In January we had our annual winter trip to Disneyland. We never ever, ever, ever go in the summer because it’s too hot, and it’s way too crowded. Never. This time our vacation fell right over Lincoln’s 7th birthday which was fun! He got to wear the birthday pin and eat extra treats, as if he needed them. This was our first trip to the park where we had “bad” weather- a rainy forecast every single day. I made so much fun of Jazz when he researched and found rain stuff on amazon. A $30 double stroller cover? I did not think we were gonna need any of that stuff. BOY DID I SURE EAT MY WORDS. I was so thankful we had all that gear before we got down there because it did indeed rain every. single. day. we were there.
WHAT WE LEARNED: Everyone looks great in ponchos. Bonus points to Jazz for buying me a floral print one, lol. Waterproof shoes were very important- I wore my lace up rain boots every day and they kept my feet really dry, even if they were a little bit warm. I was afraid they wouldn’t be comfortable but they worked really well! The kids wore their tall rain boots everyday and did great. Jared had these neato little rain covers for his regular shoes and they worked pretty good too. Some of the men went out one night to five or six different stores looking for giant man rain boots but came up empty. Morgan and JR had full on rain suits including pants- for the win. Bless him, he was our designated Splash Mountain adult. Also, the stroller cover that I mocked was amazing. It kept our seats dry so Thatcher could nap every afternoon. We ended up hauling extra stuff than normal- jackets, dry clothes for the kids, socks, umbrellas, and everything stayed pretty dry despite the downpours. My advice- buy the $3 ponchos at home so you don’t have to shell out $15 for the Disney ones- the vinyl ones were so much better than the ones made of cheapie garbage bag plastic. Grandpa showed up with matching ones for all the kids!
WHAT WE GAINED: Guys, we had some pretty thin crowds. I’m talkin walk-on to Indiana Jones kind of lines. I think Isabelle rode Incredicoaster 16 or 17 times? Yes, some things were closed. Some of the outside rides like Alice, Storybook, Teacups, Racers and the big coaster– those don’t run in the rain but we had good little windows of sunshine to do everything we wanted to do! There were no parades scheduled that week, so we didn’t miss those on account of the rain. Characters were limited too- but the princesses were still going strong and we saw plenty of the main cast to be happy. Thatch even got to meet Woody. Win/Win.
Most of all we got to see our cousins and play from morning to night, which is always our favorite part. Isabelle was the oldest cousin this trip and she got some special like grown up hang-out time- she was always the last kid standing. One more ride, one more run, she was totally in and I LOVE that about her. We got a late start leaving Redding so we didn’t get to Anaheim until late but we still made a dash to the park for a couple rides, a dole whip, and fireworks. I mean, what is better than that.
the sorensen six 