Disneyland/California Pictures!

We hopped on a plane and jetted off to California on New Years Day.  It turned out to be a good move because, in our absence, the Portland Metro area experienced "Snowpocalypse"  and "Icemageddon," which is to say everything was shut down because of a few inches of snow and ice.

Anyway, I took a ton of pictures (and this isn't even all of them!) so be ready for a looooooong picture dump type of post.  Here we go!

Day One - January 1st, 2016

Upon arrival, we rented our cars (one for my parents and sister and one for Corky, Mara and me) and drove to the hotel.  Our hotel was like a 7-10 minute walk from Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks.  I was enamored with the full-length mirror, and proceeded to take a mirror selfie!  Not even ashamed.  It was a flattering mirror!

We decided to go find this particular café for dinner, so we packed up the diaper bag and Mara in the stroller and off we went in search of it.  Mara is such a Grandma's girl and held hands with my mom on the way to dinner.  Soooooooo sweet!

As it turned out, we never did find that café.  So we settled for a different one.  It took an interesting turn when, just after receiving our drinks, the fire alarm went off.  It seems that wherever I go, there are fire drills or actual fires!  It's happened in several hotels.  This café where we ended up was actually in the Grand Californian Hotel, so I guess my hotel fire alarm record still stands, although we weren't staying at this hotel.  It was still a hotel.  The funniest thing was that when we went back there on the last day of the vacation, the alarm went off again!  Unreal.

We went back to the hotel and put Mara to bed, at which time I decided to hit the gym.  How does the saying go?  You can take a fitness instructor away from her classes but you can't keep her out of a gym!  Or something like that.....

Day Two - January 2nd, 2016

Next morning's selfie.  Represent Zumbawear and my favorite flannel.  Grunge Portland Style FOR THE WIN! Lol.

My sister in the entrance to Disneyland.  We were so excited.

After walking around a little bit and getting our bearings, we decided to seek out some rides.  We first happened upon Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which I remembered liking the last time we were there, but they were closed at that time.  (It reopened a few hours later.)  In the meantime, my mom and Corky took Mara on Small World while my dad, my sister and I all went and stood in line for the Matterhorn.  We screamed our heads off of course.  It was awesome.

We also did Splash Mountain.  Why I thought it was a good idea to do a ride where you get wet in January is beyond me.  Needless to say, I was freezing for a good long time after that!  Still fun though.  The picture was hilarious, but I didn't buy it.

After a long day at the park and no nap, Mara was just D-O-N-E and crashed and burned.  We took this photo just a few minutes before Corky and my dad left to take Mara back to the hotel and put her to bed.  We bough sparkly Minnie Mouse ears for my sister and me and a huge goofy Goofy hat with ears for Corky.  I thought it suited him.  :)

After the guys left, we went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and then went and got dinner at Jolly Holiday Café (I love Mary Poppins!)  My sister is a macaron fanatic and spied this huge Mickey-shaped macaron with raspberries in it.  I am not a fan of raspberries or macarons so I only had a bite or two and the rest was up to them.  It was pretty, though.

My mom and me posing in front of the lights.

Later that night, my mom offered to hang out in Corky's and my room while Mara slept so we could go back to Disneyland and do some of the rides we didn't get to do earlier.  We went  around 9:30 which was when the nightly fireworks would be going on, in hopes that the lines would be shorter.  We made a beeline for Space Mountain, as that was one of Corky's favorites as a kid and earlier the wait time had been estimated at 2 hours!  It was down to 75 minutes when we got there, and it ended up being only about 40 minutes.  We did Mad Libs on my phone in line to pass the time.

Corky in line.

Me in line.

We're in!

Off he skips!

I remember being about 6 years old the first time I went on Space Mountain and I was PETRIFIED!!!!  When we went on it this time (the first time since then) I could immediately understand why I was so scared.  It's pitch dark, all you can see are little pinpricks of light (stars) and you're flying along a rollercoaster track that you can't see and you have no idea what direction you're going to be going next.  It was so fun, but so intense and over so quickly!

Day Three - January 3rd, 2016

Mara looking cute as always. :)

On the third day we went to California Adventure.  I was SO EXCITED for this because I remember loving some of the rides there, especially California Screamin'' (the rollercoaster.)  The lines must have been really short when we were there last, in 2004, because I can remember my sister and I riding that coaster again and again, probably 6 or 7 times total!  Anyway, the lines were long this time so we went and got Fast Passes for California Screamin'  and then went and ate lunch.  While we killed time, we took Mara to A Bug's Land, the area of the park devoted to the movie A Bug's Life.  My mom, dad and sister took Mara on a ride where they flew in circles inside a giant applesauce box.  Adorable!

My sister and me posing near the line for California Screamin'

Us on the ride right before the take-off.

My sister and Corky wanted to go on Tower Of Terror.  I'm not a fan of freefalling so I got another Fast Pass for California Screamin' instead.  I ended up sitting by this girl who had received a bunch of fast passes from someone else so she gave me one, and I went again!  In total I went on this ride 5 times this day.  The last ride I asked the attendant if I could sit in the front.  He agreed and I had the BEST ride up there! 

We went to Tony Roma's for dinner.  My sister loves ribs but was unimpressed.  Mara had fun running around the restaurant, making friends with anyone and everyone and throwing her macaroni on the floor.  Here she is drinking her milk out of her sippy cup.

Day Four - January 4th, 2016

On our last day in California we went to Universal Studios Hollywood.

I wore my Minnie Ears Hoodie.

We got Front Of Line passes which allowed us to skip lines for everything.  It was more expensive (by about $50) but pretty worth it considering waiting in line with a cranky toddler is NO FUN.

My parents, my sister and Corky all went to a Special Effects show that I knew would be too scary for Mara.  I remembered having done it the last time we were there and I knew it involved loud noises and fire.  So we let them go on ahead and we went and did our own thing.  We walked all around the upper lot and discovered the Minions area.  We decided to go on a ride just the two of us.  It was pretty much like the Dumbo ride at Disneyland except it was bugs instead of elephants.  Mara was pretty unfazed.

We continued to walk around for a while and then found a spot in the shade to hang out and share a snack of cheerios.  Mara was cheesin' so hard for the camera!

CHEEEESE!

We went on the Studio Tour, which was cool but Mara was so sleepy by this point that she was begging to nurse.  So I just nursed her and she fell asleep still latched on.  This wasn't a problem at all until we entered the earthquake simulation.  The tram was bouncing up and down like crazy... while Mara was still latched on.  OUCH!  

Perhaps my favorite part of the day was when Corky, my sister and I went on The Mummy ride.  This was the only time we did buy the picture.  It was SO HILARIOUS.  Out of respect for my pride and my sister's pride, I'll not post it.  But the picture is so funny it makes me laugh every time I look at it.

This was the 2nd night we went to that café and the fire alarm went off.  My sister was posing with her fancy (virgin) drink at the table while we waited for our food.

I couldn't resist a little bodychecking in that glorious mirror!

Over all it was an awesome trip!  I really can't wait to take Mara back there when she's older so she can go on more rides and do more stuff.  It was really fun and I'm so glad we went!  I needed the break so badly.