After all, we are Disneyland lovers.
We set a date in early December and asked Brock and Alyssa if they could come. Both of them said no. They had school. And they didn't want to miss school since they were coming up on the end of the semester.
So we did the next best thing. We invited Court's friend, Kerby.
He said yes! He would love to go to Disneyland with us.
We booked our flights and waited impatiently for the day to come.
I watched the weather forecast regularly because I wanted to know what the temperature would be when we were there.
The forecast was warm and sunny.
We left Utah blanketed in cold, crisp air and landed in sunny California. As you can see, it was fantastic weather when we arrived.
Disneyland at Christmastime is magical. There are Christmas decorations everywhere.
There is a huge tree right at the beginning of Main Street and adorable Mickey Mouse shaped greenery stretched across the street.
A view of the Christmas tree from the bottom.
We started riding rides almost as soon as we got there.
One of the first rides we got on was Splash Mountain. It is well known for getting people very wet. In fact, there were lots of people standing in line with rain ponchos on. I began to wonder if I should have brought one. I didn't want to get wet and mess up my hair.
As it turned out, Court sat in the front seat of our log and Kerby sat behind him. I discovered that if I lifted my feet up and set them on a ledge in the log, they didn't get wet.
And when we went down the last drop I ducked behind Kerby. Hence, the picture. The boys got quite wet and I was almost completely dry.
One of our favorite rides is California Screamin'.
It is a very fast roller coaster with heart-stopping drops and a loop-de-loop right in the middle. I always have to build up my courage before I get in the car.
Court and Kerby loved this ride also. Here they are, ready to go.
Boyd and I in California Adventure standing in front of California Screamin' and the Ferris Wheel.
Sigh.
In Disneyland at Christmastime, they have a Christmas parade. I really wanted to see what it was like.
We found a place right across from "It's a Small World" and waited for over an hour for the parade to come past us.
Fortunately, while we were waiting it got dark and they turned on the Christmas lights. I couldn't believe how they had decorated the Small World building. The entire crowd that was waiting let out a collective "ooh" when we all saw how amazing it was.
The parade finally started and was completely delightful.
They had tin soldiers, Disney princes and princesses dancing on floats, gingerbread men and ballerinas. It was worth the wait.
After the parade we stood in anticipation of the fireworks show.
It was one of the best shows I have ever seen. The fireworks were set to Christmas carols. My favorite was when they played Silent Night and the fireworks were shooting in the sky to the rhythm of the music. At the end they had a single firework in the shape of a star arch sideways across the sky.
I found that you can feel the Spirit and have gratitude for the Savior even in Disneyland.
Then when the fireworks were finished they lit up the Sleeping Beauty castle. It was spectacular! There were so many lights everywhere that it looked like it was covered in ice.
At the end of the fireworks show it began to snow. In Disneyland. It was real manufactured snow. At first I was worried for the street sweepers who had to clean up the snowflakes until I realized that the snow melted when it hit the ground.
This was my favorite moment I have ever had in Disneyland.
The entrance to California Adventure park has the word California spelled out in large letters. At Christmastime they are filled with candy cane stripes.
We each picked the letter we wanted to stand by and then took pictures. You can see what each of us chose:
On our last day there, we left Disneyland and decided to drive to Balboa Peninsula to eat at BJ's pizza.
We were introduced to BJ's pizza years ago by my Aunt Patricia and every time we go to Southern California we drop in for a bite to eat.
Our GPS led us to this ferry that we needed to get on to go over to the peninsula. I had to drive carefully on to the ferry and then we got out and walked around as we were being taxied over.
A view from the back.
Once inside BJ's pizza we ordered two pizzas. There was so much food to eat that we couldn't eat it all.
Sad.
After finishing all that we could stuff into our mouths we had our waitress take our picture outside below the sign.
While we were inside the weather became cold, misty and foggy.
We walked out onto the pier which is about a block from BJ's. Because it was so foggy you couldn't see very far.
All too soon it was time to drive back to the airport and fly home.
This was such a fun trip. Now I never want to go to Disneyland at any other time of year.
Christmastime is the BEST time to go. PERIOD.
