Disneyland January 2013

We live 218 miles from Disneyland.  Usually takes close to four hours due to So Cal traffic.  Growing up, I went to Anaheim all the time to visit family...and watched the Disneyland fireworks from my Grandma's front yard.  I don't remember going to the park a TON, but I have fond memories of hanging out there with my cousin Michael - back when we just got dropped off for the day at age 10.

 

Since we've had kids, Tucker and I have probably averaged going to Disneyland once every two years or so.  It's definitely not a cheap trip.  But it does create fun, magical memories.  So, last year we started pondering getting annual passes for one year.  If you take three trips, the passes pay for themselves...plus, if you are a CA resident, you can make monthly payments on them.  Our good friends here in Kingsburg, the Navison's, have passes and encouraged us to get them so we could take some family trips together.

 

So we did it.  We've taken two trips already and have a third one planned for next month.  There is something about the passes that makes you want to plan the next trip as soon as you get home to make sure we get our money's worth.  We use the crowd calendar to plan out the least busy days to go, and look at our busy schedules and then just PLAN it.  It's been really fun to have little family vacations that we would not have otherwise fit into our lives.  And it's been fun to share it with good friends.  I don't know that we'll get annual passes again after this year, but I think this will be a memorable year for the kids!

So these pictures are from our first trip in January.  It was supposed to be extremely low attendance as we went mid-week.  But then it was drizzly/rainy...which made for a VERY vacant park.  It was SO fun to literally walk right on each ride for two days.  The very, very most we waited for anything was 30 minutes.  But most were 5 minutes or less.  It was a total blast! 

 

I am usually the photographer during any occasion, but Amir is just as obsessed with getting pictures as I am, so I sit back and enjoy him having that role.  These are just a few of the great pics from that trip.

 

 

 

 

We also had dinner at Medieval Times in Buena Park.  It was pretty fun.  Had a yummy dinner while cheering for our knight in an entertaining re-creation of an old jousting event.