Disneyland Day One

We started off our trip to Disney at California Adventure Park.  We went with my parents and met up with my Aunt Joanie and cousin Kelly and my cousin Danielle, her husband and step-daughter.  I think I might have been more excited than the boys to go.  California Adventure Park was built while I was in college and I had never been.  Also, after going pretty much every summer of my life, it had been 18 years since I had been to Disneyland.  The plan has always been to take the boys on a big trip to Disney World for their fifth birthday.  There were never any big plans to make it to Disneyland even with all our trips to California.  The one thing making me want to go was that I did really want Ethan and Evan to see Cars Land while they were still in love with Cars.  It all worked out perfectly for us to take a trip with Jeff having a conference in Los Angeles...we were able to see the family and make a fun trip to see Mater and McQueen in Radiator Springs!

We talked and talked with the boys about going and they were so excited.  It was so magical and exactly like the movie.  We really felt like we had traveled to Radiator Springs...from Flo's V8 Cafe to Luigi's Casa del Tires, everything was exactly as I imagined it to be...it was so amazing.  

The boys think the tractor tipping part of the movie is scary and I have to skip it every time we watch it, so I had no clue how they would do with the tractor ride but they had no problem with it and loved it.

Waiting in line.

We're not sure how Ethan figured it out, but as soon as he sat down and got buckled up his hands went straight up in the air.  I'm sure he saw other people on the ride while we were waiting in line.  It is so his personality, he's all about fun and always ready to have a good time.  Evan was a little unsure and had the mini hand raise going on.

Mater driving down the street.  The boys were in awe.

Waiting in line to meet Lightning McQueen at the Cozy Cone Motel.

Drinks were served in orange street cone cups.

Waiting in line at Luigi's Casa del Tire ride...a really cool looking ride with the hanging flags and lights and floating tires but it was actually pretty boring.

Ethan meeting Red (Evan isn't too fond of dressed up characters so he waited with me).

Pictures with Mater.

DJ...is it really sad that I happen to know every character's name from the movie?

After hanging out at Cars Land we watched the Disney/Pixar parade that runs through California Adventure Park.  It was fun seeing all of the characters from Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, Toy Story, and of course Cars.

Waving to Mater at the end of the parade.

After spending most of our day at Cars Land we then headed over to Disneyland.  In all my life of going there I had never been during fall/halloween or Christmas so I've never seen it decorated for the holidays.  It was really cool seeing it all decorated for Halloween...with the orange and yellow banners, and pumpkins and leaves everywhere. 

Ballons from Gramma CC and Grampa Mac...you can't go to disneyland and not get a Mickey Mouse balloon.

Baylor does Disneyland...a family pic in front of Cinderella's castle.

We didn't go on too many rides the first day.  We went on Small World, Peter Pan (a favorite of the boys since they love pirates), and the Tea Cups.  The Tea Cups are one of MY favorites...my dad always used to try and make us spin as fast as possible when we went as kids.  We didn't do too much fast spinning with the boys...Ethan of course thought it was awesome and Evan liked it only for a short while.

Right about here was when Evan told he was all done with the ride and then he buried his head in my lap.

Eating some spaghetti for dinner...one tired boy after a long fun day.

After dinner the adult kids went on Space Mountain while my mom and aunt took the boys on the train ride that goes around the whole park.  My dad had stroller duty and hung out taking a few pictures while waiting on all of us.  Love this nighttime shot.

Getting hugs from Minnie Mouse before heading back to our hotel.

It was such a fun first day.  I know the boys had a great time.

Back at the hotel...asleep within five minutes of getting their jammies on (and still up at 5:30 the next morning for day two of Disney fun!)