Disneyland, poor man's style.

We scored tickets to San Diego in July that cost us barely over $500(including a Southwest credit) to fly our entire family roundtrip in October. Our last visit was over a year ago, October is low season at Disneyland (supposedly) but still warm enough to hit the beach, we figured it was a wise purchase. That was in July. The week before our scheduled vacation, the economy took a nosedive and we couldn't help but second-guess our decision. Sure, the plane tickets were cheap and paid for, but Disneyland (which we've been promising Anna for the last year)? Not so much. It looked more and more like we'd be shelling out the same amount of cash for Disneyland passes as we did just to get down there.

Well, we went through with it. And here's a bit of what Disneyland on a budget involves:

1. Packing lots of snacks. We pretty much lived on the fruit, vegetables, string cheese and trail mix I packed for the first day. Finally, 6:00 rolled around and we decided that something a bit more substantial was in order. Tim ran across the street to McDonald's and we chowed down on burgers and fries while we watched the parade. The second day we started off with Sausage McMuffins for breakfast, double cheeseburgers for lunch, and shared a $32 large pizza between 6 adults and 5 kids for dinner. Yep, that's right, we ate McDonalds three meals in a row. Ick.

2. Staying from open to close. We ran our kids (and ourselves!) ragged. The first day from 10 am to 8 pm and the second day from 8 am to 10 pm. Anna held up beautifully, Rachel indulged in a couple of very long stroller naps, and Lily, well she did what she does best, she melted down when the going got tough and fell asleep in my arms while waiting for the Haunted Mansion. I've never had sciatica before, but after 30 minutes of carrying a 35 pound child while 6 months pregnant, I think I'm starting to get the idea. As for me, I only melted down once - a crying session on a bench in Frontierland. I had good reason: Lily and her cousin ran off while I was helping Anna in the bathroom and it took us 5 minutes (an eternity!) to find them. Scary.

3. Filling up water bottles in the drinking fountains. Do you know how much it costs for bottled water in the magical kingdom? Me neither. I'm sure it tastes better than Anaheim tap water, though.

4. Cramming eight people into a dirt cheap motel room overnight to skip the parking and shuttle fees (not to mention the 1 1/2 hour drive from SD). And I truly mean "dirt" cheap. It's a place to sleep, right?

Check it out. We spent 24 hours in the park over a period of 36 hours and only took two pictures. That's how busy we were scurrying to and fro. Thank heaven we only do this once in a blue moon. I had blisters the size of China on each of my big toes.

A few other memories:

Anna's favorite ride was Space Mountain but she freaked out on the Nemo ride (a little too realistic for her, I suppose). She truly thought we were going deep into the ocean.

It's official. Rachel is afraid of heights. Her fear reared it's ugly head when we took her on the ferris wheel at California Adventure. She burrowed holes into my arms with her fingernails.

Lily was a bit discouraged that she missed the height requirement for all the big rides by only half an inch. But, true to form, she was content to ride pretty much everything else without complaint. I love that about her. Her complacency, that is.

Disneyland really is magical. Anything that can get my kids to be flexible under less than ideal circumstances has a power in itself. I even convinced a completely exhausted Anna that she didn't need Mickey Mouse ears to be happy. Truly a major feat. We'll go again. In about 4 to 5 years, maybe.