Doing Disney 2017

Back when Caleb was little, Grandma and Grandpa Jerdon had a tradition of taking each grandchild to the amusement park of their choice when they turned 6. It felt just old enough to get a lot out of the experience (and remember it!), but still young enough to enjoy the magic and wonder of it. Caleb chose to go to Disneyland. Then when it was Brendan's turn nearly three years later, he chose to go to Legoland. 

Well, without any more young grandchildren living closeby and with almost a 6 year gap between Brendan and Riley, quite a lot of time passed since that experience and we all forgot about it. Add all our cross country moves and everything...

But thanks to the Air Force giving us the hook up, Jacob and I decided it was time to get back on that train and head out to Disney again with the entire gang and not long before Riley's 7th birthday. Win, win!

The best deal we could get happened to include a Disney hotel package at Paradise Pier just off of Downtown Disney with a three day hopper pass to both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. It included something called "Concierge", too, which basically meant that we could get into a special room in the hotel for free continental breakfast and snacks or treats all day long. Nice! None of us, including Jacob and I, had ever been to California Adventure let alone stayed in a Disney hotel, so it was definitely going to be an adventure. We were pretty excited. And I have to say that once the kids saw the hotel, they got pretty excited, too. I mean it was DISNEYLAND a HOTEL! What could be more exciting than staying for three nights in a hotel? Oh, and Disneyland sounded fun, too. Ha! We had a view from California Adventure from our room!

But in all seriousness, what REALLY make the hotel a win was that we could use our hotel guest status to get early "magic morning" admission into Disney California Adventure or Disneyland on alternating days. An extra hour in the park before the general public! And Riley was finally impressed by Disney when he saw his first glimpse of Carsland. It was Lightening McQueen in living color! So cool!

There was a fun ride that had Italian dancing cars. It was a hoot to see them all doing their synchronized jig! Riley picked the red car and Brendan the blue. No surprises there!

Then there was a ride with Mator and the tractors!

Bugsland with rides from "A Bug's Life" was super cute and Riley enjoyed the spinny ride in the food cartons. (Can you tell that I paid close attention to the names of all the rides?)

A definite highlight of that first day in the parks was walking by the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride and realizing that a secret character (who doesn't show up on the Disneyland app) was there for pictures! We are Groot!

Along with the whole "California" theme in California Adventure was a fun area dedicated to the beautiful state and national parks of California. There was a spot for the younger boys to try a sort of zipline and another where they could practice their rock climbing. There was also an incredible treetop style ropes course which Riley really enjoyed wandering through and exploring. It was an absolutely gorgeous, California day, too. Just perfect!

Finally, we finished off a long day of walking and rides with watching the Avengers Hero Initiative training show. It was amusing, but not nearly as fun as the old Jedi Training Academy used to be. And that's coming from a Marvel fan. It was "meh" for me, but at least we had good seats up towards the front and in the shade. Free show. I'll take it.

Day #2 in the parks was all about Disneyland. We did our "magic morning" thing again and got in and onto rides before the park had opened up to the general public. Soooooo handy! We, of course, made a bee line for Star Tours, and Riley was very intrigued. Up until that point, he had always been pretty disinterested in anything Star Wars. The movies, the cartoons, the toys, the video games. He had watched his brothers play Battlefront and drool over every new movie or cartoon series, but just wasn't feeling it. However, seeing C3PO and R2-D2 in person and then flying on a space adventure might have converted him. He may or may not have come home a much more interested little guy, and may or may not have been convinced to watch not one, but all seven movies (with a little editing of scary parts, of course).

Anyhoo, all the new adventures you can experience on Star Tours make that ride even more amazing. Love love love.

Armed with the Disneyland app, we were also able to scope out where the character appearances would be around Tomorrowland. Caleb was absolutely beside himself about trying to see Boba Fett. Thanks to a tip from Aunt Laura, we were able to walk right into him, hidden in the back cantina of the Star Wars Launch Bay. He was another secret character! Unlike characters like Chewbacca and Darth Vader who are basically there all day in a designated spot where people line up and wait to take pictures, Boba just saunters out of a hidden door from a back room where you literally have to know to look for him or you wouldn't have seen him! And what made him even more cool is that his helmet has a voice simulator, so in Boba Fett's voice, he spoke to us and would say bounty hunter type lines. So fun!

