Whoohoo! Disneyland!

Sometimes you just have to put all of your avoidances aside and just do it.  I'm not a big fan of the theme park scene, but I would have to say that doing this Disneyland trip was well worth it.

We decided to surprise the kids with a trip to Disneyland over the start of Briana's spring break.  Instead of the regular process of booking the time share, and scheduling things 'just right' for the trip, Tammy and I booked a Disney vacation without the kids knowing.  We stayed at the newly remodeled Disneyland Hotel and it was probably the best Disney experience we (at least I) have enjoyed.

The Thursday before Briana's spring break, Tammy and I showed a little instructional video and wanted the kids to critique the performance before we posted it online.  The video was about packing efficiently for a weekend getaway.  The trooper that Tammy is, she did the entire performance in one take.  Showing the perfect amount of cheese, she pulled it off flawlessly.  The video was edited and and we splashed a 'Pack your Bags, we are going to Disneyland' at the end of the video.  The kids were ecstatic!  Of course, we told the kids we needed to video tape them watching the video so we could catalog their reactions so we knew what adjustments we needed to make before publishing the video.  I'll get to that video.... eventually.

 

We traveled out Friday morning after Briana finished up a Math test.  Driving isn't the most fun thing to do, but knowing your final destination didn't make the trip too bad.  Of course, with the way my body reacts to the initial hour of driving - I wasn't behind the wheel all that much.

We arrived in the late afternoon, checked into the Adventure tower (7th floor) enjoyed the room a bit then headed out to Downtown Disney for some grub.  We wanted to take it easy the first night before hitting the park the next day, so just a little walking around the shops and we were done for the night.

Magic Morning the next morning was just about perfect.  Get up nice and early so we can get into the park 1 hour before the regular patrons.  Staying at the hotel does have it's perks!  We were able to hit Star Tours, Space Mountain, Astro Blasters and the Nemo sub without any waiting.  Once the park opened, we headed over to get some Mickey Mouse pancakes and enjoy the rest of the day!

My mom was able to drive out from Helendale to visit us, which was also a nice thing during the trip.  She didn't go into the parks with us, but we were able to have some meals and spends some good time with her visiting during some park down time :)

Sunday we spent at California Adventure.  They are remodeling 12 acres of the park for 'Cars World' which will open in the summer, so much of the park we couldn't see.  We were able to enjoy the World of Color water show which was excellent and partake in the night elecTRONica dance party that goes on at night.  Good times.

Once the park closed, we still had a few hours left so we hit up Disneyland once again and did Space Mountain.  Spent some time shopping then calling it a night - a bit of sadness in the eyes knowing it was the last day in Disney.

We finished our trip by have a leisure day at Downtown Disney before driving back home.  The quick trip was well worth it, and I think being spoiled with the 'inclusive' experience will have us really thinking future trips and how we will spend them at Disney.