this girl's guide to disneyland {tips i tell my friends}

here is my run-down on the rides. some of the big ones are probably obvious, but there were some that surprised me...

our favorites were:

indiana jones. this one was closed most of the week when we were there. it does have a fast pass, and you'll probably want to use it. the line is pretty long.

space mountain. this also has a fast pass. the line didn't seem crazy long, but it might be busier at other times of year.

big thunder mountain. it has a fast pass and the lines were generally long. this is probably the most tame "roller coaster" and very fun.

splash mountain. it has a fast pass. the line was either really long or really short. it was kind of weird. we got fast passes because the line was long but then when we came to use the fast pass, it was only a ten minute line. so we ran into the regular line, went on the ride, and then went in the fast pass line, since we still had time to use it. i also discovered that if you want to get wet, sit in the front. i sat in the back, but not the very back seat, and i didn't get very wet at all, which i preferred. if you sit in the very back, the water that is in the boat will end up in your seat, but generally the further back you sit the less wet you will be. easy of course sat in the front. :-) another note is to hold your feet up a bit to keep the feet from getting wet, or possibly wear flip flops for this ride.

star tours. this is a fun one, and we discovered that not all of the pods show the same show. so if you go on it more than once, try to get into a different pod and you'll see a different show.

haunted mansion. the line goes pretty fast because it's a "people eater" ride, so we did this one when we had some extra time here and there.

the matterhorn was also fun, but a very long line and no fast pass. we went there first thing on one of the days so the line was better, but actually still pretty long for first thing in the morning. probably other people had the same idea. what they do have for this ride is a "single rider" line, where you can get in a separate line if you don't care if you ride together. my advice would be to do the single rider for this ride, because the seats are basically single anyway. then just wait for each other at the end.

pirates of the carribean was closed unfortunately while we were there. i was disappointed about that. so was nemo, which was on my list of recommended rides, but i can't say for sure if it would have been worth it. mickey's magical map was on my list but it wasn't running either. small world was closed too, and i have never been on it.

the fantasmic show was really neat. i don't know if the schedule is the same all the time, but they had 2 showings when we were there with fireworks in between. the cast member we spoke with recommended doing the fireworks and then the second show of fantasmic, because people stake out their spot hours before. {why??? would you waste your time at disneyland doing that??} anyway, we headed over at the end of the fireworks and went on the bridge by pirates of the caribbean. it was a great spot.

one secret we discovered from a lady standing behind us in one line who easy told her life story to {imagine that} is that on the big mark twain river boat, you can ask to go up to the top with the driver. i believe it is called the wheel room. that was really fun. the kids got to ring the bell and blow the whistle and sign the super secret guest book and get a certificate. that seems to be a pretty well-kept secret, so i would definitely ask them for that.

another surprise was the pirate's lair on tom sawyer island. you take a little raft over and there are all these caves to go through and explore. the warning here is that you can easily lose children. we didn't realize this and the kids quickly got away from us and finding them again in the tunnels took quite a while, so be aware of that. but my kids could have stayed there all day.

these rides were kind of in the middle:

the jungle cruise...this is a tricky one. i like the jungle cruise. the kids loved the jungle cruise and laughed and laughed at their corny jokes even after the ride was over. but i kid you not, that line goes for miles and the ride is pretty short. i wouldn't say don't do the jungle cruise, but somehow try and hit it with a shorter line. if that's even possible. i don't know.

the buzz lightyear ride was ok. the line goes pretty fast. so we just squeezed it in when we had extra time. 

the disneyland railroad is nice for getting you to another side of the park. it stops at the main entrance, and in the new orleans area and over by fantasyland/toon town. the monorail is not helpful for getting you from place to place. it only stops in tomorrowland and in downtown disney outside of the park. but the fun thing we learned is that you can ask to ride in the very front. it fits 4 people, which was perfect for us, but if your group is more than 4 people you will have to split up. and apparently it's not really a big secret, so you might have to wait longer if that is something you want to do.

similarly, toon town was a little crazy with the kids and the wandering off, because there is one ride, or maybe two, but its mostly just a lot of "stuff" in cartoon style to wander through etc. cuddles loved it, but i wasn't very excited about trying to keep track of where my kids were in there. by the way, the ride is roger rabbit, which has a fast pass, but it is a pretty lame ride, especially since my kids have no idea whatsoever who roger rabbit even is. so that was a weird ride actually. i would skip it if i had to.

