Disneyland and California Adventure!

Quite possibly my favorite vacation picture.  And yes, I had to bribe them to wear their ears.

I love/hate Disneyland.  It's so magical for little kids and I have so many fun memories of going when I was younger, but it's soooooo expensive and often crowded and hot-- all of which puts a damper on the "magicalness" of it for me.  Regardless, every few years I can't ignore it's siren call and find myself eager to take my kiddos.  We do have family rules about attendance, though.  We only go on week days (usually Tuesday or Wednesday) when school is in session and only spend one day at the park-- none of this 5 day pass business. lol

Look at that scrumptious pout!

This year I decided to take the kids to both Disneyland and California Adventure.  I hadn't been to California Adventure in probably 9 years and with the addition of Cars Land and the Little Mermaid ride I knew that my kids would probably have a lot of fun there.

Driving the cars on the autotopia

My dad took the day off of work to accompany us on our first day.  Luckily, we got the Southern California discount rate because he was with us; so our 2 day one park a day ticket cost $120 each (normally $165 for kids and $178 for adults).  Thank goodness for a little savings!  It was HOT and mildly crowded, but we had a great time.  We didn't wait more than 25 minutes to ride anything.

Happy to ride Splash Mountain

Soaked and unsure about the whole experience

Ruby was thrilled that she was finally tall enough to ride the "big kid rides."  We got her on Splash Mountain once, but she was sitting in the front and got soaked so she wasn't keen on the idea of doing it again. lol  Both she and Wyatt loved the Haunted Mansion and the Winnie the Pooh ride-- we did each of them twice.  Of course, Tome Sawyer's Island (or Pirate's Cove-- I think that's what they call it now), the parade, Jungle Cruise, and Peter Pan's Flight were also big hits.  Ruby was not trilled with Star Tours and likewise, Wyatt didn't not like Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.  Neither of them liked Pinocchio's Daring Journey or Snow White's Scary Adventures-- too scary!

Don't mind Wyatt's bum.  This shot of Ruby and my dad waiting for the parade is precious.

Sadly, we didn't get to meet Elsa and Ana.  Ruby REALLY wanted to, so we got to the line 15 minutes after the park opened; but the line was 4.5 hours long- NO JOKE!  I have never heard of such madness and was appalled that 1) parents would spend half the day in line to spend 2 min with a character after paying nearly $100 to get into the park and 2) that Disneyland didn't have a better solution.  Once I heard the news I promised Ruby that she could buy an Ana and Elsa doll at the end of the day if we didn't have to wait in line.  Luckily, it worked!  As the day wore on we did wait to see Tinkerbell and her fairy friend (25 minutes is reasonable, folks) and we even ran into Tiana in New Orleans Square (just a 5 min wait- score!).

How Papa and Wyatt felt about waiting for Tinkerbell in the heat of the day.

The kids had a great time and were happy and exhausted by the end of the day.  I was really proud of them.  They lasted from the park opening to the park closing with out tears, naps, or melt downs.  Success!

 The next day I was crazy enough to wake up and take them back to Anaheim to play at California Adventure.  It was another scorcher, but California Adventure was way less crowded and has some fun splash pad areas that helped us stay cool.  The first part of the day we had fun in Bug's Land, discovered Monster's Inc, Mike and Sully to the Rescue, Ariel's Undersea Adventure, and King Triton's Carousel.  We also enjoyed The Disney Jr. Live show.  Don't you love watching your kid's faces when something is magical to them?  I think I watched their expressions more than I watched the show itself.

Monster's Inc was a hit-- we rode it twice and the later Wyatt rode it an additional 2 times with his friend Diesel.

Entertaining themselves in line by having hug attacks.

Checking out California Adventure from the ferris wheel.

 By the afternoon our friends joined us and turned up the fun!  My girlfriend Wendy has an annual pass and a little girl just 6 months younger than Ruby and a little boy just 6 months younger than Wyatt.  They love playing together and Wendy and I love chatting, so it made everything 100 times more awesome.  Since the girls were both tall enough to ride most of the "big kid rides" we'd trade.  I would take them on a big kid ride and Wendy would take the boys on the smaller rides and vise versa.

McKenzie is a mini version of her mom Wendy.

The girls loved the new Radiator Springs Racers-- and so did I!  (It was probably my favorite ride).  They also loved Soaring Over California, but Ruby was not a fan of Goofy's Sky School (it's a roller coaster) and Wyatt hid behind me every time water squirted out of a float during the parade route.

Little stinker loved making this face and blowing raspberries.

Once again, they made it to the end of the day.  Both were asleep by the time I left the parking lot.  I just wish I wasn't driving so that I could have fallen asleep early, too!  Later when I asked them which park they liked better they said "both!"  Hopefully they got their fill, because it will be a few more years before we do it again. lol