Well, that face just about sums it up. We’re on our way to Disneyland!! Given our relatively short stay in LA, we were adopting the back-to-back theme park strategy (not a bad strategy with four enthusiastic kids!).  Steve and Brenna, having arrived in LA the previous evening, came with us for this very long-awaited day.

Something that Erin and I had long ago planned to do was to score some Minnie ears swiftly upon our arrival at Disneyland!

We actually spent three days crossing back and forth between Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park, the entrances to which face each other and are only about 100 metres apart.  Park hopper passes are my recommendation, if you’re ever thinking of going.  We spent all of the first day with Steve and Brenna at Disneyland, as they were only in LA for one more day.  For expediency’s sake, I’ve incorporated all our Disneyland pics into this one entry.  As it turned out, I didn’t get as many pics as I thought I would, as we were too busy racing around having fun!  Steve and Brenna took Disneyland at a slightly slower pace for the little ones’ sake.

We were welcomed to Disneyland by Bert of Mary Poppins’ fame, who very kindly explained (in a credible British accent) where to find what and when.

But first, a little necessary Mickey-kissing.

Here’s where it all started, with Walt and a mouse.

The original Sleeping Beauty castle.  It’s not as big as we thought it would be, but it’s still pretty impressive.  Wow, it was so much fun being there.

The Matterhorn!!  All these places I’d heard about all my life, and now we’re actually here!!

The Matterhorn was one of the first rides we went on as a family.  Old school, but super fun, except if you’re Natey… darn abominable snowmen!!

Autopia.  All of a sudden Xbox Disney Infinity makes sense now.

Andy loved, loved, loved it.  Anytime he can drive a car of his own, he’s one very happy man.

The teacups.  The TEACUPS!! If that’s not quintessential Disneyland, I don’t know what is.

By this stage in our USA trip, we’d all buffed up a bit from all the walking and exercise we’d done over the weeks, and Disneyland was no exception to this pattern.  When our legs finally gave out, however, we were grateful to circumnavigate the park from the comfort of the Disneyland Railroad.

The Finding Nemo attraction. I remember seeing these seagulls in the film for the first time, and being BESIDE myself with laughter because I thought they were saying ‘mate mate mate’ (or more to the point ‘moit moit moit’), which I thought at the time was a singular stroke of linguistic genius based on our unique accent.  Of course I found out later they were saying ‘mine mine mine’, which wasn’t quite as funny, but still pretty clever.

Waiting, waiting, waiting to meet Tinkerbell.

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The lads weren’t as besotted with the idea of meeting Tinkerbell, so they got teleported to Asgard instead.  Interestingly, Thor had quite an American accent…

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Mickey’s Toontown, where we actually got to chill at Mickey’s house.  He’s very obliging to allow hundreds of tourists into his living room on a daily basis.

We visited Disneyland during the school term on a school day and the park was still crowded with people.  To meet Mickey at any time always required lining up for a significant period.  He’s very popular!  But even that was not as bad as meeting Anna and Elsa from Frozen.  Erin got a Fastpass (the day’s supply of which were claimed by about 10am) and even then it was an hour long wait in the line.  She thought it was worth it, though.  Josh was kind enough to wait with her while the rest of us went off to play.

Cruising the jungle in Adventureland.  It’s kind of funny seeing it in full crisp colour after imagining it in 1970’s ‘Wonderful World of Disney’ TV colour in my head.

Was I smiling or was I gritting my teeth as we launched down the watery precipice?  Whatever the case, Andy was definitely loving it.

Well, we really, really liked Disneyland.