Disneyland

Merry Christmas to US!

It was Larry's idea for he and I to go to Disneyland. I think it's been on his mind of a while and he felt that it would make a nice Christmas Present to each other.  I completely agreed with him.  Larry doesn't mind going to Disneyland because he know that I love it.  He loves me enough to  go and act like he enjoys it too.  He made reservations for us at Paradise Pier. Oh it was nice only walking across the street to return to the hotel after a long day of walking around.  It was a nice hotel and so cute.  The room we got had two queens and since Larry was still a little under the weather it was nice.  We both really enjoyed our own space. ☺I love how Mickey is discreetly placed all over the room.  It make me happy.

We had a 3 day Hopper Pass.  This time of year is slow and we could have done both parks in 2 days but it was fun going to each of them again on our last day.  There really weren't long lines and even without a hopper pass the longest were only about 40 minutes if that.  That might not be true for the Matterhorn because that line wrapped around the mountain.  I didn't care to go on that ride.

One thing I enjoyed was looking at all the yummy treats.  I think they are so cute.  I specifically like that you can watch through a glass window as the workers dip and decorate the caramel apples and marshmallow sticks. I stopped a watched a few times.  I noticed that they use plastic bowls for the white chocolate and they really knock the apples to get the extra off.  They use Peters Caramel too.  It was quite enjoyable for me to watch them as they worked.

Saturday we visited Disneyland.  It was still decorated for Christmas for a few days and they even played Christmas music throughout the park.  I loved it all!  It was so festive and wonderful.  The inner child in me became active right off the bat.  Larry's inner child didn't stay put for long before it was out and running.  One thing we promised Trichelle was to see if we could get a remote for Zaden's Mater truck he had made a few years ago.  They had lost his and was hoping they could replace it.  We stopped on our way in the first day.  Yes, they had replacements for $5.  We knew we would be stopping back by the Cars shop to pick that up.  When we did Larry was acting all giddy and I asked him if he'd like to make a car or truck.  He was so cute and admitted that he did.  I loved watching him choose the body, tires, rims and accessories.  He was just like a little kid again.  (so cute)   He made a Monster Mater with flashing rims of different colors and a light bar that fit on the cab.  He even bought the extra chip so that Mater talked.  hahaha ☺My heart couldn't help but smile all over.

I love the parades.  I just think everything about the parades is fun.  A little girl from Australia was sitting right by me and the characters and princesses sure made her feel happy as they waved and noticed her.  I noticed when I was looking through all these pictures that one gal on a float was making a heart with her hands like we had on our sweatshirts.  It made me smile. ☺  While we were waiting for the parade we saw a few Characters pass right by us.  I love when the Characters stop and acknowledge the guests.  When I saw them stoop or squat down to get on the kids level my eyes teared up.  I kept thinking about our cute grands coming in a few weeks and how they will be doing that for Jordyn.

On Sunday we chose not to go into the park but we did go hang out at Downtown Disney.  I think a lot of people just go down to Downtown Disney to spend time.  It's a cool place to hang out.  Larry watched parts of a few ball game on a big screen outside of ESPN.  I enjoyed the live bands and people watching.  It was a fun way to spend the day.  We ate at Goofy's Kitchen that night.  Goofy's Kitchen is so much fun.  I love seeing the Characters walk around and greet everyone.  We made sure that we had our picture taken with them all.  At first Larry didn't really want to but I think he decided he'd rather be in the pictures than not and so his resistance lowered.  We're both just big kids at heart.

