Disneyland 2010

WARNING: This post is VERY long. It will be a play-by-play of the ENTIRE trip that my family just went on. So if you make it to the end you yourself may feel like you just got off of your own, "It's a Small World." I am going to start at the VERY beginning:


About 55 years ago two important things came into the world. First, my mother was born. Second, Disneyland entered our existence. My mother has always liked the fact that she is the same age as Disneyland. When she turned 50 her sister surprised her with tickets and off they went. My mother then came up with this genius idea that her entire family should go when she turned 55. It seems like only yesterday she said these words and yet we just got back from that very trip. A year ago we celebrated Mother's Day with more love in our family than I ever thought possible. On that day my mother had her head shaved due to the chemo and our hearts were centered on every breath she took. So it was kind of sentimental that the theme at disneyland this year was, "Let's Celebrate." And celebrate we did.



DAY 1 Titled: FULL MOON


We begin our morning by stuffing our poor cute car to full capacity. After a please-let-us-have-fun-and-not-be-grumpy prayer we were off. We met my parents (Who also had my sister and her little boy) at a Maverick. We rolled down the windows and kind of just looked at each other in awkward silence until my dad said, " Okay let's roll." We were on our way! The drive was not too bad I must admit. The kids watched The Bee movie over and over and over again. Me and Rus had very nice conversations about something game warden related, I'm sure.



We got to the stretch of land that is very boring, you know the one before you finally reach the exciting city of Cedar. Stage is set: Bee movie blaring, Game warden talking, front passenger staring out the window looking for anything interesting (not that the game warden was not interesting...). Then in the vastness of nothing I notice a SUV up ahead. Of course I'm going to look over there, it is the first thing I have seen for hours. Before I could peel my eyes away, I had the horrific pleasure of seeing the backside of a NAKED MAN! I am so not kidding. I couldn't believe it, why did he not decide to change out of his biking shorts on the side of the car that was not facing the freeway. So I did what any natural person does, I called my mother. She answers and she is laughing.Hard. I said mom, "Did you see that?" Amongst the giggles I caught the phrase, " I was looking over there and saw him right as he debriefed himself!" What a way to start off our trip. I hope it wasn't a sign of things to come. It was however, the butt of many of our jokes (get it?). hee hee.


After a quick stop in the lovely city of Cedar to fill up the vehicles and enjoy a couple more chuckles about that thing that "cracked" us up (get it?) hee hee, we were on the road again. Now the plan was to spend the night in Nevada and then get a move on the next morning. So of course we have to stop in Las Vegas. I can tell you now, I am not a fan. What I am a fan of though is people watching, so that helped tremendously. My Dad, Kellie, Mickey and Steph decided that they wanted to go on New York New York's roller coaster. We, as in Me, Rustin, mom and the 5 children were then free to go and wait for them in the designated "kid-friendly" area. This area was stuffed with arcade games of every nature. This would include those stinkin claw games where you try and grab a stuffed animal that looks like it has been in the same location since the early 70's. This would be the attraction that the kids thought they needed to try and break off the controller by hanging on it or yanking the poor daylights out of the thing. This was until my mom lent Mickell her "only dollar" to go play on Dance Dance Revolution. Then we had all five of the kids on the platform getting their groove on. After what looked like a bar fight, Mickell and Sariah were the only survivors left standing...on the platform. There were three of these games with the platforms. The ladies (25 yr. old daughter and a 40+ mother) were amazing at it. They were doing the hardest level and were perfectly in sync. The best thing is they were doing it in flip flops!



Bubba must have met up with gangstas while we were ignoring him. I guess not only was this a kid-friendly area, but it must also be the lil' gangsta daycare. After much research the gang was found to be called: "Disney or Bust!!"


After a 20 minute wind delay, the group finally exited themselves from the coaster and we were off to M&M World. The land of "Melts in your mouth not in your hands" was very colorful and very pricey. Speaking of pricey-I am not going to pay $12.95 for 1 pound of M&Ms. So I had to leave my precious purple ones behind. We then went up the stairs and visited the famous race car-no not Lightening McQueen-the M&M one silly. Bubba was super excited, Sariah not so much.

As we were leaving, we saw the yellow M&M (who always seems nice on TV). We started going towards him and he was racing for the elevator. We got pictures with him anyways. Speaking of yellow, did you know that M&M World has only ONE bathroom? If they had more-What a wonderful world it would be.....

