disneyland!!

Our family had the opportunity to go to Disneyland yesterday! We kept it a secret from the kids all week and didn't tell them where we were going until we got there. They were so excited! And it was really fun to see all of the cool Halloween decorations they had up. We have never visited Disneyland during October so it was fun to see the park in a different way.

Pumpkin Donald Duck at the front gates.

Pumpkin flower designs were planted everywhere.

Minnie Mouse and friends at the Front Gates.

The entryway to California Adventure decked out in candy corn.

Since we didn't have the chance to go to Disneyland on Eli's birthday on September 21 like we had originally planned, we decided to celebrate his birthday while we were there. We went to City Hall and he got a special "Happy Birthday" pin with his name on it. Needless to say, he got a lot of attention from everyone!

I think the highlight of the whole day was when we went to the "Turtle Talk With Crush" show. For those of you who haven't seen the show, it's pretty amazing. They have a large auditorium with seating for adults and in the very front a big carpeted area for kids (and parents) to sit. In the front is a huge TV screen that looks like a fish tank. Now, I still haven't figured out how they do it (Danny thinks it's motion capture), but they have a computer animated Crush (the "surfer dude" sea turtle from Finding Nemo) come out and swim in his "tank" while he actually talks and interacts with the audience. Well, he happened to notice a little "sea dude" in the front who was wearing a "red colored shell with a white stripe down the side" (Eli was wearing a red sweatshirt with a white stripe) and a button that said "Happy Birthday". He then had the coolest conversation with Eli. He named Eli "Electric Eel Eli" or "Triple E" and taught Eli how to say "Totally Sweet!" He also sang his version of "Happy Birthday" which was something like (in the tune of Happy Birthday), "Doo doo doo doo doo doo....cha. Doo doo doo doo doo doo...cha" and continued through the end of the song. Anyway, it was so much fun for us and Eli to have had Crush talk to him for so long. After Crush talked to the audience for awhile, he let the audience ask him questions. Shailey was really hoping she could ask Crush if he liked pancakes but she didn't get to. All in all, it was the coolest experience.


We all got to see the "new" version of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride with the additions of Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Barbossa and even Davy Jones. It was fun to see the new changes to one of our favorite rides. Believe it or not, we also saw Mickey Rooney riding in one of the boats as we were waiting to get on. The line had been pretty long for the ride and as we got up to the entryway, we saw a boat that was nearly empty. We were wondering why they hadn't loaded more people onto the boat and then we recognized Mickey Rooney sitting in the very back. It was kind of cool. :o)


We also got to see the Haunted Mansion Holiday version of the Haunted Mansion. It was actually less scary that way than the regular version so we all went on the ride. The kids seemed to think it was fun, especially Shailey.

Haunted Mansion Holiday decorations.

Jack Skellington at the gates of the Haunted Mansion.

Shailey got to ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for the first time. It was at night so I knew the ride would be darker but that didn't seem to phase her one bit! She loved it! Immediately after we got off she wanted to ride it again. Unfortunately, we had to get back to Danny who was with the boys saving a spot for us to watch the fireworks show.

We were excited for the fireworks show since we had staked out seating in the front of the castle early on. We were disappointed though when they had us stand through the whole show and there was a continual flow of people walking right inbetween us and the front of the castle where the show was! I have no idea why they planned it that way. It was very hard for the kids to see with all the people walking in front of us. When we watched the show two years ago they allowed you to sit in front of the castle and they had areas much further back for people to get through. Also, we were really bummed that Tinkerbell didn't make her usual appearance during the show. We still had fun despite the disappoinments.

Sleeping Beauty Castle at night.

All in all it was a fantastic day! We purchased a 2-day park hopper ticket so we will use our second day this Saturday and then upgrade to the annual passes at the park. We are excited to be able to go to Disneyland regularly (even if it is still about 1 1/2 hours from where we live) since it is one of our family's favorite places to be!

Our family in front of "Pumpkin Mickey Mouse".