Disney California Adventure

The morning we went to California Adventure was much like the previous morning, except people were moving a little slower after getting worn out the day before. We arrived before opening time, but they let people in up to a certain point and then we had to wait. Well, it was the beginning of the day and our group was already tired of standing right at the get go. It wasn't so bad if we were actually walking somewhere. When you have to stand and wait, that's when it really bothers me. I also gave Jenna some of our moleskins for her feet because she really needed them. I'm so glad we bought extras.

Waiting for opening time.

Incredible Dad and Mom 

Our first official ride of the day was Soarin' Around the World. Poor Jenna had a very embarrassing moment when racing to get in line. She was trying to get past some people in line to join our group and she thought their daughter was her daughter, so she was trying to get her to move until we finally got her to realize that wasn't her child. Oops! 😆 While waiting in this line we decided to play the dice game, Bank, and had to use two phones. One for the game and one for "rolling" the dice. It sure helped pass the time we had to wait.

Alice rode on the front row with her cousins and aunt and uncle since it was all of their first time riding, but here's the rest of us together.

We pretty much got to ride all of the rides we really wanted to at California Adventure but sometimes did a little more walking (across the park) than we wanted. At least it's not as big as Disneyland.

The iconic Mickey Mouse head on the Ferris wheel.

Standing in front of the tower of the Guardians of the Galaxy ride.

While everyone else went on the wet ride, Charlotte and I waited for them.

Riding the Ferris wheel. We got one that moves while you go around. We tried not to move it on purpose though, like the boys did with theirs.

Walking through Radiator Springs.

Alice, Garrett, Lexi, Wesley

Ricky, (some lady), Curtis, and Jack

Charlotte, me, Jenna, Julie

We're all in the front row and some on the 2nd row back. This one goes straight up and down, like the Frog Hopper, but on a much bigger scale.

The Cars ride. Yes, it was fun, but really not worth the 1.5 hour wait.

In the evening most of us went back to the hotel to rest. Curtis and Jack stayed to ride Guardians of the Galaxy again. A few of the kids went back with me after resting (and swimming) to go watch the water light show at California Adventure. We got the same spot we got last time because neither time that we went did we know you needed to reserve a spot early in the day for the better seating/standing area on the pier. I tried to walk the girls around to see better and someone who worked there told me about it when we tried to get into that area. Oh well, it was still fun to watch. We just wish we would have had a better view. Any animations we saw were backwards to us.

Walking out at the end of the day around closing time. The girls found some souvenirs from the Guardians ride. Little Groot. Another fun day in the books!

Disneyland 2025

Tuesday morning on the 17th of June, I woke up at 5am so I would have time to shower and get dressed before the breakfast bar opened at 6:30. I woke everyone else up around 5:30. We wanted to get over to Disneyland as quickly as possible. Our hotel was close enough (about a 10 min walk) that we could walk to the Toy Story Parking Lot where they did a security check and then we loaded on buses to be dropped off at the Disneyland gates. Since we already did a security check, we did not have to do it again when we arrived there. This was the first time Ricky's family had ever been to Disney, except Jenna, who came when she was a kid. It was fun to do this with them!

Waiting to get through the ticket line.

Our plan was to get on Rise of the Resistance (Star Wars) first, but the line was ridiculously long because they were already having issues with the ride. So, we went to the other Star Wars ride instead, Smugglers' Run.

Immediately after Smuggler's Run, we rode Thunder Mountain Railroad, which is a rollercoaster. That one is always fun.

Alice and I rode Thunder Mountain together.

