A few weeks ago I had the itch to go somewhere. I have heard Disneyland is fun in October and kept thinking about how fun it would be to go. We went not quite a year ago, but we always go in February and this last time several of the big rides were closed. In fact, our boys had never ridden Thunder Mountain or Splash Mountain. I texted Sean, "I want to go to Disneyland" and he wrote back, "Me too. Let's go!" Decision made. We decided to go the next week (a week before fall break) in attempt to bypass some of the crowds.
My friend Joeli is a big Disney fan and told me about Mickey's Halloween Party. It sounded so fun, so I checked online to see if we could get tickets. I was so bummed when I saw online that it was sold out. I decided to call just in case, and lucky for us, they still had a few tickets they could sell over the phone!
We kept the trip a secret from the kids. We told the we were dropping Sean off at the airport, but when we got there we revealed we were all going! I think Bode was sort of confused, but Jackson was really excited from the get-go-- almost overwhelmed. He kept repeating, "Mom, I am SO excited. I could not be more excited." He was so happy when I told him I had packed his Halloween costume and he asked to put it on right then.
The kids were so excited to fly-- Bode in particular. They both tried Ginger Ale on the plane and thought it was amazing. :)
We flew in on Tuesday evening. Mickey's Halloween Party was Wednesday night, so we spend Wednesday morning at Seal Beach.
After checking out the pier, we headed down to the beach and played in the surf and sand. We totally scored with weather. It was low 80s and hardly anyone was there!
This kid is looking so grown up!
Some of the waves were actually fairly big. One of them knocked Bode on his bum as he was running in. He was mad about it but the rest of us got a good laugh!
Our beautiful sand castle adorned with broken shells.
Davis was his usual happy self and enjoyed dipping his toes in the water. He also tried to eat a shell, but luckily mama was watching!
After our morning at the beach we headed back to the hotel and got ready for Disneyland. They let you in a few hours before the party starts so we made sure to be on time!
The decorations for Halloween were so cute!
Our very first ride was Splash Mountain, because as I said before, the boys had never ridden it and were so excited about it. They LOVED it. I think they ended up riding it 6 times during the few days we were there. One of the times Sean and Jackson were on the ride, Bode, Davis, and I hung out in Pooh Corner.
This picture just makes me smile. Pooh was so cute with him and kept giving him kisses. Davis was eating it up.
Small world! (another ride that was closed last time)
After a few more rides, it was time for the party to begin! We got our costumes on and set out trick-or-treating!
They had these "candy trails" all throughout the park. They gave us each 3 or 4 pieces of candy at every stop! Each trail had 4 or 5 stops, so the candy accumulated quickly! What's more fun than trick-or treating in Disneyland?!
The lines for the rides were pretty short during the party, which was awesome. We made sure to ride Thunder Mountain a few times.
We're big fans of "Nightmare Before Christmas" in our house, so we were really excited to see the Haunted Mansion transformation. It did not disappoint! So awesome at night especially, and the ride was so cool!
We knew there were fireworks at the party, but we hadn't thought much about them. They ended up being awesome. You could see them from all over the park!
Sleepy skeleton taking a nap.
The special decorations they brought out for the party were my favorite. I loved these big ghost balloons, and the fog they put over the lake was so cool.
Little Halloween parade. Nothing amazing, but the kids liked it.
The castle at night!
Ready for round two!
Headed out of the park after the party.
The next morning we dumped all of our candy out (at least what we hadn't already eaten), and we were all sort of shocked by how much there was!
They also gave out bags of graham crackers, Pirate Booty, yogurt covered Craisins (which were amazing), etc, so we just took those back into the park with us to use as snacks for the other couple of days.
We spent the majority of our second day in California Adventure. Loved this picture Sean sent me of he and Davis hanging out while the other two boys and I were on Soarin' Over California.
We rode Grizzly River Rapids for the first time and loved it! Usually the thought of getting wet on a ride isn't appealing in February!
Davis was just happy to be there. This kid is unreal.
Sean bought cotton candy, because apparently we hadn't had enough sugar yet. ;)
Jackson rode California Screamin' for the first time and LOVED it. He rode it twice in a row and a few more times the next day. He claims this is his favorite ride now. I loved that he sat in the front row with Sean his very first time riding it.
Cars Land never disappoints!
I can't believe how much Bode has grown since last time we were here. We had to use cowboy boots to get him tall enough to ride Radiator Springs Racers (and even then he BARELY made it). This time he wore his regular shoes and there was no trouble at all.
We spent time in both parks on days 2 and 3. The lines were not bad at all so we were able to ride a lot! Love the rider switch pass.
We tried our first Tigger Tail-- delicious.
In line for Peter Pan. Love this ride, but why does this line always seem to take 10x as long as everything else?
Our last night. Radiator Springs at night is pretty hard to beat and was a great conclusion to our trip.
Perhaps my favorite photo from the entire trip.
It is extremely rare for these two to sleep together. Jackson usually wants nothing to do with Bode being near him when he is sleeping, but after day 2 in the parks we found them like this when we checked on them before going to bed. It was one of those sweet moments you hope you never forget (or take a picture of to help you remember!)
It was such a great time, and even though I feel like we are turning into the crazy Disney family, I am so glad we took this somewhat spontaneous trip.
