Disneyland Ho!

We took off early from school on the very last day and headed out for sunny California. One very long, but not entirely unpleasant drive later, we arrived at our hotel in Anaheim just in time to hit the sack and wake up early for breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Resort Hotel.

The breakfast buffet was fun, with anything you can imagine to eat for breakfast, including ice cream with sprinkles, peach cobbler, made-to-order omelet, Mickey Mouse waffles, and peanut butter pizza. Something for everyone! But even better than the food was the dining experience, with Disney characters coming around to visit each table personally. Cole got the biggest kick out of this, and it was so fun to watch him! He hugged and loved all the characters, and he even played tickle tag with Baloo. Goofy picked Cole to come down to the front of the buffet area and help him start a song. (Periodically they would start up a song and get the whole place dancing and clapping--it was pretty fun.) Cole got to get the first set of pots and pans to bang and get the dancing started with Goofy. How cute is that? Luke loved eating watermelon and ice cream for breakfast. Cade loved the Mickey Mouse waffles. And Luke loved that Chip (the chipmunk, Dale's buddy) commented on his food choices by writing on the paper table cloth, "Ice cream for breakfast? Only in Disneyland!" It was a perfect start to a fun-filled day.

We had just two days in Disneyland, so we planned them out using Ridemax, a little software download that helps you plan when to hit which ride for maximum fun capacity and minimum waiting time. It worked great! We got to ride all the rides we wanted to, see all the shows we were hoping for, and do all our favorites again. Cole and I split up from the others for one afternoon while they did all the rollercoaster-type things that we were either too short or too pregnant to go on. He fell asleep in the stroller on our way back to meet the others at Splash Mountain. Good thing, too, because we ended up deciding to stay late for fireworks at the Cinderella castle. What a display! The Disney crew sure knows how to make a production out of whatever they do. We all had a great time.

Here are some excerpts from the boys' journal entries about Disneyland:

Luke: My favorite rides were Space Mountain, California Screamin', Soaring Over California, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Indiana Jones. I loved the Jedi Training. I was one of the people that was chosen to become a padawan. It was so cool. We learned how to use a light saber and at the end we got to fight Darth Maul. I had an extra extra extra extra extra extra ummm....well, let's just say I had a lot of fun.

Cade: Disnyland: "Space Montin" was my faivorit ride out of all Disnyland (and Caleafonya Adventure Park). It had the longest line you could ever amadgin (I bet)!!!!!!!

Calafornya Adventure Park: My faivorit (in Calafornya Adventor Park) was Sorin' over Calafonya. It was fun! Totlaly!!!!!

Cole (with a little help from me): Cole's favorite ride at Disneyland was Buzz Lightyear. He liked to shoot his laser gun at the evil emperor Zurg. Says Cole, "Zurg is Buzz Lightyear's enemy. What kind of gun does he have? A blaster? He does have a blaster gun!"

Cole also loved going to breadfast at Goofy's Kitchen. His favorite part of that experience was "Baloo tickling me. I tickled him back lots of times." He was so tall, "he was about to break the ceiling--and the lights!"

Another fun thing Cole got to do was at Turtle Talk with Crush--Crush is the sea turtle form the movie "Finding Nemo." "I told the turtle my name. And it is Cole." Crush swims into a giant aquarium-like screen and talks and intereacts with the audience. Cole was the first person he picked to talk to--he asked his name, where he was from, and who he came with. To which Cole answered, "Cole," "I don't really kow," and "The fishies," respectively. Then Crush asked who claimed responsibility for Cole and talked to Lanny about where we're from. Later he told Cole, "Mini-man, Cool Cole, you came with your Dad, not the fishies." Cole was pretty cute--he kept everyone smiling and laughing. Crush also taught him how to say, "Totally sweet!" and he still uses that phrase, or "so totally cool" on a regular basis.

Lanny and I loved watching the kids have such a good time. Luke kept saying, "I can't believe we're really in Disneyland." And when I asked Cade how he liked Space Mountain when they met back up with sleeping Cole and I, he had no words to describe it, so he just squealed with a huge smile across his face. It was so fun to spend that time just for them. We all had a blast!