Rides

When I planned 6 days in Disneyland, I thought it might be a bit overkill. But we ended up needing all 6 days to get in all the rides (because we spent so much of our time standing in line). Here are some of our favorites:
Scott and Karen:
Screamin
Tower of Terror
Soarin Over California
And anything else that went fast and was "rollercoasterish"

Savannah:
Same as Mom and Dad's list
She really loves thrill rides

Josh:
Tried everything, but decided that he really didn't like Tower of Terror as much as he let on.
But he did love Screamin' and all the other "scary" rides.
Still loved Grizzly Rapids the best (it was his favorite 4 years ago)

Sara:
NOT a thrill seeker.
Bawled through Splash Mountain and Indiana Jones
Would not try Screamin' or Tower of Terror
Hated Space Mountain
But surprisingly LOVED Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (which is a roller coaster)

Aaron:
Couldn't get enough of Screamin'
Went on Tower of Terror once, and liked it, but did not want to try it again.
Loved the swings
Loved everything he rode the whole time he was there.
Absolutely loves rollercoasters and other "thrill" rides.

Nate:
Brave enough to try everything once (he was such a great sport about everything), but after a few days, decided he was tired of giving everything a try.
Nate's favorite quote, "I was freaking out, but I loved it!"
Went on Tower of Terror twice, then refused to go any more.
Loved tea cups, swings, and other less scary rides.

Autopia--Everyone LOVED this one, and we drove the cars 4 times while we were there.




Savannah posing with the Matterhorn in the distance. We took everyone on this--and everyone loved it except Nate and Sara. As we were standing in line for it, Nate was really worried because he thought the mountain was going to be MAD (Maderhorn). I explained to him that it was MATT-erhorn, and then he felt a little better about it. After he rode it, I think he decided MADerhorn was a better name.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This was the only roller coaster that Sara actually liked. I think it ranks up there as her most favorite ride. Nate, on the other hand, wasn't a fan (but we did talk him into going twice with us because everyone else loved it so much).

Waiting for the Muppets 3D movie to start. Everyone loved this show.


Bug's Life 3 D movie. Everyone did not love this one. It was really scary for the kids. In fact, when Savannah asked to go on Tower of Terror again, Scott decided to take her there, and I decided to take those who didn't want to ride Tower of Terror to the Bug's Life movie again (it was cold and dark, so we needed to find something indoors and warm). Nate actually chose Tower of Terror over the Bug's Life movie, because the movie was so "scary".

Finding Nemo Submarine. This was our very first ride there. We all loved it.

The Story Book Land Canal Ride. Nate and Aaron got to sit up on the end of the boat to be the "whale watchers". Nate took that job very seriously.




A couple more rides from A Bug's Island.



Riding the big white Mark Twain boat.

BUSY!!

When I came up with the idea of doing Disneyland at Christmas, all I could think about was how fun it would be to surprise the kids. I thought about how magical it would be to see Disneyland decorated for Christmas. I thought about how nice it would be to go some place warm in December. But I never thought about how BUSY Disneyland would be during that time. It was crazy. I mean really really crazy. There were people everywhere. Twice that we heard of (it may have happened more that that during that week), they had to close the park gates because they reached maximum capacity. I snapped these pictures as we were walking past Pirates of the Caribbean. Look close, there are people everywhere. It was like this everywhere we went, every single day.


I was so thankful we had two strollers with us, so we could put Nate and Aaron in the strollers (so we wouldn't lose them in the crowds). The older three did a great job of holding on to the stroller handles so they wouldn't get separated from us. And it came in very handy that both Scott and I had our cell phones with us, because quite often, he ended up so far ahead of me that I couldn't see him through all the people.

We found ourselves riding the train to get around. It was so much easier than trying to make our way through the crowds, and the boys really loved going through "the Grand Canyon" on the train. At night, the train goes past It's a Small World, which was all lit up for Christmas (you can see it behind me and Aaron). It was beautiful.



We found ourselves standing in line a LOT. And I mean really really a lot. We got pretty good at using fast passes, but there are only a handful of rides that offer those, so we just resigned ourselves to standing in line. The average line took about an hour.





We got really good at entertaining ourselves while standing in line.




I have to admit that we did lose Aaron a few times. He has a habit of wandering off. But, we found him within minutes each time (he's one lucky kid). And one time while we were in line, we looked down and realized Nate was missing. He had decided he was sick of standing in line, and had made his way up to the front of the line. I went and retrieved him and brought him back to wait with the rest of us. But all in all, we all were able to stick together and survive the madness.

I'm so glad we were able to experience Disneyland at Christmas--it had such wonderful holiday touches that you can't experience any other time of the year. But, next time we go to Disneyland, we will be going at the end of January or the end of September (which we were told were their LEAST busy times).

Jedi Training

A few months ago, there was a channel having a Star Wars marathon. I recorded all of the movies (the three old ones and the three new ones). Knowing we were going to Disneyland, I wanted to introduce my kids to Star Wars so they would want to do the Jedi Training. So after school got out for Christmas break, I made the kids sit down and watch the oldest Star Wars movie. They complained about having to watch it, but as soon as it got going, they were hooked. We watched a Star Wars movie each night until Christmas (we made it through 4 of them). And after we got to Disneyland, it totally paid off. The kids LOVED the Star Tours ride because they had seen Star Wars. And they were all super excited to do the Jedi Training.

The first time we attended Jedi Training, Savannah got picked. She thinks she's too old for that sort of thing, so she tried to act cool through it all, but I know that secretly she was thrilled to get the opportunity.






Of course, the other 4 kids were totally jealous, so we promised them we would do Jedi Training again. We were a little worried that we'd be stuck attending every Jedi Training the rest of the time we were there so everyone would get the opportunity to participate. But, we lucked out, and the next time we did it, all 4 of the other kids got picked. Scott and I joked that it was a Christmas miracle.





Nate made the cutest little padawan--he was the littlest kid up there. He found it a bit tricky trying to activate his light sabre, but he kept trying.





Aaron was so thrilled to be called up, and he took his responsibility very seriously.




They all fought valiently.






After it was all over, the kids were bubbling over with excitement. Nate announced, "I didn't turn to the dark side. I stayed on the bright side!" Jedi Training really was one of our favorite things at Disneyland.