Disneyland–The year of great Disneybounding

(Sidenote–I am a really good vacation blogger–I need to do better with the everyday stuff that actually makes up our life!)

Where to even begin?? We Slayed this trip, as the teens would say. We leaned hard into our Disney bounds and they turned out amazing!! We called this a “work trip” for my Etsy shop, and we got some pretty great ear pics if I do say so myself! I had so much fun making ears for the cruise, and they turned out so cute that I opened an Etsy shop to try and sell them. I’m also selling Fish Extenders, and those sell like hotcakes. Now I’m going to focus on the ears for a bit and see if I can get them to start selling more consistently.

We flew out early Thursday morning. We got to our hotel, pulled together our first bounds and hit the park about 11:30am. First up? Space mountain. We did the single rider line and walked right on. So fun. Buzz light year had a short wait so we hit that next. Josh beat us all, as usual.  Rusty grabbed us some pretzels to munch while we waited in line. 

After that we were in need of lunch. We picked Jolly Holiday Birria Grilled Cheese. 10/10. Dessert was the 70th anniversary strawberry shortcake macaron, also 10/10. This meal was one of my favorites of the week. 

The weather was so beautiful, only getting hot for a couple hours in the late afternoon. 

After a few hours we went over to DCA for everyone’s favorite ride—GUARDIANS. It’s so fun every single time. We had fun striking poses. I’ll post my favorites below. 

Halle’s bound today was Cinderella and she had the cutest magnetic ears I had purchased off of Etsy “for research purposes.” We rode Mater’s junkyard Jamboree, and the kids were all smashed into one tractor. About half way through the ride we saw all their hands fly to their mouths and looks of horror on their faces. We couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Until the next turn, where we saw Halle’s beautiful ears smashed to bits on the ground. Then we ran over them again. She had put them on the floor under her bag assuming that was a safe place, but when the tractor swung around a corner they went flying out. Sad! 

One fun thing that happened today was that we were riding Guardians exactly as the fireworks started. When the doors opened at the top, a firework was framed perfectly in the opening. It was awesome! 

But the thing I was most excited for today was the Paint the Night Parade.  Rusty and Blake decided they were Disneyed out, and headed back to the hotel. I had read that the parade started at Small World, so we snagged an AMAZING bench and sat down to wait. We wanted to sit near the front of the route so we could get a few more rides in as soon as it was over. Well, we waited, and waited, and waited. Turns out, the FIRST parade starts at Small World. We were at the SECOND parade which ENDED at SW. It was totally worth the wait!! This parade was so fun and so well done. We loved seeing Mack and Lightening McQueen, Slinky Dog, all the princesses, and of course, Sorcerer Mickey. We all know how much our family loves a light parade, and this one did not disappoint. With only a few minutes till closing, we booked it over to Big Thunder Mountain and got there with 4 minutes to spare. It was the perfect end to our first day. 

Today’s bounds were:
Tara—Maleficent
Rusty—Aladdin
Josh—SullyBlake—Ironman 

On Friday, Josh slept in late and met us in the park later in the morning. Halle and I left the hotel first to do some pin shopping. While on Main Street, I saw the place where they cut your silhouette, and we had to give it a try. They turned our SO CUTE. That guy is magic with his scissors. We also saw someone bring in a pic of their dog, and he cut a dog Silhouette too. 

We did a little pin trading in Frontierland. I had been super excited for this, but there was never quite enough time! We only spent about 20 min. We traded a few pins, but not as many as I thought we would. And the pinboards were AWFUL. I don’t think I traded a single pin on the boards the entire trip.  I did find some cute ones to purchase to add to my growing collection. 

Since Josh was so late in joining us, he didn’t get a lightening lane for Matterhorn. Being the incredibly selfless person that I am, I graciously gave my lightening lane to him. It had nothing to do with the fact that Matterhorn is my least favorite ride in the park. Instead, I went to Maurice’s Treats and got us some frozen Apple juices, some garlic pretzel bread, and a croissant cookie to try. 

Apple juice and Garlic bread are 1000/10. Favorite treat in the park. And the Croissant cookie was also tasty and unique. It was basically a smashed and baked croissant covered in sugar. What’s not to like? And….can we talk about our Hercules bound??? It was everyone’s favorite for sure. We got so many compliments and it was so much fun. Josh had said how much more fun it made things to just embrace it and go all in. 

