Christmas Disney Vacation

Back in October, we decided to take the kids Disneyland and Universal Studios for Christmas. My sister in-law wanted to take my youngest daughter there on Halloween, but I just said, "Why don't we all just go for Christmas!" So from there, all the planning started. Since there were going to be 8 of us, I started looking into Airbnb's. I knew it would be more affordable, especially since I wanted all of us to stay together in one place. It worked out perfectly, and it was only a few minutes from Disney! We arrived Christmas Eve in the late afternoon, and after we checked in and got situated, we headed over to Downtown Disney to do a little shopping, and have dinner!

We all decided on Italian food, and ate at this awesome place called Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria. It was a two hour wait for a table, but since we wanted outdoor seating, the wait was only 30 minutes!

Everything was delicious. From the apps, salads, pasta dishes, and the pizza you see here! It was so good we ate there again the next night!

After dinner, we walked around a bit more, had churros, then headed back to the condo since we had a very early morning!!

Here were are, bright and early, and in our matching sweatshirts!

The first ride we get on is The Matterhorn!

In line for Space Mountain!

Indiana Jones!

Time to stop and eat! You know kids, they're always hungry!

Runaway Train!

When you are waiting in line, why not take selfies..lol.

The token Christmas tree picture!

Later in the afternoon, we headed back to the condo to rest for a couple of hours because you can imagine how tired our feet were! Later that evening, we went straight to dinner at the same restaurant in Downtown Disney, and then we quickly headed to California Adventure for The Tower Of Terror!

Here we are in line for the super fun Cars ride!! That line was soooo long!

 

More line selfies! I believe we were next!

The line was worth it!

Vrooooom!!!!

We only went on those two rides and then headed back to Disney. My youngest daughter wanted to ride Dumbo, so all the boys (including my husband) decided to go on it, too!

Never too old or too big for the Dumbo ride!

Awww!!

We were pooped after this super long day, and we knew we had another long day ahead of us! Bright and early, we headed to Universal Hollywood!

One of the main attractions that we were looking forward to seeing was Harry Potter! It totally did not disappoint, and since we got there early, the line for the ride wasn't bad at all. It's amazing here!! You seriously feel like you are THERE, in Hogsmeade!

More selfies!

My husband had to have his turkey leg!
 

The other attraction that we were looking forward to was The Walking Dead Tour!! Oh my gosh, the anticipation!! We were all so excited and anxious! We just wished it was longer! 

 

We did so many other things, which were really fun! After the TWD attraction, we headed over to the Transformer 3D ride, and then to The Mummy. After the Mummy, I got so nauseated..lol! I was seriously out of it after that! Thank goodness we had a full day already, and we were so ready to head back to the condo and get dinner!

We were headed out the next morning, but we had to make one final stop!! To Porto's!!! If you are ever in Southern California, this is a must stop! Not only do they have amazing pastries, but they also serve sandwiches and Cuban dishes!!! They are known for so many things, but I think the #1 seller are these guava danishes!

And when you can't decide, just get a bunch of different goodies!!

The plantains were so crisp and went great with the sandwiches!

And we're done!