After leaving sin city, we were onto Primms, Nevada. We were staying in a hotel/casino near Buffalo Bill's super crazy roller coaster. Um yeah it's closed on weekdays....bummer. The main thing that will stand out about our stay at "Whiskey Pete's" would be the shuttle tram that took you from one hotel to the other one across the street. When you first see it, it looks like it is going 0.5 mph. When you are inside, it feels faster...magic. The magic is created by the "human motor" that's right the "human motor." The moment you step into the Tram, there he is. You sit and the script begins: "How is everybody? Anything exciting happening out there? Well here we go: I have no idea how to spell it out in words but he at this point starts making the sound of a motorcycle/car/truck/tugboat revving up a hill. The kids loved the ride and we are thankful they did because we rode that stinkin tram 6 times! For dinner it was decided that we would do the buffet over at the other hotel. We get there-closed! We go back to other-can't seat us due to not enough help. We decide to go to the other hotel and just dine at the 24 hour diner. We go over. The line and the wait is horribly long. We decide to go back over the other hotel's 24 hour diner. We get there and tell them we need a table for 12. After a "hmmm....let's see, where can I put you...." We stood there for another good hour while we watched couples of 2 and 4 get right in. Finally Mick went and asked if we cut ourselves up into fours could we get in faster. No. Five minutes later we were seated. Time: 10:15 p.m. We are all so tired we could barely keep our eyes open (remember we are still on day 1). We received our food from our waitress, who called us "honey" "babe" "gorgeous" "sweetie" and any other pet name she could come up with. Day 2: Are We There Yet? Absolutely!

After all the fun at the hotel it was time to head to our destination. We didn't even get to say good bye to the "human motor" or to the lady that farted in the elevator when we were ALL in there. Mick was the only one lucky enough to have a cup he used as a gas mask.We packed and we were off to Baker, California. I did not know that there was really an area 51 ( you know secret alien stuff the government keeps from us). We visited the Alien jerky store where they had spooky alien stuff and all these documents proving they really do exist. I am not an alien fan. Thank goodness there was something more exciting to distract my brain: The World's Tallest Thermometer!!! Woo Hoo!

When driving to Anaheim, you go through parts of me and Rus' mission. It was so weird to see all those names of towns and the memories and feelings that flooded over me. When we saw this van, I had to take a picture. I think this is a perfect description.

When we arrived in Disneyland territory, Me and Rus were so excited. We are cheering and trying hard to wake up these:

pillowcases courtesy of my mother. She is a really themey type of girl.

Once we got everything settled with the hotel, we noticed there was a Cheesecake Factory across the street. Of course we had to go there. It was pretty empty, which is good because we were starving! So our waitress: nice? absolutely, prompt? absolutely, did she say absolutely over and over and over and over?? ABSOLUTELY!

Since we bought the "3 days get 5 days" tickets we decided to waste no time and we headed to Disneyland. We were all ABSOLUTELY hyper and excited.

Here is our first family picture in Disneyland. I had to put it in black and white because of the sun glare (I think I heard it was snowing here in Coalville...just sayin). My friend at work told me to take a backpack and stuff it with snacks and water. I am so glad she did because it worked awesome. Plus unlike her, I had to have diapers and wipers.

The sign at the entrance. Here is princess Sariah standing by her castle (on loan from Cinderella). I think Rus is standing there thinking to himself, "I hope she is not going to take pictures of everything...." I did.
So we decided to start with a ride we thought wouldn't scare the crap out of Sariah. We agreed upon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Funny moment: The car thingys are each named a dwarf and Rustin says to me. "Sarah I hope you get grumpy!" thinking he and Bubba will get a different car, I respond, "Me too because we are all going in the same car!" Ahem..soapbox please: Why in the entire universe does Disneyland (Where Magic Happens) which claims to make adults feel like kids again blah blah blah insist on traumatizing the very children they built the flippin' rides for. We enter the deep dark depths of the ride and are greeted with the seven Dwarfs-okay and uh.. Oh look, there's Snow White-okay. Then we meet the Queen, it then throw us into a dark scary forest where at the end of the forest the Queen turns around and reveals herself as the ugly, scary witch (uh huh add strobe lights and thunder for a better effect). The we watch the dwarfs try and save her and are turned to her casket where her lips are waiting for love's true kiss. From there we go through some doors and there is a pic of the prince and snow white with the words, "And they lived happily ever after." At the end I have my daughter staring at me like-What in the World did you bring me to??" I state rather loudly, "Seriously?" So where do we go next? Oh just the scary ride of "Mr Toad's Wild ride," below you will find the description of Sariah's emotions below:

