the pribyl family: November Disney 2011

Sunday, December 11, 2011

November Disney 2011

Since Aubrie had a full week of of school for Thanksgiving, we planned another trip to Disney. Since the Christmas decorations were up, I figured it would be busy. However, we still were able to ride everything and also did some things we never did before.

The first day we got there (Sunday) it was raining. Well, when we got to the hotel it was overcast, and by the time we got in line for Star Taurs it was sprinkling. When we got out of Star Taurs it was POURING. We bought the overly priced Disney Pancho's and some gloves for the boys, and then ducked and covered to the closest inside ride, which was Captain EO.

We thought the rain would lighten up, but it didn't. The closest place for cover was the Innovations building that we always say we should check out, but never do. Guess it takes something like rain for you to stumble on something great! We all had a blast in there. They had 360 Kinect games set up in there, along with other cool games, and inventions to look at. Boston spent most of his time playing a Kinect football game, Ethan played Kinect Fruit Ninja, and Aubrie, Sophia and I became addicted to the Kinect Micheal Jackson dancing game. Sophia was the first one to try it, and by the end she had a crowd of people surrounding her. Still meaning to send that video to AFV!

After spending about two hours in there, we finally checked outside. The rain had stopped and lines were short, but we didn't want to risk rain again, so we headed back to the hotel and then went out to dinner. We found an Olive Garden (per Aubrie's request). It was a great dinner, except for the shocking caloric count that is now required on California menus. I tried not to think about it as we devoured a great meal, and enjoyed one of the best servers we have ever had! We went on an on to him to the manager (who happened to be the General Manager) and she comped our desserts b/c it made her night! SCORE!!!! After dinner we headed back to the hotel to settle in and watch fireworks from our balcony.

Monday was busy, busy. We rode the firetruck that goes from main street to the castle for the first time, and we spent a few hours checking out Santa's reindeer, doing Christmas crafts, meeting Mrs. Claus and waiting for a chance to sit on Santa's lap. We had some fun people in line, which made the hour wait bearable. The kids had fun in line checking out some funny things on youtube. Here are some pics of that! Can't think of a better place in the world to see Santa and his reindeer!

Sophia was a little timid to ride anything that seemed to go fast. Our first ride of the day was Matterhorn, and she didn't want anything to do with it. I sat on a bench with her while everyone else waited in line. By the time they got to the front I convinced her to try it.

I couldn't believe that Ben convinced her to ride Space Mountain, later that day! Guess bribing her with a Mickey stuffed animal as the trick. As the ride was about to take off she said, "Mom, see now the whole family can be together." We were offered another free ride, when they couldn't print our picture's due to some kids doing some bad things in the background, but when we got there, Sophia wouldn't do it again. I was afraid that was it for her, but she did it again the next day, and said she liked it, so I'm hoping we have crossed a bridge with her.

Sophia's favorite ride was It's a Small World. It was decorated for Christmas. She rode that a few times. She also got to visit with the princesses. We waited in line for that, while the boys went off by themselves to Toon Town. They thought they were so big being able to do that on their own. We were all daring enough to do Splash Mountain, despite the freezing weather. We were lucky to avoid being drenched. While in the neighborhood, we enjoyed lunch at our favorite spot. Mmmmm, love that turkey sandwich and sweet potato fries!

In California Adventure, we enjoyed the comedy of the Genie in the Alladin show. The kids are finally old enough to get a lot of his satire, and so it made it more fun. We did the boardwalk games for the first time, and Sophia won a big stuffed Mickey on her first try. That took care of Ben's bribery from earlier. The boys were disappointed with two small toys, and Aubrie scored a big Dumbo stuffed animals. It was fun to do that for once. We also saw the evening water show (can't think of it right now). It was hard to see, I had Sophia on my shoulders most of the time ( That was the longest 22 minutes ever) and we were freezing. The nights were frigid! We broke down and bought hats for the kids on the Disney Walk. We enjoyed dinner on the "Walk" both nights. First at the pizza place, and next at the ESPN restaurant. Boston was disappointed there wasn't a good game on! LOL Overall, it was a great time to spend as a family for the Holiday. Wednesday we headed home so we could be home on Thanksgiving. That meant Ben had to drive home on his birthday. I arranged for the Waishnora's to come and put up streamers. Couldn't break the family tradition!:)