Disneyland Part 1, Monday to Wednesday

We had the most wonderful Disneyland vacation the week after Christmas!  I wish Papa had been able to come with us, but maybe next time.  We were blessed to have Audrey and Erin (Michael's sister) with us.  Sometimes it was hard to do things with all nine of us together, but it worked out.  I was very lucky to get us multiple table service dining reservations where we could all sit together.  We were able to do all of our favorite things, usually multiple times.  

Monday, December 27, 2021

Today is our anniversary! We were still loading the cars at 7 AM and still had a few more things to do. We had a prayer and then Nathaniel and Audrey and Emily left early. The rest of us left a few minutes after 8 AM. We picked up Erin at about 9:15 AM and got on the road. We stopped at a rest area and we stopped in Blythe for gas. We stopped to eat in Indio. We got on the road again by about 1 PM. We didn’t get very far before Nathaniel called us to tell us he was already there and parked at Downtown Disney and they were going to walk around for a little while. We made it to the Castle Inn and Suites around 3:20 PM. We got them checked in and showed them to their room. It was raining. By the time we got to the Residence Inn, it was already after 4 PM so we checked in and took everything up and got settled. The room was really nice.  

I thought we were going to meet my Uncle Jim for dinner but it turned out that he wasn’t going to be able to make it. We had dinner at Red Robin and it was a fun time. 

Nathaniel and Audrey went to Target to buy a couple of things, including belts for Andrew and Jonathan who forgot to bring one to go with their jeans. We tried to get to bed as early since we have to get up early.

 

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Emily really wanted to leave at 7 AM. By the time we walked over there, got through security, and got through the ticket window, it was 8 AM.  I figured out how to purchase the Genie+ pass as we walked to our first ride, Space Mountain, as always. We had to wait there for quite a while, actually. 

I set up our first Genie+ pass for Indiana Jones and I also bought our pass for Rise of the Resistance. There was no wait at Buzz Lightyear so we went there and had fun on that ride. Andrew wanted to go on Autopia so we went over there next. It was supposed to be a five-minute wait but that wasn’t even close. We stood there for a long time. 

After that we headed over to Indiana Jones, which we had a Genie+ pass for. When we went through the line, four of us didn’t weren’t able to scan our codes properly. Michael’s and Daniel’s didn’t work at all, and Nathaniel and I each got blue instead of green. So, when I tried to sign up for the next pass, I couldn’t do it because it thought we still hadn’t gone on Indiana. Then, I couldn’t fix the problem because we were underground on the Indiana Jones ride. Then, right as we are about to be let out of the ride, the ride stopped. I don’t know how long we sat there but it felt like forever. I think we spent about half an hour total on that ride even though we had breezed through the Lightning Lane. Finally, when we got out, I was able to set up another Genie+ pass for Smuggler’s Run in the afternoon at 2 PM. We headed over to Rise of the Resistance and got right on. That’s such a cool ride! The standby line was ridiculous so it was really nice to sail past that. We walked over to the Millennium Falcon because I really wanted to have a photo op.

We headed over to lunch at River Belle Terrace early. I asked the lady if we could combine the reservations (I had one reservation for five people and one for four people) and she did it without any problem and within a couple minutes they texted us saying that our table was ready. We laughed because when we sat down, we were in the exact same order as we had been when we ate at Red Robin last night. We all enjoyed our lunch. 

After lunch, Nathaniel and Audrey went off on their own for a little bit. We made a plan to meet in an hour at 2 PM at Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run. The rest of us walked to Main Street to get lockers and use the restroom. Then we headed over to the shooting gallery. It was so nice to have the Genie+ pass and skip the long line. We had take-two of the photo op at the Millennium Falcon because I wasn’t thrilled with the first pictures we got. 

Then it was time to go to Big Thunder Mountain and we used our passes. That ride was fun, as always. Emily and I really wanted to take a break, and I think it was Michael who suggested that we take the break at Tom Sawyer’s Island. We all went over there together. Emily and I sat with all the backpacks while everyone else played hide and seek. 

Emily, Erin, and I left at 4:30 PM because I wanted to go by Blue Bayou and see if we could get a reservation for the whole group on Friday. I was able to get a reservation for six but not more. We were so excited because they said they could accommodate all of us. Next, we went over the Jolly Holiday Bakery and Café to pick up the Matterhorn macaroons I had ordered. Andrew called and told us to hurry because they had waited in the Lightning Lane line for Haunted Mansion and they were at the front but we weren’t there. When we finally made it, they were almost at the point of scanning their passes so that worked perfectly and we all got to ride it together. After Haunted Mansion, everyone but me and Emily rode Splash Mountain. It turns out that all of them had left their phones in their backpacks. So, it’s pretty lucky that we found each other. 

Next, we went to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride and went on that together. It’s such a weird, fun ride. By then, I think it was about 6:30 PM and everyone was a little bit hungry so we ended up splitting up to go eat. Nathaniel and Audrey got a turkey leg, Emily and Andrew and Daniel went to Rancho Del Zocalo, and the rest of us went to French Market. Next, it was time to go to our Genie+ pass for the Matterhorn. Jonny and I didn’t ride it, so Michael and Andrew were able to ride it a second time. Nathaniel and Audrey‘s ride vehicle had an issue so they let them ride it again. Nathaniel was wet and pretty miserable from the Splash Mountain ride so they went back to the hotel to change. We stood there near the ride and talked for about 15 to 20 minutes trying to figure out what we should do. I helped them figure things out and then I took Jonathan back to the hotel. He had been begging to go back for a few hours so I volunteered to take him because I was tired and cold anyway. We had to go through Tomorrowland to get out because everything was blocked off and when we passed Buzz Lightyear, I couldn’t resist asking Jonathan if he wanted to ride it one more time. He did, so we rode it together and I ended up getting the best score I’ve ever had, 696,900. When I put it on the group chat, Daniel was pretty jealous.

