I wanted to try something different this Christmas. The kids love Disneyland. They love Christmas. Why not combine the two! They all agreed to a more simple Christmas in order for us to take the trip! We actually bought The California City Pass that allowed 3 days in Disney/CA, 1 day in Universal Studios, and 1 day in Sea World. We were so excited to go!
The contract was signed, but it did not hold well. This trip was a challenge with the fighting, stress of the crowds, grumpy us from lack of sleep, and stressful traffic. Having said that, we still got quite a few happy moments captured on camera. There were some, really. It was good to be able to see Disneyland at Christmas with all the beautiful decorations. Once is enough though. No more.
The trip didn't begin well as we chose to drive to California on Sunday afternoon after church. The traffic was horrific. It took us an extra 2 hours. For some reason sitting at a standstill on the freeway is madening. I'm sure you have all experienced that before. Oh well. At least we were safe and nothing happened.
It is Christmas Eve day. The first ride we went on was the Radiator Spring Racers. Such a fun ride! We loved it! Curtis quickly went in the fastpass line to get tickets for it while we rode it once. We got lucky to ride it twice because of the fast passes. We had to have a plan with such a busy time of year with all the crowds! As the morning went on this ride became a 2 hour wait. So glad we did it first thing to avoid that!
Carsland was built so well! It was amazing and totally represented the movie! The landscaping reminded me of St.George!
The Christmas decorations were so clever and well done! A hubcap tree! Who would have thought?
Next up is ToWEr of TeRRor! Creepy! Evey and Ella were quite worried to load this ride.
One time was enough for Evey. It freaked her right out! The free fall even gets to me.
I'm glad they went once more later on in the day!
As we were walking around Disney California Adventure...
Figuring out how the fastpasses work!
The Little Mermaid ride was a bit over rated for us. We had fun riding it once though.
Goofy's Sky School is one of our favorites. It's pretty thrilling feeling like you will fall off the edge as you turn the corners! When this ride used to be called Mullholland Madness, Carter rode it over and over as a little boy! He sure loved it and would ask for it always!
King Triton's merry-go-round was well used by Evey and I! Unfortunately she was the only one who couldn't ride "California Screamin'". Next time we go I'm sure she will be tall enough! She was a pretty good sport to wait and ride this while everyone else took turns going on the roller coaster! I would say the rollercoaster is another family favorite!
Most of our day was spent in California Adventure.
It's the Redwood Forest Challenge. This place was a lot of fun for the kids to have some down time and for mom and dad to escape the crowds! Each child was given a map/scavenger hunt with certain animal paw prints to discover along their adventure!
Evey was having too much fun! She was so exhausted during dinner at the diner next to Soarin Over California!
Carter still had his energy. Crazy kid! I remember texting these pictures to his cousin Jenna!
Ahhh, the sweet life back at the hotel in the hot tub. I took Caden and Evey back after dinner. Curtis took the other 3 to Disneyland. Usually I am the die hard but my feet were soaking from the wet day. It was a bit rainy with lots of puddles on the ground. It was not fun to have wet feet for 10 hours in the totally wrong shoes. The kids were okay thank goodness, or else I would have heard a lot more whining about that! I will wear gum boots next time. Lesson learned!
It's the Haunted Manson lit up at night.
Both parks had the most cool and tall Christmas trees!
Isn't Sleeping Beauty's castle simply gorgeous! I was blown away!
Christmas Eve is here. Night night. We all got nustled into our La Quinta hotel beds. There was absolutely no challenge in getting the children to fall asleep. They were completely exhausted! An unusual Christmas Eve for sure!
Sweet dreams...
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