"Mickey Mouse House"

So roughly two years ago I told my family (parents, sibling, etc) it was high time we got our bums to Disneyland.  It only took two years of figuring everyone's schedule and all 22 of us made it out there.  My parents generously rented us a house a few blocks from Disney and because I'm the favorite child, I got the master bedroom for my family.

So anyway, we all got there freakishly early on Sunday from our long drives and then the kids went crazy in the house for the rest of the night and other than that we only used the house for sleep and the delicious breakfasts my dad made for us.

Pictures!  (So, so, so many pictures.)

We were in the park from Monday-Wednesday which meant no fireworks.  So Sunday night when we were all gathered at the rental house we heard the fireworks after the kids were in bed, and we all ran out to the backyard.  We couldn't see over the fence so we all crammed on this bench.  Obviously my mom and I were on a date.  

 Day One

Atticus was obsessed with Anna, which is good because she adored him and adored mothering him.  This was as we were waiting for everyone to get through the gates.

My poor son.  Anytime I put sunscreen (no matter what type or brand) his eyes get red, puffy, and watery for the rest of the day.   

 "Mickey Mouse house!!!"  Every time he saw it, he was so pleased. 

We managed to go on quite a few rides all together that first morning.  We went on Haunted House first as per the Williams tradition.  Then we rider swapped for Splash Mountain (after those two, Anna pretty much didn't want to go on anything else the rest of the trip.  She's four and kind of a wuss.)  Then we went on Pirates.
Pirates may be one of my favorite memories of the whole trip.  We were all on one boat and Sam took this lovely picture.  She'd taken one a few minutes before right before we went over a two foot "Hill" I was sitting by Kyndi (9 years old) and we were turned around backward and she definitely panicked and clung to me because she thought it was another hill.

 But what made this my favorite memory was my dad decided he would hop off first and take a picture of all of us before we got off.  He knew he needed to hurry so that we could get off and others could get on.  So as soon as the boat stopped he hopped off and fell flat on his face.  We laughed at him so much as I'm sure the people waiting to get on did as well.  Then in his rush to get up and take the picture, he left out Sam and Brad, and Jonathan's family.He got grief about his fall the rest of the trip.  See us laughing at him?

 Then we all got to skip the line for the Jungle Cruise because that tour guide there in the picture is my cousin, Chris.  Plus, just for knowing him the other workers gave us fast passes for all to anything in the park at any time.

 Oh, and all the kids got Jungle Cruise maps.  Woot.  Woot.

Okay this Splash Mountain picture (of my sister and her five youngest kids (and grandma)) is the best ever.  For two reasons.  Jersi's face (in the pink, she's three), and Kyndi's reaction to the fear.  (She's back there with my mom, holding on for dear life.) (She punched me in the same spot later when she was nervous about driving the Indiana Jones car.  It's how she reacts to fear I guess.)  

After that we got fast passes to Indiana Jones for later that day.  The fast pass machine broke on me so they gave me a fast pass for 6 people for anytime too.  Awesome.  We went our separate ways for most the day after that.  Dan and I snagged my brother Jimmy to come with us for a bit so we could do rider switch passes (because Atticus can't go on some rides, we could get a pass to go back in the fast pass line for the person who had to stay off with him and a buddy or two.)  Those thing rocked.

A well deserved nap.  I bought him that Mickey Mouse months ago and waited until that first morning to give it to him. He is obsessed with him.  He drags him everywhere.

 One of the most best things in California.  The Pineapple soft serve.  Much better than whatever that thing is Dan has.  Which we both agree was not as good.

 He was unsure if he loved or feared the giant Buzz but he loved this ride (where you shoot lasers).  He kept saying "Help Buzz!" and when it was over he said "Buzz happy!"  Of course he loved all the rides.  All of them.  As soon as they were over he'd ask to go again.

Did pretty well for himself.

 Some parade pictures.  Mostly bad photos but whatever. 

 

Oaklee.

 Jonah.

 Jersi and Dayton with my sister, Stefanie and my dad.

 Anna and my mom with Jonathan in the back.

 Atticus watched the parade with slight interest until, for whatever reason, he saw Donald Duck on one of the floats and freaked out with excitement.  (He'd already seen Mickey Mouse and Goofy on floats and he's always loved those two far more and even pretends to be them.  He'd never been to interested in Donald Duck until this parade.)  He literally was jumping and squealing on my shoulders and pulling and drumming on my head for the rest of the parade.

 The aftermath of my head.

 After the parade we all headed over to Space Mountain.  You can't see them but Jonah (age 3, and Anna) are also on this ride. Not sure how they talked Anna into this one.  That girl was scared of Puff at Lagoon.

All tucked in after his long day.

