We left Saturday morning and flew to Denver, then on to L.A. where we caught the Disney bus down to the resort. After we got checked in, we had a little bit of time before we had to walk over to Bubba Gump Shrimp where we were meeting my friends from grad school at UC Irvine.
Left to right: Ashley holding Hattie (3 yrs old), Mark, Jenny, Seth, me, Evie, Nicole (3 yrs old) held by Matthew and Michelle, and Toby sitting next to me and Evie
Evie had a great time with the girls and we all had a good time catching up on what's been going on since we last saw each other in May 2016. We walked back past the park gates where we got our first glimpse of the park in its Halloween decorations - there were pumpkins in the shape of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy above Disneyland, and an Ooogie Boogie silhouette above California Adventure. (Mind you, I used to work at Disney and Seth and I went there almost every week when we lived in SoCal, so this wasn't new to us, but we were excited to see it through Evie's eyes). Then we walked through Downtown Disney to get to our hotel. Evie marveled at tthe Lego store with its legos of Beauty and the Beast and Maleficent as a dragon fighting Prince Phillip.
Sunday was our first day at Disneyland. We had breakfast in our room (I had Ralph's make a delivery so we could have cereal and other breakfast food), and then we headed to the park. Evie was up at 6:30 (which felt like 8:30 to us), so we got to the park as soon as it opened and were able to very quickly get onto rides that we knew would have long waits later in the day (Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Haunted Mansion). Then we sort of took the rest of the day as it came, going here and there. Evie wanted to see Tarzan's tree house again because she remembered being scared of the jaguar (Sabor) last time. She went up in the tree house and saw what it was like and said, "I was scared of this?!" She had been frightened as a 3 year old that Sabor was going to get her, but I guess she realizes now that a plastic jaguar is not going to attack her. It was neat to see her conquer this fear. That night, we watched the new iteration of the Fantasmic! show which I briefly worked on during my time as a Disneyland Assistant Stage Manager, and Evie made friends with some college students before the show and enjoyed answering and asking them questions. She is so like her Grandaddy Mouse who would also strike up a conversation with people while waiting for something.
Waiting outside the gates for "rope drop"
Evie's face upon seeing the huge Mickey pumpkin
Enjoying a "Cheshire Cat Tail" (marshmallows covered in caramel, then pink colored chocolate, with purple glittery fudge!)
Waiting to ride the Astro Orbitor
I love this picture so much.
Wishing wel
Clowning around with Pluto and Goofy
Tea party at Minnie's house
Mickey looks pretty good for 90.
Evie came up with this hook pose all on her own.
We lucked out with a tea party with Alice and the Mad Hatter
Morning flight with Dumbo
Family portrait
Tigger was so funny
Matt holding Evie when her feet got too tired.
After dinner, Matt, Taryn, and Seth went back to Disneyland and Evie and I capped off the night with a last ride before heading back to the hotel to go to bed.
Late night Jumpin' Jellyfish
She was worn out!
Tuesday we had already planned to take the morning off and only go into the park for the special event: Mickey's Halloween Party. So we started with a character breakfast where we got autographs and hugs from Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, and Pluto. Evie had asked last week if we thought Minnie would remember her because Minnie was the first character she saw when we went into the park when she was 3. We definitely saw a lot of Minnie Mouse on this trip, and this was our first encounter. But later we saw her walking through the park on her way to the parade, we saw her at her house, then again walking through the park, and finally at our last character breakfast (more on that later).
Evie had the best time with Pluto!
Then I took Evie swimming while Seth tried to fight off a stomach bug. Fortunately he was well enough to go into the park to kick off our special event. We caught the parade right as we entered the park and then made our way to ride Splash Mountain - Evie LOVED that ride. I HATE drops, so I would hold onto her and close my eyes.
Evie is having a blast and I am petrified.
Then the trick-or-treating started. Evie has a Mickey jack-o-lantern for a trick-or-treat bucket.
Evie enjoyed meeting the lady Pirate, Redd. She wanted to meet Smee from Peter Pan, but he left just before we got to the front of the line.
Watching the fireworks
Face paint in progress
She was exhausted and fell asleep in Daddy's arms on the way back to the hotel.
Thursday was our Magic Morning day that we decided to use at Disneyland. Magic Morning means we got an extra hour in the park, so we used that to wait in the line for the Peter Pan ride, which is always long. Then we rode in a car down Main Street - Evie had been asking to ride the horse-drawn trolley, but we couldn't figure out where to go for that. Then Aunt Madi met up with us and did some rides, including taking my place for Splash Mountain.
We got to ride in the front of the monorail with the conductor
What visit to Disneyland is complete without Mickey pancakes?
The classic tea cup ride
Aunt Madi saves the day and rides Splash Mountain instead of me!
Then Evie got to go to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and chose to be Elsa. She got her hair, makeup, and nails done and then got pictures. She was completely convinced that she was able to do magic during her pictures, because with a wave of her hand she was able to make the lights turn on and off. Then she got to meet some princesses. After that, we went back to our hotel for dinner and then Evie and I went to bed while Matt, Madi, and Seth closed the park.
Becoming Elsa
Elsa and Ariel
Dancing with Snow White
Evie walked through the park like this the whole day
Uh oh, they're breaking out of jail!