On Monday we had early entry to California Adventure.  Early entry was at 9:00 because of the slow season and I liked that just fine.  Everyone hurried to the Cars ride and we all walked right on.  I love Cars Land.  It was very festive and cute but is super cute any time of year.  We walked around and then headed to the Toy Story ride.  It was just opening and so we rode it a few times.  I use to always beat Larry but now he beats me.  I'm getting slower and less accurate and I don't really care.  The weather  was nice.  We did get rain on Tuesday which was funny because that was suppose to be the good day.  I carried an umbrella with us every day and only had to open it for a short time on one of the other days.  Compared to the minus degrees at home we were in heat wave.   I loved the temperatures the whole time...even when it rained it wasn't cold.  There were a few changes from the last time I was there.  The Aladdin show is no longer there.  They have a new Frozen play now in it's place.  They use to have a place from Frozen where you could go inside and play in snow and even build a tiny snowman and that is gone now too.  When we went to Eat at Ariel's Grotto on Tuesday they had changed that also.  We were most disappointed in that change.  They use to bring out a tiered dish with appetizers and salad on it.  It was pretty fancy looking but I guess too much food was being wasted and so now each person can choose a soup or salad to go with their entree.  I doubt we will go there again.  I would still suggest it though for people with little girls who want to meet the Princesses.   They get to meet Ariel right off the bat and then four more Princesses come out and visit every table.  The food was good but we preferred the old way they did it.

We both slept good every night because we were exhausted.  I hate to admit it but we tire quicker than we use to.  We didn't stay until the parks closed either. haha  We knew we could go back and rest and come back but when we were done, we were done!

When we were in a gift shop in Cars Land, Larry kept holding up and looking at Mack.  I noticed that he did that three different times.  I think he might have been looking for the price but when I asked him if he wanted he just smiled. ☺We decided to get it along with a stuffed Mater and some plastic cars that babies can chew on.  Because we were at the Paradise we could purchase those things and they would deliver them to us.  Sweet!  Of course we also had to buy another carry on bag to bring all the toys home in.  Larry makes me giggle.  Larry is kind though and lets the grands play with his toys when they come over.

This really was a fun trip for us both.  Larry got over his sickness and we both had a really good time.  We enjoyed the warm weather and each other.  We loved walking around observing all the different people.  It was fun letting our inner children out....you can get away with almost anything in Disneyland.  It was fun seeing others do the same.  We are blessed and we really do appreciate all that we are able to enjoy in life.  Life is pretty darn fun if you take time to make it happen.

Our last day we had early entry to Disneyland.  We thought going to Indiana Jones would be a good choice.  It wasn't....that part of the park didn't open until 10:00.  So we went into Fantasy Land and of course there was a long line for Peter Pan....there always is.  Larry asked me why it was always so long and truly I just think it's a novelty. We headed to Alice in Wonderland and just as we approached the cars the ride stopped.  Everyone on the ride had to be assisted off.  We didn't see it open the rest of the day.  We had time to spare and I felt like we were walking in circles trying to decide the best thing to do. I was kind of bugged on my inside and so finally I just told Larry we were going to wait for Peter Pan.  That's right...we were going to walk back and forth for forty minutes to ride in a boat that sailed over the city.  Larry was sure it was going to break down when we got to the front of the line because it's happened to us before.  This time however, the ride continued to work and we got to sail around for a minute or two.  Now he can say he has rode Peter Pan.  I'm sure he will never let me convince him to stand in that line again though. ☺  By the time we finished that ride we were able to go to Adventure Land and walk on the Indiana Jones ride.  We rode a few more rides that we like before heading back to California Adventure for lunch at Ariel's.

When we had done everything that we wanted to at both parks we headed back to the Hotel to catch a shuttle to the airport.  We still had plenty of time and so we decided to just chill in the lobby.  Well at least I chilled in the lobby.  Larry wanted to go in the gift shop again.  The guy makes me laugh.  He was in there for quite some time.  I even wondered if he had exited through the other door without me seeing him.  When he did come out he had a huge bag.  I couldn't help but laugh out loud at him.  His face was so cute.  He had decided to buy a bunch of stuffed toys.  Larry loves stuffed toys and had already bought one a few days earlier.  I guess he wanted more. (I told him we already had a Mickey and Minnie...now we have 2)  I wasn't sure how we were going to get them all home because our bags were packed.  We unzipped them anyway and shoved them in.  Surprisingly we fit everything.  I seriously enjoyed watching Larry enjoy himself.  He was able to buy so much because we had a Disney card with lots of money on it.  We have a credit card that earns points and we have been using it for a few years and so we had quite a bit on it. I think I can say with confidence that Larry had a good time!  Me too! ♥