Disney Trip 2024 - More Disney Fun

This was another rain free day.  We started again at Disneyland this day.  We love going first thing (rope dropping) so that we can get on a lot of rides quickly.  We wanted Allie to go on Big Thunder, but she didn't want to do it first thing.  

So, we went on Indiana Jones very first.  Allie loves that ride (even though she hides her face for most of it).  Megan doesn't really like it because it's a little too realistic for her.  But she goes and she doesn't complain (she just has a kind of sad/nervous face).  The rest of us all really enjoy the ride and love riding it together.

We then all went on Pirates.  We all like this ride.  Allie still gets scared of the small drops on the ride, but now does way better with them.  We just talk about when they are coming, and she is good.  She looks scared and sad in the picture of us all at the end of Pirates, because she knew that she was about to go on Big Thunder and was already working herself into a frenzy.

We then got in line for Big Thunder.  Allie had gotten herself really nervous for the ride, but she went on it.  I told her she couldn't cry and that she had to ride it.  I wouldn't make her ride the bigger rides (like Incredicoaster or Matterhorn) but that she could be brave and ride this one.  

I held her really tight and talked her through the whole ride.  She gets scared of big drops, but that ride doesn't really have big drops.  But Allie hasn't ridden the ride enough to really know what to expect.  She was very happy when it was over, and I didn't make her do it again.

We were able to see a few different characters this day.  We loved seeing Rabbit and Tigger while we were in Critter Country riding the Pooh ride.  The boys were good sports going on it with us and then waiting in line to see Tigger.  The girls just happened upon Rabbit on our way to get in line to see Tigger, so that was great.

We went back into Toon Town and had fun riding Mickey's Runaway Railway, Roger Rabbit, and we did the small roller coaster, Chip N Dales.  Allie was really excited to ride it and I showed her just how similar that ride is to Big Thunder, it's just a lot shorter.  So maybe next time she won't be so we afraid of Big Thunder.

We then went on some more rides and the bigger kids wanted to single ride Space Mountain.  Allie didn't want to go, so I took her on Buzz.  

While we were on the ride it just happened to stop right by a sensor that went up and down and when you shot it, it gave you a lot of points.  So, I went to town on that target and ended up getting more then the numbers on the screen.  I took a picture with Allie in it to show my score to so that I could show Tony.  He was very impressed.  Pretty good for the girl that normally doesn't even really try to get such a big number.  

After lunch we saw that Rise of the Resistance wasn't too long, so we went over there to ride that ride.  This is the other ride that Megan doesn't really like because it is too real.  But she goes on the ride and doesn't complain.  

When we got in to the line, they had raised the wait time, but we decided to stay.  Tony then got out of line and got us some of the new cookies from Harbor Galley for us all to try.  It didn't take him very long and he was back in line with us with two baker's dozen cookies.  The cookies weren't very big, but they were warm and super tasty.  The people behind us in line saw him come back with the cookies and then he went and got some for him and his wife.

It was the perfect treat to have while waiting in a long line.  The wait wasn't as bad as they posted, but it was a long wait.  It went by fast, and the ride was super fun.

After we ate dinner Allie really wanted to go on the Monorail.  So, Tony and I took her on the Monorail while Margie took the older three kids on the Matterhorn.  We were able to get right on without much wait and then we just stayed on the Monorail to get back into the park.  We met right back up with the rest of our family and it was perfect timing.  

This was a special event night, so the park closed at 8:00 pm this night.  Allie knew what she wanted for a souvenir, so we went through the store on the way out of the park to get it for her.  The store was way busy!  We looked around for a little bit, but after Allie had found what she wanted, and we got tired of fighting the crowds Margie bought her souvenir and we walked back to the hotel.  Allie chose a Mickey stuffy pillow.  She calls it her emotional support stuffed animal (she's so funny).  She was so happy to have it and snuggled it all the way back to the hotel.  

It was another great day in the parks.  No rain, not too busy, everyone's feet felt good.  Such a great day!

Disney Trip 2024 - Disneyland with the Crouds

 

This day the rain had mostly stopped.  The ground was still pretty wet, but it didn't rain any more this day.  We started our day in Disneyland.  We rode a lot of rides and had tons of fun.  

This was the busiest day of the whole trip.  We found out that California schools had a half day that day and there were also a lot of band and cheer kids there.  But the main reason, I think, is that a lot of people switch their day from Monday and Tuesday to Wednesday.  In hindsight we wished that we would have kept our Monday reservation because the park was so much slower in the rain.  But we still had a great time.

We did get discouraged by the wait times by about 5:00 pm so we decided to go back to the hotel for dinner and to swim.  Tony picked up some Italian food and brought it back to the hotel and then we went to the pool.  The girls and Josh swam and Tyler, Tony, and I sat in the hot tub.  

