The Most Exhausting Place On Earth

So I have been asked several times over the last couple of weeks how we manage to go to Disneyland so often.

First I’d like to point out that we have passes.  Second I’d like to mention these passes were obtained after a series of unfortunate events that meant the family vacation we had saved up 2 years for was a no go, so instead we took the family vacation money and got passes.  I kept my week off work and we used them a few times that week (they paid for themselves in 3 visits).  The rest of the family Vacation Money went to buy our new TV that was recently destroyed by the kids.  A story for another day and reminder to us not to buy new things.

We take advantage of the fact we have passes and often will go for just a ride or two or maybe just an hour or two and then head home (usually before the crowds show up).

On Columbus day I had the day off so Justin decided after Taylor got out of school we’d head over as a family and spend some time.  We’ve been wanting to get on the new Cars ride, but the line is always nearly 2 hours long!  So we decided we should get fast passes.  On our way there a family stopped us and asked if we were going on that ride.  We said yes and they handed us their fast passes!  Which was good, because as we got up to the ride they didn’t have any left anyway (I found out later they usually run out within the first couple of hours).

So we went on the new ride (which was awesome) and spent some time in bugs land before heading home.  We found out the following:

Elijah really likes most rides and as we get on them his face looks like this:

…until they start and then you get faces like this:

Taylor is tall enough to drive herself on the bumper cars, but not old enough (which FYI they do not tell you until you get on the actual ride so you’d have no idea until it was too late)

The Chew Chew Train no longer smells like watermelon, that was the best part so now I’m sad.

Elijah really liked seeing Mater and Lightning McQueen…until they start talking or rev the engines then he turns into a coward (surprised? I’m not)

To tell you about the following Sunday I have to first tell you of how horrible and frustrating Justin’s Season Pass has been.  When we got our passes the guy that took the picture took on of Eljiah and not Justin.  This meant every time we went in they thought Justin was not Justin and would make him take his picture again after proving he was in fact Justin and Elijah was not Justin.  We were even told that they would not let us in once.  Lame.  So to say sorry Disney gave us 4 free tickets.

We used those 4 free tickets to hang out with the Webster’s (well 3 for the Webster’s and 1 was given to a random stranger who was waiting outside while her daughter was at Disneyland since she couldn’t get tickets for 2 people)

The day started off poorly when I was told once we got there that the park opened at 10 and not 8…we were there at like 7:45.  So we had to keep our kids happy for nearly 2 hours while we waited.  Once we got in we had a good time to start if you can ignore the nasty heat.  It’s OCTOBER PEOPLE!  Why was it over 90 degrees?! 

See sweaty kids and red cheeks as proof:

We made our rounds at Disneyland then headed over to CA adventure where Justin and my girls met up with us after church.  All the kids went through rounds of crankiness, but in between we got this:

Luckily the little ones knocked out for awhile and we sat inside and enjoyed the air conditioner while they slept. 

While waiting in line for the Disney Junior show a crany employee named Nora took it upon herself to snap at us for being in line "too early" and that "they put put up chains for a reason".  My response "well the chains are up so how would we know?" And her cranky response, "Well its not my fault the somebody took down the chain"...and in my head I thought "then how the heck is my problem that somebody took them down?!" Despite he horrible lady we got these which are some of my favorite pictures of the day:

To cool off we let the kids play in the water and went on a couple of rides in Bugs Land:

By like 5:30 the Websters and the Davis decided we were exhausted and left to go to McDonalds where the kids played while the adults rested (I was feeling super sick at that point too and I just laid in the car for awhile).

It really was fun to spend the time with the Websters and the kids had a great day.  I’m glad we got to do and am not trying to mentally prepare myself for another full day tomorrow with family from out of state.