Ahhh, where to start.
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| all packed in new bags with Disneyland luggage tags! |
We have never been to Disneyland as a family. I know people who go every year, so some don't understand what a big deal it was for us to go. David hadn't been since he was 2, so really this was his first time too. We decided to make the most of it, fly there, stay at the Disneyland Hotel, not rent a car, and do a full Disney immersion for 5 nights. The kids have been looking forward to it for months and happily saved up their allowance for those special things from the Disney stores.
Our magical adventure started with a sick Gracie, of course. She missed the 2 days of school before our trip. I was dying, hoping that she'd rally and be ok, remembering all too well, the day we spent at Santa's Village last summer with Grace in heap in a stroller the whole day.
As we checked into the Disneyland Hotel, immediately, I had a few Wallyworld moments. Where was the monorail that used to stop RIGHT in front? And, why, pray tell, do we have to walk to the back of the hotel complex around a mostly closed swimming area to get to our room? I came for the full Disney experience and I was feeling like Clark Griswold when he pulled up to a shut-down Wallyworld.
Luckily, most everything else was still open and running smoothly so I didn't have to visit the local sporting goods store.
We started the first morning with well children (thank goodness!) and a character breakfast. This was so over-the-top cute. They literally serve everything you can think of that a kid would want to eat for breakfast and lots of super gourmet things for the parents. Here's what the girls had:
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| Harriet - mac'n'cheese, bacon, chicken nuggets, chocolate cupcake |
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| Grace - pizza, chicken nuggets, french toast, watermelon, chocolate cupcake |
Pluto, Goofy, Chip and Dale, Baloo, and Cinderella greeted us and came by our table many times to say hello, sign our table, and make sure we were having a great time. Good thing they had a princess - I have been promising Harriet breakfast with a princess for a while now. It was also really nice that they warmed up Hattie to the characters. She was so afraid at first, but by the time we left, she was ready to hug them all and we got great pics in the park.
We had planned our trip with our friends Alex and Sara who live here in Albuquerque (David and Alex were grad-school office-mates at the U and now work together.) Their 2 kids, Christian and Maren are the same ages as ours +/- a few months.
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| on our way into the park on the monorail for the first time! |
Grace and Christian get along FAMOUSLY and love all the same things, namely, Legos, Star Wars, and being nerdy and goofy. They were quite the pair. By the end of the trip, Christian was talking about dating? We're not sure what was going through his head, but this may have been their first date. Good thing it was chaperoned!
Harriet and Maren aren't quite as tight, but had a fun time princess watching and going on the little rides like Winnie the Pooh and Small World. It was absolutely fantastic to have other adults to hang out with and have extra hands to break up into different groups to go on different rides. Having friends around to lighten the mood and provide entertainment and distraction definitely cuts down on the family squabbles and quarrels too (both for kids and adults :) )
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| the two princesses being carried into the castles by their knights-in-shining armor (daddies for now) |
Minus a few choice meltdowns, most every minute from dawn to midnight was filled with delightful activities and fun. Here are the highlights:
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| soaking wet at the end of Splash Mountain |
Grace loved: SPLASH MOUNTAIN (did she go 6 times?), the Finding Nemo Submarines, and California Screamin', oh, and the Buzz Lightyear Blasters. She was the total dare-devil of the group. She loved all of the roller coasters, water rides, and anything that was thrilling. I seriously couldn't believe that she loved the huge California Screamin' roller coaster and actually made Alex take her again immediately after I got off with her because I couldn't stomach it again so soon.
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| California Screamin' at night - this thing is huge! |
However, her scaredy-cat-self came out with anything slightly spooky. She closed her eyes and put her fingers in her ears all the way through Indiana Jones and literally cried on the way INTO the Tower of Terror before she even got on the ride with Sara and me. Mean mommies - we made her go anyway. She asked why we didn't tell her it would be scary. I said "what did you expect - it's called the Tower of TERROR, not the Tower of Bubbles!" She agreed, she should have caught that part.
