The Happiest Place on Earth

Where is the happiest place on earth? DISNEYLAND!! Where else? This past spring my entire family got to experience the magic of Disney. It was a total B L A S T!!! We covered it all! The griffins practically have a PHD in Disneyland knowledge and they know everything there is to know about making your vacation in Disneyland and absolute dream as well as the secret things that not everyone knows about ... they have the "unofficial guide," along with several other books, which explains all the ins and outs of the entire park. Such as a magic morning, which we got to do, if you visit the park at least three days you get to enter the park before it officially opens, who knows these kind of things? Oh that's right the Griffins, I'm never going to Disneyland without them.

We found this amazing picture before left so we of course had to recreate it. I think the picture of us when we are little is cuter hahaha I think I honestly could pull it out, that is why I am trying so hard. Notice how we are all color coordinated, that is how we rolled when we were children, adorable.

As soon as we had landed in California and checked into the hotel, we crossed the street to get some rides in. Pirates of the Caribbean was at the top of the list, and yes I do think my dad fell asleep on the ride, but who can blame him its such a relaxing boat ride. That night the Madisons, John and I dined at the one and only Blue Bayou, located right in the Pirates ride! I think I may have gone there when I was younger but I didn't remember it at all and it is like THE hardest restaurant to get into so we were stoked! The rest of the family decided they rather go to the Woody BBQ which also looked like a lot of fun. The Blue Bayou is so amazing, the ambiance is one of a kind and the food is sooo good!!

The next day we didn't mess around we were at the entrance to the park right when it opened and were there all day, took a break to have dinner at the Story Teller's Cafe which is located in one of the beautiful Disney Hotels on Disney main street, then went back to the park for some more rides.

The enchanting Tiki room

Family photo shoot in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle

The Matterhorn, Jenny was determined to get a good picture of Harold, the Yeti that lives inside and scares little children.

This was by far one of my favorite things that I saw in the entire park, a miniature Harold popping popcorn, classic.

Small World! another classic, must do ride.

Reece: Jedi in Training, in the souvenir store next to SPACE MOUNTAIN! I think as far as fun goes this is my favorite, but it doesn't compete with rides such as Small World and the Haunted Mansion in fascinating-ness

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Aladdin, total stud.

Jungle Cruise, I giggled at all of our cruise director's jokes, we got a really funny one.

All the manly men in the family waiting in the Story Teller's Cafe.

Tea Cups! They are one wild ride

Splash Mountain, I have mixed feelings about this ride. It is definitely a fun ride, even though I will admit I think the story inside is a little creepy. My dad made me sit in the front this time and I got SOAKED, which made me super grumpy because I was freezing and I am convinced that wet jeans are the most uncomfortable things in the world. I did make an effort to do something cool in the picture though, I was trying to do a peace sign and a silly face. But I look more like E.T. and Nora looks terrified huddled in the back.

The new Finding Nemo submarine ride, it was pretty cool.

Disney sure know how to put on a good firework show!

The next day we crossed over and spent the day in California adventure, I hadn't spent much time there before so it was fun to get the full experience

Tower of Terror, John's face is priceless.

California Screamer, apparently everyone knew where the camera was except for me ...

Waiting in line for the Toy Story ride, which is my dad's favorite ride. This was by far the longest line we encountered, seriously it took forever, but it was worth it!

This is no ordinary ferris wheel, every other "cage" rocks back and forth, it honestly looks like you are going to roll off, it is actually pretty scary but I liked it, it definitely spiced things up a little bit. Afterward the Madison's and I played some pier games and won some prizes! I was super excited even though some of my prizes, like the snake that I won, were super random, but I would later donate them to a better cause, giving them to my nephews to make them happy at dinner. After taking a spontaneous nap at a pic nic table Bethy and I got these neat henna tattoos.

That night for diner we dined at Goofy's Kitchen on Main Street. All sorts of Disney characters were there and would come visit us through out the meal, and every 15 minutes they had a dance party in the middle of the buffet, it was a really fun dinner! The little kids sure loved it. Jenny had ordered Will and Nora birthday cakes so we got to celebrate their birthday's Disney style.

Genie pointed out that Evie had the same hairstyle as him.

After our adventures at the wonderful Disneyland were over, we drove to Santa Barbra to experience a different kind of adventure. On our way there we stopped off at the South Pasadena Pharmacy for some milkshakes. This was one of our favorite places to visit when Karin lived in South Pasadena, we all miss it, as well as the entire South Pasadena area, so we were so happy we got a chance to stop by.