Magical day at Disneyland

We had the most wonderful trip to Disneyland a couple weeks ago. Why was it so great, you ask?

1. It's Disneyland. I love that place. And we hadn't been there in 3 1/2 years, so we'd been itching to go. I was excited all week (we decided to go just 1 week ahead of time), and didn't tell our kids until the day we left. That was fun.

2. We didn't take Levi. It was our first time there without a baby or toddler, and it was so easy. We didn't even need a stroller! Thank-you Kristen and Emily Z!

3. We used Ridemax, which minimized our wait time for all the rides. Aaron and Marrisse introduced us to it, and it worked great. We typed in all the rides we wanted to go on and what day we were going, and then we printed out our itinerary for the day. It was definitely worth the $15.

4. We took the boys out of school and went on a Friday, so nothing was too crowded. Plus the weather was gorgeous.

This was a great time to go because the boys are all old enough to go on everything (there were just a few rides Brennan wasn't tall enough for) yet young enough to love the magic of Disney.

Brennan doesn't look too happy here, but it's one of the few pictures I'm in.

The Matterhorn bobsled ride was a favorite for everyone. We even did it twice.


Another favorite is Buzz Lightyear.

Such concentration.

The ride kept breaking down while we were on it, which was awesome because we got really high scores.

Sometimes we would wait while Dave ran to get Fastpasses. That worked out well.

I love Small World, especially in the afternoon when it's hot and sunny outside.

Brennan loved it too.

Brennan wasn't tall enough for Indiana Jones, so we did the trade-off thing. He climbed the treehouse and tried on hats while we were waiting. He was a little disappointed he couldn't go on 3 of the rides, since he wasn't afraid of anything. He's just like Spencer.

The boys liked it when we did that because they got to go twice in a row. Dallin was a little nervous beforehand (which made me worry he'd have another middle-of-the-line-change-of-mind, like he did for Space Mountain), but he LOVED it. It ended up being one of his favorite rides of the day.

So often Brennan won't look at the camera or smile for pictures. Everyone else does great every time.

One of Dallin's only memories from last time was the train ride. Once again, Brennan is not looking at the camera.

We ate dinner while watching the Jedi training. Too bad our boys didn't get chosen.

But we got a visit from Darth Maul, so that was cool.

Hat stores are the best.

The longest line of the day was definitely Finding Nemo. It wasn't even on our itinerary because we knew it would take awhile and didn't think it was worth it last time. But the kids really wanted to do it, and we had plenty of time before fireworks. It took 25 minutes, which I guess isn't too bad; but it felt like forever.

The last couple of times we've been to Disneyland they didn't have fireworks, since we went off season. They really have the best fireworks show - the perfect end to a perfect day.