We bought the Lightning Lane Pass, which used to be called the Max Pass. It helped us get on some of the rides quicker. We could reserve a time to get on a ride and then we'd have 1 hour to get on the ride after it passed that time. Unfortunately, we could only reserve one ride at a time. For the fun of it, I decided to keep track of which rides we rode throughout the day: Smuggler's Run, Thunder Mountain, Adventure Land Treehouse (Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse), Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, Rise of the Resistance (finally!), Lunch break at Hungry Bear, Indiana Jones, Star Tours, Space Mountain, the Railroad train that goes around the whole park, Mickey's house, Chip and Dale's Gadget Coaster, Alice in Wonderland, and the Monorail. Even though the park closed at midnight, we ended up leaving the park around either 7:30 or 8:30pm because we were so tired and we knew we had another full day ahead of us the next day. Here are some more pictures from the day. Most of my pictures I posted to Facebook, so I won't post as many here.

Pirates of the Caribbean

We saw some friends from church while in line for the Haunted Mansion. Catalina Diaz and her granddaughter, Amiyah. We knew they would be there, but we didn't plan a meet up. It was so cool that we saw each other by coincidence.

Rise of the Resistance

Lunch at Hungry Bear

In line for the Indiana Jones ride.

Jack was so tired, that he lay down to take a nap while some of us went into Mickey's house. Others rested in the same area with him.

Inside Mickey's house.

They got to meet Mickey Mouse! I don't think we met him 5 years ago when we came.

Garrett and Alice riding Chip and Dale's coaster.

We had to ride this ride for Alice for obvious reasons.

Cousins

Finishing the Alice in Wonderland ride.

Riding the Monorail, the last ride of the day.

The kids loved this big wet ball that you can spin around.

Walking down Main Street heading to the exit.

On our way out.

It was such a fun day! However, I did learn that I needed to wear some mole skins on different parts of my feet to help keep from getting blisters, so we did buy some of those. They saved my feet throughout the week! When we got back to the hotel, some people went swimming, and we warmed up some microwaveable meals that we had bought the day before. They came in handy for not having to go get food somewhere at the end of the day when we're exhausted. Then we relaxed by watching TV. It was a great start to our trip!

Travel Day to Anaheim

We started our summer out with a bang this year by taking our big vacation trip right after school let out. Monday morning, on the 16th of June, we woke early and headed to the Pasco airport around 6am. This airport is so small compared to Boise. It was easy to get through check in and security, but they still rushed us. So, we had to sit and wait awhile for the actual flight. Thankfully I brought my neck pillow and some activity books in my backpack. I spent a good amount of time doing word searches. Those are much easier than crosswords. 

Curtis and I checked in our bags because they were bigger, but then at the gate they asked for volunteers to check in bags for free because the plane would be full and not have enough overhead space. So, we checked in all of our suitcases but only had to pay for mine and Curtis's. On the plane, the girls were able to sit next to each other and the boys, while Curtis and I were across the aisle from them. This was Alice's first time in an airplane and so I decided to get a video of her reaction when the plane started to take off. It was priceless! 

The plane taking off and the kid's reactions. It was fun to watch them, especially Alice.

This is the Columbia River over Tri-Cities.

Mt. Rainier

We had a layover in Seattle for a couple of hours before boarding another plane down to Los Angeles. This time around Curtis picked a more well-known car rental place (Alamo) that would be closer to the airport because our last experience was terrible with a cheaper company. The loading for the shuttle to Alamo was very close to where we picked up our luggage. Then it was a short ride over to the car rental company where they told Curtis to just pick any vehicle on the 3rd row. They were all unlocked and had their key inside. We went with a van that is just like ours (Chrysler Pacifica) because that's what we were used to using. Then they scanned a sticker on the windshield on our way out of the parking lot. It was so much easier and faster than the previous place we used.

View from the back/front end of the tram at the airport, going from one terminal to the next. It was mine and the kid's first time riding one of these.

The traffic was busy on our way down to Anaheim, so it took about an hour, maybe longer. I can't remember for sure. But we found our hotel and got settled in. Curtis's brother Ricky and their family joined us for this trip and were there waiting at the hotel because they had driven down from Idaho. While Curtis and I went to pick up some food, the girls got to go swimming with their cousins. 

Alice and Lexi

We just relaxed the rest of the evening so we would be ready for the next day at Disneyland!