We met lots of fun new people while hanging out in the hot tub.  Tyler and Josh went back to the room after a little while, but then Tony and I stayed to let the girls play some more in the pool.  It was just what we needed to have rested feet for two more days at the parks.  We, of course, had Joe's that night and that was delicious too.  

Disney Trip 2024 - DCA & Disneyland in the Rain

Today was the day we suited up and went out into the rain to have lots of Disney fun. We all had a poncho, or waterproof jacket, and we had waterproof shoes and a couple umbrellas, and we were ready to go.  

We started at Disneyland.  We had no problems getting in and just missed rope drop.  We went straight to Indiana Jones and then went on from there.  

There was a good amount of people, but not too busy.  We think that a lot of people stayed away seeing how much it was supposed to rain.

The weather was really rainy all day.  But sometimes it would let up for a little while and then start again.  The tricky part was trying to find places to sit for lunch where the seats weren't all wet and we had a little cover over our heads.  We did finally find a place that sort of worked.  We ate at the Jolly Holiday, and it was so good.  Most of us had the beef birria sandwiches.  

After a while we switched parks and went into California Adventure.  We had a great time there too and really just did mostly what we wanted.  We all stayed mostly dry, and our preparations did us well for a very rainy day at the parks.  

After eating dinner and doing a few more rides we decided that we were ready to go back to the hotel.  It was wet fun day and quite the adventure.

Disney Trip 2024 - Rainy Sunday, Eating, & Monday Swimming in the Rain

On Sunday we got dressed for church and then had some breakfast before leaving for sacrament meeting.  This is the day that the heavy rains started.  The news told everyone to stay home the next few days because of the amount of rain that was expected to come down.  They even declared it a state of emergency in some parts.  Lots of flooding expected.  So that was super fun to hear.

We made it to church just a few miles away and enjoyed a lovely service.  It was fast Sunday, and we heard a lot of really good testimonies.  After church we went back to the hotel to change.  After we changed, we went and got some lunch and then came back to hang out at the hotel.  Allie, Margie, and I decided to take a walk around the hotel.  Allie liked the little gym and taking pictures there.  This hotel has a scavenger hunt for the kids to do and then they get a little prize. Both girls like to play this game.  The boys always sleep together and usually Tyler steals the blankets from Josh, poor kid.  Tyler is lucky Josh is such a chill guy.

We later got dinner and ice cream at Joe's, but we mostly relaxed and let the kids get some homework done.  We had originally had our reservations to go to the parks Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday but since the rain was supposed to be so heavy on Monday and Tuesday, we switched Monday for Wednesday.  So, on Monday we went to the Disney Store, out to lunch, and Costco.  After all the errands were done, we let the kids swim, and we relaxed in the hot tub.  It was raining, but not too bad and the hot tub was kind of under the roof.  The swimming pool is in the middle of the buildings, so it is kind of protected.  It was a fun, rainy day of relaxing before our fun in the park's days. 

Disney Trip 2024 - Driving & Downtown Disney

We got to our hotel without any problems, way better than the day before.  We checked into our hotel and got everything unpacked.  We decided to walk to Downtown Disney for dinner and to walk around.  We had yummy sandwiches at The Earl of Sandwich and then walked around the stores.  We got some goodies from Marcelien's and then went on a tram ride.  It was fun to hop on the tram to the parking lot and then we got right back on to go back to Downtown Disney.  Then we walked back to our hotel to enjoy the rest of the evening.

Disney Trip 2024 - Red Cliff Temple Open House

We started our trip yesterday after the kids got home from school.  We drove to Cedar City to spend the night.  The weather was a little scary at times and at one point the rain turned to freezing rain and the road was instantly covered in ice.  Tony handled it very well, but others did not.  We saw many cars slide off the road and at one time we saw a car from the other side of the freeway go off the road into the median grassy dip area and flip his car multiple times.  It was like it was a stunt from a movie.  We pulled over and called 911 to let them know it happened and where it was.  We did see that the people were able to get out of the car that had rolled, so that was good.  Many other cars had stopped as well to help, so we were able to keep going.   

We got to our hotel without any more problems, thankfully.  We then got some dinner and then relaxed for the night.

The next morning, we got on our church clothes, ate breakfast, checked out of our hotel and then drove to St. George.  

The Red Cliff Temple's open house just started that morning and we really wanted to go.  We didn't have reservations and we didn't know how busy it was going be, so we wanted to be there first thing.  

Turned out perfect because it wasn't busy at all, and we got right in.  It is a beautiful temple and we all loved going through. We then changed our clothes in the bathrooms and drove to Anaheim.