Wonderful World of Disney

Well crap. Once again, I have a pile-up of events waiting to be blogged. And I am struggling to get to them not only because things have been incredibly hectic but because I have not been able to face this post. How on earth do I blog about this?

About a year ago I attended a parent information meeting at East High School regarding the Madrigals trip to Anaheim. I was so excited for Romney to get to go, and I really REALLY wanted to be a chaperone. But...Romney did not feel the same way. And I understood. And here is where began what I'm going to call "trip creep." You know - where you start with a small idea but then it gets a little bigger and then a little bigger and then suddenly it's huge. Happens with projects all the time. I thought, well, if I'm not a chaperone, maybe I could just take Emma and go to Disney on the same days that Romney will be there. I've been wanting to take Emma to Disney for a super long time, and this could be perfect.

BUT ALSO....I've always known that if I went to Disney without Sheri she might just kill me. Not exaggerating in the slightest. I mean, it might end a friendship. So I called her up and proposed that she and Cara join us and she liked that idea. (I mean, she basically started screaming and crying and jumping up and down.)

BUT ALSO....she could not go on the same dates that Romney would be there with her tour because Siena was going to be in a performance that weekend. So we started talking about other dates and ended up thinking about full-on summer, heat and crowds and all.

BUT ALSO....suddenly Sheri couldn't bear the thought of going without all of her whole family. And...Romney loved her trip with her choir group so so much she desperately wanted to join us. And also, I had enough Disney points to pay for all three of us. For four days. 

So I found myself taking a huge trip in the middle of the hottest summer we have ever had to a very hot place. With a lot of kids. And you know what? It was a total blast. I learned that you totally can do Disney in the hottest most crowded time of year and it's still awesome. Now part of that was the fact that I turned over all control to Sheri, The Disney Master. She knows how to get around, how to do the rides, how to use the app. I knew that part of having a good time would be to relinquish all control and just let Sheri be the boss. 

Anyway, we went. And at this point, I just don't know how to to write about this. It was absolutely epic. For a while in the park, Peter and I toyed around with me trying to write this post in haiku form. We came up with a few really great poems (mostly by Peter.)

Here are some of them:

Caffeine feeds the will

Let the salt and sugar flow

Lunch: advil smoothie

Pringles and jerky

Shawarma, pretzels, churros, more

Colon says no

Familiar strangers

United in impatience

Sweat carves new pathways

Smiles on our faces

A drive into the sunrise

Thought we were prepared

My favorite, about what it's like to be with Sam in line:

Must tell you my thoughts

Would Spidey like some pringles?

What can I touch next

We kind of ran out of steam after that. So...I'm going to jot down some favorite memories and then just post a bazillion photos and whoever is looking at this can just skip through. 

So here goes.

Before we even went on our trip, Sheri did the nicest, cutest thing ever. Cara had been in SLC to go to Brighton Camp with Emma. She drove through town to collect Cara as they made their way to Heber for a family reunion. Several hours after they left our house, I opened the front door for some reason or another, and there on the porch was a cute colorful box with a note on top saying, "To the Preslar Ladies." I brought it in, and the three of us opened it, finding Mickey ears for each of us, plus matching t-shirts for us to wear together. Different colors but with the same design on the front. She even remembered that I prefer v-necks. It was so thoughtful and just completely adorable. 

The girls and I drove to St. George on a Sunday. We spent the evening and part of Monday enjoying hanging out at Peter's house. Then on Monday afternoon we hit the road, drove to Barstow, and spent the night at a cheap hotel. We got up well before dawn, and drove the last two hours to Anaheim, where we parked at our hotel, freshened up, and loaded Sheri's stroller with food and drinks. We donned our Mickey ears and started the mile-long walk to California Adventure. Thus it began. We did one CA day, then two Disney days and then one last CA day. 

Here's where I'm stuck. I guess I'll pile on the photos, and comment on the memories!

This was one of the sights I enjoyed most of all: seeing our kids, hand in hand, loving their time together on this trip. I was so proud of my girls. There were lots of tough moments, lots of times we were really really hot, and really really tired. But they just did great. I thought they were so generous with their cousins and tried hard to get along and be peacemakers. What a difference that made.

Here we are on the first morning, getting ready to go. Romney, Emma, Siena and Cara did a lot of communicating before the trip about "Disney Bounding" where they pick out clothes that are not costumes at all, but nods to characters. It was pretty subtle, but they had a great time. On the first day, they were all characters from Pixar's Luca. You wouldn't notice unless they told you, but like I said, they had a great time planning it out.

