Disneyland

Our friends gave CKJ gift cards to Disneyland for their birthday back in April.  I never really thought we would go this year, but I had heard really good things about Mickey's Halloween party, so we decided to take the trip!  I had really low expectations for my kids.  They have a hard time waiting in line for popcorn at the movies, let alone a long line for a ride at Disneyland.  They also don't love big characters.  We went to Chick-Fil-A recently and Cruz and Kash totally freaked when they saw the huge cow come out to say hi.  LOL.  Let me just tell you - it was the most AMAZING experience EVER!  Seriously!! My mom, Tyler, Jamie and the kids were able to join us - which made it that much better!  

The Halloween party went from 6pm-11pm, but you were able to enter the park 3 hours earlier.  We drove down to Palmdale the night before and stayed the night, then drove into LA Wednesday morning.  We met up with Tyler and Jamie for lunch then got to the park right at 3pm.  My kids were SO excited to have friends with them.  Julie immediately was attached to Olivia's hip and I swear Trey never left Drew's side.  I had been showing my kids pictures of Disneyland all week so they were so excited to finally be there.  

The Halloween party is definitely the way to go!  There were no lines, everyone is dressed up in costume (my kids couldn't tell the difference between real charters and just people dressed up as characters), there's trick or treating and tons of candy/snacks for the kids, awesome parades, fireworks, etc.  It was the best!  Definitely going back next year!

 First timers to the happiest place on earth.

 He was a little nervous on the Safari ride.  

Our first ride was Pirates of the Caribbean.  It's actually a really scary ride for little kids.  I don't recommend it for four year olds.  My kids were crying the whole time.  My brother mentioned something about a crocodile in the water and Trey started crying.  He seriously still talks about the crocodile at Disneyland weeks later.  Haha. They shook off the first ride and had a blast on all the other rides. 

 Cousins!!!

I love these people more than anything!  I miss them so much!

 Her face tells everything.  It really is magical there!

 Dumbo with Daddy.

 My kids didn't take naps and literally had zero meltdowns!  The only time I heard someone whine was when Cruz couldn't find his skittles.  Having family there was a game changer too.  My kids had SO much fun with their cousins.  They were just in awe of the whole experience.  

 Space Mountain.

 Watching the fireworks.

 I really wanted to get a picture with Mickey and Minnie...but they were getting ready for the last parade of the night and unavailable.  We didn't really see many characters all day (which may have been a good thing seeing how my boys reacted to the Chick-Fil-A cow) so we decided to take pictures with random people in costume. Haha!  My kids were super excited to meet Ironman.  

Random people started lining up behind us to take pictures with the princesses haha!

Oh man.  I will never forget our first trip to Disneyland!  Completely unforgettable.  We left the park close to midnight and they all still had smiles from ear to ear (except Trey was knocked out).