Disneyland Trip 2026 - Day 7: DCA

We went to DCA this day.  Since they didn't get to do Guardians of the Galaxy on Tuesday, they wanted to do that ride first thing.  The girls and I didn't want to do that ride, so we rode the Monsters Ride two times.  

We then went and rode on the Toy Story ride.  Once we were done, we met up with the others to go on Incredicoaster.  Allie decided that she didn't want to do it this year after all, so I waited out with her and we watched them go.  

We then went on Arial and a bunch of other rides before getting some lunch at Smoke Jumpers Grill.  

After eating the park was getting pretty busy, so we just watched the wait time and did rides that weren't too long.  We single rode the Cars ride a couple times.  Allie now loves that ride and couldn't get enough.  

We happened upon the Chinese New Year parade and that was fun to watch.  Once the lines all got super long and we had done everything we wanted to do, we decided to do some shopping at World of Disney for the things we knew that the girls wanted.  We got all the goods and then went back to the hotel.  Tony and Margie then went and got Panda Express for dinner.  It was another great day!

Disneyland Trip 2026 - Day 6: Rest Day, Temple Day

This was our rest from the park's day. We ate breakfast and got ready to go to the temple this morning.  We then drove to the temple to do baptisms for the dead.  It is always fun to go to new temples and see how they are different from our local temples.  It is really nice that we can all go together now that Allie is turning 12 this year. 

After the temple we went back to the hotel to change and then we went the Disney Store.  Josh didn't want to go, so he stayed back at the hotel and worked on homework and took a nap.  

We also got some lunch at Chili's before going back to the hotel.  The girls then worked on some homework while Tony and I took the laundry to a laundry mat.  The washing machines in our hotels were not working very well, so we decided to just go to the laundry mat.  We then brought it back to fold and put away.  Some of us ate leftovers for dinner while others walked across the street to Del Taco.  It was a nice relaxing and productive day.

Disneyland Trip 2026 - Day 5: Disney's California Adventure

We got to DCA right after rope drop.  We went to do the car's ride first, but they hadn't opened that ride yet, so we rode on Luigi's.  We love that ride; okay Allie and I love that ride.  My guess is that they others think it's an okay ride.  

After that Car's was now open, so we single rode it.  Allie was nervous to go by herself, but we have noticed that a lot of times you are in the same car as someone you know, just now on the same row.  So, we made sure that she was in the same car with us, and she did great and wanted to keep riding it.  It's so great seeing her be brave. 

We then rode more rides on our way to single ride Web Slingers.  Allie hasn't had a problem doing this one by herself, so it is a good one to single ride.  

After getting on many more rides, we got some lunch.  Margie loves the Birria tacos, so most of us had tacos, but the girls and Lloyd had something from the Cafe.  It was good.  We then rode more fun rides.  

We went on Car's a couple more times.  Tony and I got to sit by each other on one of the rides.  It was awesome. We got some yummy popcorn, but Megan couldn't eat any because of her braces, so Tony bought her a pretzel.  

We had done everything that we wanted to do by about 5:00 pm, so we decided to go back to the hotel and order some pizza for dinner...and I am sure we had Joe's too.

Disneyland Trip 2026 - Day 4: Disneyland

This was a beautiful Monday morning, perfect day to go to Disneyland.  We decided to drive to the parks since we were too far for everyone to walk.  The positive about driving is that we got to ride on the tram every day.  Allie and I really enjoy the little tram ride.   

We started our day on Big Thunder.  Allie has ridden this ride before but is always nervous about it.  But she rode it without any problems and wanted to go again.

After was Indiana, Pirates, and Haunted Mansion.  We then did Tiana's Bayou.  Most of us hadn't been on this ride since they changed it from Splash Mountain.  Allie was really nervous for this ride, but she rode it and did really good.  We all had our ponchos which helped us not get too wet.  She did not want to go on it again on this trip.

A few people wanted to do Tiana's again, so Allie, Lloyd, and I went on the Pooh ride while they rode again.  We all had fun and then went on with our day. 

Most of us wanted the Birra sandwich from Jolly Holliday for lunch.  Tony got the girls mac and cheese hot dogs from Refreshment Corner and we all ate together.  I love that sandwich; it is so good.  It was kind of hard to find a place to sit to eat because the Super Bowl parade thing was about to go by and people thought that they could sit at the tables and see the parade, so they were pretty full. After the Super Bowl people went by, then people left and we had seats.  They couldn't even see the people from that far back, so that we kind of annoying that they were taking up so many tables.  