these were the rides that were a little less worth a wait in line:

pretty much everything in fantasyland. :-) although preschool aged girls might disagree. for us, these are the rides where they basically send you through a diorama of scenes from the movie. if i were going to choose just one, i would say peter pan, because you are flying around in the pirate ship so it's a little more fun. but in general the lines in fantasyland were way too long for the enjoyment factor of the ride, for my kids at least who don't care about princesses. the other thing i learned was that the storyland canal boats and the casey junior train take you through the same area, so i would just choose one or the other and call it good.

the tiki room. my kids gave it a big thumbs down, but i was so curious about what it even was, i just wanted to know. but here is the thing we figured out after the fact: apparently everyone on the planet wants a dole whip and the only place to get them is by the tiki room. there is a pretty long line to get them. if you go in to the tiki room show, you can get on the inside line to get your dole whips, and then eat them while you watch the show. i wish i would have known that, and especially if time is an issue i'm sure you will appreciate that tidbit. also my kids would have enjoyed the show more if they were eating ice cream during it. and for what it's worth, we didn't think the dole whips were that amazing.

you know what? disneyland really is a lot of fun! i knew it was, but even i was surprised with how truly magical it feels to be there. they really do a great job. i honestly had planned this to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip, but they really have me thinking about how we can go back.  

disneyland delish {what we ate}

i really have to devote a separate post to the food at disneyland.

we were rather deliberate with our food choices on our trip. we didn't buy a lot of food in the park; we ate our hotel breakfast each morning and ran across the street to grab burgers from the dollar menu for most other meals. we decided on two sit-down meals and a few special treats.

my very most favorite things that we ate were at cafe orleans on our first day. we really wanted to try the monte cristo sandwich and the pommes frites. we were not disappointed. it was literally one of the most pleasant dining experiences we have had as a family. ever. we ordered one monte cristo and split it between 3 of us. and then we shared one order of the pommes frites. those were delicious themselves, but when you add in their special sauce--heavenly.

source

we spent about $30 for our meal. the waiter was so nice and even brought free drinks for the kids. we also ate in the afternoon, sort of a late lunch/early dinner to avoid the busy eating times. this meal was a win on every level.

{cuddles brought in a fruit tray from a snack cart}

our other sit-down meal was not quite as much of a win. we decided to try the buffet at big thunder ranch barbeque. we went for lunch rather than dinner to save a little money, because it runs pretty high. i was expecting it to be a little more enjoyable for the price. the chicken was pretty dry, though the ribs were ok. the beans were fine and the corn was too. it was nice that they bring the food to you, rather than having to go get it like most buffets. but, i probably wouldn't spend the money on it again. 

the treats we tried were dole whips, chocolate peanut butter sandwich, and cake pops. the dole whips weren't my favorite, and the peanut butter sandwich was fine, but just an overpriced treat. the kids enjoyed their cake pops, which i thought tasted more like cookie dough. they were nice and big so they lasted a while. 

we got sundaes from gibson girl ice cream parlor one night and took them with us while we waited in line for the big thunder mountain railroad. i was pleasantly surprised by the ice cream. i was hesitant to spend that much money on it, after all, they were just scoops of dreyers. but it turned out to be a pretty great treat, and i gotta say having a sundae to split while standing in line at disneyland on a warm spring night just after dark makes for a pretty darn good memory. 

i was even able to step on the scale when i got home and see the same number i had seen before leaving for our trip. i definitely felt like that was a success. 

things i learned at disneyland

{this is not necessarily a comprehensive list.}

disneyland doesn't have wifi. this probably doesn't matter to most people who aren't too cheap to pay for a data plan on their phones. but it applies to me.

speaking of cheap, the least expensive souvenirs are the pressed coins from the machines scattered around the parks. you can get a map their locations from city hall in disneyland or from the chamber of commerce in california adventure. this was actually something my kids loved searching for. if your kids like geocaching, i'm betting they'll like these. there are machines that crank out pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. the prices range from 51 cents for the pennies to $1.25 for the quarters.