Harriet loved: Winnie the Pooh, It's a Small World, and Dumbo the Flying Elephant, oh and Finding Nemo too. She was timid to go on the fast rides, but she did try all of the big rides that her height would allow. (we saw the cutest t-shirt with a picture of Yoda being rejected by a ride height requirement "judge me by my size, do you?")
Harriet was also not a fan of getting wet and cold or of anything too scary. I find it interesting how many of the Princess stories are all filled with quite horrifying things. They don't candy coat the evil, that's for sure. Disneyland seems to focus on those parts of the stories and play up the dark side, so Sleeping Beauty's Castle and Snow White really didn't have too much happily ever after.
We made the mistake of doing Space Mountain first thing out of the gate and scared all the kids to death. Since Disney was all set up for Halloween, Space Mountain was really spooky on top of being super dark and fast. It was just too much. Then, they didn't trust us after that.
I loved, well, pretty much everything. I loved watching the kids get so excited and be so enchanted by each well-thought-out detail. As you walk through the park, bubbles appear in the air out of nowhere all the time. Every nook and cranny has something to catch your eye and is all immaculately manicured. Coming "home" after a long 14 hour day to a clean room, with lights warmly glowing and Mickey Mouse chocolates on the bed was so refreshing. It's so cute that a different Disney princess reads a good night story on the TV every night. Hattie was all over that. Grace tolerated it. I love that everyone in Disneyland smiles and waves hello to you no matter where you are. I love that I spent a lot of time smiling too. I also really love the rides. It's so weird that I get car-sick, sea-sick, and sometimes even air-sick, and have a pretty serious fear of heights, but I can totally dig a rollercoaster and I can even survive the tea-cups. I was relieved, though, that the ferris wheel had some non-swinging baskets.
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| ferris wheel at night |
The girls were really so good. They traveled well, they budgeted their money. They really didn't ask for much and thought carefully about everything they bought and came away completely happy. Grace had a hay day in the "build your own" light-saber store and I thought she might move in to the Lego shop.
Harriet bought the cutest baby Minnie Mouse that she literally carried through the park for the entire trip. I was actually surprised by Hattie. I thought she'd buy more princess stuff, but she took pretty strongly to Minnie and came home all Minnie.
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| friendly light-saber duels at night |
A few other highlights:
Jedi Training. Oh. My. Gosh. If you tried, you couldn't convince Grace that this was pretend. She and Christian were both chosen (thankfully) out of the crowd to be one of the special kids to participate in the training. They dressed in Jedi robes, learned how to handle a light saber, and got to personally fight Darth Vader at the end. It was
real and she was more focused than she is in her karate classes. Dead on serious.
World of Color. There really aren't words to describe it, and my pictures and video don't cut it. You just have to see it. It is AMAZING. Harriet smiled wide during the entire show. Sara said they spent $75 million on it? Worth every penny. Disney does not scrimp, that's for sure.
Captain EO. So, I thought I had seen this when I first went to Disney, but they said it came out in 1986, a couple years later, so maybe I saw it as a teenager. Let's just say that Michael Jackson + George Lucas + Disney is a pretty stellar combo. I successfully resisted buying myself the $27 rainbow streak t-shirt after the show was over.
Another little bonus, Brian, Wendy, Clare, and Jeremiah, drove up from their new home in San Diego to meet us for dinner on Saturday. How cool is that, to meet the cousins at Disneyland for dinner?!
A final farewell to all the characters we met:
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| Mickey Mouse |
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| Minnie Mouse |
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| Tigger |
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| Woody |
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| Winnie-the-Pooh |
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| Cinderella and Ariel |
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| Donald Duck |
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| Belle |
anyone want a box of toys? these toys are super expensive and very high-maintenance. batteries not included:
Re-entry to the real world has been a little rough. Both kids are now used to sleeping with a parent. They divided and conquered us the first night and stood their ground. Harriet hasn't been to bed before 11 and we're still working on it. Grace continues to wear her Mickey ears anywhere she is allowed, and Momma wonders where is that fairy who makes the beds and leaves us chocolates? I think Daddy is just relieved to not be spending $100 per meal anymore. All in all, we couldn't have planned it more perfectly and we are so happy we got to do it. Thanks Mickey (and Daddy!)
