Sunday, December 11, 2011

Disneyland for the holidays...

Disneyland is always a good time. After all, it's the happiest place on earth! What I didn't realize, however, was how truly magical it becomes during the Christmas season. We experienced this firsthand in November. Tucker and Cody had to be in Anaheim for work so the wives and kids decided to tag along. To make it even better, my parents met us there making the grandkids thoroughly excited and providing some much needed help to us adults.
We spent three days in the park and we packed a lot in...
Here we are at the entrance and as you can see, Roman was a little hyper with excitement!
My mom and dad. Aren't they the cutest? I was just so happy they were willing to be there with us.
Right as we walked into California Adventure, we ran into the guy in the red suit. Roman was so excited to talk to Santa and tell him what he wanted for Christmas. Unfortunately, none of the other kids were willing to get near him so no group picture this time.
We loved the Ferris wheel, especially because of the delicious caramel popcorn we ate while we were on it!
Roman worked with all of his might to pull the sword out. I swear this kid is so determined!Three generations of Curtis girls in a teacup.
A definite highlight for Capri was meeting the real Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder. She literally lit up when we walked in and was beyond thrilled when they started talking to her. Starstruck!
We took full advantage of the stroller passes (we had 4 strollers!) which gave us the opportunity to do some fun "big kid" rides too. When Tucker and I were on baby/kid duty, Tucker worked his magic to keep them all entertained. I think it was working...
I am so sad I didn't get a great picture of us on It's a Small World. Maybe because I was tearing up it was so beautiful. The Christmas decorations were unbelievable in there and it made Capri's favorite ride even more magical. They even had a special ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the lighting of It's a Small World while we were there.
They also lit up the castle one night and I was just dying! It was over-the-top with fake snow and everything. We even witnessed a marriage proposal right after-it was that perfect of a moment!
The favorite rides this time around were It's a Small World, Storybook, Dumbo, Ariel, and Toy Story. The lines were so short we did some of these rides three times! I was very proud of my kids and their increased bravery. Roman and Capri actually enjoyed Star Tours and though Capri wouldn't even go into Soarin' California last time, she loved the ride this trip.
Here we are on Storybrook:
The adults all had fun on Grizzly Rapids-we were so glad the weather was nice enough! Here's our crew right after-pretty dry thanks to the ponchos we found:
Main Street was covered in Christmas lights and decorations and they put on a Christmas Parade that was absolutely darling. Capri's loved seeing the princesses-they were all right there with their princes-but her favorite part was the ballerina-I think she is really loving her ballet these days! Roman loved the music and the awesome floats. Karoline was getting tired and started whining when this sweet lady started talking to her and trying to get her excited about the parade. It worked! I thought she would freak out with this stranger taking her hands and yet she started clapping with her. Surprise, surprise!
So bummed this picture didn't turn out, but I love that you get a taste of the size and decor of the Main Street Christmas Tree-fabulous!
When we lived in California, it never felt like Christmas-too many palm trees and not enough snow. We all decided, however, that you can definitely feel that Christmas spirit in Southern California as long as you are in Disneyland!

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