Scott, Charlotte and Trevor all have their birthdays within about 5 weeks of each other. The pattern we have established in our family is that we alternate years between friend birthday parties and family parties. So this year was the family party... We decided to take the gang down to Disneyland and Legoland to celebrate! We went at the absolute perfect time - the first week in March. The crowds were really small because we beat the Spring break rush! It had been 2 years since we went to Disneyworld, so it was all pretty new to Trevor.
Mom drove down with us, and Dad flew down and met us there that night. Day #1 was all Disneyland, and the highlights are as follows:
Scott: The Zurg ride. I know that's not the official name of the ride, but it's the one where you shoot lasers at all the Zurg targets for points. We probably went on it about 6 times. Good thing we all love it!
Charlotte: The rocket ride that just goes in circles and Star Tours. That surprised me a bit... She was actually the most brave of the 3 kids!
Trevor: All things pirate... The only thing better than Pirates of the Caribbean was the store after the ride with all the pirate accessories! But unfortunately the Peter Pan ride was his least favorite. He screamed through the whole thing. Star Tours was also NOT a favorite.
Then we spent day #2 at California Adventure. Last time we went was 4 years ago, and we barely spent any time there and didn't leave super impressed. This time was different. We LOVED California Adventure! We all decided it was our favorite day of the trip. And given that the crowds were small, we were able to do even the most popular rides multiple times. Wow - Cars Land is amazing! Here are our favorites:
Scott: Toy Story Mania. We probably did that one 5 times and loved it each and every time!
Charlotte: Soarin'. What a cool experience! She also loved the Little Mermaid ride, as expected.
Trevor: Also Toy Story Mania. And he enjoyed dancing and flirting with women while waiting in line.
Adults: The clear winner was Radiator Springs Racers, the Cars ride. That was absolutely awesome! And we were so lucky that we could do it twice with literally no wait -- the first time we had fast-passes and the second time we did the single-rider line. That was SO fun and so creative! We also loved California Screamin'. Sweet roller coaster...
On a side note, it was interesting that at work I have been involved with developing a bunch of custom training for Disney. They use our software to evaluate customer surveys and forecast things like staffing and food. I'd like to think my company is part of the reason why Disneyland is such a special place :)
Finally, day #3 was Legoland. It was a fun place, but I'll admit it was a little cold and we were a little exhausted after our 2 long Disneyland days. The highlight for the boys was really just building Lego cars and racing them... But it was awesome to see all the amazing Lego creations.