no yo-yos allowed. bringing things to keep your kids busy in line is great. just not yo-yos. something about them swinging around and whacking other people... if you want to know the best thing to have with you in line, it is a game boy. didn't even come close to having to recharge the batteries, those things last forever!

if you stand next to my daughter in line, she will talk your ear off and tell you every last detail about her life's story along with everything she has ever learned. ever.

heimlich can speak spanish. it's funny.

magic morning vs. extra magic hour. so here's the thing: magic morning is for disneyland, while california adventure has an extra magic hour. this is when the park opens an hour early for some guests. when we purchased our tickets it said they came with 1 magic morning. only when we tried to enter california adventure for its extra magic hour did we discover that those are different than magic mornings. extra magic hours at california adventure are strictly for guests staying at the disneyland hotels. so that was disappointing. and they were turning away several other ticketholders who also were planning to enter the park early; clearly that distinction is unclear to many people.

most cast members are awesome. some are a little less so...

some rides are worth the wait in a long line. some are a little less so...

hats are your friend. not only are they great for keeping the sun out of your eyes and averting a sunburn, they can help you spot someone in a crowd. we "accidentally" bought our kids matching hats just a couple of days before and it was one of the smartest things we did. i could just look for a green hat in a pinch.

i am as tall as minnie mouse.

if you ride on luigi's flying tires, and you decide to wear a short flowing skirt, remember to wear full coverage undies, because your skirt will fly up and everyone will see them. {thankfully, the lady whose skirt flew up was wearing such undies.} alternatively, make sure not to wear a skirt. the ride is basically a giant air hockey surface.

my son is a screamer. wait...i already knew that.

the penny arcade consists of 7 old movies that you can pay a penny to watch through a peek hole. luckily my son thought they were hilarious and wasn't disappointed that it wasn't a penny arcade in which one can play video games for a penny a piece. {for that you must go to the starcade, though each token costs a quarter.}

the monorail isn't helpful for getting you to a distant side of the park. the first time we hopped on, i was assuming that it would take us from tomorrowland to the opposite side of the park where we planned to catch our next ride. as it turns out, there are only 2 monorail stops. one in tomorrowland and one outside of the park at downtown disney. so we stayed on and ended up back where we started and then walked over to the opposite side of the park for our next ride. luckily the monorail counts as a ride so we didn't "waste" time while we were on it. if you want to get to another area of the park without walking, the disneyland train is better. it stops in several places.

the lego store is fun.

when leaving the park on your last night even a 'tween will ball like a baby because he-or-she-who-will-remain-nameless doesn't want this experience to end. even after 5 full days. the fact that it is midnight doesn't do much to minimize the waterworks...

turning 12 on mother's day

can i just tell you how much cuddles loves it when his birthday lands on mothers day? yeah, not very much.
in truth, i would rather have mother's day on any other day of the week than on a sunday. because then we could go out to eat instead of people trying to cook for me. and frankly, it is not enjoyable for me to have people in my kitchen "cooking" for me.
although i did end up with these, which was pretty ok...

but other than that, i tried to stay out of the birthday boy's way and defer any decisions to him.

for breakfast he chose donuts

he got the new lindsey stirling cd, mindcraft legos, and a tron wii game.

and for dinner it was time for steak night

we're gonna eat it right

steak is such a treat

it is the world's best meat!

our all-go-no-quit disneyland vacation

we have been planning this trip for a while now. for the last few years i have wondered if we were the only family not going to disneyland. it seemed like we just kept having to say, "well, i guess we'll have to try and go next year."
but we finally made it.
and we were determined to make it count.
we researched things out to try and find a time when the park wouldn't be crowded and the lines would be short. since we homeschool, we can basically go whenever we want. our sources told us that the beginning of october and the beginning of may are the slowest times. since the professor doesn't teach classes during may and june we decided on may.
whether this strategy worked is debatable. to me it still seemed pretty crowded. i thought, "if this is a slow week, i would really hate to be here when it is 'busy.'" we found some lines were pretty short, some lines were long but moved quickly and some were just plain long. who knows, maybe everyone else googled it too and decided to come during a "slow" time. do you see now how that could backfire??

we checked around for prices and decided to go for 5 days, one park a day. each day you add to your ticket costs less, and if you want to go to both parks during the day {park hopper} it costs more. we figured we would be fine with one park at a time. {and we were.} we ended up doing 3 days at disneyland and 2 days at california adventure.