Next up was a bit of Disney magic. We had a Lightening Lane for Guardians. When we got to the line, it had disappeared. Apparently the ride had shut down for a bit and so it was converted into a multi-experience pass we could use at any time. I was having a hard time wrapping my head around how that worked and I asked the ride attendant if that meant we could ride twice—once with the multi-pass, and once with our regular Lightning Lane. He said no, that wouldn’t work, but instead gave us a paper ticket that allowed us to come back later for a second ride. SCORE. Rusty said this pic of the kids skipping down the street wearing their Hercules Bounds made the entire trip worth it.

We went to lunch at San Fransokyo. Blake INHALED his mac and cheese in a bread bowl. We also enjoyed some tacos (8/10), pot stickers (9/10), and tried the Baymax Macaron (1/10-no flavor!) Josh was messing around with Halle, and he tried to flick a radish at her.  He wildly missed and hit the guy at the table across from us right in the face.  We couldn’t stop laughing.  Poor Guy.  We also watched the Pixar Pals parade and had fun cheering for our favorite characters.

There was a lot of Brawl Stars action while we were killing time in line.  Fun for the boys.  Not so much for me and Halle

Later that evening we tried to watch the fireworks, but we got stuck right behind a tree, which basically blocked 85% of the fireworks. It was really uncanny. We decided we were gonna need a redo on a different day. 

Right after fireworks, we rushed over to World of Color.  We got amazing seats.  The preshow might have been our favorite part.  It was the Muppets being silly and “Legal Smegal Blah blah blah, don’t jump in the bay” became our official Disney tagline.  I loved World of Color.  I don’t think I’ve done it since I was a kid.  And we all know how I feel about a good fountain show!  

Bounds Today. I don’t know that we can ever beat this one.
Tara–Pegasus
Rusty–Hades
Halle–Panic
Josh–Hercules
Blake–Pain

Buckle up. The pictures are about to get prolific. I shall try to contain myself. Saturday Halle, Josh and  I were ready to Rope drop. Well…Halle and I were.  Josh came flying in by the skin of his teeth.  We wanted to Rope Drop Guardians and we were in line with the two most hilarious little girls.  They talked our ear off the entire time.  It was so cute.  They were retelling the plot line of Groot shorts in great detail.  We were on and off the ride in about 20 min and the line still wasn’t long, so we went again.  AND….same little girls in line behind us.  It was awesome.  We tried to guess which song we’d get, but we were never right.  We also wondered how many different sequences there are in the ride.  I think we counted at least 4.   

Josh’s tummy wasn’t feeling amazing after scarfing TWO buffalo chicken beignet sandwiches at 10pm the night before, so he sat down to have a little rest while Halle and I went to Jessie’s carousel to take pictures.  We heard rumour that Baymax was going to make an appearance, so I told Josh to keep an eye out for him.  Rusty and Blake got there just in time and Rusty got this picture for me.  Josh, about to leave for college, giving Baymax a giant hug.  My mama heart was a puddle on the ground.  

Halle is the cutest little Bo Peep that ever lived.  We also got lucky and got to snap a family picture with Buzz.  

For lunch that day we went to downtown disney and ate ate the Earl of Sandwich.  Meh.  

Josh got the coveted driver’s seat on Indiana Jones. We were thrilled to learn that Indiana now has a single rider line.  Having older kids who can do this is so convenient—we can ride so many more of the big rides much faster.  

Today, in honor of the boys’ outfits, was Cars day.  We rode Radiator Springs Racers in the Single Rider line in the morning, and then we came back and paid for the Lightning Lane so we could all ride together in the evening.  Why is this ride SO FUN?  Notice how Josh strategically blocked out the single rider so it’s just our family in the pic.  ha ha ha.  

And how cute is my little Lightning McQueen lover?  

And my silly little Mater

Now back to Disneyland to spend some time in Star Wars land and get dinner at Ronto Roasters.  Before that, a photo shoot. This is what I wanted to do every day! Aren’t we an adorable Flynn and Rapunzel?

