On Monday we finally decided to go to this special event at Disneyland on Tuesday 9/30.  The boys had been talking about our April Disneyland trip lately and so they were thrilled when we told them about this excursion.  On Tuesday after the boys went down for a short nap and quiet time, we were on our way.  We lined up to enter the park three hours prior to the event start time (6pm) as the tickets allowed.  After going through the long line and getting our wrist bands on, we headed over to Logan’s favorite, Astro Blaster.  Logan did so well that he actually beat Stuart’s score this time.  I must have terrible aims as even Connor beat my score.  The lines for most rides were not too long which was great.  Stuart considered taking Logan to Star Tours, but Logan declined.  After we rode It’s a Small World, we waited in line to enter ToonTown for the special event while the boys put on their costumes for the festivities.  Inside the ToonTown, we saw several characters and did some trick-a-treating.  These days Connor is quite nervous with any kinds of flurry characters and refused to get near them.  We managed to take a picture with Chip and Dale though.  There were many trick a treating stations all over the park and they were giving out tons of candies.  The boys really enjoyed trick a treating, so we went through a few locations and they already had more than enough candies for a long time.

      We rode Pinocchio’s quickly and were on our way to Pirates of Caribbean.  Both boys were not a big fan, but Stuart and I liked that one.  Connor started getting a bit nervous while we waited in the short line; he almost tore up and became more attached to Stuart.  He was cute!  The boys put their heads down during the initial two bumps of the ride, then the rest of the time they enjoyed the pirate scenes.  Then we headed over the Holiday Haunted Mansion, and we all liked the ride.  I actually preferred this less scary version, Nightmare before Christmas, while Stuart still liked the original one better.  By that time, some eateries were closed, so we waited briefly and ate at the Cafe Orleans.  During the dinner, we were entertained by the live singing at the Rivers of America.  We did some unnecessary walking around after dinner as we found out later that Finding Nemo was temporarily closed.  So we switched gears to go to Jungle Cruise instead.  It was fun to do this ride in the dark and we all enjoyed it.  Stuart told me that Logan was cute with his eyes wide-opened looking at all the animals.  We then settled in by the river to wait for the fireworks.  Connor and I had to rush for a bathroom break as he drank quite a bit of milk at dinner, but we made it back sort of on time.  This was our first firework experience there and it was totally amazing. 

     We debated where we should go next at that point, and finally decided to try Finding Nemo even though the line was slightly long.  It was interesting inside the submarine, but the ride was not too exciting.  Afterward the boys were drawn to the Monster University live entertainment and enjoyed watching it.  Stuart asked Logan if he wanted to dance, but he claimed that his legs were too tired to dance.  We watched until the flurry characters (Sulley and Mike) came on stage, then Connor asked to leave.  We passed by the Star Tours on our way out; Stuart sort of asked Logan if he wanted to ride and Logan actually said yes in his exhausted state.  But since it was close to 11pm and the worry about motion sickness, Stuart decided not to take him.

    We continued to walk out of the park and left the park upon closing, 11:08pm.  The boys did very well the entire evening, and they walked the whole way without strollers this time.  The only time I carried Connor was when he had a close call for bathroom.  The boys ate a few candies throughout the night, and maybe they were enough to keep their energy up.  Once we were in the car, Logan passed out quickly and Connor wanted to talk with us about his experience at the park.  We made it back to the grandparents’ at midnight.  We basically changed Logan into his pajama and brushed his teeth while he was still half asleep.  Connor and us then quickly went to bed as well to end the big evening.

   Here are the photos from this SoCal trip.