Disneyland!

We had an amazing 4 days in the Disneyland parks- so prepare yourself for a lot of pictures of our time there!

We rode so many rides, and hardly ever had to wait in line!

Not even for Mickey!!! When we walked in the park our first day he was right there, with only a couple people waiting to see him- so we jumped in for a photo- or a photo shoot, rather!

That's a lot of Baldwins!

Let's ride some rides!

The virtual fast pass system was AMAZING and told us when to go to each of the more popular rides so our waiting would be minimal- then we could hit all the little rides around it until our time slot came up!

Mater's Junkyard Jamboree:

And Luigi's Honkin' Halloween:

Radiator Springs Racers was one of my favorites! 

We saw Chip and Dale wandering around outside Grizzly River Run and had to snag a few photos!

Turns out- you come back a bit wet from that one! The Grizzly River has a geyser in it- who knew?!
Some before shots...

And a soaked crew after!

Toy Mania was a fun shooting game- in 3D!

The Arendale (Frozen) castle had a meet and greet with the princesses as well as an AMAZING live show of Frozen!

That same building had "Turtle talk with Crush" and a drawing studio.
We took a drawing class and learned how to draw Miguel from Coco.

Turtle talk with Crush was super cool! The turtle was completely interactive- he could hear the questions and responded very genuinely to the kids. I took a few movies that I didn't want to put in the compilation because Crush is talking to kids in our clan and I wanted to leave the full clip and audio unedited-

I didn't catch one of Nathan's favorite references to his commentary because it was in passing, but when the whale came on and says he's "picking something up" using his echolocation, Crush said "Oh, I hope it's not Starcraft!" :) Guess he thought the battle theme was a bit much for his taste!

I LOVED how easy it was to snag a "cast member" with a camera and get a family picture taken all over the place...but as you cal tell the kids had better things to be doing :)

Inside Out had a fun little balloon ride that was right next to the Incredicoaster!

Increadicoaster!

This was hands down my favorite ride, and the fast passes worked so well that we got to ride it a TON of times! It was very fast, but smooth- and had cool scenery to look at and even smalls incorporated into the theme- super well done! Hannah and Nathan loved this one too!

Big Thunder mountain was also a hit with our crew!

The little ones loved the giant swings.

Hyperspace mountain was also among my favorites!

Any time it started to be warmer than was comfortable, we would hit up Splash Mountain!!! Loved by...most :)

And one of my personal favorites: The Guardians of the Galaxy!

So, we didn't tell the kids anything about this ride before going on it. They loved the scenery and the intro, and the cool little rebel raccoon...Even Dallin was tall enough to ride this one, so we all went together, and as we went along the kids started noticing that everyone around us was commenting on how brave the little ones were to be going on this ride- and the wheels started to turn :)

In the end we go some mixed results:

Hannah and Dallin- LOVED IT

Nathan silently held on for dear life the whole time, and when it stopped he asked in a shaking voice, "Is it over?"- when I replied affirmatively he broke down in sobs. Needless to say, he declined all subsequent riding opportunities on this one!

Levi- didn't quite know what hit him the first time around and got almost all the way out of the exit maze before breaking down in sobs. Then a few hours later wanted to go again- but that time sealed the deal, this ride was not for him!

I guess getting dropped over and over again from really high is not everybody's thing!

One of the days we dressed the girls up for a Princess day, and while the boys all went and rode Star Tours and Astro Blasters repeatedly we went and visited the Princesses! (after a photo shoot, of course, hehe)

Princess TIME!!! (Hannah REALLY wanted to have make-up "you could see"- so I did my best!)

That day we also took advantage of the low line to get photos in front of the castle!

Another photo shoot?!?! Yes please!

  

The new Star Wars land, Galaxy's Edge was MIND BLOWING!

The little kids saw these alien animals in one of the shops (which are "sleeping", but are also robotic and moving here and there, making little noises) and were sure they were real! The person at the register of the shop overheard the kids and totally played along: told them it would bite if they put their fingers in the cage, assured them it was alive when they skeptically asked, etc- it was awesome!

The Millennium Falcon was also pretty legit.



Once you get inside they give you a card that designates each person in your party to be a pilot, an engineer or a gunner. Little did we know that you each actually have to DO those things on the ride! It was more of a simulator than a ride!
(Had we known that I would not have let Dallin be a pilot!)

Start Wars chess, for while we waited!

Here's our 2 pilots! (Good thing one of them actually knows how to fly this thing and has really long arms so he can reach over and fly using the other's controls as needed...)

The second row was for the gunners. Nathan figured out pretty quickly that he was actually in charge of the shooting taking place and took his role VERY seriously.

Turns out as engineers we were supposed to be repairing the ship as needed- but I may have been videoing instead! Andrew gave it his all, no thanks to me, our ship was in pretty sorry shape at the end of our ride.
The cool thing was, we left out the same doors we came in, but the hallways were in total disrepair this time! Wires sparking and pieces of paneling missing, that sort of thing.
Great job Disney!

You could even build your own light saber!

Uh-oh... these kids are starting to keep some shady company!

Here's a more innocent friend :)

We managed to full an entire boat with just Baldwins on It's a Small World!
This happened to be a favorite all around. The kids had competitions to see how many movie characters they could spot hiding in all the different lands- and it was quite a few!

The kids got to try their hand at driving- but decided after one go of this they were no where near ready to drive :)
I also decided after having Cathy drive behind me that she should have her licence suspended!
That woman rear ended me SO many times on the NOT bumper cars driving course....shameful.

It was fun to see everyone try their hand at removing the sword from the stone.

This rough and tumble princess of mine...where did she come from?

Selfie!

We all rode the carousel while gathering the troops for the Peter Pan ride (another of the favorites).

Think happy thoughts!

Toon-town was almost an afterthought- but it was a HUGE hit!

Let us out!!! We're innocent, we swear!

This was so much fun we stayed until after dark playing around in this super kid-friendly land where EVERYTHING does something and it looks like you walked right into a cartoon!

Mickey and Minnie's houses had lots to explore:

They even had a mini roller coaster!

And the gardens were loads of fun!

Dance Party with Disney Junior!

Frozen Mickey ice cream treats!

Even mom and dad found an ice cream treat that looked tasty!

Check out these messy faces!

Oh Tori...There's a stick in that ice cream for a reason!

Levi's favorite ride of all was the Under the Sea adventure from Little Mermaid, but as you can see, we all enjoyed our ride in a seashell!

We also had a group date night to see the World of Color show. We bought special tickets with reserved seating, unlimited hot cocoa and dessert plates. Totally worth it!!!

This was definitely one of the highlights for me!

We took some time to explore Tarzan's treehouse:

And crossed the drawbridge into another land!

Days full of rides...

yummy snacks...

and so much family!
We took up half of the submarine on the Finding Nemo ride!

Jeremy's cousin and his family even hung out with us while we were there!

On our last day there, the kids each picked 1 or 2 souvenirs.

Boy are they in love with their new treasures!

(You can't actually see, but Nathan picked Gaston's bow and arrow set).

Here is a compilation of the movies I took over the week:

I have to say, when all is said and done- Disneyland was nothing short of a magical experience for us. All the planning and saving really played out to our advantage. The kids did GREAT! We are so glad that we got to share it with so much family, that the weather and the crowds could not have been better, and we created memories that will last us for a while- but....

Can't wait to go back!