You can't go on a Disney Cruise without making a stop at Disneyland, can you?

I like Disneyland, but Larry LOVES Disneyland and about every six months, he starts hinting that we should take a trip. I usually roll my eyes because there are plenty of other amazing things to see and do, but I have to admit there is something magical about watching your kids experience Disneyland.  Since our cruise left from LA, we decided to embrace the whole experience and spend a few days at Disneyland too (although I did insist on some non-Disney related time in between).  We flew in a day early for the cruise and spent the evening before at Disneyland.  We didn't tell the kids we were planning to do this because we were afraid our flight might be late and it might not work out so it was a fun surprise. Even though we didn't get there until the afternoon, it was really fun to see the park when it was still decked out for Christmas.  Ollie is a big Mickey fan so he was excited.

And I don't think I need to describe how excited Creed was.

It's A Small World was decorated for Christmas and the music rotated between "It's a Small World" and "Jingle Bells" which was a nice change.

We also caught the Christmas parade.

And we ran into these friendly faces from home and had dinner with them

Ollie was worn out so Larry headed back to the car with him while Creed and I stayed just a bit longer to see the castle lit up with icicles and watch the fireworks and then the snow on Main Street (which was really just foamy bubbles that looked like snow, but it was pretty fun)

After the cruise we headed back for two more days and the boys had a blast.  Creed is pretty scared of most of the rides, but Ollie is happy to go on anything. He was busy trying to see everything.

 The highlight for Creed was definitely meeting Rapunzel.  She didn't make an appearance on the cruise so she was the only character he really wanted to find at Disneyland.  He was so nervous beforehand, and he talked about meeting her for weeks afterwards.

 Toy Story Mania has caused tears from Creed in the past, but it was his favorite ride this year.

 And on our last day we spent time with two sets of friends at the park.  Our friend Erin brought her kids to play and our kids were overjoyed to go on rides with them.

 And the same day we had a totally unexpected run-in with friends from our old neighborhood in Salt Lake and had dinner with them

 And every night, the boys looked like this one the way to the hotel.

 One of the best benefits of Disneyland is how well they sleep afterwards!