After lunch we went on Space Mountain.  Allie had never been on this ride.  Allie has been a little scared of this ride in years past, but she had pumped herself up to ride all the rides this year (except Guardians).  She didn't really know what to expect so she didn't get herself all worked up and did really good on the ride.  She said the ride kind of hurt her head, which I feel like that too after riding that ride.  But she liked it and said she would do it again next year.

We then continued to go on lots of rides.  Josh didn't really like going on the little kid rides, but he was a trooper.  

We met Rapunzel and Flinn and Tony asked Flinn about his "smolder" and so then he taught Megan how to do it and it just made her giggle the whole time.  It was pretty funny.

We had dinner at The Plaza.  It was super yummy.  After dinner we went on some more rides before calling it a night.  We had done everything that we wanted to do and the lines were pretty long.  They also all wanted to get Joe's after we got back.  It was a great first day at the parks.

Disneyland Trip 2026 - Day 1, 2, & 3: Travel, Church, & the Temple

We started our annual Disney trip with Margie and Lloyd coming to pick us up at our house after the kids got off of school.  

We then drove to St. George for the night.  We stayed at The Red Lion, and it looked like the party hotel.  Lots of youth and families playing in the pool and in the outside play area.  It seemed like a couple sport youth groups that were there.  

After dinner Tony took Allie to the pool and Margie, and I walked around the hotel multiple times to get in some steps. 

The next morning, we ate breakfast and then started our drive to Anaheim.  The traffic wasn't too bad, just a couple slowdowns as we got closer to Anaheim.  We stopped and had lunch on our way and then we made it to our hotel.  This time we stayed at a different hotel then we had stayed at the last couple of years.  It was a nice Residence Inn, but it was further away from the parks.

After getting checked in and unpacked with checked out the hotel.  They had a large pool (that was kind of cold) and a big hot tube (that was not all that hot) and a sports court to play basketball.  It was a nice outside area.

We then walked to checkout Downtown Disney.  It was about a mile and a half walk to the park.  We decided to eat dinner at the sandwich place that is now in a food truck while they are rebuilding their building.  We like the food there and it is reasonably prices.  

We then went through some shops before going back to the hotel.  Allie said her feel were already hurting, so Tony and I took her and Lloyd back on the bus that takes you to the Toy Story parking lot.  Margie walked with Josh and Megan and ended up beating us.  The bus dropped us off at the back of that parking lot, so it didn't end up saving us any time.

We then met up with the others at Joe's Italian Ice that was close to our hotel.  This is our favorite ice cream place and since we were so close to it, we ate there almost every day.  

The girls then wanted to go swimming, so Tony took them down to swim while he enjoyed the hot tub.  It was a little chilly, so they didn't stay there for a super long time.  But they said they had fun.

The next morning, after having breakfast we got ready for church.  It didn't start until ten, so we were able to watch our home ward sacrament before going to the local ward sacrament meeting.  It was a good sacrament meeting and always nice to get to church while on vacation.

After church we went back to the hotel and got changed.  Margie likes to go to the swap meet, so most of us went with her there.  Josh and Allie did not want to go, so they stayed back at the hotel.

We found a couple good things at the swap meet.  I got some Sketchers sandals for only $15.  We got 3 packs of character socks for super cheap (I don't remember just how cheap) and then Megan picked a pair of earrings for a dollar.  We also ate some Mexican food there for lunch.  It could have been half as big, too many yard sale type places selling junk, but some good booths too.  

After we stopped by Costco for gas and to get some snacks for us to take with us to the parks.  We didn't find much but did get a couple things. We then had to go back to the swap meet to see if Margie could get some more honey for Tim, but that booth had already packed up.

We went back to the hotel and took the kids next door to get some Joe's.  It really is so good and we can't get enough.  We all probably gained a couple pounds just in Joe's.  Totally worth it.

We then hung out in the hotel for a little while before we drove to see the new temple, Yorba Linda, that is going to open up in a couple of months. 

It is a really unique and beautiful temple.  It is very Spanish pueblo looking style.  The gates were all closed, but we were able to walk around the front part of the temple and then we drove around the back.  I look forward to seeing it when it opens.

We then went to dinner at a BBQ place that was on the way back to our hotel.  It is good food and we had fun there.  A large group of men who look like Santa came into the restaurant.  It looked like a Santa convention, but they were wearing Hawaiian shirts.  Quite the site.  

We then went back to the hotel for the night and enjoyed watching the Olympics.