Disneyland--Day 1 with a Secret!

In November, we took a trip with Grandma Nancy and went to Disneyland! We had such a great time and had been planning and looking forward to the trip for months. Imagine my surprise when, the very day we were leaving for our trip, our friends the Daniel's said they were tired of hearing us talk about Disneyland and had decided to just pack their things and come with us. And they meant it! I couldn't believe they pulled it off--all the planning and packing we had been doing for months, and they did it all in one day! We decided to surprise the kids and not tell them our friends were coming until we were actually there. Our first morning, when we got to breakfast the kids got a surprise!

The surprise was Secret! Haha, that never gets old!

Isaac was so excited to see his friends Revan and Secret.

And the girls were excited to see Winter.

We started our first morning off in Disneyland, of course,

We had some time waiting at the end of Main Street before the rope drop, so we took a few pictures. Keeley doing her classic face!

And a pretty smile.

Because Isaac has gotten lost at crowded places before and had anxiety about it, we decided to dress him in fluorescent shirts each day. We also had the kids wear color-coordinated outfits. The first day was pink and orange day. Isaac's shirt was way more bright than it looks in this picture. And I must say, that was probably the best idea ever! He worried a lot less, and it really was easier to keep track of him!

First off, we headed to Peter Pan's Flight. You can see from the above photo that we were really at the very front of the rope, so we had a straight shot through the castle to the ride. Which is a good thing, because the line for that ride forms shortly after the park opens and it never lets up. Before we left for Disneyland, we asked each kid what was something they really hoped that we would be able to do on this trip. Finley said that she wanted to ride Jingles on the Carousel. Since she had a very specific horse she wanted to sit on, we had to race to her horse. But thankfully, we were able to acquisition Jingles just for her.

Here are a few shots of her on the prized horse.

Sareny wasn't so picky about which horse she sat on.

Keeley rode with Daddy, and you can see Sareny behind them.

Isaac rode by Secret, of course.

The kids tried really hard to pull the sword out of the stone. Also, looking at these pictures reminds me how hot we were that first day! I guess we're used to that sort of November weather, considering that we live in Phoenix, but I just didn't realize we would be sweating!

Keeley and I rode Buzz Lightyear and the Astro Orbiters while the rest of the group rode Star Tours.

Then I rode Star Tours with the boys.

We took the little girls to see the fairies while the others rode Buzz Lightyear.

Finley and Winter were so cute!

I love that Finley wore the Minnie Mouse ears I made a few year ago! They just look so cute.

This has to be one of my favorite pictures from the trip!

Then some of us rode Space Mountain. Finley neither loved nor hated it, which I think you can tell from her rather bland expression. Aubrey and Revan are sitting behind us.

And in the next car up, Sareny and Daddy held their hands in the air, and Isaac and Secret were in front of them. Love the look on Isaac's face!

We stopped for a photo in front of Tom Sawyer's Island.

And Grandma took our photo in line for the Haunted Mansion.

After that, we headed over to Critter Country and rode Splash Mountain and Winnie the Pooh.

The quality is not so great, but here we are on the ride!

 And the Daniel's.

Sareny somehow convinced Coach Pete to carry her on his back for a while.

We rode the teacups at night.

Above: Grandma Nancy, Keeley, Keith. Below: Aubrey, Winter, Finley.

And our car: Isaac, Secret, Sareny, and me. These cuties wanted to spin fast, and I think I was the only one who was willing to get in with them.

KeeKee peeking over her teacup.

And the spinning starts!

I love this action shot and the happiness on their faces!

Our teacup after the ride was over--and we are all still smiling!

After the ride, we posed the kids in the teacup out front. For some reason, a few of them pretended to be asleep. And Revan really was asleep in the stroller while the evening carried on.

Then they perked up.

We rode other things this first day, like Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones. It was Isaac's first time riding Indiana Jones, and he sat right next to me with Secret on the other side of him.Partway into the ride, I looked over to see how he was doing, and I saw that he was covering his eyes. In the pre-boarding area, they show a silly video about making sure to cover your eyes and not look into the eyes of Mara, and apparently Isaac took that quite literally! He was not going to uncover his eyes and risk turning into a skeleton like the lady in the video. He and Secret were pretty cute, clinging to each other and screaming.

After we left the park, we stopped at the Cold Stone that was connected to our hotel to use the gift cards Grandma Nancy had given each of us. It was a fun end to a super fun day!