DIsneyland!!! Round 2

After a LONG absence I've decided to keep this family blog up to date for good! After almost a yearsince I made the last post I thought it would be fun to start again by sharing pictures of our 2nd Disneyland trip. (And we took a lot of pictures!)

We stayed at Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel for our first night and The Grand Californian Hotel the rest of our whopping 6 day extravaganza. We made this happen by purchasing "points" through a third party company from a Disney Vacation Club owner. We got to stay at a hotel who's starting rate is a gut wrenching $415 a night for less then half the price! The Grand Californian was amazingly beautiful and has a convenient private entrance in California Adventure Park which we utilized often.

The first day we arrived we put on the swimsuits and went straight to the Disneyland hotels pool next door since the water slide at our pool was broken. The pool there couldn't have been more perfect for Landon's age (wish I had brought my camera :( ). They had a 2 story water slide that starts out in a tunnel and looks like a monorail on the outside. It was Landon's first waterside and a big one! He was allowed to climb up the stairs with daddy go down the slide himself and I was at the bottom to scoop him out at the end. After the pool and a nap we walked to the Rainforest Cafe downtown Disney for dinner then went shopping around. Landon loved to giant Lego store where he played Legos with daddy and I got to shop at the enormous World Of Disney store. We then got an ice cream cone and watched an South American group play on a stage setup there.

Our first day in the parks (our of 4) we spent in Disneyland Park. We arrived early for the extra magic hour just to get stuck in an HUGE crowd of people, many of which waited in the biggest line I've ever seen to meet the frozen princesses. After realizing there weren't very many rides open for that extra hour and pushing our way through crowds we agreed not to do one of those again. We rode rides all morning including Pirates of the Caribbean (which was Landon's favorite last year) but sadly he was too afraid to go on again. The tarzan treehouse and Tiki Room were favorites of the day before we waited in line to meet the mighty THOR and Captain America. Meeting Thor was a highlight of the trip. They make it into a theatrical production of sorts. When they finally opened to doors to meet him there smoke and a huge set with the giant Thor up there on top of steps. When he walked down towards the crowd he walked right up to me holding Landon and requested we follow him to the stage. He asked Landon some questions which he shyly replied to the had him try to lift his "hammer" up. It was too heavy for Landon to lift so Thor placed one hand on top of Landon's and picked it right up! It was on some sort of hidden magnet he released to pick it up but Landon bought into the magic perfectly, it was darling! Wish we had a photo of this...Afterwards we quickly met Captain America then headed to Pizza Port for lunch.

We went back to the park again where I spread out my fancy picninc blanket on Main Street and decided to wait a whole hour for the evening parade to begin. The boys went on a ride then grabbed a quick dinner to-go for us all to have a picnic with while waiting. A very sweet women and her husband sat next to us for the parade who became friends to chat with. After discussing with my new friends grandchildren back home Landon loudly asked "Is that Grandma Debbie?". She did look a little like his Grandma Debbie but we got the best laugh of our trip when the women said "you won't believe this but my name really is Debbie!" so for the remainder of the time Landon referred to her as Grandma Debbie. The parade started with a Frozen pre-parade float and it was dazzling. To my absolute delight Landon LOVED the parade and really bought into magic this time!

The next day we spent in California Adventure Park and it was HOT!! 104 degrees and high humidity. We started off at our hotels character breakfast buffet. You cant beat having a great buffet and the characters coming to you. Landon adored meeting all of the and participated in the follow the leader game where the characters lead all of the kids around the giant dinning room and back to the middle for some hokey pokey. Afterwards we went to the inside of the park for opening where the line for the new Radiator Springs Racers ride forms. the ride unfortunately terrified Landon. He screamed and shook like I've never seen him before. we stuck to Little Mermaid and other tame rides, and the splash pad for the rest of the morning before hitting the hotel pool early to beat cool off.

After our nap we were back for another parade. We found a bench with a little girl for Landon to play with to wait for it to start. I had gotten Landon a cars souvenir popcorn bucket and frozen lemonade souvenir drink which he shared with the little girl next to us. She also decided Landon needed hand fed pieces of popcorn which was pretty cute. The Pixar parade was the best I've seen with its awesome floats that had fun dancing water jets to cool you off as they went by and loads of bubbles. Afterwards we met Mater (which enamored Landon) and Lightning Mcqueen, then rode more rides to close down the park.

Our third big day in the parks was at California Adventure again but thankfully it had cooled off a little. We Landon's favorite rides over and over (read Little Mermaid 12 times!). Turtle Talk with Crush was great, Landon sat on the floor with the kids and Crush the Turtle appears through Disney magic to talk to the crowd from under the sea. Another highlight we wont forget was the Red RIver Creek Challenge where they've built little boy paradise. It had endless rope ladders log slides, wooden bridges to cross, and a perfect sized zipline. The weather was nice enough to stay out in so we decided to be brave and go at it without a nap. The Disney character randomly come out and up on a show in the street and we caught Landons favorite Fineas and Ferb DJ Dance Party! He got out there with the characters, dancers, and other kids to dance and limbo away. We were also lucky to run into Buzz Lightyear for a Picture.

We had a delicious Italian dinner in Downtown Disney where Landon got his first balloon animal made table-side (spiderman of course). Grabbed an after dinner ice cream treat ( I LOVE Hagendaaz) and got Landon in his new Buzz Lightyear PJ's where the hotel lobby fireplace has bedtime storytime. Storytime was not entertaining enough for Landon unfortunately but the kiddie rocking chairs and movie in the lobby was a hit. He sat with other kids and watched MIckey cartoons while Dale and I got to relax at a cozy table behind him keeping a watchful eye. They had a fancy piano player playing lovely music while we got to chat with other grown ups at our table for a nice change of pace.

Our last Hoorah was in Disneyland Park where we got to meet Goofy right away! After some rides we went for our lunch reservation at my favorite (and only) fancy restaurant in Disneyland, Blue Bayou. Its inside of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and candlelit so you get to peaceful watch boats float by as you munch on grownup food for a change. I ordred a fun Louisiana Lemonade drink that comes with a souvenir glowing ice cube. Landon was enamored by it so it came out of my drink and went where else, in his shirt! We followed lunch with the favorite attraction TIki Room and had our Dole Whips then marched around toontown where we met Mickey.

After the usual afternoon nap, we headed back where at precisely 6 oclock I was the 2nd crazy enough person to stake out our spot for the 9 oclock showing of Fantasmic. We got a front and center spot for the most magical show I've ever seen. We passed time by taking turns taking Landon on rides, eating a picnic dinner, and shopping for special treats. We became friends with the families around with waiting to and Landon's Ipad movie became a hit for all the kids around us. The show was spectacular except Landon and dad missed half of it so they could battle crowds behind us to get to the bathroom. But the fireworks show you can see perfectly from our spot were a magical ending to the trip! 

Our trip as truly unforgettable. It will be hard to beat it but we will sure try again next year somewhere new!