footnote: I really like my sisters. A lot. It was so so so fun to be with them and to have kids of our own, but still feel like we were young again going to a glorified Lagoon. We, for sure, have had our fair share of fights, but the one thing that never changes, for me at least, is that I feel like I love them more now than I did ever did before. Each of us have a role in our sisterhood: Kellie is the protector. You do not mess with me or steph without Kellie giving her entire heart to the situation and doing all she can to make sure we are going to be okay. I guess I put her first because I have always felt she is the oldest because of this quality. I am the mechanic, as in I am the fixer with a large scoop of worry. Not a day goes by that these two are not on my mind or in my prayers. I want them to both be happy. When they're not I feel it and want to fix it. Steph is the free spirit. She lights up a room with her smile and she loves to have fun. She has the kindest and most loyal heart ever. We have a similar problem that we care so much for people that we never want to hurt anyone. This is both a very good and a very bad trait. Okay now that I have made my, "Ode to the Sisters" lets get on with the trip.

The main ride that Bubba wanted to go on is Dumbo. He has talked nonstop about getting the blue one and going high. Both Sariah and Bubba loved it. It was on the top of their list.

Day 3: ALL DAY LONG!

The plan was to dedicate every second to Disneyland. If there was a day that we could even maybe complain about the lines it would have to be this one. We had to wait about 45 minutes to ride Finding Nemo! Earlier in the day, our little family of 4 departed our own way so the others could go on more mature rides, you know like Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean. We fortunately had the pleasure of going on The Storybook Ride. Repeat after me: BORING!! We finally embark on the boat and enter the Whale, from Pinocchio's, mouth. Then it takes you on a boat through hills of grass with miniature houses and lands of the Disney movies who pretty much weren't good enough to earn a ride. The tour guide is a woman who is so underwhelming, I thought I was getting put under for a surgery of some sort. Sariah of course enjoyed this ride immensely. After that mighty voyage, we decided riding a flying elephant was such a memory maker the first time, why not do it again!? My very favorite part of waiting in line is staring at all the diverse people of the world, and of course listen to their conversations.

Finding Nemo, the amazing underwater adventure, had a pretty long line because it is a pretty long ride. Once we had seated ourselves in the bottom of our yellow submarine, our voyage began with a bunch of bubbles going across our windows. If you have not been on this ride, just know that the closest thing you will get to actual sea life is they used real water. The rest is an assortment of figurines with some movie clips. And who really knows, maybe in the deep dark depths of the oceans amongst the Titanic ruins is a bunch of fish watching movie clips of us swimming around in swimming pools.......random.

Because the line was so long, Rus actually had to stop and take a drink of water. I convinced him to finally get a new shirt for the trip. He picked it out himself-SHOCKER!

After all this family togetherness in the submarine, we let it continue to the land of "It's a Small World." This was by far Sariah's favorite ride. She was bouncing up and down in her seat, snapping her fingers and singing right along with the billions of dolls prancing around in there. Bubba also enjoyed it and was pointing is finger around like crazy saying, "Look!" "Look!" "Look!" But the best part abou this ride was the boat that was in front of us. It was the boat that was able to have a wheelchair lowered into it. There was the cutest old lady in the back and she was so so excited that she was on the ride. She was waving at everyone and blowing kisses and the huge smile on her face was priceless. I love little moments like that. It must have been a watery day, because we also went on the safari family boat ride. Our driver of the boat needs to go over to Storybook land and teach Ms. Anesthesia some funny jokes. I could not stop laughing the entire boat ride. She just had the witty humor that you can't help but die laughing at. Then it was off for another Safari on Indiana Jones ride (not in the water). Due to the fact that we brought short children with us we had to obtain stroller passes. It was decided that My mom and dad would stay out with the squatty ones and also one who may or may not have been afraid out her mind. We board the jeep and turn the corner and start going up a hill. All of the sudden we hear a weird cracking noise and we stop.....and wait...and wait. A voice comes on overhead telling us that there has been an interruption and that there will be someone coming by to assist us shortly. So a quick half an hour goes by, some young Indiana with a name badge comes to assist us off the ride with a little step ladder. So long story short, our Safari into the land of snakes and rolling balls would have to wait.
At the end of the day, which included us (yes, I do mean All 4 of us!) riding the Materhorn. You know, just creating more nightmares for our children. I also had produced a Materhorn migraine. By the time we got back to the hotel I thought my head was going to blow up. Thanks to an awesome massage from the talented hands of my sis, Steph, I fell asleep. So for dinner that night, Rus called in some pork wings.....gross.

Day 4: California Adventure with a side of Beach:

This day we got to go over to the park a little early, due to something with our passes. We decided we were headed for Space Mountain. So dark. So fun. Once again we had to use the stroller passes (that short children problem again).

