Life with the E.Moffs

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Go Big or Go Home. Day 3 in Disney!

Day 3! We hit California Adventure in the morning and finished up some rides we had previously missed and re-rode some others....like the Little Mermad ride: Maggie rode it a total of FOUR times. She LOVED it.

We used Miles' pass again and took the kids on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. It's pretty much a glorified scrambler with an added twist and swing in there. Got that? ;-) It was fun, you get to rock out to Larry the Cable Guy (aka: Mater) singing some awesome tunes.

Dad videoed the ride. I took a picture of him videoing me. This is my memory of Dad on the trip: a sleeveless shirt, video camera in hand and a smile on his face. I'm glad I documented it. ;-)

The boys waiting for the ride to start in their tractor.

We also finished up A Bug's Land that morning. We took Miles on Heimlich Caterpillar's smell-o-vision? train. Miles LOVED it. It was hilarious. This ride, the train in DL (pics to come next in the post), the Monorail, and It's A Small World. That's his top 4. Oh, and the Muppet 3-D movie when the walls bust apart. That's pretty funny stuff too.

Miles anticipating the train ride, he was nervous as he didn't know what it was going to do, but as it got going he was very happy.

Maggie, grinning and sporting her lanyard of traded pins.

We headed to DL for the afternoon and did Toon Town.

We met Mickey. This was a highlight for our kids (as it should be, right?). ;-)

Even Mom and Dad got their picture taken with Mickey. They said this was their first time they had gone in to see Mickey. I guess when you have three sons meeting Mickey isn't too high on the priority list. Aren't they cute?!

The Soundsational Parade in Disneyland. We were rather tired by this point in the day and Eric and I were finding all sort of things funny that you normally might now. For example, these drummers. They have Adidas high tops on....

...with Mickey shaped tongues. We found it hilarious.

Dad, videoing the days events...

Here's something else we found funny. It looks like the party store threw up all over these poor girls...

For my Aunt Sandy. Mary and Bert.

Practically perfect in every way.

We had amazing food with horrible service at Big Thunder Ranch for dinner that night. Don't worry Disney, we won't hold it against you. Here's Sam and Grandpa ready for some food.

That's it folks! I have a few more pictures from our small camera of Sam at his dinner in Goofy's Kitchen. I'll get those up....when I find the camera.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Cars Land! Woot woot!

Day 2, California Adventure. We hit the park EARLY and grabbed FastPasses for the Radiator Springs Racers ride...the (literally) only way to ride it that first week it was open. Here are the kids with Walt himself while they waited for the park to open for the day.

FROZONE! Eric was riding Tower of Terror and we happened to be parked right where the characters come on and off the streets. The kids were thrilled that they were the first ones to see the characters for the day. Notice Maggie's fingers....just like Frozone's....

Sully. From Monsters Inc., for you non-Pixar folk.

Mom did a great job indulging the kids and riding whatever rides they wanted. So, when my almost 7 year old daughter asked to ride the Sea-Carousel, Grandma said yes with a smile on her face. Sam was riding California Screamin' (the crazy BIG and FAST coaster) at the time with Grandpa. Sam called the ride California Quiet, because he didn't scream once on it. Ha!

I took the opportunity to take some pictures of Miles. What a cutie.

We saw Woody and Jessie from Toy Story. The kids were rather star-struck. It was very fun. Miles even gave Woody a high five and a fist bump. Good work, Woody.

Cars Land! We eventually braved the crowds in Cars Land and celebrated getting to see Mater up close and personal at the Cozy Cone....

...then suddenly Lightening McQueen came driving in! What luck!

...the kids soon realized that this meant that Mater was off the clock and would be leaving. But since he drove (and chatted with everyone along the way) right by us, it turned out just fine.

View down the street in Radiator Springs. We knew we shouldn't be shocked, but we continually were by how much Cars Land looked like the movie. It was incredible. Every little detail was taken care of. Living up to your reputation for overdoing everything, thanks Disney!

We eventually made it up to see McQueen. He rumbles, revs his engine, moves his eyes/eyebrows, and talks to you. It's so very cool. Sam was so excited he couldn't even talk. No joke. He just stood there and grinned. It was totally worth the time in line and then the RUN that the kids and I had to do to make it into the theater (where Eric, Miles, Mom and Dad were waiting) on time. We were running through Cars Land at record speeds I imagine. But we made it and the Aladdin show was amazing.

I asked Sam to smile. This is what I got.

....more parade watching....possibly Miles' favorite part of the day.

Best pic of Maggie. Ever.

Happy Grandma.

Happy hubby.

Very happy family....looking into the sun.

See? Every detail was covered. So cool. (and yes, they lit up at night)

Waiting to ride Luigi's Flying Tires. Although thanks to Miles and his disability pass, we didn't have to wait too long....just 20 minutes. This was one of the few times we used his pass. The line was over 90 minutes long. Insanity.

Stanley!

Dad's forehead....and the entrance to the Racers. It was breaking down ALL THE TIME and frustrating a lot of people....BUT, we did all get to ride it once while we were there and look forward to all the kinks being worked out next time we're there. Such a cool ride.