Universal Studios Hollywood!

We took a break from Disney on our third day in Anaheim and headed for Hollywood! Universal Studios Hollywood to be clear. The trip was long, but we had a darn good time. This park was much more adult oriented than Disney, and Taylee was one heck of a trooper. We took her on almost every ride (including Transformers!), and she did awesome. She was a little freaked out (maybe a lot freaked out!) by a few rides, especially Transformers. But, we were super proud of her!

Skyler and Optimus Prime, who, by the way, was pretty HUGE, and pretty freaky. But cool. Way cool.

Sun's Out Gun's Out!

We did, however, give her respite from the Jurassic Park ride. Mostly because Nana wanted to miss this wet ride, so she took Taylee to the kids dino playground. And Taylee probably would have been a bit overwhelmed by the enormous, life like dinosaurs. And probably wouldn't have enjoyed the 84 foot drop at the end either.

Headed into Jurassic Park!

We did spend a few minutes watching other people make the big drop on Jurassic Park after riding. Taylee sure enjoyed that!

Funny little fam, on one of the 5 ridiculously long escalators in the park, designed to get you from the "upper lot" to the "lower lot." I have to say, I am pretty grateful not to have to walk that many stairs!



Kent and Skyler with the friendly Minions and Gru.

Universal Studios has lots of fun rides, as well as some pretty cool shows. The Water World show is quite a spectacle, and we loved it. Taylee, well, she doesn't like fire, so she wasn't so sure about the show. Her eyes certainly never left the arena though, that's for sure!

 

Water World

A little fun in the fountains while we took a lunch break. Skyler is such a good sport!

Family Photo, Taylee was once again a bit uncooperative.

Selfie Fail. And my photo bomb! (again)

A little better effort at the family selfie. We were on the Studio Tram Tour. The longest ride EVER.

Taylee loved the Minions.

City Walk, on our way out...
 

The Happiest Place on Earth!

Our second day at Disneyland took us to the Magic Kingdom. We started our day on a mission to meet some princesses! We were in luck, as we were the first in line to visit the Fantasy Faire. Cinderella and Ariel were waiting to greet us! They were darling, and played their part so well. After checking this off of our to do list, we headed for some of our must see rides in Disneyland. Jungle Cruise, Matterhorn, (Space Mountain was Closed. bummer.), Splash Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, all the good stuff!

We had a good morning, but by early afternoon Taylee had hit the wall. We were in Mickey's Toontown, facing hour long waits to meet Minnie or Mickey when it occurred to her that she might like to go back to the house and swim. Did I say "might?" Um, she was definitely, absolutely, 100% determined to go back and swim. She went into full meltdown mode right there in ToonTown. Unfortunately, we were on an agenda, as we had a Fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad that afternoon. It was quite a task to keep her happy (at the happiest place on earth. Seriously!) and make it through the afternoon. We made it through, got to ride Big Thunder Mountain, and headed back to our home away from home.  We found that after our long days at the theme parks we were interested only in takeout at the house. We had takeout Chinese, Fried Chicken, Pizza, you name it! It was such a pleasure, and made for nice, relaxed evenings. 

Here we are, camped out in ToonTown, trying to bring peace back to our little family. We were asked by many people if we were waiting for the tram to go somewhere...

Like my photobomb?! Turned this from a little selfie to a family portrait!

Check out Taylee's Sofia the first Tiara Snorkel Mask!

Attack of the Skyler!

This pair had a heck of a time together!

Disney California Adventure

Prior to our trip to California and Disneyland, Nana and I did lots of reading in the Unofficial Guide to Disneyland. A great resource in my opinion, but my family might say I took their advice to the extreme. It may have fit in nicely with my OCD tendencies. Oops!

So, point is, we decided that based on anticipated crowd levels (I know. Cringe.), we would visit California Adventure on our first day at the parks. We were worried that Taylee would be bummed that she didn't get to meet the princesses straight away, but we were willing to risk it. So glad we did, cuz it turned out to be our favorite park!

We started the trip off with a bang by being named Disney's Guests of the Day upon our arrival. I am pretty certain we achieved this simply by appearing like clueless boneheads when we pulled into the parking garage (think Griswald's summer vacation....). The lady in the parking booth said wow, those people could use some help! And tada! Guests of the Day. This prestigious title scored us a front row spot, and some fastpasses to the World of Color show (which, of course, we had no plans to attend. : / ).

We headed straight to grab Fastpasses for Radiator Racers, then zipped over to Soarin'. Which, by the way, turned out to be a HUGE hit with eveyone in the family, especially miss Taylee, who truly thought we were flying. So fun!  We ran, ran, ran ourselves ragged, but were able to see most of the things we wanted to see. Some highlights were Soarin' (of course), Radiator Racers, Toy Story Mania, and the Disney Jr Live show for Taylee. Oh, and let's not forget, Taylee was super enamored by Ariel's Undersea Adventure! 



Rockin Guest of the Day in our rental Minivan!



CityScape

A kinder, gentler Mad TeaCups

Toy Story Mania! Taylee rocked the 3D glasses the whole time

The Ferris Wheel we did NOT ride, in the backdrop

Hollywood Tower of Terror! Notice who is not in the picture? Me! I hate free fall rides! I was more than happy to sit this one out with Taylee.

Taylee and Daddy. <3>

During Ariel's Undersea Adventure, Taylee went from tickled pink....



To rather concerned!



Skyler and Taylee on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. Cars Land was just so fun!

Fountains! One of Taylee's Favorite things.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!

Day One- We were photo op happy.

Summer Vacay!

We decided this summer was the perfect time for Taylee's first trip to Disneyland. Or rather, I decided I couldn't wait any longer to take her. It was also a great opportunity to celebrate Skyler's High School graduation with a family vacation!

We flew into LAX early Saturday June 7th. We had some time to kill before we were able to check in to our rental home, so we headed over to Downtown Disney to pick up our tickets. Taylee was instantly enamored, and we suckered right up to Build-a-Bear, where Taylee built herself a $75 My Little Pony complete with a wedding veil, a leash, shoes, and roller skates. Oh Boy! We were off to a fast start in the $$$$ department. Thanks go to Nana for gifting Taylee with her "Pinky Skates!"

We checked in and had a wonderful relaxing day in our own private pool. We knew we better relax while we had the chance and get ready for the madness that was to come!

Our cute little "great room"

Pool time!

The kitchen in our house, bedrooms and bathrooms are off to the left. It was a perfect home away from home for our vacation!