Saturday morning was check out, but I booked us one more character breakfast as a last hurrah and I'm glad I did because it was great to see Evie enjoying the characters so much. Stitch was at our breakfast - you can't meet him in any other location - and Evie also got to spend about 5 minutes talking to Minnie Mouse. She was delightful and listened while Evie prattled on about all the things she'd done on the trip. It was a wonderful way to end our Disneyland portion of the trip.
We also finally met Donald and Daisy, who we hadn't been able to see yet. Look at the smile on this girl's face!
I have nothing but great things to say about our Disney trip. Whereas last time, we had to stop mid-day to go back to the hotel for naps, we were able to get up early and stay late, and Evie was interested in pretty much everything there was to do. She loved the rides and loved the characters. Last time, she wasn't as into the rides, and next time I'm sure she'll have different interests, so this was the perfect time to go. For record keeping, I'm listing the rides we went on at the end of this post as I'm sure the next time we go some of these will no longer be there or there will be a million others since they are adding Star Wars Land.
Moving on, on Saturday after we got checked out of the hotel and got our car, we met my dad's cousin Jimmy and family at the Chili Pepper, where we often met with them when Seth and I lived in Orange County. Then we headed up to Sylmar to see our friends Dan and Tisha and their 13-year-old son Dante who was kind enough to entertain Evie while the grown ups talked. Then we drove on to Port Hueneme to drop off our stuff at Matt's house and he rode with us to have dinner with Wolfie.
Sunday we headed to the La Brea Tar Pits where Evie was full of questions about the nature of the tar pits, the effects it had on the animals, the timing of the whole thing, how the tar pits are still active, whether people were found there, etc. She cried during the movie about how animals would get stuck in the tar and how the wooly mammoths became extinct. She's such a sensitive soul. Then we listened to one of the docents talk about the fossil structure and Evie had so many questions for her they ended up having a 10 minute conversation, just the two of them.
Then we headed to Toi on Sunset, our must-have restaurant in L.A. It's delicious Thai food and did not disappoint. Then we headed back to Ventura and met up with Wolfie and Taryn.
Monday, we had brunch again with Matt and Taryn before heading over to a pumpkin patch/farm where there was a corn maze, petting zoo, tractor ride, and all that kind of fun stuff. Then we went to Grammy's house to visit her and aunt Madi for a bit before meeting up with Wolfie.
These pumpkins were enormous!
Evie was in love with these bottle-fed goats.
Tuesday was a bit of an adventure. We went to the beach with plans afterward to go to the Ronald Reagan library, but our plans got interrupted by Seth's cold allergy (cold urticaria). He will often swell if he touches cold objects or goes out in the cold without a hat or gloves, but I've never seen anything like this. He took Evie swimming in the Pacific and they were having a great time, but when he got out, he felt dizzy and had white out vision and hives everywhere. We eventually determined we needed to go to urgent care, where he got warmed up and a bad diagnosis of dehydration, but the danger subsided. It cost us the visit to the library, but we decided to go to the outdoor mall where we had an early dinner, ice cream, and Evie got to run around the playground.
Seth and Evie, pre-cold-allergy event
We try to make sure Seth brings this blue shirt that's in 4/5 of these pictures whenever we know we're going to the beach. Bottom left: Oregon 2013. Bottom middle: Oregon 2014. Bottom right: Oregon 2015. Top right: Oregon 2017. Top left: California 2018
Wolfie took over for us while I was dealing with Seth's hives. He helped Evie collect shells and play in the water some more.
And they were buddies while walking around the outdoor mall
Attractions we did:
Disneyland side
- Fantasy Land:
Alice in Wonderland
Casey Jr. Circus Train
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
It's a Small World
Mad Tea Party
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
Peter Pan's Flight
Pinocchio's Daring Journey
Snow White's Scary Adventures
Storybook Land Canal Boats
- Toon Town:
Chip n Dale Treehouse
Donald's Boat
Gadget's Go Coaster
Goofy's Playhouse
Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin
- Tomorrow Land:
Astro Orbitor
Autopia
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
Monorail
Space Mountain
Star Tours
- Adventureand
Indiana Jones Adventure
Jungle Cruise
Tarzan's Treehouse
Tiki Room
- Frontierland
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- New Orleans Square
Haunted Mansion (Holiday)
Pirates of the Caribbean
- Critter Country
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
California Adventure side
Golden Zephyr
Goofy's Sky School
Grizzly River Run
Jumpin' Jellyfish
The Little Mermaid
Luigi's Honkin' Haul-O-Ween
Mater's Graveyard JamBOOree
Monsters Inc
Radiator Springs Racers
Silly Symphony Swings
Soarin' Around the World
Toy Story Midway Mania
Turtle Talk with Crush (Evie was the first kid to talk to him)
Attractions we missed:
- King Arthur Carousel (Evie passed on this one)
- Matterhorn (closed for refurbishment)
- Sailing Ship Columbia (closed)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (we decided this was themed too scarily)
- Incredicoaster (Evie was 1 inch too short)
- Pixar Ferris Wheel (Evie didn't want to and then when she agreed, it started lightning)
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