We knew that before the Makechnie family departed for their new adventure across the world in Saudi Arabia, a farewell Disneyland trip was in order! It was a bit last minute but we were able to have everyone except Mallory there with us. We missed Aunt Mallo a lot but were glad to be there with each other and make some wonderful memories before our sweet cousins left.
As always it was a smashing success! The crowds were a bit heavier than we planned on or would have liked. Apparently Arizona decided to have their fall break the week we were there. But we made the most of our early morning entries and we are getting quite good at the Fastpass and Stroller pass system.
Little mister was a good as could be expected. A few tears here and there put for the most part he was quite pleasant. Each night he hit the wall at about 7 o'clock and unlike other kiddo's he refused to settle down and sleep in his stroller once he hit that point. So Cody would take him back to the hotel and I would stay and hang out with the girls and everyone else for a couple more hours. This was a perfect compromise for us since Cody was basically done at that point as well.
Cute little cousins showing off their official Autopia drivers licences.
Sadie was excited to drive 'by herself'. She would giggle every time she would bonk the edge of the tracks. At one point she looked at me and said, 'This car just won't listen to me!'
Miss Abigail on her ride of choice this trip. This sweet little girl did great! I don't remember her getting grumpy ever. She is so funny, she doesn't love to be all warm and fuzzy with you, especially since she doesn't see us that often. But we did get smiles out of her when we saw the princesses!
Before this trip Kim and I had decided that we were going to make an ABC book of all the details that we could find around the park. It was so fun to plan our lists before we got there and discover more ideas once we were there. Here is our owl for the 'O' page.
Love this cute branch of our Hansen family tree, and are so happy they could come!
And my darling little Finny face, I just love his rough and tumble boy-ness.
Sadie was beyond excited when she discovered that she could meet Jack Skellington and Sally from the Nightmare before Christmas. She LOVES that show, which I don't completely understand but I also find it hilarious that she does. She and I waited in line while the others went to Splash Mountain. It was a pretty long line but she was determined. I made a couple interesting observations as we stood there. First, we had entirely too many articles of clothing on that covered way too much of our bodies and second we had far to few tattoos. Specifically tattoos of Jack, Sally or any other character from that movie.
When we rejoined the group little man was sharing a cookie with papa. And by sharing, I mean monopolizing.
We took Mister Hayze to meet Eyore and Pooh and he was thrilled! He wanted to hug them and be snuggled right up next to them.
To finish off our first day we headed back to Cars Land to use our fast passes on Radiator Springs racers. This trip was so much fun for Sadie because she was tall enough to ride all the rides that she was too small for when we went in January. She was so excited and pretty brave about riding them. I think it is safe to say that Radiator Springs and Big thunder mountain were her favorites. I think she and Mya rode Big Thunder 4 times in a row.
-Day 2-
I love these three crazy kiddo's! They make everything so much fun and so magical. I adore watching them experience each thing for the first time. It is also so fun to see them experience things they have done before but with a new age comes new understanding and more fun.
I adore all the fall decorations!
We met quite a few characters today! As we entered the park we were able to meet Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip and Dale and Donald!
This cute little boy has a pretty special place in his heart for his Papa.
Small World was a must. I really do love this ride! I love the costuming and all the little details in each scene. This time however this ride held special significance. As our boat, filled entirely with Hansen's, floated through the ride and we listened to the Song my heart was full. Our family was changing, we will be spread across the country and across the world but our hearts will stay together.
I love my sweet Kimmy. She is the sister that I had to wait to find. I feel so blessed for the friendship and bond that we have created. She is my confidant, someone to laugh with and my shoulder to cry on. I admire her courage and faith as she takes her little family across the world.
And dear Camarie, another of my dear sisters that came to me later in my life. I am so blessed to have her as well as Mallory and McKenzie. I love them all and am so thankful for their love and support.
"It's a Small World after All!"
We had to get one picture of me and this guy. I love my man!
Oh papa, my partner in Diet Coke crime.
Shooting the aliens on Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters.
Mr. Tate just adores all things Star Wars, and had been planning on attending the Jedi training show this trip. He was hoping to be selected to participate and was super excited when he was chosen! We were just as thrilled for him and were a pretty rowdy cheering section. It was so cute to watch him practice his light saber skills and then at the end he even battle Darth Vader!
Cute cousins.
If you want to visit your favorite friends from Frozen you have to arrive early and get a fast pass with a special return time. Daddy and Uncle Glenn and Uncle Adam were nice enough to speed into the park that morning and get us one while we were meeting all the characters. We were so happy to have it because we arrived and walked right in. We had heard of people that had waited up to 3 hours before the return time ticket so this was amazing!
These little Frozen fans were pretty excited.
The entire time we were in the park Sadie kept asking for 'Cheerios'. We couldn't figure out why she wanted breakfast cereal. Eventually we figured out that she wanted Churros! And Papa was sweet enough to treat her to some.
We knew that we definitely had to make our way to Toon Town so that we could let Hayze meet 'Mee-Mow' (Mickey Mouse). This was probably the longest line we waited in all day. Thankfully Mickey's house is full of things for little hands to play with and climb on.
Sweet Miss Abby is so over the photo shoot.
We finally made it to the dressing room of the big mouse himself.
There were plenty of hugs and smiles from all of us!
Of course Mickey had to sign all our bags.
Little man was beside himself with excitement! There was another group in front of us and he couldn't stand that we couldn't get up to him. He saying, 'Mee-Mow!!' and signing please over and over. It was darling! So when it was finally his turn we put him down and he ran as quick as he could and just hugged Mickey. He would pause, look up and then just hug him again.
We tried a couple of times to get him to leave, but he would just run back to him and hug him again. Finally, Cody had to grab him and carry him out.
After meeting Mickey we met back up with Makechnie's to have lunch and then we watched the Pixar parade.
Our evening ended with some Toy Story Midway Mania.
There is something utterly adorable about little faces in 3-D glasses.
-Day 3-
Back again for some more Toy Story.
This little guy is definitely mine. Loves him some diet coke.
A blue Seahorse for Sadie and a pink one for Mya.
A view of our favorite lunch and dinner place.
Filling up at Flo's V-8 Cafe.
If you look closely at little Miss Mya's button, you will see that there is a bellhop drawn on it. That's because she was fantastically brave and rode the Tower of Terror for her very first time. The Bellhop on the ride was proud of her too and made her a button that says she is an honorary bellhop. In the moment she was none too happy but afterward she was pretty proud of herself.
Despite being October it was blazing hot while we were there! I was often a dripping mess so when we could find a shady spot for the kids to have fun we were all over it. We found just that kind of spot in the Wilderness Explorers adventure. The adults were able to sit down and relax and there was so much for the kids to do.
Sleepy Mister Hayze.
Mya was tall enough to try out the rock climbing wall and we were all pretty impressed with how well she did. She loved it and that's on the top of her list of things she wants to do again next time we go.
Our last night we stayed for the world of color. We had to wait a little bit so we broke out our glow sticks and made our own show while we waited.
No comments:
Post a Comment