Disneyland Day 1 (1/7/15)

If you haven't been to Disneyland, or haven't been for a long time, there is one thing you should know. It really is the Happiest Place on Earth. There are families who live hours and hours away, yet purchase annual passes to take their families multiple times throughout the year because it is that fun (my sister is one of them). And it is addicting. My family started meeting up for Thanksgiving at Disneyland a few years ago, and we love it. This year when we didn't go for Thanksgiving, I missed it enough to plan my own family trip. 

We started thinking about it because Ty is completely obsessed with Disney's Cars, and with a baby on the way, we knew we wouldn't get to do anything big for a while, especially as Tim graduates this summer. We used our hotels.com free night and Skywest credit card miles to save a little money, then added some money and gift cards we received for Christmas to help fund our trip and headed out to California!

Ty's bag was packed and ready for our trip:

 Daddy and Ty at the airport:

 We made it!

 

My sister, Mindy, who recently bought season passes, brought Katherine for a few days for her third birthday. They were only able to spend a few hours with us before driving back home, but we were so happy to get to see them! We started in Fantasyland with Peter Pan, then did the tea cups (yes, Mindy and I both did them!) We made the kids go with Tim to spin a little more.

 Dumbo!

 We packed in a few more rides before Mindy and K and to leave. Ty and K didn't have too much time to really warm up to each other, but they'll be friends soon enough.

 The boys on the bridge at the Tarzan Treehouse

 Once we left Mindy and K, we explored Toon Town. Ty loved all of the cars there.

 This is a picture of a picture, so it's not great quality, but we got to meet Mickey!

 The highlight of Toon Town was when we sat down to eat lunch and Pluto, Ty's favorite Mickey's group character, came up right next to us. Ty was so excited!

 When he came back to us, he said "Budo is the best dog in the world!"

 We walked back to our motel for naps, then spent the evening at California Adventure. We arrived just in time for the Pixar Parade. Ty was still a bit sleepy when it started, but he perked right up when he saw Lightning McQueen and Mater!

After the parade, we went into Cars Land (Radiator Springs). All of the neon lights were on and the street looked just like the movie. Ty was riding on Tim's shoulders and he just heard Ty say, "Whoa, dis place is a-mice-ing!"

Because Lightning and Mater were in the parade, Red the Fire Truck was greeting people at the Cozy Cone. We didn't even have to wait in line!

 We ate a delicious dinner at Flo's Diner, then got to actually meet Mater and Lightning!

 Ty was a little too star-struck to smile for the pictures.

 

 We did the Flying Tires ride, then Mater's Junkyard Jamboree (below), which ended up being one of our favorite rides (Daddy and Ty did it twice!). The tractor drives in a figure 8 while the trailer behind swings side to side. At first, we thought Ty was scared, but all of a sudden he just burst out laughing and laughed on every curve!

We walked around the rest of the park a bit and rode the Little Mermaid ride (one of my favorites) which concluded our first fun-packed day!

Disneyland Day 2 (1/8/15)

 Our three-day pass included one Magic Morning at Disneyland (where you get to go one hour earlier than when the park technically opens), so we started early. Just as we were walking in, we saw Chip and Dale and were second in line to see them. Too bad Ty looks like he's being kidnapped in the picture we snapped. 

As we walked up to the castle, we saw they were filming something. If you can't tell from the picture, it looks like it is a carriage from Cinderella.

 Our next time passing, we found out it was for Wheel of Fortune and below is Vanna White and Pat Sajak.

We used our magic morning riding rides in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. Ty was ecstatic to ride the race cars at Autopia. He even got to drive! (He's below, but you can barely see his head.)

 ...okay, so maybe Tim did most of the driving.

 After a few more rides in Tomorrowland, we took off to the great frontier (ie Frontierland) and got on the riverboat!

 

 Next on the agenda was Tom Sawyer Island where we ate lunch. Mommy rested while Tim chased Ty around.

 Where is Ty?

 Take another look:

 Cute boys.

 We headed back to the motel for much needed naps then went back to the park for the evening where we did the last of the rides on our agenda, and some of them twice! We ate dinner while watching the Mickey's Map Show which is our favorite.

Our walk back to the motel goes through Downtown Disney, so we stopped at one of the big Disney Stores on our way home and let Ty use some of his Christmas money to get a gift. Unfortunately, his top pick was this huge Mack Hauler that cost over $60. He ended up settling for a Doc Hudson car for $8.

Disneyland Day 3 (1/9/15)

We started our third and final day at California Adventure. Tim and I had never been on the Toy Story ride because it always has a really long line, so we started there first. You get to wear these cool 3D glasses and shoot pretend balls at targets.

 Next we enjoyed kiddie rides with no lines!

 The Bugs Land was pretty fun for Ty!

With no line, we did the Bug's Land Chew-Chew Train twice!

Then we headed to Cars Land to enjoy it in the daylight.

 The picture below isn't great quality, but you get the idea.

 Ty explored Luigi's Tires.

 And Mater's tractors.

 Then it was back to Mater's tractors. I loved hearing Ty's giggles each turn!

 We got to meet the cars at the Cozy Cone.

 Just a boy and his best friend! Ty's second time visiting Lightning, he was ready to talk to him. He said "Ka-Chow" and Lightning said "Ka-Chow" back, then Ty gave him a high-5 to the headlight, and Lightning blinked them. It was pretty cool!

 Ty said "Dad-gum" to Mater, who also said it back. He sure knows these cars' personalities!

 The cars would switch every half hour, so we saw them drive past us several times.

 Ty knows the sign below says "Route 66"

Family Picture (you can see how VERY pregnant I am!)

Next, we headed to Hollywood land to see the Disney Jr Show. The first one we hoped to see was cancelled, but we made it into the next.

By now, this boy was sleepy.

We thought we could get away with not going back to the motel for a nap and hoped he would fall asleep in the Animation area that has couches and dimmed lights, so I went to the Animation Academy while Tim and Ty rested. The whole area had been temporarily taken over by Frozen. We were upset the only drawings they were doing were from Frozen, but I still drew an awesome Olaf and Marshmallow (snow monster).

Though he didn't fall asleep, we all got a little rest and energy. We let Ty get a Cars Book with his money from Great Grandma and Grandpa Larsen. It was a hit right off.

 Waiting for the Ferris Wheel:

 We caught a fun show with the army men from Toy Story while walking along the pier.

California Adventure was a little disappointing at this point because the rest of the things we wanted to do were closed. The kids play area was closed, as was the airplane area :( When we had tried to do a few other rides, they were temporarily closed or had long lines when we went back, so we said goodbye to Radiator Springs.

  We headed back to Disneyland where we ran into Pluto right at the entrance. Although Ty had already seen him, it was a happy reunion. Ty told him "You're the best dog ever!" and gave him hugs, kisses, high fives, etc. It was adorable!

The park was getting busy (on a Friday evening), so we just finished the trip by letting Ty play in Toon Town and watched the Mickey Map Show again while eating dinner. After leaving the park and wandering around Downtown Disney, we splurged on treats (I got a caramel apple, Tim got a churro, and Ty got to pick out a little lego car from the Lego store), then we headed back to the motel early. Our flight left at 7am the next morning, so we were able to relax a little and pack.

As the trip came to an end, Tim and I were just so happy we could enjoy time together as a family of three (before baby comes). We decided weren't sad to leave, we were just so happy to have these fun, memories. It was a perfect trip!