Jonathan and I had a hard time making our way out of the park with everyone watching the fireworks, but we eventually made it. After Jonny and I left, everyone else but Nathaniel and Audrey went on the Mad Hatter Tea Party and then watched the fireworks. Then they went on Pirates of the Caribbean. They tried to go on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride but the line was too long and they had to leave so they could make it to the Space Mountain ride. Then they came back to the hotel. Nathaniel and Audrey did Star Tours, Pirates, and Big Thunder and then left the park at 11:45 PM.

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Michael and I got up at 6 AM. We had a hard time getting the boys up, especially Jonathan. By the time we all met at the hotel to eat and got over to California Adventure, it was 8:15 AM. We were stuck in the big crowd of people waiting to go through security for quite a while. We got into the park around 8:30 AM. We went to the lockers and used the bathrooms and spent a little time figuring out what to do because we needed to sign up for our first Genie+ pass. We ended up getting one for Incredicoaster. We had some fun at the WandaVision photo op and then walked through Avengers campus to go to the Incredicoaster. 

 Here is my hair after the Incredicoaster

Andrew wanted to go on the Silly Swings but we ended up going on Jessie’s Carousel for Erin.

We all had Cookie Num Nums except for Jonathan. Then it was time to walk over to Web Slingers. We stopped for a photo op in front of the Ferris wheel and then went to the ride. 

There was a little Spider-Man show going on so I got a couple pictures.

The Web Slingers ride was really fun. I did terrible on the first two spots and then I finally got the hang of it and got caught up on my points. Next, we went back over to Pixar Pier and rode Toy Story Mania. Next, we went on the Silly Symphony Swings. I sat next to Jonny in a swing and Nathaniel and Audrey were right near us. I didn’t know where everybody else was but they were on the other side. As we were on the ride, the ride operator kept saying, “Please face the front in your swing.” She said it like three times. We were all wondering who would be dumb enough to not listen to the instructions. It turns out, it was Emily and Daniel, who were playing sticks. They said they didn’t hear the announcement the first two times. We all had a good laugh about that. We started heading toward lunch. That’s when it started to rain. We all got out our ponchos or umbrellas. Daniel and Jonathan both refused to use either a poncho or an umbrella.  I thought maybe we could check in early for lunch, but they didn’t even open until 12:30 PM so we had to wait another half hour before we could even check in at 12:20 PM. I only had a reservation for eight, but they were able to seat all nine of us, so that was great. We went to the lockers and used the bathroom and did a little shopping and then came back and checked in. They got us seated right away at a big, huge table circular table that fit all nine of us so that was really nice. Everyone seemed to enjoy their food. It was raining pretty hard while we were eating and so we were glad to be sitting inside and able to relax and talk and things. After lunch, everyone but Jonny and I went to Guardians of the Galaxy to use their Genie+ pass. 

Jonathan and I went to Monsters Inc. We had to wait quite a while to get on that ride for some reason. We all met up at the lockers again and then headed over to Disneyland. We decided we may as well go on Mr. Toad’s wild ride on the way to Galaxy’s Edge for our reservation at Oga’s Cantina. Then we headed over to Galaxy’s Edge. We checked in for our Oga’s reservation and got right in. It was kind of annoying because they had plexiglass in the middle of the table so we couldn’t even talk to each other easily. Michael couldn’t ever hear a word I was saying. Erin, Daniel, and I all ordered water and everybody else got a fun drink. The kids all went to the Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run ride and Michael and I stayed in Oga’s for a few minutes. We passed a family taking pictures and I offered to take one of all of them and they were very nice and grateful. 

Then we went outside and waited for the kids and headed out. By then, it was a little after 4:30 PM. Nathaniel and Audrey left first. Daniel and Jonny wanted to go back to the hotel right away so I took them. Michael, Andrew, Emily, and Erin all went to the Shooting Gallery and then walked back to the hotel. I was so tired and I really needed to take a nap. Erin slept too. Michael took Daniel and Jonathan to IHOP for dinner. Then we pretty much just relaxed the rest of the night. The other kids ordered pizza and watched Encanto.

Christmas 2021

We have had a great tradition of celebrating Christmas with the Akers on December 23, and this year was no different.  They came over and we had pork roast that I had bought from our church fundraiser and we opened presents and played games.  

On Christmas Eve, we met Erin and Steve and Daniel at Garcia's Mexican restaurant in Tempe.  It was a nice meal and the queso dip was especially good!  I didn't realize until we got there that Great Harvest Bread company was in the same shopping center so we picked up some yummy bread.   

On the way home, we stopped at Chandler Mall to buy a few things for a family in our neighborhood.  That night, we did our tradition of reading Luke 2 and Mosiah 14 and also The Living Christ.  The kids opened their pajamas and we watched Jingle All the Way.  It wasn't as good as I remembered, but it was cute. 

On Christmas morning, we got up at 8am to unwrap presents.  It took us about an hour since we take turns.  Nathaniel was especially happy about his PS5.  I was pretty proud of myself that I was able to get it because they have been hard to find. Michael and the kids cleaned up while I made aebleskivers.  Erin came over in the afternoon and we had steak.  We opened gifts together and then everyone worked together to take down the Christmas decorations since we were about to leave for our trip on Monday.

On Sunday morning, Audrey's flight was cancelled, but luckily we were able to get her on a Southwest flight that was supposed to arrive around the same time.  It was delayed a few hours, but she made it!  We heated up the leftovers and finished up the steak.  Then Audrey and Nathaniel opened up their presents.  We tried to get to bed early so we could leave early the next morning for Disneyland.  

Merry Christmas!