We were SO EXCITED. I have been wanting to go to Disney for a long time and it was just so fun that it was actually happening!

The very first ride! Something from Inside Out. You know, California Adventure was at first a little hard to understand. It really is different from Disneyland. But I got to love the old midway feel of the pier. It really is such an amazing place they have created. 

 

I think I could go on Toy Story Midway Mania a hundred times. I love the games.

Emma was so so nervous to go on any of the big rides, most especially Guardians of the Galaxy. But she promised to try everything at least once, and was enthralled right away with the amazing spaces created while waiting in line there. We got on the ride, and when the adventurous drops began, I could hear her screaming in what sounded like a total panic. She was screaming about how high up her backpack was floating each time we dropped, and I tried to calm her down. She replied with, "No! It's AWESOME!!!!" So it only took one big ride before she was hooked completely to every single ride.

Here we are in line for the new Spiderman Web-Slingers ride. I know, another photo of us in line with 3D glasses on isn't that exciting. But here is a good chance to say two things. First of all, Sheri was such a boss with all of the genie-plus ride stuff on the app. She kept us moving, she got us in short lines, she did so great. We got to do every single thing we wanted, and more. Web Slingers was AMAZING - I am just so impressed with the imagineers - they create such fun stories and really combine so many effects that you just get sucked into the world of the story. 

Funny story - of all the thrilling rides Disney has to offer, my kids weren't scared of a single one of them until the big ferris wheel with the swinging cars. My girls were terrified and had to be strongly coaxed onto the ride. And you know what? They weren't wrong. It was not fun and made me sick. But I loved squishing into one cart all together. 

Day two - DISNEYLAND!! No Disney Bounding today - just our cute shirts from Sheri.

Amazingly, we did all fit onto one car on the Casey Jr. train. Thank heavens for Diet Coke and Dole Whips because it was HOT.

 

Um Star Wars Land. Sorry, I mean, Galaxy's Edge. Really....I have no words. It was so incredible. I could have stayed for many more hours and not been able to take it all in. It was so delightful. And the rides!! Well, I loved the Millenium Falcon ride called Smuggler's Run because it was such a well-told story, and because it basically made you sob feeling like you were actually in the Falcon. But...the ride itself was not good for my tummy. Lands it made me feel yucky. I rode it a few times and basically had to close my eyes after the first time. 

And Rise of the Resistance? I can't say anything about it. Except that even with all the amazing ways Disney uses rides to insert you into their world, nothing is more in-depth or complete than Rise. You are IN the world of Star Wars - and the tricks and techniques are more hidden than any other ride I've ever been on. I mean....I really did kind of scream in shock and delight seeing some of Star Wars come to life like that. Total tears of amazement. Lines were long, but worth it. 

 

We had this delightful moment meeting up with the Pirate Queen who spent quite a bit of time chatting with us, asking us who our captain was (Sheri, duh!) and being adorable.

Day Three - Another Disney Day. This time the girls did Disney Bounding again, as characters from Hercules. Emma was Phil, Romney was Pegasus, and Siena and Cara were Pain and Panic. 

Let me tell you, by this day, getting up early was really hard. We were getting so tired! But Sheri's way is to get there as the park opens and it's really really fun to do that. She's so right! It's crowded at first, right there at the gate, but then everyone runs to Galaxy's Edge and Indiana Jones, and there are several other rides that are almost empty for the first hour or so. Our kids loved Splash Mountain so much - we rode it like three times in a row both days! They loved planning poses for the photos and being so silly. 

One thing I'll never forget is Sam. He was hilarious. For every ride, he would select who he was going to ride with, and if it was you, you really had no say at all. And your hand was going to be held for the entire wait in line, no matter how long, and no matter how hot and sticky his hand got. And he had to touch EVERYTHING and bounce around and then grin up at you expectantly. It wore me out but was so cute. He picked me a lot.

 

Another really great thing about Sheri in Disneyland is that although she has a PLAN for where you are headed, she watches all the lines carefully, and knows when to make a quick detour to catch a short line really fast. It's great, and I'm so glad that pressure wasn't on me! We had quite the lucky break at one moment. We were taking a short cut through this little village area off to the side of the castle, where there is a place to meet the princesses. The line there is usually about 90 minutes, but it opened just as we walked by and we got to be first! We met Anna and (sigh, my favorite!) Cinderella. 

 

We also bumped into Moana just outside of the Small World ride, just when she got there. I really love the characters, but don't really want to wait in line to meet them, so it was pretty fun to have some lucky moments like those.