Day Two
So I love Disney and was so excited to go but was a little worried having not been there with actual kids the last five times I had been there, or roughly since I was 11.  I was especially worried about Atticus and how he would feel in long lines and no real naps and all the overwhelming everything going on.  But it was perfect.  Atticus had very few tears and it was only out of hunger or when he just needed to take a nap in the stroller and he calmed right down.  He was so happy the whole time.  Just excited about everything he saw and and did.  The best was that first morning when he woke up (several hours before our planned 8 AM departure to the park with everyone) and the first thing he did was excitedly ask to go to "Mickey Mouse House"  I'm so happy we took him even though he won't remember it.  It was so much fun.

I love this of Anna on the tram from the parking lot headed for our second day of fun.  Jersi and Sam look less enthused.

We went to California Adventure the next morning.  My parent's ran to get everyone Fast Passes for the Car's ride as they run out super fast.  (Fun but overrated)  The rest of us headed to Midway Mania we were about to board for the second time by the time my parents got back.  The delightful Disney workers let them join us and we all went again.

This is my most favorite ride ever.  It terrifies me.  And people fight over who sits by me because they both love and hate it.  The first picture is Jimmy recording me for his missionary to hear my screams of terror.  The best was when we were about to get on the elevator and the worker man was creepy standing right behind me to upset me and Jameson caught my panic over that on tape as well.

This one was when Kyndi came with me.  She was just as scared as me and at the last minute tried to pretend she had to use the bathroom so that she wouldn't have to go on (Like literally made the excuse as we were boarding) and I had to pretend to be brave for her.  When the ride ended the worker man had everyone clap for her.

A little mouse cuddle at lunch time.

We waited 45 minutes for this stupid, literally 45 second caterpillar ride.  (The sign said it'd only be 20 minutes plus we didn't know what the ridiculous ride was)  This is him reaching for the ride because he was so anxious to ride.

Ad us, so happy to be on the ride.

A little sleepy.

My mom and all but one (baby Mary) of her grandkids ready for the Bug's Life show.

I love this picture of Atticus and he loved the Bug show.  He's obsessed with this movie which I find weird.

We tried to meet Buzz but by the time we got over there it had switched to Woody.  Just as well, this would have been his reaction either way.  Those guys are much bigger than in the movie.  Too bad.  He was even wearing his "Buzz-Woody" shirt.

After meeting Woody, he was very wary of all the other characters.  We went over to Cars Land and he loved it, but he wouldn't go near the Mater character.  (Not a person but a car that moved a bit and talked) but he loved the statues so we posed with those.  (And half of Dan.)

He was telling it a joke.

That morning Atticus discovered the Little Mermaid carousal ride and rode it probably 18 times over the next two days.  Sometimes several times in a row.  This is him excitedly waiting to go.

Stefanie took him and her kids on it like three times in a row while were were on the roller coaster.  I love Dayton in this picture.

 

Crying because it stopped.

Day Three
Don't worry on our last day we found another carousel in Fantasyland.

The kid was still as happy as ever to be in Disneyland.  This was actually us at Lunch at Flo's V8 Cafe.  Good food and we got to watch the cars race by.

Atticus loved watching the California Screamin' coaster take off.  He could have stayed there all day.

Pointing out the flying elephants.

I don't recall ever having ridden this before.  Atticus loved making it go up and down. 

The cookie holograms at Minnie Mouse's house.

And baking a cake in her oven.

While we were in ToonTown he could see goofy and we saw Minnie behind her house but he was super nervous about getting too close, even though he loves them.  So when he woke up on day three we started preparing him to see real Mickey Mouse.  We talked about how he was nice and funny and that he was really big.  We slowly walked through Mickey's house talking about it.

There was no line.  Actually we were behind one family.  And while they talked to Mickey Atticus was pretty relaxed but then it was his turn.

This picture is deceptive.  We convinced him to tell some jokes but he was definitely clinging to me.

Mickey laughing at his jokes.

A nervous high five.

Jonah and Anna had just seen Mickey Mouse too so we took some prison pictures.  They didn't cooperate with us so well.

He loved Toon Town

Then we went to see the Jedi training as my kid loves Darth Vader.  This is him yelling "Pick me!"

Playing with daddy.

Telling the storm troopers "No" because they were naughty.

We went on this ride about 20 times while Atticus watched.  Jonathan and Jen.

Dan and me with my parents.  My favorite turn on this ride was when I took Kyndi.  Only to find out when we were in line she'd never been on any big roller coaster.  She was so scared and as soon as we got off she was ready to go again.

Love these.

For our last hurrah we ride swapped with Jonathan and Jen on Tower of Terror.  We went on it with my dad earlier while my mom played with Atticus while watching Crush the turtle and all the other fun animation things and Dan had managed to get me to put my hands up to be brave.  So this last one I tried to do it the whole time.  Success.  
This picture makes me so happy.  This was them playing with glow sticks while we were on the ride.

Checking out the situation

He loves "Baby Mare" (Mary) Anytime he saw her he'd say "Hold please?"

Then the next day we all went home.  It was very sad.  I'm ready to go back.
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