Hello everyone. Decided to write a little trip report of our 1 day excursion to DL/DCA on Mon. 8/17. My older daughter started school on Wed. so we decided this would be our last little trip before school starts. We live in So Cal and have Deluxe AP's but we usually avoid the summers (I'd rather not go in the heat and crowds) but we really wanted to see the electrical parade since I haven't seen it since I was a kid so we decided to brave the crowds!!
So, here's the Cast:
Me, Natalie
DD 7, Madison and DD 4, Ava
DH, James (he came later that day)
Ok... Madison, Ava, and I left around 7:30 am from the Santa Clarita Valley. DH was gonna meet us there later if he got off work early enough. I thought I was gonna be deep in traffic the whole way there but lo and behold there was almost none! The gods were with me!! So we pulled into the parking structure around 8:45 and made our way to the park.
I'm usually a bit of a planner but decided that we would just do what we felt like today. When we arrived the girls wanted to ride Matterhorn so we did that with only about a 10 min. wait. Madison was very excited to get to ride by herself...made her feel like a big girl. Then we went on Casey Jr. The crowds weren't that bad yet which I found surprising. Then Ava wanted to go on her favorite, POTC so we headed over to NOS and got FP's for Thunder just in case DH made it later. After POTC it was off to get spooked at HM. We were starting to get a little hungry now so we stopped and ate the luch that I packed(gotta save some $$!).
We then decided to hit JC and got fp's for Indiana on the way. JC was a lot of fun and Ava especially loved all the animals particularly the baby elephants. We headed back to the castle and checked out the Sleeping Beauty walk through. This was new for us and having AP's it's always nice to have something new to experience. It was a really cute exhibit and the girls really enjoyed getting to go in the castle! Then we rode Mr. Toad and the Carousel. After that we headed back to NOS and stopped at the Thunder Ranch petting zoo. The girls had a great time petting the goats and this was also a first for us!!! But those goats are so calm... I think they may be on some sort of drug! HaHa!
By now we had kind of ridden most of what we wanted to so the girls decided they wanted to explore the pirates lair. We've been here before but not for a while so they had a lot of fun, especially on the Pontoon bridge! Since we were over that way we stopped in to say hello to Winnie the Pooh. By now my DH was almost there so we sat down and took a break while we waited for him. Ava fell asleep so when DH got there it was the perfect opportunity for him and Madison to go on Thunder and Indiana. They had a blast and when they got back it was dinner time so we sat down and ate at Zocalo....mmmmm, Chicken Caesar salad!!
It was now about 6:30 so we decided to make a stop at Pixie Hollow before heading over to DCA. This was also a first for us and I thought it was very cute and the girls loved meeting Tinkerbell! We didn't really see the light show because it was still pretty light out so it didn't seem to be as noticeable so maybe next time we'll go after dark.
We made our way to DCA to see the EP but stopped first at Heimlich's Chew Chew train for Ava who loves that ride. Then we got our spot for the parade and had some ice cream while we waited. The parade was awesome and the girls really enjoyed it (this was their first time seeing it). It brought back a lot of memories for me when I heard that music start up and the "Disneyland Electical Parade" robotic voice!! I loved it!! The lights were beautiful and Pete's Dragon was great!!
After the parade we went back to the bug's life area and rode Heimlich again along with the bumper cars and ladybug spinny thing (ugh, those make me sick!) and then decided to call it a night!
We had a great time and did a lot of new things on this trip which was really fun! So until next time, bye bye Disneyland!!
So, here's the Cast:
Me, Natalie
DD 7, Madison and DD 4, Ava
DH, James (he came later that day)
Ok... Madison, Ava, and I left around 7:30 am from the Santa Clarita Valley. DH was gonna meet us there later if he got off work early enough. I thought I was gonna be deep in traffic the whole way there but lo and behold there was almost none! The gods were with me!! So we pulled into the parking structure around 8:45 and made our way to the park.
I'm usually a bit of a planner but decided that we would just do what we felt like today. When we arrived the girls wanted to ride Matterhorn so we did that with only about a 10 min. wait. Madison was very excited to get to ride by herself...made her feel like a big girl. Then we went on Casey Jr. The crowds weren't that bad yet which I found surprising. Then Ava wanted to go on her favorite, POTC so we headed over to NOS and got FP's for Thunder just in case DH made it later. After POTC it was off to get spooked at HM. We were starting to get a little hungry now so we stopped and ate the luch that I packed(gotta save some $$!).
We then decided to hit JC and got fp's for Indiana on the way. JC was a lot of fun and Ava especially loved all the animals particularly the baby elephants. We headed back to the castle and checked out the Sleeping Beauty walk through. This was new for us and having AP's it's always nice to have something new to experience. It was a really cute exhibit and the girls really enjoyed getting to go in the castle! Then we rode Mr. Toad and the Carousel. After that we headed back to NOS and stopped at the Thunder Ranch petting zoo. The girls had a great time petting the goats and this was also a first for us!!! But those goats are so calm... I think they may be on some sort of drug! HaHa!
By now we had kind of ridden most of what we wanted to so the girls decided they wanted to explore the pirates lair. We've been here before but not for a while so they had a lot of fun, especially on the Pontoon bridge! Since we were over that way we stopped in to say hello to Winnie the Pooh. By now my DH was almost there so we sat down and took a break while we waited for him. Ava fell asleep so when DH got there it was the perfect opportunity for him and Madison to go on Thunder and Indiana. They had a blast and when they got back it was dinner time so we sat down and ate at Zocalo....mmmmm, Chicken Caesar salad!!
It was now about 6:30 so we decided to make a stop at Pixie Hollow before heading over to DCA. This was also a first for us and I thought it was very cute and the girls loved meeting Tinkerbell! We didn't really see the light show because it was still pretty light out so it didn't seem to be as noticeable so maybe next time we'll go after dark.
We made our way to DCA to see the EP but stopped first at Heimlich's Chew Chew train for Ava who loves that ride. Then we got our spot for the parade and had some ice cream while we waited. The parade was awesome and the girls really enjoyed it (this was their first time seeing it). It brought back a lot of memories for me when I heard that music start up and the "Disneyland Electical Parade" robotic voice!! I loved it!! The lights were beautiful and Pete's Dragon was great!!
After the parade we went back to the bug's life area and rode Heimlich again along with the bumper cars and ladybug spinny thing (ugh, those make me sick!) and then decided to call it a night!
We had a great time and did a lot of new things on this trip which was really fun! So until next time, bye bye Disneyland!!
