Break Even Day at Disneyland

To make my pass pay for itself, I had to go 4 times. Every time I visit after that is just a bonus. I broke even last Thursday at an epic visit with mom, Allie, Derek, and Rose. Derek is so good to join us. He has to take a day off of work, but still get his work done. It's not like someone is there to do his job when he's not there. It's a huge sacrifice and I appreciate it.

Derek is always ready for a good time!

A few weeks ago, mom had told Allie she wanted to go to Disneyland with me and her, so we planned the trip and it happened last week. Allie and I didn't have work/school on Friday, March 16, so we took advantage of the day off and headed to California. We flew out early Thursday morning. We picked up a cute little rental car - a Nissan Versa - and headed to Anaheim where we met up with Derek and Rose. We got into the park around 10:00 am. We had a blast and mom kept up. She wasn't even sore the next day. I thought she'd be fine, but she was rather proud.

Rose didn't realize Allie was coming. On the way to the park, she asked Derek if Allie would be there. When he said "yes," she was very excited. Those two girls have such a cute bond. Allie is so kind and patient with Rose and genuinely enjoys spending time with her. Here are some of the things these two cousins enjoyed.

This was Rose's idea...C for cousins!

The first ride was the Matterhorn. Derek tried to get Rose to join us on the ride. She was really nervous. He told her he thought she'd really like it; to try. She was in line with us and we were talking up the ride. Derek told her he would tell her if he thought she wouldn't like it. Well, at the last minute she chickened out. The first 30 seconds of the ride Allie, Derek, and I are riding up a hill in the dark, listening to the screams of the yeti. Derek says "I take it back. Rose would have hated this!" We laughed about that all day. That would have been a major dad fail.

We went on Alice in Wonderland, Small World, Storybook Land (where we discovered that you can open the door on the little light house. Derek dared us to sneak in and spend the night in the park), Buzz Lightyear, and the train. Then we went to Earl of Sandwich, where mom was kind enough to buy us all lunch. Loved the caprese sandwich. I think that's my favorite.

We then went over to California Adventure. Mom had NEVER been there. She loved every square foot of that park, every detail. We walked through bugs land, cars land, went on Little Mermaid and Soarin', and got free samples of chocolate and sourdough bread. We just soaked it all in and took lots of fun pictures. Mom and Derek and Rose left around 6:30, after Soarin, the perfect way to end the day. Allie hung out at the park and found Black Panther while I took mom to the car to get her bags. Allie and I reunited and hung out for a while more before heading to our Airbnb. I had gotten us a place to stay so we could go to the park together on Friday. That was an excellent choice because we had a blast. We left the park, exhausted, around 7:30 and went to Rite Aid pharmacy so I could buy Allie Thrifty ice cream. Then we went to Taco Bell then to our room. We were asleep by 9:30 pm. We had gotten up EARLY that morning and we needed the sleep.

Bye Disney...until tomorrow...