in the process of settling that up. No one was remotely hurt, but we had to wait a good hour for the police to come and this made us miss a lot of the game. After a while, Christian was reached and he came back for the kids and took them to the game so they only missed 5 minutes of the first half (Christian missed more because he now had to try and find parking after everything was full). Rob and I arrived at half time.
I forgot to get my camera out, but Alyssa got this cute shot of her and Anna.
The view of the game from the good seats. We had 4 good seats for Christian, Anna, Alyssa and Rob. (Christian shared with James.) the rest of us sat up in the rafters.
At the game we met up with Sarah and Brian. They also came to our hotel after for additional visiting. I was so glad to see Pretes, Bryners and Kohrmans on the trip, if only for a brief moment.
These three were crammed in the back of the wan the whole way!
It's a good thing they had some entertainment
The view from the back of the van. On the homestretch!
On Friday, January 4th, we drove home from Provo. The roads were perfect the whole way and we got home around 7:30 at night.
All together, we travelled 5268 km, saw 19 family members, went to four different theme parks 9one twice), spent $3500 and all of our airmiles (in spite of Mark's and Kennedy's expenses being covered by Mark's settlement), slept in 5 different beds (each), and made a thousand memories!
It was an amazing, memorable holiday, the memories of which only improve with time. The more rested I get the more I can look back with amazement and what we were able to see and do!
On New Year's Day, we went to Disney's California Adventure Park. This was probably our best day. It was relatively warmish, and the park wasn't ridiculously busy. We were able to make extensive use of fast passes and go on lots of rides. We also enjoyed the Pixar parade and the World of Colour show in the evening. Once again we arrived for Park opening. We went to Soaring Over California right away and that was a great 3-D motion simulator where it feels like you are in a cockpit flying over California. Even the wind and the smells match the visual and motion experience. We also went to Toy Story Mania, the Symphony Swings, the carousel, and the big roller coaster, California Screamin'. We also discovered Preston's favorite ride of the trip--Goofy's flight school which is a cute little roller coaster which is themed like you are learning to fly a "flyin' contraption"
After we met up with Kennedy and Mark, the girls went on Hollywood Tower of Terror, then went again with me. Meanwhile, Rob took the boys on all the kiddie rides in A Bugs Land. A Bugs Land is really cute. Everything in this section of the park is designed to make you feel like you are small like a bug. We also enjoyed the It's Tough to be a Bug 3-D show.
We enjoyed an awesome lunch in Carsland at Flo's Diner. We got to go on a few repeat and other rides. Around 4pm, I went back to the hotel (via the shuttle bus) with the boys. The day before they got totally exhausted and I knew they would need a break. While at the hotel, I worked like crazy, doing all of our laundry and "smart packing" our suitcases so that we could bring out one suitcase per night on our way home. Around 7or 7:30, Kennedy came back to the hotel to stay with Mark and I took Austin and Preston back to the park. In the evening we went to the World of Color Show and finally got to go to the premiere ride--Radiator Springs Racers--which was amazing.
The Pixar Parade. I liked it and in happy contrast to the Disneyland parade all we had to do was step behind a line and the parade started immediately.
The World of Colour show was incredible. At least 30 minutes of lights and fountains and music and even fire. It was all themed to favorite Disney movies.
This is outside Toy Story Mania. We loved this ride, but it had long lines so we only got to ride it once.
We happened to meet Minnie at a photo op and didn't have to wait more than a minute to get the picture. In contrast, we waited an hour the next day to meet Mickey Mouse! Crazy!
With Flik in "A bug's land"
I took Mark out of his chair to go on Heimlich's Chew Chew Train. I don't know if he liked it much.
Preston and Rob at Tuck and Roll's Drive Em Buggies.
King Triton's Carousel. Wild Ride! Preston wanted to ride on the "gopher" which was in fact an otter, (as all the carousel "horses" were sea creatures.) We thought that was pretty funny.
Goofy's Flight School. We went on this ride at least 4 times! Preston liked it so much, he was willing to go on as a single rider to bypass the lines a little.
Swings. They play symphony music while you go around and around.
California Screamin'. We managed to go on this a few times without much wait thanks to fast passes. It is a great roller coaster.
Waiting in line. I could have taken lots of these pictures. We waited in a lot of lines!
Flo's diner in Carsland. Carsland is great. They have completely recreated Radiator Springs. It is awesome.
In the summer, Grizzly River Run is probably a big hit, but in January weather, it is just a little too wet.
Mater in Carsland.
This is incredible. They have built a massive red rock mountain scene. It feels just like you are in arches.
