Disneyland Part 1

Realizing just how many photos I have to upload, I figured I'd split up the posts about Disneyland by day. Joe and I had alarms set for before 5 am on Tuesday, September 2, and by 5:30 a.m. we had the kids awake, albeit groggily, and loaded into the van. Jill and Gary had arrived late the night before from New York, so she stayed at our house so she could help us get to the airport, which was a huge help. The kids were so sleepy that they never thought to ask where we were headed, beyond discovering we were at the airport. It become almost comical, as it took Joseph a solid 30 minutes after our first flight departed, before he looked at us with a funny look and finally asked where the airplane was going.

 

Once we told him that he was going to Disneyland, he started to get excited, but I don't think he really had any idea what was going on. Just being on an airplane was lots of fun for him! Both kids did great on the flights to Anaheim, partially thanks to the ipads and telephones.

 

We left them in their pajamas through the first flight, and opted to change them into their play clothes for the day during our layover. That way they would be ready to go when we hit the ground in Anaheim.

I knew when I booked the flights that Tuesday was going to be a long day. The planner in me was excited to land in Anaheim as the park opened for the day (10am), knowing we could probably make it to Disneyland by 11am. And we did. But since the kids had been up so long, and neither fell asleep on the flights out, so they were exhausted by the time we got there. We decided to just go in to Disneyland for lunch, do rides for an hour, and then head back to the hotel for naps.

 

 

Joseph remembered the Buzz Lightyear Astro-Blaster ride from Disney World and, thinking we were in the same place, asked to go on that first. We were happy to head over to Tomorrowland and do that ride, as it had about a 10 minute wait. I knew the kids were tired and hungry, but didn't think through what Maddie would think of a dark, noisy ride under such circumstances. I shouldn't have been surprised, but was when after a few seconds of being in the car, she started screaming, hitting and clawing her way to get out. Oops. Joseph had a blast, and Maddie was asking to go home. That wasn't the first impression we were hoping for! So we decided to head over to Fantasyland and get some lunch, then reassess the plan.

 

Of course, things never work out quite the way you plan at Disneyland, as who should we meet when walking through the castle, but Captain Hook! Joseph was beyond excited that the very first character he could see was Captain Hook, so he happily waited in the short line to meet him and have him autograph his book.

 

 

 

 While I waited with Joseph, Joe took Maddie to eat, which put her in a much better mood. I think Joseph was too excited to eat at this point, so we had to force him to eat a few bites before heading over to Toontown.

 Finally, Maddie was in her element. We let them explore and just play, which really helped to calm her down.

 

 She loved going inside Donald's boat and Goofy's house, and didn't want to leave. Joe and Joseph snuck off to go ride the Goofy roller coaster and Roger Rabbit ride while I let Maddie explore.

 

 

After a bit, we headed over to wait for the boys to get out of the ride, and saw Pluto in line taking pictures. Maddie recognized him and got excited, so we waited in line. Luckily, Joe found us just as it was Maddie's turn, and Joseph ran over to say hello. That definitely helped ease Maddie's fears, as she started off a bit unsure, but inched closer as we got a few pictures.

 

After meeting Pluto, the kids spent a few more minutes playing in Toontown, before we told them it was really time to head back for naps. Joseph was great about letting us push him in the double stroller; Maddie less so. Turns out, the more tired she is, the more she would refuse to sit anywhere but my arms.

 We had hardly made it past the Disneyland gates before Maddie fell asleep on my shoulder. I'm glad were weren't staying very far away, but it felt like a very long walk regardless!

 I was so thankful that the hotel allowed us to check in early and had our room ready. Maddie didn't wake up when we laid her down on the bed, and Joseph's head had barely hit the pillow before he was out. They napped for a while, and Joe and I waited out in the hall. Eventually we opted to go back in and rest ourselves. After a few hours we all felt better and were ready for a quick afternoon back at Disneyland.

Joseph was excited about driving a car, so we headed to Autopia. Maddie wasn't really sure what to make of it once we got going, so I did most of the driving for her. She never really found her groove during the whole day; I think the early morning and all of the craziness around her just threw her for a loop!

Luckily, she could be cheered up by a spin on the carousel, which we did just about as frequently as Joe and Joseph went on the Buzz Lightyear ride.

We made our way over to Adventureland, where the kids really enjoyed playing at Tarzan's treehouse. Both of them like the story and had recently requested watching the movie, they wanted to go through the treehouse a couple of times. We were hoping to get a few more rides in, but I also didn't want to push them - I had told myself before we left that we were going to let them explore, go on the rides that interested them, and it would be totally ok if we didn't go on some of the classics. I tried my best to stick to that, and I think we did pretty well.

 

We hoped to ride on Pirates of the Caribbean next, but the line was a bit longer than it had been all day, so we continued over to Winnie the Pooh. We had the chance to ride it twice before hearing from my friend from college, Jill, who was meeting us for dinner. So we booked it out of the park, passing the start of the nightly parade, over to Rainforest Café in downtown Disney.

We had a great dinner, and it was a lot of fun to catch up with her. We hadn't seen Jill since her wedding in 2010, which was our first "family" vacation with Joseph when he was 3 months old! We made it back to the hotel at a decent hour, and the kids quickly passed out. All in all, it was a very successful first day at Disneyland!