Bradleys visit Disneyland-part 1

I remember many trips to Disneyland as a young girl with my family. It was a favorite vacation spot for our family and one that we looked forward to visit with eager anticipation. This anticipation and love did not leave any of the Bellamy siblings (or parents) as adults and it was something that we each eagerly shared with our own families.  Two and a half years ago as a new bride and mother I took my new family to Disneyland. I had dreams of what this magical place would be like for my family only to find after three days of dealing with tears, tantrums, anger, timeouts, and full out fits that Disney was no longer a magical place. I remember leaving Disneyland that day, tears of my own flowing down my check the magic of Disneyland having been dashed. 

Fast forward two years, we decided to try again. I had had two years to forget cope come to terms with  well I had had two years and Disney does those great commercials that make we want to jump on a plane and experience the magic once again. So we decided to try again, we were going to redeem Disneyland for the Bradley family and with that we started planning our November trip.  We decided to go in November, when crowds were at a minimum. We bought out tickets early, before they went up in price, I found a killer deal on a hotel suite near the park, and then we found airfare at a reasonable price. So that was it. Armed with an arsenal of  mended dreams, treats, and plenty of pixie dust we headed off. 

We were so eager  to leave that Sunday morning we were at the airport two hours before our flight departure. That eagerness may have been caused by mom and dad wanting to keep the house in the state it was and not give the hurricane aptly named four kids descend and leave us in a rush to clean up. I was just grateful that Christian thought ahead to have bring the entertainment center so the kids could watch Mulan before we boarded.

When we got to California we were very happy to find the weather was in the 90s. We had fun that first night exploring Downtown Disney and the kids especially liked seeing them make the candied apples.

Oh and the super cool legos statues.

Disneyland turned out to be an adventure, the kids were all super brave and all rode every ride they were tall enough for at least once. There were no fits, there were no screaming parties, they all rode. Some once, some several times. James even uttered the now very helpful advice, "If you are riding the Materhorn and are afraid of Yetis, just look the other way."

Matty loved it. He especially loved seeing the characters. He would run up and say "Hi" and then stand and smile at them.

The girls got to see some princesses, though I was grateful that we never waited more than three minutes to see anyone.

Oh the girls also thought ti was fun to pretend they were proper drivers. One thing we did learn on this trip is James is a horrible driver, even when a car is on a track,  and I will not be letting that child get a licence at sixteen.

So day one was a success. We were six happy Bradley's loving our vacation.

Day two saw us visiting California Adventure. After waiting for 30 minutes to get into the Park, Matty promptly went to sleep in his stroller so he and I stood in line for 45 minutes to get fast passes for the new Radiator Springs Car ride. This of course was the longest line we waited in all week long. 

I also discovered that Matty likes merry-go-round but does not like to be kept waiting for the ride. He was very happy to start his carsouel, but we were off a few minutes later when the ride still had not started. Oh the joys of a toddler attention span. 

One thing I love about going to Disneyland in November is that day by day you see the  park transform for Christmas, we found this little corner of Christmas cheer.

Finally we made it to Carsland, the place James had been waiting to visit for...well since he found out that it existed. He loved it there, his face had a huge grin from the moment we walked in till we left. He loved it.

Matty loved the Monster's Inc. ride. We went on it three times in a row.

We ended our day seeing Goofy! What a great day!

The kids had a fun time with day two, and I loved being in Disneyland while the election came to a head. I could go back to the hotel and see the results and not have to wait through everything. Fabulous.

Disneyland was slowly being redeemed. There had been no Tiki time outs as yet, no threats of Tiki time outs. We still had three more days, but there was a glimmer of  hope that maybe, just maybe we might all survive with the Disney dreams intact this time.