This is us during the Radiator Springs Racer ride. After travelling through radiator springs, going tractor tipping, etc, you race against one other vehicle in a roller coaster style race out in the orange coloured mountain scene. It is one of the best rides anywhere.
On Monday, December 31st, we began the Disney portion of our California trip. Our hotel was on the south west corner of California Adventure park and so we were (long) walking distance from the parks which are adjacent to each other. On the Monday morning, Kennedy agreed to come over on her own with Mark and do activites that he could do and meet up with us at 1:00 pm. The rest of us got up around 6, had breakfast around 7 and headed over, having cleared security and entered the park a little before its opening at 8 am. We used a guide book lent to us by Kennedy's grandparents and packed in as many rides as possible, going in the best order possible and making the optimum use of fast passes to get the most done in the least time. That morning we went on the Matterhorn Bobsleds, Peter Pan's Flight, Buzz Lighyear Astroblasters, Star Tours, Astro orbiters, Autopia, Splash Mountain, Big thunder Mountain Railroad. We also went to the Jedi Training show. The crowds were getting big, but the guide really helped us navigate well.
We met up with Kennedy and Mark at 1:00 at the statue of Mickey and Walt and left the park to get lunch. Lunch took a while as it was quite a walk but we were back in the park by 2:20. Rob and I agreed to take Mark, Austin and Preston so that Kennedy and Alyssa could be free to go do stuff. We arranged to meet again at the statue of Mickey and Walt at 6:00 pm. We took the boys on the Jungle Cruise, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, the Mark Twain Riverboat, to Tarzan's Treehouse and on the tea cups. By late afternoon, the park was getting very full and it took a while to get from one place to another. As Rob, Austin and Preston were emerging from the exit to the teacups, they got barricaded in (and I joined them) to wait for the parade. This was at 5:20 pm. The parade didn't come until 6:00 though and it was 6:30 before it was done.
We were quite anxious that we were not at the rendezvous point on time. Though Rob and I had our cell phones s neither Kennedy or Alyssa had anyway to communicate with us (we had brought walkie talkies, but they didn't work). After the parade, Rob sent me running ahead to find them, but I ended up running into a wall of solid people. Eventually I met back up with Rob (by a huge fluke) and grabbed tight to Austin and Preston so they wouldn't get lost or trampled. Rob and Mark became separated again and I forged on with the other boys to find the girls. Although I was trying to go only about 50 meters, after 40 minutes, I realized I would never be able to get to the statue and if I did, it was so dark and the people so thick I would never find the girls. I decided to take the boys and go home. Rob did the same and eventually the girls also came home, but not until an hour later. We had all somewhat lost our way coming home and were exhausted and a little frightened by the time we got back. Alyssa and Kennedy's afternoon had been a complete bust. They only managed one ride and waited in line for nearly 2 hours for splash mountain only to have it "close for maintenance" just as they were at the front of the line. They didn't think to use fastpasses. They also ended up waiting for us at the statue for well over an hour, and got lost on their way home. It also turns out there were quite a few weird people out for New Years so they were quite traumatized by their experience.
Apparently, we learned, New Years Eve is the busiest day of the year and they let 80,000 people into Disneyland, many of them arriving in the evening for the fireworks. The area with the statue we had unwisely chosen as a rendezvous point was where thousands of people were gathering to watch the New Year's Eve fireworks.
Peter Pan's flight
Peter Pan's flight
Austin on the Astro orbiters
C3P0 in the line up to Star tours. This was a fun 3-D motion simulator ride through space and several of the planets from the star wars world. We really liked it. Also, it turns out if you go again, the ride is different.
At the Jedi training show, about 30 (of 100 or more) kids get chosen to receive training to become a Padowan. On the first day, Austin was chosen, but not Preston. Austin just loved it, and even got to fight Darth Vader.
Autopia
Preston trying to remove the Sword from the Stone.
Jungle Cruise, which is a boat ride with life size statues of animals situated all along the way.
The statue that seemed like such an easy place to meet when we thought of it in the morning.
Buzz Lightyear and Toy Story Mania (California Adventure) were two of our favorite rides. in both cases, you actually got to shoot targets as you moved through the ride and got a score at the end.
Tanzan's treehouse is a self-guided tour through a real tree house where you encounter several of the scenes familiar from the Tarzan movie. It was nostolgic for Austin.
In front of the Matterhorn Mountain
The teacups
These pictures are from the Disneyland Parade:
On this float, Mickey and Minnie are on a platform at least 8 feet high and they are wearing ice sakes and actually skating up on the top of their float.
One of the step sisters asked Austin if he would go to the ball with her.
