Disney Fun For Cora

Cora and Violet had Monday off, for no real reason. Grandma and Grandpa offered to take them to Disney California Adventure to check out the new Marvel Avengers campus. Violet declined the offer, but they took Cora and met up with Melanie, Nick and Eloise.

Cora is in the purple balloon basket with the family.

Ellie loves Spiderman, was wearing her Spiderman shirt, and desperately wanted to run up to Spidey as he gave his show.

Cora, Grandma and Nick having fun on Incredicoaster!

Cora took this photo of the Avengers building.

We had some crazy unexpected rain and lightning on Monday, and Cora and my parents got to the parking structure just as a huge downpour took place, with hail and lightning and thunder!

In other theme park news, Stace and Cora went to Fright Fest on Sunday night, before Cora's big day out in Anaheim. Colleen sent me this pic of Stace's hitchhiker.

Fun with the Witch.

 

Disney World!

This trip was in the works for many months - Grandma wanted to do it in summer 2020, but we know how that turned out. But with things opening up - and Florida being open since last August anyway - planning began in earnest. They told Cora quietly on her birthday, and told Violet about it on her birthday. 

And Saturday, we made a VERY early trip to LAX so the four could fly off to a week at Disney World!

They stayed "on property" at the Cars-themed resort. 

On Sunday, they went to Blizzard Beach, one of the two Disney water parks. They had a GREAT time.

Cora did this crazy steep slide, and they all had fun on the family rafts, lazy river, and wave pool.

On Sunday evening, they went to the Magic Kingdom, where they had reservations at a nice restaurant. Check out Violet's crazy dessert! Yum!

The Magic Kingdom at night

They went to Hollywood Studios on Monday, where they visited Star Wars Land.

These stocks were near the Mark Twain riverboat in the Magic Kingdom, apparently to imprison teenagers. 

In Magic Kingdom, they went on Haunted Mansion, a ride Vi had avoided at Disneyland in Anaheim. There are many rides in Florida that California has, but many more that are not in California. Cora said that Florida's Thunder Mountain was better than Anaheim's, but California's Space Mountain was way better than Orlando's.

See those clouds? They had a beautiful day on Sunday, perfect for the water park. Then the rains moved in, and it was showery the rest of their trip.

The Test Track attraction in Epcot was amazing, Cora said. You could make your own car and then put it through a series of tests, to see how well it would do in real-life conditions.

Cora thought Epcot was pretty cool, but would be better when she's an adult and can drink alcohol, because there were lots of interesting options for adults in the various country areas. Here, they were in the Italy section.

Here was an all-too-frequent view. A tropical storm was moving into town towards the end of their trip, and at points, it was coming down in sheets. Sadly, they never got to use the resort pool, because it was raining too often when they were at the hotel. And some attractions they might have done were closed, too.

A non-raining moment, with a beautiful view of Epcot. They visited five parks - Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Blizzard Beach.

Violet's favorite park was Animal Kingdom, no surprise. They got to take a "safari ride" in big jeeps, and see lots of animals, including these zebras.

Disney Again!

 When I looked at the Disney annual pass blockout calendar, I knew that Violet and I had to make another trip to Disneyland on Friday - the last Friday open on our passes until late fall!

We took off after school and had a great afternoon/evening at the Happiest Place on Earth.

Violet always has to do Animation Academy, so here are our Stitches.

 Another must-do is check on the kitties near Grizzly River Run in California Adventure, and the ducks (and ducklings) in Disneyland. We then went over to Redwood Creek so she could run around.

 Back at Disneyland, we shared a loaded Dole Whip. This has become another must! And it hopefully made up for the fact that we did NOT go to her favorite restaurant, Lamplight Lounge, because I was sticking to our budget.

We then went on Thunder Mountain.

We also went on the Ariel ride - why not?

We were actually able to get fast passes for Radiator Springs! This was a rare treat.

And back to Disney for a reservation at Oga's Cantina for a quick one.

Before heading home, we went to a Star Wars Land store, to check out the Kyber crystals, which you can buy to power your light sabers.

It was another fun Disney Day!

Another Disney Day

Violet and I returned to Disneyland Friday afternoon, with Vi having that awesome half-day every Friday.

It was a gorgeous day!

(Cora had fun, too - she went to her friend Violet's house after school.)

We went on Star Tours and enjoyed the Tiki Room with a Dole Whip, but I think Violet's favorite part was the ducks.

Or, perhaps her favorite part was the cats near Grizzly River Run in California Adventure.

Hi, Snickers!

We also drew Stitch - this was probably the first drawing I've done that I've been happy with. Mine is on the right.

Of course, we had to do Guardians, Violet's favorite ride.

Auuuggghhhh!!!!

We were on the way home not long after 8 p.m., so it wasn't a crazy late night.

Another fun Disney memory!

Disney Days!

We went back to the Happiest Place on Earth Tuesday and Wednesday, spending the night at a hotel with Sue and her kids, and Jen's boys. We went to Disneyland for a while on Tuesday, and then went back to the hotel for a free dinner reception (!) before going back to Disney for a few more hours.

Here, we are about to board the Millennium Falcon.

Cora and I served as pilots. I think we did alright!

Our group of kids, with an extra friend the older boys ran into. With Santa Clarita schools off this extra third week, we saw quite a few people we knew at Disney!

We had to take a silly photo with our Toy Story Ride 3D glasses.

The girls and I didn't make it to Disney at Christmastime, so it was nice that the tree was still up.

Thunder Mountain is always a favorite.

So is Splash Mountain - Trent got soaked shortly after finding inner peace.

After having a great breakfast at the hotel Wednesday, we had one nice meal out, at Violet's favorite Lamplight Lounge.

Cora's wildly bubbling concoction was a hit with the table. All the boys had to try it. She said it tasted like lime and green apple, with berry bursting balls.

Here's Trent trying one of the bursting balls.

Even the big kids love this wet, always-rotating giant ball. They could have circled it for hours.

We then went up on the Ferris Wheel, in the cars that move quickly back and forth.

Space Mountain!

Silly hooded girls.

We had a great couple of days. It's sad to think our four years of making Disney memories with friends are drawing to a close!