Going west .. the Moody gang does Disneyland !

[Moodyzblu]

Being a WDW veteran .. I would be lying if I said I wasn't very apprehensive about venturing all away across the country to go to Disneyland .. but it was my little guy Jayden's enthusiasm about Carsland that prompted this trip .. and BOY am I glad we did it !!

It was me, Michelle, my 8 year old twin boys Jesse and Jayden. Also my daughter, Jillianne and her 5yr old son Maddox. This was my grandsons first Disney trip ever and so it was extra special .. for sure !
He was SO excited .. he actually fainted in line for security at the airport !

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He slept most of the way there ..

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But once we got there .. he did great !

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I did take a lot of pictures .. but I mostly took videos .. which I just love so much more ! I spend a lot of time on Youtube posting and watching Disney videos ..

Day 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZWIOL5uw5k

Day 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0HY2PKjkNs

Day 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a4DxxM3YcM

Day 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T37jWUhKIiA

I also have it in one loooong video .. it's about an hour ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9gBzJ_aH-8

I'll come back and post more pics and a little info on each day ..

 

[Moodyzblu]

So being in California for the first time was so very exciting to me .. i had dreamed of coming here since I was about 12 and I couldn't believe I was actually here and right across the street from Disneyland !!
Our first night here we ventured over to Downtown Disney and I was pleasantly surprised at how pretty it was. I'm used to the one in WDW .. but this one has it's own little charm and I really loved it.

We ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and then went over to the Lego store. My boys were exhausted since there is a 3 hour time difference and by 8pm they were ready for bed. I was trying to keep them up as late as possible so we weren't all awake by 3am the next morning .. it sort of worked .. sort of ..

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The weather was pretty nice .. it was October and it was much warmer than where we came from .. but we needed hoodies for at night. I have to say, we didn't see ONE single drop of rain the whole trip .. and so I was very happy with that !

 

[Moodyzblu]

My original plan was to do 2 days in DCA and 2 days in DL but plans changed and this ended up being our one time to get to DCA .. I'll explain more later ..

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My grandson, Maddy's first ride ever !!

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He loved it !!

We really loved DCA .. the rides are really family orientated and since it was my grandsons first park experience .. the rides were perfect for him !!
He had a real blast and is now a HUGE fan of Disneyland. Although he is going to WDW soon (he doesn't know this) I just hope he likes WDW as much as he liked DCA !!

 

[cptmemo]

Sounds great so far!!

 

[Moodyzblu]

Sounds great so far!!

Thanks !! I have tons of pics .. I'm not so much a good writer though .. I'm hoping the pics will tell the story.

 

[mommy2mrb]

Michelle, made it over to follow along!

what a start of your trip with Maddox fainting...btw he is a little cutie! looks like he and your boys had so much fun together!

will go take a look at your video's too!

 

[Moodyzblu]

Michelle, made it over to follow along!

what a start of your trip with Maddox fainting...btw he is a little cutie! looks like he and your boys had so much fun together!

will go take a look at your video's too!

Hi !! Happy to see you here.

I couldn't believe he fainted .. he's only 5 ! But I think it was a combo of anxiety (he's on meds now) and being hungry.

He loves his uncles .. they are just like brothers !

 

[Moodyzblu]

We continued through and came across a fun play area (my guys love these) and so we hung around there for awhile ..

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At some point every afternoon we walked back over to the hotel (cuz it's only a 4 minute walk !!) to use the pool, relax and freshen up. It was really a nice break !

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Me .. this is the Mad Tea Party stage (we never made it back there to see this at night )

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My dd, Jill and my grandson, Maddox ..

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They have the BEST kiddie rides here !!

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Poor Maddy is still not sure about rides .. but he loved them afterwards ..

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Then 2 more firsts for my grandson ..

First character meet ..

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aaaaannnnnddd .. first Mickey Head ice cream bar !!

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'twas a proud moment !

 

[Jaina]

Looks like a lot of fun! Those boys are such cuties!

 

[mommy2mrb]

cute photos of the boys having tons of fun! and a first mickey bar

 

[Moodyzblu]

Sorry I left this so long .. been a very busy summer !

Finally we made it over to the reason for this trip .. CARSLAND !

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It was A-mazing !! I couldn't believe I was actually here ..

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Radiator Springs Racers was just the most incredible ride ever !! Seriously .. it was so much fun. We actually rode it twice that day .. and I still feel like it was a blur with so much to see. The ride itself was very Test Trackish .. which is fine because TT is one of our most favorite rides ever. But the actual "race" part was just brilliant !

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Luigi's Tires was very fun as well ..

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Also .. another favorite ride of ours .. Soarin' !
This was Jill first ride on it .. she had never gotten to ride the one in Epcot ..

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After this we walked back to our hotel (I love saying that) and in 4 1/2 minutes we were getting our bathing suits on for a dip in the pool and hot tub !!

We would head back over to CA for dinner and World of Color show ..

 

[Moodyzblu]

A few pics from Facebook from the earlier part of the day ..

We didn't ride this ..

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California (if I haven't mentioned before) is sort of like a really big Disney Hollywood studios .. I had no idea how big it was going to be !

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Kids did NOT like It's a Bug's Life ! ...

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Heading onto Radiator Springs Racers !!

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We had a great pool and hot tub at our hotel ..

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We set off for dinner once we were all relaxed from our hot tub and pool time .. we decided on some Chinese food back over at California Adventure ..

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It was pretty tasty too ..

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Then it was in search of more rides ..

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We also did NOT ride this .. we just weren't too sure about the height and movement .. it looks real creepy ..

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This is more our speed !

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I loved how the ride start off outside .. many of the rides do that here .. it's really neat ..

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We had decided we needed to ride RSR's again at night so we headed on over there ..

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Continued on next page ..

 

[Moodyzblu]

Got FP's to come back in awhile so we looked around and Maddy had gotten hungry since he didn't eat much Chinese food and so we stopped here ..

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We also rode on Mater's Junyard Jamboree ... lots of fun !

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It was just as pretty at night than during the day .. just lovely !

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We had plans to stay and watch World of Color .. but poor Jesse wasn't used to the time change and just wasn't up for it .. so we stayed for a bit .. but left soon after it started. Not to mention .. getting a good viewing spot is very hard and you have to get FP for it earlier on in the day and yadda yadda .. so we had a crappy spot anyway. I couldn't even get pics or video

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This is a video of our first day here ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZWIOL5uw5k

Next up .. Disneyland !