After another late night out at the parks, it was nice to be able to take our time in the morning to get ready, gather our things and pack up the car before the parks opened late at 9AM. For some reason, on a Friday with no Magic Morning Hour, it opened later... which made for some rough crowds to fight in line! We were shocked to see this as we arrived at the security gates, as well as everyone else around us. Even locals were saying they hadn't seen it this busy/bad before, which had us nervous for wait times on our last day....
Luckily, the kids did fantastic during our 50 minute wait to get in (yikes!) and even better, the crowds dissipated inside and it wasn't too much busier than our previous days. We started out in Disneyland, hitting some rides we hadn't gotten to the day before, like Jungle Cruise, and Nolan even had a split second where he wanted to ride Big Thunder Mountain, so we tried to convince him to go on, but he sadly declined. Next time! As we passed through Main Street, a horse and carriage pranced through and the bells had me swooning with Christmas spirit yet again.
We hit Small World again so Acelyn could experience it this time, and she absolutely loved it! We could ride this over and over again, and both kids were super excited throughout the ride, waving at everything and dancing along. Nolan felt like a pro after seeing it the first time, and was quick to point out many of his favorite things, saying, "Acelyn! Look at this!" It was adorable.
After, it was a lollipop break (and lots of cheesin' for Acelyn), while we figured out which rides to revisit, and we ended up back in Fantasyland (because it's the best!) and made our final spins on the teacups, as this was by far their favorite ride of the week!
We decided to take a ride around the park on the Disneyland Railroad since we had never done that before, and it was a nice break to just sit and relax for a bit. Afterwards, we grabbed some lunch at Cafe Orleans, and I couldn't leave without trying the Mint Julep Bar's beignets (SO. FREAKING. GOOD.)
After lunch, we said, See ya later! to Disneyland, and park hopped over to California Adventure to see a few last things before heading home.
As we made our way over to Monster's, crossing our fingers Sulley would be there for a meet and greet, Nolan was able to run into Mr. Incredible, which he was super excited about!
Our luck continued, because just as we were about to give up hope for meeting Sulley.... he came strutting out and Acelyn just about died! She screamed, "Suhhhh!" and although she wouldn't go up to him herself, she was alllll about him and wanted to watch his every move. The kids had Monster's Inc. figurines, so they wanted to show Sulley (Nolan showed him Mike and Acelyn showed him, himself!) I'm so glad it worked out perfectly and the kids got to meet one of their favorite characters.
We stopped at the "Blue Wall" at the Hollywoodland Backlot, of course, to snap a few Instagram worthy pics.
Since Bugsland was such a hit, we made our way back there and hit a few more rides, and tried to catch a few more characters before leaving, but sadly didn't get a chance to see Buzz. Either way, we ended our day on a high note by seeing Sulley and getting to ride some of our favorites!
Even if we only snapped a few pictures during the last day, we soaked up every last minute of our time in Disneyland. The days go by entirely too fast, and I so wish we could live up every moment more often at the parks, because it really is one of the most magical and best places ever! I know the kids (especially Acelyn) are young and some say they won't remember their time here, but it's such a special place, where their faces light up and seeing the magic through their eyes is something to really appreciate and love. This is such an amazing tradition for us and I hope we can continue to take them as often as possible, especially during the holiday season!
Until next time, Disney!
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