M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

 It has been years since we have been back to Disneyland. Remember how we had a trip all planned back in May of 2020 and then Disneyland shut down because of Covid? Then we wanted to go back, but we didn't want to go if we had to have proof of vaccination or wear masks. Plus we heard a lot of people say that Disneyland just wasn't the same during covid, so we decided to wait. Well fast forward almost 2 and a half years later and we decided things were mostly back to normal and we wanted to go. We planned to go while the kids were off for fall break, and ironically the Jones family also had the same great idea, so we knew we would have a blast in the Happiest Place on Earth!

We decided to drive down but we heard there was a storm coming in. Tyler woke up at 3:30 in the morning and I told him it was too early to leave, so he went back to bed and an hour later he woke up and said he really thought we should leave then, so we gathered the kids in their snuggies, put them in the car, and told them to go back to sleep. At 4:36 am we were on our way!

We had our Mickey and MInnie ears all ready to let us know how much longer we had. 

The kids did awesome and slept until almost 8 am in the car. It was a good thing we left when we did because the weather got worse and worse the farther south we got. It was the worst in Beaver, then it started clearing up. 

The kids entertained themselves with games and their ipads. 

We stopped in Mesquite for breakfast and then powered through and drove the rest of the way without stopping. 

We decided to walk through Downtown Disney and got dinner at this cute restaurant where they had beginets

Then we spent the rest of the day playing in the pool and went to bed early so we could be one of the first ones in the park. 

Our first day was in California Adventures. We were able to hit quite a few rides without a long line before things got too crowded. 

Then we met up with the Jones Family and Terry and Craig and spent the rest of the day going on rides with them. 

I was all about the treats this time. We had so many yummy things. 

We met a few characters. I love that our kids still want to get autographs from the characters. 

One of our new favorite things to do is to go the Animation studio where they teach you how to draw a Disney character. We made Pooh bear this time. 

The new thing at Disney land is that you have to buy a Genie plus pass, which is basically a fast pass (mind you they used to offer this for free the last time we were there). The pass is an extra $25 per person, per day, so for our family it would be an extra $125 per day to be able to ride just a few more rides. We didn't pay for it the first day, but Jerm insisted we buy it the next day because they got stuck waiting in line for WebSlingers for almost 2 hours. He was pretty upset and if you know Jerm, you know he doesn't let things go. We were all laughing pretty hard by the end of the night and teasing him about it. Disneyland definitely had a different feel this time with little things like charging extra money for fast passes.  

We ended the night at World of Color, which was so cool. 

The next day we were up and ready for another day of fun. We bought the Genie plus pass this day and spent the entire day running from one side of the park to another riding all the rides. We were able to ride every single ride and even got to go on some rides two or three times. 

Brynnli approves of the turkey leg. 

Our family took up an entire boat for the Storybook ride. 

Grandpa Craig is trying to be like all the cool kids on their phones all day... except his phone is upside down. 

Disneyland opened up Star Wars Land and we heard the rides were pretty cool. It just seemed like the rides were always broken down. We heard Rise of the Resistance was down, but they were going to open it soon, so we waited in line. Even though the wait was kind of long, the ride made up for it. ... even for me who has no idea about anything star wars, I thought it was one of the best rides there.  

Playing games with cousins helped the waiting time go by faster. 

By the end of Day 2 we all felt like Brynnli. I logged almost 32,000 steps that day!

Day 3 we were up and ready for another day of fun. Makayla looks so grown up with her hot chocolate. 

We didn't do the fast pass this day, but spent the day riding a few rides and meeting characters... oh and we had some more treats!

Sometimes we call Caden Eeyore because he is a little grumpy, so we had to get a special picture with him and Eeyore. 

Is it really Disneyland if you don't get a picture in front of the castle?

We got to meet and get autographs from all of our favorite characters. 

Brynnli really wanted to meet the princesses, so we waited in line for them. I love that I still have one kid who loves princesses. 

This treat right here was by far my favorite. It was a Mickey macaroon... we may have had 3 of them this trip

Day 4 we spent part of the day in Disneyland and part of the day in California Adventures. 

We hit all of our favorite rides one more time. 

Had more treats. Hey, you can't go to Disneyland without having the beignets. 

Deciding on your souvenir is a tough decision. 

Before we went to Disneyland my friend told me one of her friends was looking to sell her 5 tickets to the Oogie Boogie Bash. Its basically a Disney after party where they shut down the park to everyone who doesn't have a ticket and they have so many Halloween themed events. There was a parade with the Disney villains, trick or treating with more candy than we knew what to do with, plus the lines on the rides were a lot shorter. The tickets were super expensive (think $150 each), but it was so worth it. The funniest story is that the tickets had the other people's names on them, so we had to pretend we were Tommy, Sherry, Katie, Kendrick, and Heather Cantrell. We made the kids practice their names before we got in line. Luckily we were all able to get in with no problems. 

We even got to dress up in our Halloween costumes. If we ever go to the Oogie Boogie Bash again, I would remind us to go all out on our costumes. 

The kids loved seeing characters that you usually don't see that often and they got a ton of candy. 

The Headless Horseman led the villain parade

Our 5 hour special night went by way too fast and before you know it our Disneyland trip was coming to an end. We hit our two favorite rides: Guardians of the Galaxy and the Cars ride before we called it a a night. 

See? I told you the kids got more candy than they knew what to do with. 

Well Disneyland, you gave us a memorable family vacation! We had so  much fun hanging out with our cousins, laughing, and riding all our favorite rides. We will be back soon!