Then it was onto California Adventure. We flew over California on our 6 passenger glider, which I told Sariah was just like sitting in a moving chair and watching a movie-didn't help. Then we went on the twin of Lagoon's wild mouse ride....identical twins. Then we look up the way a little bit....doth our eyes deceive us? It's Goofy! So we had to take a picture, and why not get all the boys together who were wearing plaid shorts. Done.
And who else would be flying with Goofy? None other than....Plut-Oh never mind Minnie Mouse. Awkward. I thought he like Clarabelle the cow.
So Sariah took a picture with her because her mother was too old to get- so- excited- that- she- could-barely-breath-due-to-the-fact-that-Minnie-was-her-very-favorite-character-in-the-whole-wide-world. Sigh.

Now I'd like to introduce you to Rustin's favorite ride. Ever. I don't remember what it was called, but I wasn't going near it-it had vomit shields for goodness sake. It shot them clear up in the air exactly like the Rocket ride at Lagoon, except highter. Here are the family astronauts.

The main ride of the trip would be the "California Screamin" roller coaster. The people at disney really used their noggins because they put a Little Mermaid carosel right next to it for all the little kids who weren't tall enough. So we just put all the kids on the Carosel and went on the roller coaster...just kidding, once again stroller passes! Bubba rode a magical fish and Sariah a seahorse with purple ears. The roller coaster was by far my favorite ride, even though I could have been the poster child for the ride due to the screams that were comin' outta my mouth.
There will be more discussed about this ride later...this picture just must have swam its way up past all the others (get it? Bubba is on a fish! hee hee).

California Adventure had a little theme park for kids dressed up in Bug's Life. I will not mention AGAIN the scare factor that took place. All I will say is Honestly? 3D poison getting shot at us, things breaking through the wall and the kicker- huge ginormous spiders falling from the ceiling (yes red and beady eyes included). I will now continue. One of the favorite rides was the little cracker-box air baloons. I LOVE this pic of Sariah and Mickell. Why? 1. Sariah is smiling. 2. They are sitting by each other and are not fighting. 3. Because I took it and I think I did a pretty darn good job. The end.
We didn't get to see the princesses (2 1/2 hour wait! I told Sariah put a crown on me and I'll take a picture with you!!!), but we did get to see Goofy quite a bit.

Now get out your pout. We forgot our camera when we went to the beach. I am so upset about it. So your imaginations are going to have to come in full force because I, of course, am still going to talk about it.

Now some of you may not know, but I had never seen or stepped toe in an ocean. Seriously. So Due to this fact, we took a break and went to the Huntington Beach. IT WAS SO SO SO FUN!!! The first thing we did is walked up this pier/dock thing and saw all the fishermen. One of the guys said they had been seeing dolphins all morning so to keep our eyes open. We walked further up and leaned over the ledge and what did we see? A dead flounder floating belly up!! We were so excited! We were oohing and aweing until we heard a noise up at the top of the pier/dock (as you can tell I have no clue what were standing on) and looked just as they were pulling a crab cage up. They caught one. So all 12 of us are standing around these guys watching them. I think they liked it, I bet they felt like they were on their own Dealdliest Catch episode. So the crab was held up and he even put it down on the ground and we got to see it walk (we are so easily entertained). Then the guy picks it up and chucks it over the ledge like he was making the game winning pass at the Super Bowl. I ask, "Why did you throw it back?" Both guys in unison answer, "female." Me and my feminine rights self asked, "What's wrong with a female?" They told us they are in charge of breeding or something like that. It was weird. Then one of the best parts of the beach adventure was our own sweet Mickell spotted a sea lion. It was so fun to watch it swim around and come up to the top of the water and beg the fishermen for fish guts. Then the moment finally arrived......My toe and the rest of my foot touched the freezing cold ocean water!!! TA DUH!

The entire family played in the ocean for about 23 minutes. It was so fun just to see everyone let go of all the stress and laugh and play together. Bubba thought he was a fish. They would chase the waves and then Bubba would hurry and get on his belly and crawl up the shore. Sariah (yes Sariah) got soaked and was screaming and jumping around. Then our meters ran out and we had to go back to reality. I have a thing with sharks and since this is my blog, that's as far as I am going to take it. But I kept imagining that amongst all that water that splashed on my legs that day,that at least one molecule of water contained shark spit and I felt powerful.

Then we went back to disneyland for about an hour. This picture is from Tinkerbell's Pixy Hollow. It was late and there was no fairies there (bummer) we just got to walk all over the fairy property.

Bubba and dad in fairyland.




