We drove to Stockton the first day and stayed in a Motel 6 that was crap, but the shower was good and after a bit, we got used to the smell that hit us when we opened the door! It was just a quick night's sleep and then off to our destination: Anaheim!
Seriously. If you can visit Disneyland after Thanksgiving but before New Year's...it's a MUST.
I think I took more pics of the decor than anything else. It's a Small World was FANTASTIC and visually incredible! It was the standard song intertwined with Christmas standards. Every land was decorated according to traditions in that particular country. Gorgeous. I had to make a separate folder on my desktop just for Small World pics!
The other thing that was so great was the transformation of The Haunted Mansion. It became The Nightmare Before Christmas land...so bright, colorful and pumpkins galore.
Cannon loved it. His first ride was Winnie the Pooh, and he loved everything in Fantasyland, along with Pirates of the Caribbean. He sweetly covers his eyes on the first drop. He doesn't clench up or anything, he just doesn't like the dark part. Then his hands are down and he points out the seagull on the skeleton guy, the pirate ships, the kitty, the pigs and the dog. He loves it! We even kept one of our 3 reservations at The Blue Bayou, though quickly ordered dessert and nothing else. There was no way Cannon would have lasted through dinner! Chris and I had the Creme Brulee and the kids had vanilla ice cream. It's the whole theme we love about that place. The atmosphere is fantastic.
Every day around 2:30, Cannon would doze in the stroller and I would push him through the park and do some shopping while having my coffee.
Chris and Flannery would hit rides during his naps...after his nap, Chris would take him and Flannery and I would have some fun. It worked out great. I never felt like I was missing out on anything having Cannon along this time, because we have done everything already on our last 2 visits. Other than taking a little longer in the mornings to get ready, it was pretty great!
Flannery FINALLY went on Tower of Terror with me. I was SOOOOO excited! And she not only tried it, but went on at least another 10 times. Then, the next day, she decided she was going to go on Splash Mountain (my favorite ride) with me. She has been on once each time we've visited, but she hates the last drop and the fear of getting totally soaked and scared has made her refuse to ever do it again. Well, it was a success! I talked to her though the ride, told her what to expect and told her to just enjoy it. (She rides California Screamin' ALL THE TIME, so I wasn't being unreasonable wanting her to go on this with me!) She got used to it and went on it another 5 times in one night. I was so excited. She beamed, "Now I can go on every ride with you, mom!" My little dare devil.
Main Street was gorgeous...
One of my favorite pics from the trip...Flannery sporting her new Jack Skellington scarf. She is becoming quite the camera girl...loving her new pose she's been working on!
The trip back, Chris drove straight through - 15 hours. Did I mention he drives a tad bit faster in this wonder-van?
