Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Our Trip to Disneyland

So as anyone who as been reading knows, we had a family vacation in October to Disneyland.  It was all sorts of good fun, but I've learned something about Disney that I didn't learn before: I'm not a fan of park hopping.  It was a little different this time because Konner was only to be there for one day, so to be fair to him, we went to both parks on the same day.  I just don't like it that much because it takes away from the park that you're visiting.  For example, I never did the little rides that I enjoy (Peter Pan, Star Tours, Mr. Toad's wild ride, etc.) at Disneyland because we did all the big rides and then decided to go to California Adventure for the big rides at that park.  Also, I think it made me more tired, but that's later.  So anyways, onto the specifics of the trip.

Tuesday night, we drove up to SLC in the very nasty rainstorm, parked in the economy lot that was the furthest away from the airport, and then took the economy shuttle to the airport.  There was nothing crazy about security, and we even had enough time to buy some dinner from a burger place...smash burger maybe? I don't really remember.  The flight had no TV (Boo...as in the unhappy kind, not the trying to scare you kind), and so I played with the Disneyland app on Jocelyn's iPad.  I enjoyed flying over Las Vegas.  Very bright and very cool to see from up above.  So anyways, we landed, got to the hotel, and hung out with my family.  The hotel was pretty nice, and it had a great view of the beach and golf course.  If you want to see the view, look at my cover photo, and imagine it with sun.

So my family are all Disney nuts, and we wanted to be at the park first thing in the morning, so we all got up super early...and it was totally worth it.  While we were getting ready (roughly 7:30) we realized that Jocelyn's brother lives an hour and a half away and has a decent amount of free time, so we called him and left a message inviting him to join us.  So anyways, I had to drive to Disneyland with Jocelyn, Logan and Shellee, which was interesting, or different you could say.  SoCal driving wasn't all that bad.  Most everyone was pleasant and a good driver.  But there was a lot of traffic and a lot of highway switching.  So anyways we show up, get to the park.  The Halloween festivities were far more...abundant is the word I'm looking for, than I ever remember seeing.  The large Mickey Pumpkin/Jack o' Lantern was pretty cool, and two sided.  Also the entry ways were covered with very large character heads that looked like they were made from pumpkin.

I don't remember what we rode that morning, but I know we were eating near Adventureland when Derek arrived.  So we finished and then went and found him getting through security.  So he joined the party.  Seeing as how he had never been to Disneyland, I hope he found it to be a fun and magical place, but I think that's something that comes from going as a kid.  So anyways, we had all sorts of fun from lunch on.  Logan and Shellee eventually left and went with the Hoopes, and we continued with the fun until the end.  The one exception to that all sorts of fun statement was the temperature.  That first day was 95 degrees!  In mid-freaking-October!  That made the day draining and tiresome.  At the hotel...I don't remember what we did that night.  We had some extra bedding, and no Konner, so Derek stayed the night.

Next day, some early wake up routine, but when we took off I drove my mom, Chance, Logan, and Shellee, and Jocelyn rode with Derek and my dad took off to LAX to go pick up Koko.  First thing we did was go to Cars Land to ride the new ride.  We got there at about 9:10 and the line was already 75ish minutes long and the fast pass line was folded over on itself and seemed like a 35 minute line.  I must say, all of Cars Land looked awesome, but we didn't want to wait that long.  We all got in the single rider line, and miraculously got 4 of us in the same car that seated 6.  The ride was pretty awesome, and as it neared the end it broke down.  The cast members had to come get us out, and we were given a fast pass to make up for the experience.  Anyways, I don't remember what else we did that morning, but we were in California Adventure until lunch.  Konner and my dad showed up and we went to Disneyland for lunch.  Normally I wouldn't go into what I ate, but I went for the turkey leg.  It always looked so good when I saw others eat it that I had to go for it, and Konner joined me.  Word to the wise, the turkey leg is an experience...that you only want to experience once.  Worth it...but I won't be getting it again when we go.

So anyways, more family fun with everyone, in much cooler weather.  I think it was around 80-85 that day and the remainder of the trip.  We went to the places Konner wanted since he wasn't with us the day before.  Eventually Logan and Shellee went off with the Hoopes and the rest of us went on our merry way.  I think everyone was kinda tired, and decided to leave early (early in my family is leaving before we are forced to go).  Derek went back to San Diego and my brothers went with my parents.  Also, I didn't know where to insert this, so now works, but Konner got a Perry the Platypus Pillow Pet - it's cool.  Jocelyn and I got fast passes to see world of color so we stayed.  If you haven't seen it, you need to.  Well worth the time.  Just make sure you get there early enough.  So after Word of Color was over, we drove back to Newport Beach (the location of the hotel) and called it a day.

Friday was beach day...but it was also lazy day.  We didn't get started nearly as early in the morning.  Logan and Shellee left early with the Hoopes since they started well before we did, because they spent the majority of their time with us, plus it was Tess' birthday.  So the remaining 6 kinda sat around all lazy like until we eventually went to the beach.  I'm not much of a beach person, but it was still fun given those circumstances.  We eventually left, got cleaned up, and then went to some pier/beach/dock place that Chance went to on his grad trip.  We explored the stores and ate there and had fun.

The next day we got up, cleaned up, checked out, and went to some orange county market swap meet thing.  Not the coolest thing in the world, but it would have been better had I had money to buy crazy stuff, and somewhere to store it besides crammed in an airplane.  After that we went to the airport, got on our plane, had my heart broken by BYU and got home.

So that was our trip and it was a blast.  I'm already counting down to the next Disney trip.  I don't know when that will be, but I'm hoping for sooner rather than later.  I don't really have any pictures to post, so tough cookies.  Just trust me when I said everything was fun and looked cool.  Too bad I'm now back in the real world.  Speaking of which, I should go get ready for bed.  Peace out.

Isys stuff

Today I will be grateful for my Disneyland trip, which I fully intend to blog about another time. And that's it for today.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Midterm

I'm not grateful for my midterm, but I'm grateful my professor was willing to work with my schedule and is letting me take it early.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Laughter

Today in class, I'm grateful for laughter, because we have laughed a lot today and I'm mostly trying to fill something up on gratitude.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Gracias Google

Today I'm thankful for google and the Internet. I love finding thinks quickly and concisely. Also, thanks Wikipedia for becoming more reliable and including a works cited page. I love getting info easy and fast.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

2 weeks

2 weeks until I'm in Disneyland.  This is what I'm grateful for today.  That's it.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Grateful Again

I finally won a fantasy football game in my stg league, and moved out of last place. I lost in WWD but I'm still in first place, so it's all good.