Morning came bright and early, especially with Gabe in the room. He was so excited to bust out the Spiderman Art kit he bought the night before. (He was looking at all these toys but then landed on the Art Kit after we pointed out that he doesn't really play with toys. Surprisingly, he agreed with us.)
This was day three in the parks, so we were dragging a little. Brian dropped Michael, Gabe, and I off in front of the park again while he and Rachel back to the hotel for her jacket and to get a new room key. After successfully renting the scooter again, the boys and I headed back into Disneyland while Rachel and Brian had to deal with these lines in the parking structure.
The boys and I headed to Autopia
And then we met up with Rachel and Brian at the Buzz Lightyear ride.
We hit up Space Mountain again, and then headed over to Splash Mountain. Since the line wasn't too bad at Splash, Brian and the kids hopped in line while I stopped to get a Later Return Pass to another ride. I sat reading a book until they were a little closer to the entrance and where I could easily hop in with them.
Somewhere along the line, we started a fake slapping game.
Finally we were on our ride, prepared in our ponchos, and making a poor single-rider take the front seat.
We hit up Haunted Mansion and Pirates again, and then headed over to the Matterhorn. After riding it, we discovered a Genie Lens that only worked when you were by the Matterhorn.
We got lunch at Zocalos, the Mexican Restaurant in Frontier Land, and then rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again.
And then we did one last ride on Smuggler's Run, discovering more lenses while waiting in line.
We took advantage of the park photographers again to take a photo in front of the Millennium Falcon.
We rushed over to California Adventure to catch the Spiderman show.
And then Brian took the boys to try to go ride Goofy's Sky School. Rachel and I checked out some shops together. I was on the hunt for some inexpensive shoes because my feet were drenched after Splash Mountain, and I was a little miserable. While we were in the store, the clouds burst wide open. Brian and the boys were unable to ride Goofy's Sky School and made there way back to us. After some debate, we decided to grab some special Halloween flavored churros on our way to the Incredicoaster, that then shut down. We discovered an Up lens while we tried to decide what to do.
We decided to head to Soarin' since it was raining, and a lot of the rides started shutting down. The line was super long. We played Head's Up and started a game where you say, "My name is..." and each person adds a new name until someone can't remember all the names. Here's from our round:
"My name is Taylor Rapp Boogie Capri Ghostly Anne Hathaway Harmonica Kiki Haunted Mansion House Holiday Haven Paca Parrot Gop Smith Corn DeVille Bartholomew Hamlet Shakespeare Lichtenstein."
Finally, we made it into the building and out of the dripping rain.
Rachel and I got a Mother/daughter Minnie Ear necklace set, and when we tried to take a picture of us wearing them, Michael hopped into the photo.
So then we took another one without him. Rachel liked this necklace, so I went in on it with her. It's fun to have matching necklaces.
Finally, we made it onto the ride! I love this ride, even though it gives me the slightest bit of anxiety when we start rising up.
We used the Genie Lens again when we went by the Coco Family Plaza
On our way to Midway Mania. The kids were getting along so well while we waited in this line, Gabe and Michael especially were laughing together and having a great time.
Brian figured out that he could start requesting Lightning Lanes to Grizzly River Run, which was closed due to weather, and then those Lightning Lanes would be good for any ride in the park. After Midway Mania, the kids booked it to the Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Break-out Monsters After Dark and I hung back and watch World of Color for the first time. On our way out of Pixar Pier, we notice the Pixar Light on the sign. Somehow, we've missed it every other time.
They all got a kick out of the Halloween overlay at Guardians. Everyone wanted to tell me every little detail when we reunited.
Meanwhile, I enjoyed watching World of Color for the first time. It was really amazing.
Thanks to Brian's Lightning Lane Trick, we were able to run and ride the Spiderman Webslingers ride one last time. We thought it would be our last ride, but we realized that if we ran, we could probably do just one more before the park close. Brian took the kids and ran back to Guardians, and I floored my scooter all the way to Soarin', making it just in the knick of time.
