I loved this family vacation and not just because I love all things Disney. I loved seeing the excitement in the kids' faces and experiencing all of the rides and lands with them! Luckily, Cooper is a bit on the tall side for his age, so he was good to go for all of the same rides that Riley and Tyson are tall enough for- score! This was Riley's second visit to Disneyland- we took her alone 2 years ago, which you can read about here, here, and here. She got the full princess treatment the first time around, but didn't love the rides... this time she was all about the big rides! And this trip was the beginning of another Disney love affair in the family- Tyson is now obsessed with Mickey and friends and anything else Disney related, which makes me super-happy! I also love my amazingly supportive husband who puts up with the fact that I would vacation at Disneyland/Disney World/Disney Cruise every single time if given the choice. Sad, I know.
We flew down a day before we had originally planned, so we could get a good night's sleep before tackling the parks for a full 5 days!! It was tough being so close to the magic, but unable to go in quite yet. :) Although, we had fun walking around downtown Disney and exploring the Grand Californian Hotel- our home for the week.
Guess what kids?? We're going to Disneyland... tomorrow!! Woo hoo!
The kids were model passengers on the airplane... thank goodness!
Riley brought her autograph book from her last trip and had fun looking through it over and over on the plane. Tyson kept busy with the fun packs I put together for them.
Hanging on the shuttle to the hotel.
Standing at the gate looking in... so close, yet so far away! Can't wait until tomorrow!
The only thing we don't have is the traditional entering the park photo in front of the flowered Mickey head or the castle... bummer.
First stop in the park... Buzz Lightyear!
Then we made our way to Mickey's Toon Town!
Cooper was a little unsure about the characters at first, so he wanted to be held and wouldn't stand too close on his own. :)
I LOVE Tyson's perma-grin... that smile rarely left his face all week!
We did a "trial run" on a mini roller coaster to see how the kids would do, then worked our way up to some of the bigger ones. We did this little coaster in Toon Town twice in a row- they were ready to move on!
Exploring Toon Town...
Riley's favorite ride 2 years ago was It's a Small World... she still loves it, but she's graduated to bigger and better favorites- like Space Mountain and Splash Mountain!
We took a swimming/nap break every afternoon we were there- a must in our eyes! The Grand Californian has an awesome pool, so we really wanted to take advantage, and the kids love to swim. Then we'd all take a good 2 hour nap to recharge to go full force again at night!
We had a great front row seat for the Magical fireworks show!
Yikes... that was just Day 1!
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