California Family Vacation: Day 5 - Universal Studios Hollywood

We went to Universal Studios Hollywood this day.  This was the nicest weather day of the week. 

Megan and Allie really wanted to go to Universal to see Harry Potter land, so that is where we started.  

We decided to go on the rides first thing and then come back to check out the stores.  I took Allie on the small outdoor rollercoaster while the others went on the big Hagrid ride. Allie loved the ride, and we were able to ride it three times in a row before the others were done.  We then walked around a little while the others went on the small rollercoaster ride.  

We then decided to go down to do the Backlot Tour before it got too busy.  We found out later that it really didn't get that busy all day.  But I am sure we beat having a longer line later in the day.  Our tour guide lady was super funny, and it was a super fun "ride" per usual.  That really is the best thing to do at Universal Studios.

We then decided to go down to the other side of the park to ride those rides.  We first checked out Super Nintendo World.  None of us have been to this newer park, so we were excited to check it out.  It was super bright and colorful, but we found they only had like two rides in the land.  You could buy a wrist band to do different activities within the land, but we didn't want to buy those for one time at the park.  The main was ride was pretty fun, but you had to wear a head thing that was really heavy.

We then had some lunch before going on more rides.  They have a lot of rides that are screen based and cause me to get motion sickness.  I would ask the worker to explain the ride to me and then I would decide if I wanted to go, or if Allie would go on the ride.  

Allie didn't want to go on the water ride, so I stayed off with her and then Margie and the others let Tony, and I go on it together.  I really like that ride, but I didn't want to get wet.  Margie brought her poncho, so she let me wear it when we went on the ride.  So much fun.  

We then left that part of the park and checked out some more rides.  We found the Pets Ride and Allie really loved that one.  We went on it twice.  

We then went back to Harry Potter land to look at the land more closely.  

Megan was able to look at all the stores and we even got some Butterbeer for everyone to try.  Megan really liked it and loved walking around the park and seeing what things so might want for her souvenir. 

Once we had seen and done all that we wanted to in the park we decided to head out of the park by way of the main souvenir shops.  Megan was able to find the things that she wanted in the store and was very happy with her purchases.  

The traffic was really bad to head back to the hotel, so we decided to find a place to eat dinner close by in hopes that the traffic would clear a little.  Allie wanted pizza, so we found a local pizza place to eat.  The pizza was pretty good, and it was nice to not be rushed to eat.  

The traffic wasn't that much better, but at least we were not hungry.  It took over an hour, but we finally got back to the hotel.  The kids did some homework before getting some Italian Ice from Joe's.  It was a fun day at Universal Studios.  

California Family Vacation: Day 4 - Disney's California Adventure

We started off our fun with going to Disney's California Adventure.  We were going to start our day going to the Car's Racers ride, but they were not open yet, so we decided to start at Soarin' and we were glad we did.  We were able to get right in and it didn't take very long.  

After we walked past Grizzley Rapids and went to Car's Land to ride on the Radiator Springs Racers.  Allie didn't want to single ride it, because she is still a little scared to ride it without holding my hand.  So, the three older kids' single rode the ride while the rest of us waited in the line.  They were able single ride the Car's ride three times while we waited to ride it once.  We then had Allie 

go with the three older kids to ride Mator's while Tony, Margie and I single rode the Car's ride again.  

We then all tried to go on Luigi's ride, but it broke down and we decided not to wait.  We did end up coming back to try and ride Luigi's three other times and it broke down each time we were in line waiting for the ride and never ended up riding it.  

So, we decided to do Mater's as a family.  It is always super fun, and the wait isn't normally very long.

We then all went over to Avengers Campus and did single rider on the Webslinger ride.  We really take advantage of the rides that Allie will single ride.  We ended up doing this ride twice this day and never had to wait very long in the single rider line.  

Now it was Toy Story's Midway Mania time. We all love this ride.  Some wanted to do the Incredicoaster, but for some reason they didn't, but Allie went on the carousel and loved it.  Everyone who wanted to ride the Incredicoaster was able to at least once.  We took the girls on some of the smaller rides after lunch while Margie went with the boys on the Incredicoaster.  

We had tacos for lunch, and they were so good.  We then went on Ariel as a family before splitting up.  Tony and I took the girls on the jellyfish ride and then tried the fried cheese on a stick we'd been wanting to try.  I didn't really like it.

After our snack we went on the Emotional Worldwind ride.  The line was a little longer than we wanted, but we waited, and the girls liked the ride.  By this time Margie and the boys were done, so they met us at the end of the ride and then we all moved on to more fun rides.