 

Man, that was a hot and exhausting day. We found out later that the Disney tickets were sold out for that day. It was very crowded and we pretty much melted. There were a couple of times in the middle of the afternoon when we thought we might jump ship. But we found a couple of cool places to hide out (thank you Enchanted Tiki Room) and we made it. I was so happy to finish up the night in Fantasy Land, where Emma could ride the Dumbo ride, which she felt like was the quintessential Disney ride. I loved the Snow White updated ride and revisiting Pinocchio, which I remember from a very very long time ago. And of course Peter Pan. 

Day Four - last day, California Adventure, and the girls wore whatever they wanted.

Romney found a Dungeons and Dragon die in line for the Incredicoaster! I was so surprised - after the crowds at Disney the day before, I expected this day to be BAD but it wasn't at all. 

We loved the animation building and spent a lot of time there in the hottest hours. The drawing classes were a favorite for sure. And Cara lost a tooth during dinner!

I'll never forgot the drama of waiting in line for the cars ride and having guests get very very mad at each other when large parties were jumping ahead to meet their families. It did not feel like such a small world after all there for a while. That's a ride I wish I could have done 10 times. But that line is no joke, so we just did it once each day.

We were running out of our photo-taking steam by this point, so there's not much more to show. Besides, I especially was quite bedraggled and not very photogenic! It couldn't have been more fun, though. 

After hunting down a couple more souvenir pins and munching on one last churro, it was time for the longest walk home yet. It felt twice as long that night! And boy were we happy to get back in bed. 

We slept in the next day before finding Huntington Beach, where my girls finally got a bit sunburnt. I had slathered them so carefully in the parks, then on beach day when I slipped away to meet my friend Natalie for lunch, they both kind of toasted themselves. We were almost too tired to really enjoy the water, but it was a nice day.

Then...it was time to drive home. Sweet Sheri. We said goodbye, and then tears began pouring down her face. We had wanted to do this trip for so long and it finally happened! And it was over! I was so tired, and missing my boys, but was so filled with joy too. I'm so grateful this trip happened. Also, I didn't mention Peter much - but I have to say, it was just delightful to be there with him. Waiting in line with him was a pleasure. We got to talk a lot and play stupid word games and come up with haikus and stuff like that. He's such a great brother and I loved spending this time with him.

So yes, after the beach, we three Preslars drove back to St. George. The Romneys stayed one more day to see Sheri's grandpa, so we had a quiet drive, with a stop in St. George by ourselves where we slept like the dead before making the final drive. I'll tell you, by the time we pulled into our driveway, we were so happy to be home. I missed my Troy!

Oh I think I have to close with the stupid list of rides my OCD brain had to keep. Sheri teased me for keeping a list, but a few times she had to ask what we had already done or in what order, and I had The List to remind her!!

Disney Trip

Day 1: California Adventure

Emotional Whirlwind

Toy Story Midway Mania

Grizzly Rapids

Guardians

Mater

Guardians 

Animation Academy/beast’s library

Soarin’ 

Ariel

Luigi 

Mater

Cars 

Goofy’s Sky School

Ferris Wheel

Jessie’s Critter Carosel

Incredicoaster 

Ariel

Monsters Inc. 

Talking with you Crush

Web Slingers 

Incredicoaster

Ariel

Day 2

Splash Mountain x2

Indiana Jones

Big Thunder 

Buzz Lightyear

Star Tours

Space Mountain

Casey Jr. Railroad 

Smugglers Run

Rise of the Resistance 

Pirates of the Caribbean 

Big thunder 

Indiana Jones 

Haunted mansion

Pirates 

Jungle Cruise

Tea Cups

Small world

Buzz

Mr. toad 

Winnie the Pooh

Splash mountain 

Big thunder

Smugglers run

Rise of the resistance 

Day 3:

Splash x3

Snow White

Meet Ana and Cinderella

Big Thunder

Pirates 

Peter Pan

Alice

Train

Small world

Space mountain

Buzz

Jungle cruise

Tiki room

Splash mountain 

Rise of the resistance 

Pirates

Big thunder

Indiana Jones

Mr. toad

Pinocchio/star tours

Smugglers run

Pirates 

Indiana Jones

Snow White

Dumbo

Day FOUR:

Goofy Sky School x2

incredicoaster x2

Soarin’ over the world 

Web Slingers 

Ariel

Watched Spidey

Guardians x2

Turtle Talk/Animation Academy

Zephyrs

Silly symphony swings

Incredicoaster x2

Goofy’s Sky School

Soarin’ 

Ariel

Goofy’s Sky School

Toy Story

Web Slingers

Animation Academy

Talking with Crush 

Cars Racers

Luigi’s

Mater