Disneyland Part 1

We had a really memorable time at Disneyland! It was magical in so many ways. I had no idea what to expect, since our family tends to avoid crowds and we love quiet places like the beach. Plus with Jude's sensory issues we've always wondered at what point Disney would work for us, but I have to say Jude did great and we all really enjoyed ourselves! Plus, with the Max Pass we avoided the long lines, which was wonderful!

I think my favorite thing about it was just how much fun we had as a family. We went with the flow and just enjoyed whatever we chose to do. I think there were only a couple small rides we never made it on, but we did just about everything on the map! We even paddled the canoe in the river, which was a pretty fun, and funny ride! Our guide had us laughing a lot!

I loved that there were photographers there to help us capture memories. What a great idea!

We were at Disneyland for four days, a Saturday - Tuesday, which was a great combo of getting the weekend fireworks/experiences plus a couple days of smaller crowds. Sunday night was our favorite because the crowds dwindled with people going back to work, but the park still was open late! That was the night that we got to ride the new Star Wars ride five times in a row, with zero line!

The kids and I had made these shirts before our trip, as a fun craft to get us excited. 

#feglesfive ;)

Our first day there, we stayed at the park until 6pm, and we were all just too wiped out to keep going. So we returned to the Candy Cane Inn (next door to Disney, where we stayed - more about that at the bottom of the post) and decided to swim, soak in the hot tub, and watch the Disney fireworks from the Inn. We brainstormed a strategy to avoid the middle of the day when it was the hottest and most crowded, so for our next three consecutive days we figured out a groove of going to the park in the morning and returning to the Inn around 2pm to swim and nap, and then return to the park around 6pm and stay until closing. Plus, we're night owls, so we loved the lit up park in the evenings! Also, I should point out that the weather was in the 80's our first two days, and was in the 90's on the last two days. It was 97 degrees on our last day... so all the more reason to nap and swim mid-day.

Our second day was a blast, and probably our favorite day! We just had SO much fun!! We rode splash mountain in the morning, knowing we'd dry quickly.

We got to see lots of characters. 

And Jude got to talk to Kylo Ren, and get a photo with him, which was really tricky. Because the characters do such a great job of staying in character all Kylo Ren would ever say to Jude is, "Out of my way!" So Jude said to him, "If you'll let me have my picture taken with you, I'll join you on the dark side." Kylo said, "Granted" and Jude got his photo. Then Jude said, "Just kidding!" and Kylo Ren looked angry as a storm trooper said to Jude, "You shouldn't have done that." Jude thought it was pretty fun.

I loved this area so much...

My cousin Chelsi advised us to get sundae's at the Golden Horseshoe, so we did! We also got root beer floats. I have to point out that I loved that the Max Pass allowed us to order all our food through our phone and walk right up to the counter to pick it up! No waiting in lines. It's brilliant. We took advantage of that every day and loved it.

We loved the Tangled area! Rapunzel's hair glows every hour.

We ended up Riding Thunder Mountain Railroad eight times over the course of our time there. It was our favorite ride. The new Star Wars ride was our second favorite. I'd say that third place was a tie between Incredicoaster, Flying Around the World, Splash Mountain & Space Mountain.

That night we returned to the park and rode Thunder Mountain while the fireworks were going off!! It was unreal, and kind of felt like a tv commercial. We just kept saying, "Oh wow! Oh wow!"

Here's Selah and Ben in the car in front of me...

When the ride was over there was still about five minutes of the show that we loved watching.

Because it was Halloween time, the Disney photographers kept having us do this pose... we started to laugh at how often they recommended it. ;) But all of the photographers there were so great and upbeat!

I loved this...

My love...

Everything was so pretty decorated for fall...

I'm going to have to put our last two days in another post since I took so many photos. :)

I also wanted to document a little bit about the Candy Cane Inn, where we stayed, because we enjoyed it so much! Since we booked this trip just two weeks before we left, it was trickier to find deal on lodging, since most places were booked, but the Candy Cane Inn had a premium room for the five of us and it was just right. It's a boutique hotel, so it felt homey and more personal. Not only did the Inn have free parking, and a free shuttle (and sweetest drivers!) to and from the park every 30 minutes, but it was so close to the park (right next door) that it made it so easy to go back and forth from the park! The breakfast by the pool is included and it's quite impressive! They bring in fresh pastries and donuts every morning. The pool and hot tub are open until 11pm, and our kids loved making use of it daily. Even with Radiator Springs on the other side of the fence from our room, we never could hear the park. It was quiet. We also could see the Disney fireworks from the Inn. It just worked out to be a sweet little spot to stay that we were happy with.

These first three pics to follow are from their website, since I didn't do much capturing of the place... this is where we had breakfast each morning...

They had these ham and cheese croissants that were so good... this is only some of the food.

Selah resting...

For memory sake, I have a funny story from one evening when we were in the hot tub. We met another family and our kids were all swimming together. We adults were talking and found out that their family was part of a group of 72 family members, staying at the Inn. No wonder we had a hard time getting a room. ;) Anyway, Grandpa & Grandma (or was it Great Grandpa/Grandma?) of this large family had paid for the entire family (all 72 of them) to go to Disneyland for several days and they even provided a coordinating shirt for every family member for each day. As we adults were talking in the hot tub, the dad was watching his kids in the pool with a very concerned look on his face, so I turned around to make sure they were ok too. Two of the kids were struggling in the center of the pool. They'd pop up and go back down and we couldn't tell if they were ok or not. I went to the edge of the pool and watched for a second, but they appeared to be struggling to swim and their arms were all over the place, so I jumped in and grabbed the boy and swam him to the edge. He looked at me so confused and I started laughing. He apparently was just fine, I could tell by his face, but it was his sister who was the one that was struggling, and she paddled her way to the stairs and was fine. It was an exhilarating minute and a funny story, and we were all thankful the kids were fine. Better safe than sorry! Even if I helped the wrong kid.

Oh man, that hot tub was glorious after each day of walking. It reset our feet for another day of walking.