But I'm not gonna lie. I think meeting Darth Vader and Chewbacca was even cooler, at least for me. (yes, total geek moment!) You get to go in the back set area with the character and just be essentially one-on-one with them. The friendly Imperial or Rebel staff members are there to help with the cameras and you get a second to interact before taking a picture. 

Chewbacca was very friendly and gave us all hugs. Then for our picture, he wanted to do a Wookiee cheer pose. Too fun! And he would warble and roar at us, too! Livin' the dream!

Despite the heat of the day, we waited to ride the Autopia, if nothing else, so that Caleb could test his blossoming 15-year-old driving skills. 

Everyone enjoyed cooling off with Splash Mountain! 

So much so, that after we went back to the hotel to cool off and rest for a bit, we came back later that evening to do it again! 

Only this time we got creative...and got to watch the fireworks show from the top of the mountain!

Day #3 was a combination of California Adventure AND Disneyland.....because why not?! We went on rides we loved for a second time and went back for the ones that we'd put off due to crazy long lines. It was now or never. 

We got into California Adventure with our "magic morning" passes and went straight for the Cars Racers ride for a second time.  I think we all agreed that it was one of our new favorites! What an innovative ride! Jake got it on video with his GoPro! 

We also tried the Grizzly Peak ride, which was a white water rafting type one, and literally walked right on! TWICE! Caleb got soaked every time. It was pretty hilarious. It didn't matter where he sat, he got nailed or the raft would turn so that he was the one going first into the waves or down the drops. We were crackin' up!

And finally before all the crowds poured in, we went over to the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride. We had no idea what to expect from it. It is a really tall tower, and as you walk inside there are a bunch of artifacts from the Marvel's Universe, as if you are in the museum of "The Collector". There was a part of Ultron and the space dog among them. What made it super cool was when you walk into the office of  The Collector and Rocket pops up on top of the shelving and starts talking and snatching items from The Collector's stash. 

The mission is to rescue the rest of the Guardians, with Rocket's help. He tampers with the elevator that you are seated in, making it fly way up the tower and then "short circuit" and free fall down. Up and down. Then stop and the doors open to reveal the Guardians breaking out and doing crazy stuff. And all to the 1980s Star Lord soundtrack. For our ride, it was "Hit Me With Your Best Shot". There was one point when we were rocketed up to the very top of the tower and then the door opened up revealing an amazing view of the entire park and across into Disneyland! It was such a blast!

   

Then, we split up so that Riley, Jacob and Brendan could go off on some more Cars rides while I went on the California Screamin' rollercoaster with Caleb. Caleb and Jacob had gotten to go on it the first day in that park while Brendan, Riley and I rode the ferris wheel. Since I am a rollercoaster fan, but Brendan is not, this was a good trade off. 

  

By the late morning, that pretty much wrapped up Disney's California Adventure for us. It was a great time! Now back to Disneyland! 

One ride that we had been putting off was the Astro Orbiter. Since he'd laid eyes on it, Riley had been wanting to go on it, but the line was ALWAYS soooooooo long! No fast passes for that one, either. We finally bit the bullet and let him get his fly on. And all was right with the world.

Another ride we had been putting off was the submarine ride. It was another one that ALWAYS had a super, insanely long line and no fast pass. It has been revamped from its old 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea theme. Now it is Finding Nemo. We bit the bullet again so that we could check it out, and it was actually really cute! I think the boys really liked that one. And it was cool down in there, too. The days had gotten hot and muggy.

Another ride on Star Tours and Space Mountain, and we had pretty much done what we came there to do. Since the weather was so hot, we were ready to walk back to the hotel and do some swimming or chilling (with our concierge snacks, of course). Thanks, for a good time, Disneyland!

And as a bonus, Brendan found a cool Imperial officer hat for a souvenir.

For Caleb's keepsake, he decided to have a caricature done. I've never had one done before, so I was interested in seeing what it was like. Caleb decided to have the artist make him into Spiderman, in honor of the Marvels heroes, and since in the new movie Spiderman is also 15. Fitting, right?

And it turned out super fun!

Hopefully, this will be an adventure that all the boys can remember for years to come!