After 8 days, 2150.3 miles, ~100 gallons of gasoline, ~33 hours in the van, and maybe 20 hours standing in line, we returned from our California Christmas experience. Overall I would call it a success, namely because Michael kept his pants on in public for the entire trip (remember our last Disney trip?). It was not without its moments where we wanted to strangle each other, but those were at least balanced out by the fun times. Here is a brief recap.
Day 1- Surprise and Drive
The last gift opened on Christmas morning was tickets to Disneyland. There was much screaming and then we piled into the car and headed out. There was much screaming, fighting, complaining, and whining for the next 11.5 hours in the van. There is a whole lot of nothing between Albuquerque and the coast. We did drive through Flagstaff, AZ, which made Dad think of Chevy Chase. We got to our hotel at about 8:00 pm. The hotel is just south of the park, and very 'rustic'. It was the only thing still available that let us all stay in one suite. The price was right for sure, so I might stay there again if given the chance. Once you got over the initial shock it was not too bad a place.
Day 2 - Church and Wild Animal Park
Sunday we went to the 'Mickey Mouse Ward' - so called by members of the ward. Just a few blocks from the park. It was like all other wards we've been to, except I did notice they had like 10 pages of names on the roll, and only like 50 non visitor members in attendance. Definitely an activation challenge. Lots of visitors though. After church we drove down to San Diego and went to the Wild Animal Park. Kind of neat, but nothing too special.
Day 3 - Disney and Lines
Monday dawned bright and beautiful. We got to the park pretty early, about 8:30. We went on Big Thunder Railroad, then the Haunted Mansion, in pretty short order. After that the flood gates of people opened. Every ride after that was a 90 minute wait. It was mostly a nightmare. The children were all exhausted by the end of the day, and Mom was about in tears.
Day 4 - Universal and Hope
The next day we went to Universal Studios. The lines were much more reasonable here. We went to all the shows they had and rode all the rides. We did have to wait for ~90 minutes to do the Simpson's ride, but the other two rides were about 20 minutes.
Day 5 - Disney again and Rain Forest Cafe
Wednesday is rained and was cold (~50 degrees). It was a bit miserable on one hand, but it kept the crowds away, so was a blessing. Most rides were a 20 - 30 minute wait. Not too bad. We made it through more rides before noon than we did all day on Monday. The rain ended around 2:00, so we went home and changed clothes and spent the afternoon in relative comfort. By the end of the day we had gone on all the rides we wanted too, some twice. Mom and the girls went back after dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe and stayed until midnight. They reported there was no wait late at night. Those at the hotel were happy to sleep instead.
Day 6 - Disney and California Adventure
With the rain gone we were all determined to get to the park early to avoid the lines. We arrived right at 8:00 to find that California Adventure didn't open until 10. So we spent 2 hours at Disneyland again. Then over to California adventure where the lines weren't too bad (maybe 30 minute average). We went to a live performance of Aladdin, and generally had a good last day in the park.
Day 7 - Sea World
Again the crowds weren't too bad. The park was relatively crowded, but not enough to keep us out from any of the shows. Sea World only has about 3 rides, and you get wet on all of them. Since it was 50 degrees there was not much wait for these rides. We went on them and had a good time.
Day 8 - Lego Land
Saturday, our last day, we went to Lego Land. There was very little crowd. Partially because the holiday season was winding down, but also partially because Lego Land isn't all that fun. The 'biggest' roller coaster they had was like the Wild Mouse ride at Lagoon. Alexander, Daniel, and Andrew spent hours at a playground building with Lego blocks. Lots of fun, but we could have bought a lot of Legos for the price of their tickets. There were a couple of 4d shows and a play that were pretty cool, and lots of amazing things made out of Legos. Our tickets include a second day free within 90 days of our visit. If anyone is headed to Southern California in the next 90 days, you are welcome to them.
Day 9 - Drive home
Day 1 in reverse, except for the screaming and fighting, which was just like day 1 (no reversal there).
We are thankful to be home alive, and strongly recommend to all to not visit Disneyland over Christmas.
Here she is on the bench. Her team is awesome. There are 15 girls on the team. Each one plays one full quarter (6 minutes), then 2 minutes typically in the final quarter. They have maybe 5 really good ball handlers on the team, which makes all the difference. This game was the closest. I believe the final was 34 to 18 or something like that, the game before was 39 to 8. Lydia looked really nervous the first game, but by this game she looked really comfortable. She handled the ball some, had a couple of great passes, played good defense, and took her first two shots! In an interesting twist, there are 4 LDS girls on the team (3 in this picture). One is in our ward (2nd from left, a year younger than Lydia), and the other is one of Lydia's best friends (3rd player from right). The other one was playing.
