Disneyland!!!!!

Disneyland....that magical place where it feels like someone grabs you by your ankles, hangs you upside down, then hits you with a stick until all your money falls out of your pockets.  Once you're back on your feet, you're handed a plate of delicious food and you merrily skip away penniless.  That's Disneyland. Ha!  I'm joking.  Sort of.  It was a lot of fun.  It was intense.  The lines were long.  The food was delicious. I can’t be sure but I think they took all our money.

I had no idea Disney food was a thing but I'm so glad I got educated at the last minute because we definitely made some good food memories.  I also had no idea there were so many ins and outs to navigating the whole Disney experience.  For me, this trip took a whole village.  I had my friend who is a Disney Concierge book our park passes and hotel.  My travel agent friend booked our airfare and shuttle.  Another friend lent us her double stroller.  And last but certainly not least, my college roommate, Thamina, told me the best secret of all:  The Rope Drop.  Hooray for T!  Plus, she responded to all my texts about where to go next, where to eat, and what lines to avoid.  Ok, back to the Rope Drop. If you read online, the park says it opens at 8am but it actually opens at 7:30am.  This is a total game changer!  Just ask all those disappointed people who showed up at 8am and found out there were already thousands of people in front of them.  Proof there is sadness at Disneyland.  At 7:30am you can get into the center of the park where you get to the ropes that block off the entrances to all the rides.  8am is the "rope drop" where hundreds, maybe thousands of people walk as fast as they can to get to the rides that have the longest lines.  This whole "rope drop" thing was just mind-blowing to me.  And I knew I wanted to do it.  Turns out my children are just like me.  We were born to cut in front of people, maneuver through crowds, all to get to the front of a line.  Don't worry, we didn't make anyone mad (at least not very many), and everyone else was there doing the same thing.

Walking to the rope drop and barely able to admire the festive decorations

After I explained the Rope Drop to my family and assured them to trust T's advice, I announced we would be waking up at 6:30am for the next three days.  You probably think I sounded crazy.  But when we walked into the hotel's breakfast buffet at 6:45am the next morning and the line was out the door, I realized the world is full of crazy Disney people.  We wasted no time shoveling our food down and then we were out the door to maneuver through the mass of people walking to Disney.  I didn't know this, but I'm really good at walking really fast without looking weird or like I'm working too hard.  It's a talent I didn't know I had.  And with a double-stroller no less!  (Pro-Tip:  Always bring a stroller to Disney.  Someone will always want to sit in it and you'll need a place to store all your stuff.)

Walking past lots of slow walkers heading to Disney at 7:10am

The crowd of people at the Rope Drop all trying to get to Star Wars rides.  I met some pretty nice people in these crowds.

Star Wars!!

Star Wars!

Ok, I promise there isn't a ton left to say before the pictures do all the talking,  but I have to tell you about Rise of the Resistance.  It's the new Star Wars ride and everyone said we HAD to ride it and the lines would be 2 hours long so the rope drop was our only option.  They were right.  The ride was incredible!  And I don't even like Star Wars! It felt like we were on the set of a movie.  At one point, Henry held onto my hand and said, "Mommy, are we going to die?"  Poor kid!  No one gets killed at Disney but he seriously believed the bad Star Wars guys were lining us for a firing squad.  I don't blame him.  It felt that real.  If Darth Vader had walked in I probably would have peed my pants.  Luckily Kylo Ren was chasing us around and he's not as scary.

Part of the ride was just waiting (in our case walking)through the line and looking at all things Star Wars

 

This guy was moving and talking and Henry was so confused

The doors opened and we saw all these guys staring at us and it was incredible

Henry was barely tall enough for this ride if he thought tall thought and stood on his tiptoes without anyone noticing.  He had to do this over and over again.  Some workers let him on and some were not having it for a second.  On the last day I put an extra pair of socks on his feet to help his cause.

I think this was about the part when Henry thought we were all about to be killed.  Can you blame him?

The blue skies weren't too shabby either!

After our minds were blown by Rise of the Resistance, we went to the Millenium Falcon ride and Parker was in heaven as he got to fly us around space.  Easily the happiest moment of his life.

Minds being blown

We just couldn't get enough of all the space ships

Splash Mountain - Landon and Parker were NOT fans

Henry made Marcus take him on Winnie the Pooh - twice!

Only a boy family would go canoeing at Disney.  The lines were getting long so it wasn't all bad.

Let us never forget his terrible hair!

The Buzz Lightyear ride was a favorite too

Star Tours

Back to Main Street for lunch as the clouds rolled in

Poor Henry had to go to Disneyland.  His parent have got some nerve!

Waiting in a 25-minute line that ended up being over and hour.  The boys started snuggling and talking about missing their girlfriends.  We all lost our minds and are trying to forget that part of our lives.

Disney not at Christmas just won't be as impressive

After going back to our hotel for dinner, we returned to hit more rides once the lines were shorter.  Landon and Parker were too tired so they stayed at the hotel and we just had these three with us.  Henry liked all the big kid rides but he was in heaven the next morning when he finally got to ride all the little kid rides for the first time.

Marcus soaking in Henry time

Disney at Christmastime can't be beat!  So we won't try.