Day 5: A Screamin' Miracle

The next morning it was decided that we would go to California Adventure for a few hours before the final departure home. We are almost to the park and decide to get our tickets out and ready. We have ours, Kellie and Mickell (Mick and Buddy stayed at the hotel) had theirs, and then mom, dad, steph and Kyguy's tickets are missing in action. Panic sets in and we all check our bags a million times like they were all the sudden going to appear before our eyes. My dad being the man he is makes us go in the park while they go and search the car. It felt sad and lonely. It felt rude and selfish. We even went on the Monster's Inc ride to try and calm our guilt. It didn't help. It was a very boring ride. We saw Handy Mandy and took a picture of him with the kids. Still no tickets. No beuno amigos. My phone rings and it is steph looking for us. My dad being the man he is made Steph and Ky go using Mick and Buddy's tickets. This is when we felt really bad. So Kellie took the initiative and did something!! She went to the lost and found and told them what happened and they printed my parents off new tickets!! Kellie has a way of getting what she wants. We were so so excited and it was off to the roller coaster. Mickell is her mother's daughter. I think her motto would be, "The more life-threatening the better."

Here is my dad and Mickell on the first row of the roller coaster just as it is shooting them forward. I adore this picture. a lot.

Now I have no clue, but almost all the rest of the pictures are skiddywompus (or out of order). So here is Rus and the kids on the teacups (I was there too).

Ever since the kids found out we were going to Disneyland, they have been saving up their money for their Minnie and Mickey ears. I dumped out their piggy banks and the result was: Sariah $18.00 and Bubba $12.00. We went to Toon town and they had a shop where you can make your own ears. I handed over their money (quarters and all) over to the cashier. I thought she would be all sweet and realize this was a special moment for my kids. Her response to the bags, "What's this your entire life savings?" and then she turns to the other lady and says don't even think about opening up change today! I really wanted to give her a friendly- happiest-place-on-earth-punch-in-the-face! Stinkin' dream killer! Well this picture is the result. Pretty cute huh!



The place Rus wanted to visit most was Fronteir land. He wanted to go shoot the guns. So we did, just the 4 of us. I watched and the kids took turns. I it's really cute how much Rus loves to do these shooting thingys with kids. We spend our "entire life savings" at Cabelas' shooting thingy.

Here's the infamous Handy Manny picture. I would like to draw your attention to the flower coming out of Sariah's hat. Even when she wears her hat she has to wear the stinkin' flower on top of her head-frustration nation.

Well I wouldn't exactly call her a princess, but we got to see Jesse. I feel bad for her. I bet she could go into the princess village and beat up a couple of those ladies if she felt like it Once again on the babysitter Carosel. Yee Haw Sea horse! Let me start with a little story. Before the city of Clinton became a bulldozer's dream. It used to be a cute little teeny town. Our "fun days" when the town would get together consisted of a curtain fishing pond, dunk tank and a morning run where our numbers were written on index cards. There were two "rides" one was a train thing and the other was "The Squirrel." The Squirrel was this ball looking thing where they would strap you in and turn you around and around upside down forever. I hated it. Lagoon: the Rocko planes-worst ride ever created. Now it is official bad rides come in threes. This ride not only brought flashbacks of those horrible experiences, but it also left me reaching for the barf bag. I'm glad I could entertain my family as I had a mini freak out in our cage of terror.

Speaking of Terror look at that face I'm pullin. This is on the roller coaster I loved/hated/peed my pants on. Okay I didn't really pee my pants (I was wearing capris hee hee j/k).
This is part of our family standing by the "N" for our last name. There are usually people walking around bugging the crap out of you asking if they can take your picture. When we finally
need one-nobody. Ain't it always the way.


Our very LAST experience was this princess right here. Tiana. She was doing a singing show. She sounded exactly like the real/fake/animated girl from Princess & the Frog. It was so fun to watch and dance around. Because I had children I felt like I had an excuse to get jiggy with it-the girls next us (at least 16) did not. Awkward. And that is the end...the very end of our trip.
We stayed over night in St. George and I got to go to Yard Sales with my awesome friend in Cedar and then we were on our way home.
It was such a fun and memorable trip. Not to offend any of my cousins, but I think that they'd agree, my last trip to Disneyland all I remember is eating free bacon and drinking free root beer at the hotel. Oh yes and there was the song we sang all the time, "Every party needs a pooper that's why we invited you...Party pooper! Party pooper!" that we sang to my cousin Matt.

We did have some Party pooper moments, but overall I'd say it was an awesome experience shared with the right people at the right time.

Thank you for reading this blog, please keep the smile on your face and be careful when exiting your chair as your legs might be asleep! Love ya