first stop: star tours

the tickets to the park were the most expensive portion. we found tickets on the website for getaway today and they seemed to have the best prices. but before we bought ours, i decided to check on ksl {our local website similar to craigslist} to just see if anyone was randomly selling their tickets for some reason. we didn't find any of those, but we did find a local travel agent who was able to get us our tickets for $100 less than what we had been able to find. {that includes every other travel agent as well as getaway today prices.} we paid $890 for 5-day tickets for the 4 of us.

minnie wanted to have her picture taken with me.

we also decided to spend less on our hotel so we could spend more days at the park. we definitely made the right call on that one. each morning we got up, showered, ate breakfast, and headed to the park. as soon as we got back to the hotel each night we collapsed and went to sleep. we were just across the street from the park at a best western. it was pretty basic, yet clean. the breakfast wasn't exactly spectacular, but our tummies were full every morning. but with so much to do inside the parks, it would have been a waste to spend extra time and money on our hotel. we spent $524 for 5 nights at the hotel.

 in radiator springs

it was a great trip and definitely worth the wait*. i just hope any future vacations we take will still seem fun!

*the last time i was at disneyland was....

wait for it....

1985.

An Outward Expression of an Inward Commitment

In light of the recent NBC special about being Mormon in America, I feel the following to be germane; this is one of the best explanations that I know of for a curious person regarding the temple garment...

On one occasion one of the brethren was invited to speak to the faculty and staff of the Navy Chaplains Training School in Newport, Rhode Island. The audience included a number of high-ranking naval chaplains from the Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish faiths.

In the question-and-answer period one of the chaplains asked, “Can you tell us something about the special underwear that some Mormon servicemen wear?” The implication was, “Why do you do that? Isn’t it strange? Doesn’t that present a problem?”

To the chaplain who made the inquiry he responded with a question: “Which church do you represent?” In response he named one of the Protestant churches.

He said, “In civilian life and also when conducting the meetings in the military service you wear clerical clothing, do you not?” The chaplain said that he did.

He continued: “I would suppose that that has some importance to you, that in a sense it sets you apart from the rest of your congregation. It is your uniform, as it were, of the ministry. Also, I suppose it may have a much more important place. It reminds you of who you are and what your obligations and covenants are. It is a continual reminder that you are a member of the clergy, that you regard yourself as a servant of the Lord, and that you are responsible to live in such a way as to be worthy of your ordination.”

He then told them: “You should be able to understand at least one of our reasons why Latter-day Saints have a deep spiritual commitment concerning the garment. A major difference between your churches and ours is that we do not have a professional clergy, as you do. The congregations are all presided over by local leaders. They are men called from all walks of life. Yet they are ordained to the priesthood. They hold offices in the priesthood. They are set apart to presiding positions as presidents, counselors, and leaders in various categories. The women, too, share in that responsibility and in those obligations. The man who heads our congregation on Sunday as the bishop may go to work on Monday as a postal clerk, as an office worker, a farmer, a doctor; or he may be an air force pilot or a naval officer. By our standard he is as much an ordained minister as you are by your standard. He is recognized as such by most governments. We draw something of the same benefits from this special clothing as you would draw from your clerical vestments. The difference is that we wear ours under our clothing instead of outside, for we are employed in various occupations in addition to our service in the Church. These sacred things we do not wish to parade before the world.”

He then explained that there are some deeper spiritual meanings as well, connecting the practice of wearing this garment with covenants that are made in the temple. We wouldn’t find it necessary to discuss these—not that they are secret, he repeated, but because they are sacred.

The garment, covering the body, is a visual and tactile reminder of these covenants. For many Church members the garment has formed a barrier of protection when the wearer has been faced with temptation. Among other things it symbolizes our deep respect for the laws of God—among them the moral standard.  

{reference here}

For a more in-depth discussion on the matter, may I refer you to the following article: "The Temple Garment: An Outward Expression of an Inward Commitment" from the August 1997 issue of The Ensign.

Dear Deer,

Thank you for leaving us a blossom on our lilac bush. You are so considerate. I realize now how selfish it is of me to want a lilac bush that is covered in blossoms. You obviously need them more than I do. I will try to become as considerate as you are.