We decided to do Soarin' again and to wait to see Pluto.  Pluto is Tyler's favorite character, and he looked up when he would be out so that we were there and first in line.  Pluto is always fun to get pictures with.  It made Tyler very happy, especially with his Pluto shirt on.

We rode more rides and had fun enjoying DCA.  We didn't get park hopping passes this year so, we stayed at DCA all day.

We ate dinner at Smoke Jumpers by Soarin'.  It was nice to be able to eat inside where it was warmer, and the food was pretty good.  

We then did more rides and enjoyed the park.  We found Captain America and Tyler wanted a picture with him.  We waited in line, and it was well worth it.  The kids liked talking with him and everyone was so nice.  I was glad that Tyler got to visit with a few of his favorite characters (especially since he'll not be coming for a couple years).

After dinner we were going to ride the Incredicoaster and Toy Story Mania and we noticed a bring light crossing the sky.  It was really cool, and we got a couple pics of it.  We found out later that night that it was a SkyLink satellite that was being launched into space.  Really cool to be outside to see that in person. 

After we got off of the ride Ariel, Tyler got a text saying that his mission call was in.  We were very surprised because we thought if it came that week that it would come on Tuesday.  So, Tyler then had to make the decision of when to open his call.  I can tell you now that after much thought he decided to wait until we got home so he could open it up in front of his friends and family.

We had pretty much done everything that we had wanted to do, multiple times, by 8:00 pm so we decided to get some popcorn and walk back to our hotel.  It was a great day at the park.  It was busy, but not terrible.  We watched the wait times and didn't have to wait too long in lines.  A great way to start our theme park adventures.

California Family Vacation: Day 3 - Church, Homework, & Temple

Sacrament didn't start until 10:00 am, so we had plenty of time this morning to eat breakfast and get ready church.  The kids started some homework and then we all went to sacrament.  It's a good thing we got there early because the chapel quickly filled up with tons of families visiting Disneyland and the local members.  The members were very nice and welcoming.  It is always so nice to see like-minded people going to church on vacation.

After church we went back to the hotel and changed our clothes.  We went and got some lunch and then Josh, Allie, and I got dropped off at the hotel while the rest went to the swap meet.  Allie and Josh worked on homework, and I got us all ready for our day at DCA tomorrow.  The others had fun at the swap meet and Tony actually found Allie a really cute Alice in Wonderland Loungfly backpack that he bought her for her birthday.  

After they got back, we all went to the Newport Beach Temple. Unfortunately, the gate was locked so we couldn't walk around the temple, but we enjoyed the beauty outside the gates.  We then drove around Newport Beach area to see the water and then drove back towards our hotel to get some dinner.  We went to a BBQ place, and it was really yummy.  After dinner we went back to the hotel and rested for the rest of the evening.  It was a lovely was to spend our Sabbath day.

California Family Vacation: Day 2 - St. George to Anaheim, CA

The breakfast at the hotel wasn't very good this morning.  Some found things they liked, others did not.  We all lived though.

We had no problems driving to our hotel in Anaheim.  We actually had very little traffic like we usually do.  So, we made it to our hotel in record time.  We got there before our check-in time, but we lucked out and they had a room ready for us.

After we got unpacked, we walked over to Downtown Disney.  It was really busy.  They had long lines just to go through security.  

We decided to get dinner first at Earl of Sandwich.  I was able to find us a table that would fit us all and we all enjoyed our yummy dinner.  We all like the food at Earl and we look forward to eating there every time.

After dinner we walked around Downtown Dinner.  We walked in the stores and then tried to go on the tram for a roundtrip ride.  When we got to the tram, they seemed to be having issues and it was taking a long time, so decided not to go on it.  Allie and I were a little bummed, but also didn't want to wait for whatever was going on with them.  

We then walked back to our hotel and got ready for bed and ready for going to DCA the next day.

California Family Vacation: Day 1 - Home to St. George

After the kids got out of school Margie came to pick us up and load up the van.  Once we were all loaded, we drove down to St. George.  Luckily the weather was good, and we had no problems driving down and getting to our hotel.

We decided to just walk to the Black Bear Diner for dinner.  It was located right by our hotel.  We had a good dinner and then a silly photo shoot with all the bears outside.  Megan enjoyed kissing the bear and thought it was so funny.

We then checked out the pool and found a million kids already in the pool, so we decided to not join that chaos. So, we hung out in our rooms instead.