Then we made our way back to Main Street for our final night of fireworks.  This time it worked out PERFECTLY.  We timed things just right so we walked into the road as they put the rope up.  We were front row, baby!  (Well….front row of that section anyway.) The view was amazing.  Josh and I were so looking forward to seeing Baymax fly through the sky, because we missed him the first time, and much to our sadness, he didn’t come out that night.  Booo.  

Blake elected to find a quiet bench away from the fireworks and call Cadence.  When we went to pick him up, he said, “Mom, me and Cadence decided this isn’t the happiest place on earth. “ Me:” Why not?” Blake: “Because we aren’t together!.”  How adorably cheesy is that?  

We ended the night running around Fantasyland land seeing how many rides we could fit in.  It’s the best way to spend the hour between 11 and 12 at Disneyland.  Dumbo at midnight is magical. We did a repeat of the first night and ran to Big Thunder just as the park was closing.  Blake and some dude had a hilarious screaming match and the were joking and making fun of each other the entire ride.  

Bounds Today:

Tara-Rapunzel
Rusty–Flynn Ryder
Halle–Bo Peep
Josh–Lightening McQueen
Blake–Mater

Sunday we were DRAGGING.  We needed to leave for the airport about 4pm.  The boys were all exhaused, and wanted to sleep in.  So, Halle and I got up and went to take pics with the princesses, since we knew they wouldn’t want to do that anyway.  Turns out the Princessess also like their beauty rest and they weren’t coming till later in the day.  We went and had a fun photo shoot in our Bounds instead.  

By the time the boys got to the park all the fast passes for the good rides were gone.  It was a much busier day.  I think the California annual passes had been blocked for a lot of July and that day was the first they were active again.  

We went to DCA to get Wall-e and Baymax pics, and Rusty wanted to recreate the family pic we’d taken a few years before.  The line for the photographer was a little long and we almost bailed.  I’m so glad we didn’t.  I can’t believe how much things change in just a few short years.  Funny story: The family in front of us for pics accidentally picked up Blake’s bag with all their stuff.  They were walking away when someone said, “Uhhh….Blake?  Isn’t that your bag?”  He had to chase them down to get it back.  It was an honest mistake, but they almost ended up with a cool Iron Man bag!  We also had to ride The Little Mermaid for some pics with our very own Ariel

We had lunch reservations at Cafe Orleans.  The Monte Cristo sandwiches and the gumbo were our favorite dishes.  Even though it was excellent, we’d all had it with park food.  Blake said, “Never in my life did I think I’d say this, but I wish there was some green food on my plate.”  Never in my life did I think I’d hear him say that!  ha ha

The boys wanted to ride Rise of the Resistance, and Halle and I still wanted to meet the princesses.  So we went our separate ways.  We loved meeting Tiana, Cinderella and Elsa. We then rode Small World, because how can you not when at Disney?  It’s so cute.  And there was a new 3rd verse for the 70th anniversary.  

Our final ride was Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.  We’d been waiting for the right time to do this.  We had been carrying around flip-flops for 4 days in anticipation.  What we forgot to take into account was the fact that our tiny Loungefly backpacks wouldn’t fit our regular shoes. Luckily, I had two ponchos.  Halle took one, and I wrapped all our shoes up in the other.  The ride is cute and the Anamatronics are great, but I don’t really “get it.”  I feel like the story doesn’t make sense for a big drop like Splash Mountain did.  Oh well.  Glad we did it. After one last garlic pretzel bread for Josh and one last Churro for Halle and Blake, We ran back to the Mariott Courtyard to grab our luggage (SUCH a great hotel for a Disney stay) and were off to the airport.  Disney, you never disappoint.  

I asked Josh what his favorite parts of the trip were. He’s what he said:
Halle talking a big game and then Josh beating her pants off at Buzz Lightyear. 
Beating everyone at Toy Story
Beating everyone at Spider-Man

Bounds Today:
Rusty—Wall-E
Tara—Briar Rose (These ears are my FAVORITE)
Halle—Ariel
Josh—Baymax
Bake—Ironman again.  He was very disappointed because he bought a super cool shirt with a light-up Arc Reactor, and we failed to take into account the fact that we would be back on a plane to CO way before it was dark outside.