By that point, we were all wet from the rain, but there was one or two more things we wanted to grab from the shops on Main Street in Disneyland, so we headed back into that park. It was so tempting to stay and shut that park down as well, but we were all wet and getting miserable by then, due to the downpour. We found this amazing window display while we were shopping,
And Rachel and I posed in front of the castle.
And the Pumpkin.
We made our way back to the car, and headed home. The kids ended up just eating snacks for dinner, and Brian and I ate Del Taco.
A word about our Hotel. The breakfast was great, the lobby areas nice, but the hallways were really hot and muggy, and after the first day there, the elevator in our hotel that went up to our floor was broke, and so we had to take the elevator up to the sixth floor, and then stairs to the seventh floor to our room for the rest of our stay. This was frustrating at the end of the day, and really tricky the day we had to check out. Our bags were big!
We ended up taking a load down the stairs and down the elevator with us when we headed to Church on Sunday. We attended the same building that we attended the last time we came to California for Disney, right before Covid shut the world down. It was nice to be back on the other side of the pandemic.
After church, we packed the rest of our stuff up and checked out of the hotel. The staff were kind enough to refund us one night of our stay due to the elevator issues, which was much more than we expected. Go Hilton! Much better than when we had a snake enter our room in Charleston!
After checking out, we headed to Seal Beach. We grabbed some lunch at a restaurant near the water, and looked in some shops and hung out on this bench while we waited for our table.
Overall, the place was overpriced, but the menu was hysterical. Notice the bottom menu item.
BBBBBBLT & Eggs Sandwich: 6 strips Bacon, 2 fried eggs, lettuce, etc.
And the last item here:
Pint of Bacon: 6 strips of bacon, Cuz YOLO!!
After lunch, the kids played in the water. It was a little chilly, but they couldn't help themselves.
After they all had enough, we showered everyone off and helped them change back into dry clothes. We got gas (which was OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive)
And drove to Las Vegas to crash for the night. We stayed on the South end of the strip. We paid for hot breakfast since it was only an extra $15ish for all of us, and it was AMAZING! We all got made to order menu items that were so delicious. We definitely want to stay there again. I think it was the Garden Suite.
After getting packed back up, we drove down the strip to show the kids the crazy casinos and the famous Fabulous Las Vegas Sign.
Then, we drove the rest of the way home, which doesn't really merit anymore comment.
At lunch on Sunday, October 16, we asked everyone what their favorite parts of this trip were. Here are the responses:
Gabe:
Top 3 Rides: Incredicoaster, Guardians of the Galaxy-Monsters after dark
Brian:
Top rides/memories: Incredicoaster with everyone, Guardians with the kids twice before park close, "This panda has been dead for 4 years" (Michael in Smallworld), playing the name game in Soarin Line
Devri:
Fake fighting in Midway mania line, Michael and Rachel in Astro orbiter, seeing the kids get along and love doing things together
(I guess Rachel and Michael never came up with anything).
This trip was monumental because it was the first Disney trip where we didn't ride Dumbo's Flying Elephants. It was also the first trip that everyone was tall enough to ride all the rides.
I loved this trip so much because, for the most part, we did everything as a family. We didn't have to do any kind of rider swapping, so we all just rode everything together with a few exceptions. I loved spending so much time as a family and just enjoying being together. We have weird age gaps in our family, so sometimes, it is hard to find an activity that everyone enjoys together, and this trip was magical simply for that. Aside from a few isolated incidents of grumpiness, everyone got along and was happy. My friend Serene keep telling me that there are only 4 or 5 summers left with her oldest at home, which means only 5 or 6 left with Michael. I am so grateful that we were able to make this trip happen. We joke about our Disney Parks addiction, but it's totally because it is a place where all of us can enjoy doing things together, all day, for three days straight--or longer. I love Walt Disney's vision for this very thing...A place where parents and kids of all ages can play together, creating memories that will last forever.
