Why I LOVE Going To Disneyland In December. . .

1. Well, it's the happiest place on earth! And (to many people, including myself), Christmastime is the happiest time of the year. So what better combination can there be than the happiest place on earth at the happiest time of the year???

2. Yes, it's a much busier time than other times. We actually went more than a week before Christmas, when most kids were still in school, so it wasn't all that crowded. During the day, I should say. Daytime was pretty good, and then EVERYONE came at night! It was crazy how crowded everything got! I think it's because all the season pass-holders wanted to come see all the Christmas lights before their black-out dates started.
Anyway. . . yes, it is busier, but gosh all the fun Christmas decorations sure do make it worth it!

3. The weather! It was incredible. To someone who passionately hates standing around in the sun when it's 80-90 degrees (normal for Anaheim), temperatures in the 60's and 70's like we got that day were pure bliss!

4. Getting pictures with the characters! We didn't get nearly as many character pictures as I wanted. The day just went by so fast, and I saw a few characters I really wanted pictures with right as they were leaving. We saw Sully from Monsters Inc walking away, and I was SO bummed! Kirsten adores that movie, and I wanted to get her picture with him! But we did manage to meet up with Mickey Mouse in the California Adventure Park. Kirsten loved seeing him. . . but she didn't want to get too close.

5. It's really a trade-off. When you go in the off-season, all the lines are short and you get to enjoy a relatively crowd-free park, which is great! But you also get shorter hours, quite a few ride closures, and usually you can't see all the special shows and fireworks displays. This time when we went, every single ride was open! The park was open until midnight, and all the parades and fireworks were in full swing!

6. Getting to ride anything I wanted! Okay, this had nothing to do with going in December, but I still loved it! Last time I went to Disneyland was when I was pregnant with Natalie, and many rides were off-limits to me. It's still the BEST theme park to go to while you're pregnant because there are so many things you can still do, but I loved going on my favorite thrill rides again! Indiana Jones is one of my favorites, and I think I really did forget how awesome Space Mountain is!

7. The giant Christmas tree in the middle of Main Street! This thing is MASSIVE!

8. How amazing the whole park looked, all lit up for the holidays. Even more magical than normal! My dad bought Kirsten this huge Mickey Mouse Santa balloon, and she got such a kick out of it the entire day. Look at all the Main Street decorations behind it!

9. The rides they change up for Christmas. . .
The Haunted Mansion is a million times better when it's all updated as the Nightmare Before Christmas. Such a great change!
And the Small World ride is awesome! The entire ride is all decked out, and they sing a few Christmas carols throughout the ride instead of the same song over and over. It was Kirsten's favorite ride of the day! She threw a royal fit when we had to take her out of the boat at the end of the ride. We even got a hilarious video of it. . . I better post it on here soon.

(Oh, and you might have noticed by now that Natalie is absent in all these pictures. Poor little baby had a nasty cold, and she stayed home with Grandma. The rest of us got to have all the fun. Natalie, I promise to take you next time!)

10. Just look at how gorgeous the castle looks all covered in snow and Christmas swag! We saw the Christmas fireworks show at night, and they actually made it "snow" in southern California on all of us watching. Gave me tingles all over!

Okay, 10 reasons is enough! I'm such a Disneyland nut, I love going there at ALL times of the year, but December is just extra special! Last time we took Kirsten, she was only 16 months old and really didn't like any of the rides. This time, she liked them TOO much! She couldn't understand why she had to get off the ride when it was over. She just wanted to ride them again and again!

I think we rode the cute Monsters Inc. ride four times. She just loved it SO much, and the look on her face during the ride was totally priceless. I could just see how real everything was to her, and how the movie she loves so much just came to life and she was IN the movie. Such a cool way to see the world!

She also went nuts over the carousel, and wanted to ride it over and over, too. I guess I can see her point. . . in a perfect world wouldn't we all just go on the rides over and over again, and never have to stand in lines or wait for anything?
She sure did love riding the horses!

The Christmas castle, all lit up at night! Amazing!!!

It was such an incredible day! I grew up going to Disneyland and I want to take my kids there just as much as I got to go (if not more)! Sometimes I really wish I still lived in southern California. If I did I would buy a season pass (I was always jealous of the families who had those!) and take Kirsten during the week in the off-season, so she could go on the rides, over and over again, as much as she wanted.

A very exhausted Kirsten slept really well that night, and the first thing she said when she woke up the next morning?

"I want to go to Disneyland!"

Yes, she truly is my child. :)