Mickey's Halloween Party

Bright and early last Friday we caravaned down to Disneyland with my parents and brother and went straight from a seven hour car ride to Mickey's Halloween Party. The car ride is probably a separate post all in itself, but if I had to sum it up in one word, I'd pick loud. Thankfully we corralled my brother into driving with us, since Joe couldn't make it, and somehow we all survived. Our sanity, not so much. 

One of my favorite things about Disney during the holidays are the decorations. A complete overload of pumpkins and oranges and yellows, as well as touches of Disneyfied spookiness. It's magical festiveness at it's finest:

I have to give my boys props. After being cooped up for way too long and surviving LA traffic, they flipped a switch and were perfectly happy and content all through Mickey's party. We got to Disneyland a little after 5 and didn't leave till midnight. Talk about rock stars. Ez took a little nap, but Declan spent the majority of that time alert and perfectly content to watch all the people and take in admiring compliments on his costume.

This was Ez's first year really getting the hang of trick or treating. He finally understands what candy is all about and actually said trick or treat a few times. Then he climbed back in his stroller and let us wheel him through the treat lines, eventually falling asleep. He's either the laziest trick or treater ever, or completely genius. Fall asleep, wake up with a full bag of candy next to you. Not a bad plan, kid. Thank the grandparents for that one.

While the grandparents took over trick or treating duties, my brother and I went on a ton of rides. More rides than I've been on at Disneyland in a long long time. The great thing about the Halloween Party is they kick everyone out at 7 pm so the ride lines are super short. We walked straight onto Pirates, Indiana Jones, and Thunder Mountain. Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion had the longest wait at half an hour. We also squeezed in Star Tours before the night was over. 

I skipped the fireworks this year, because as my brother pointed out, while everyone is staring up at the sky it's the perfect time to sneak on a ride. My mom said Ez wasn't as into the fireworks as he was last year, but Declan stared at them completely rapt the whole time. I tell ya, that kid loves a good spectacle.

When we got back to the hotel close to 1 am Ez was bouncing off the walls. Thank you sugar overload. He finally dumped all his candy on the floor and settled down with Uncle Brett to survey his loot and learn all the candy lingo. Every kid knows that trick or treating isn't over till you've counted all your candy. Finally, after 2 am, everyone fell asleep and slept in nice and long the next day, till almost 10.

Thanks mom, for planning the whole trip! And thanks to both grandparents for taking care of the kiddos and giving me a break. We all had an amazing time!

And now for a bunch of blurry pictures. The lighting wasn't that great and the subjects were on the go.

More on the rest of our Disney trip to come!