Disneyland/Disney's California Adventure

Knowing that we were leaving California, we had so many things that we wanted to do as a family before we left, not to mention all of the loved ones we wanted to visit. Because we knew that our time was short (given the short amount of notice we had to prepare for the move), it was impossible to do everything that we wanted to do. One of the things we enjoy doing most as a family is going to amusement parks and Disney finally wised up and was offering a very attractive military discount. Jay got in for free and the girls and I got 3 day park-hopper passes for $90/each, plus we got a very reasonable price on a hotel right across the street from the park.

This was the longest any of us had been to Disneyland and it was sooooooooooo great having 3 days! We also LOVED having the park hopper passes. We spent the first day primarily at Disney's California Adventure and really enjoyed exploring the park. I had only been over there once, several years ago and Jay and the girls had never been. I prefer Disneyland (although they are both fabulous) and when you are spending all of that money, I have just always been inclined to go to Disneyland. But, having 3 days we were able to explore both parks and we all fell in love with CA Adventure park.

On the second day, my wonderful friend Leisha from High School met us at the park with her son Zachary and her daughter Taylor. They have season passes, so they came and spent the day with us. On that day, we park hopped so that Leisha and the kids got to do all they wanted while they were there. On the third day, we did some more park-hopping. To make things fair, we each got to pick 2 rides at either park and we made sure we went on all of our top 2 picks and then if time allowed we got to ride our 3rd favorite.

The weather was great and we all had an amazing time. It was so great to see some friends and we laughed and got terrified together (The Tower of TERROR!) and created some memories that will be with us no matter where we go. Thanks Walt for creating such a wonderful place of adventure. I just love Disneyland, can you tell?

I just love the ice cream at Gibson Girl. It's just Dryers, but for some reason when you're eating it on Main St it tastes extra special

Walt and Mickey

I don't know why it took me so long to discover this, but we ended up on Main Street for the fireworks on the second night and what a show! I have seen the fireworks at Disneyland before, but never realized they had such a wonderful show on Main St, complete with narration by Ms. Julie Andrews and fireworks that are synchronized with music and a story about the magic of Disney

We had dinner on the second night at The Rainforest Cafe. We loved it!

We all really enjoyed the Muppet 3D movie at CA Adventure. It brought back alot of memories for me of watching The Muppet Show with my Dad

Leisha and I on the Hollywood Lot - it was so cool! That is a painting behind us, we are almost standing against the wall.

Friends and Family - it doesn't get any better than this

Kendall, Taylor, Zachary and Nicole outside of Splash Mountain

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Our first time on It's a Small World since they remodeled and added the Pixar characters - still one of my favorite rides, even if the song makes Jay a little nutso - but he rode it twice anyway, he's such a wonderful husband

We are standing inside Disney's CA Adventure. The scenery there was so beautiful.

We at at the House of Blues on the first night, at Downtown Disney. Kendall hated it, as you can tell.

Outside of Monster's, Inc. - very cute ride

One of our favorite rides at CA Adventure was Toy Story Mania. We only rode it once because the line was too long, but it was a blast and Mr. Potato Head kept us in stitches while we waited in line.

I thought this Mickey bread was adorable

Outside of the Grizzly Rapids - we got a little wet, but Kendall got a little soaked and Nicole got a lot soaked, you just can't tell in her light colored pants

Inside Soaring Over California, waiting in line. This was Jay's favorite ride at CA Adventure. Did you know they fly over Camarillo? How cool is that?

The Golden Gate bridge