I'm pretty sure I was waaay more excited to go to Disneyland than anyone else in the family. So much so that I could hardly sleep on Friday night. I felt like a little kid on Christmas Eve :)
We got tickets for three days and decided to spend our first day at Disney California Adventure Park and the next two days at Disneyland Park. Disneyland Resort has two separate parks with two separate entrances: Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure. So for our three day pass, we couldn't jump back and forth between parks on the same day. You have to pay extra for a "park hopper" to do that. A tricky way to get more money!
I had done a ton of research beforehand about which rides to go on based on our kids age/height, when to ride them, which ones to get fast passes for, etc. Maybe it was a bit ridiculous to do so much homework on our trip to a theme park, but with as much as we paid to get in I was going to get every last dollar's worth of enjoyment while we were there!! We also prepared ourselves for long lines, big crowds, hot weather, and tired/grumpy kids.
Our first day turned out beyond AWESOME. Seriously, I don't think I've ever had such a fun-filled day. It was overcast and cool, the cast members (what they call the people who work at Disneyland) all commented on how few people were there for a Saturday, and the boys were super good. Such a fun fun day!!
The park opened at 9am so we got up at 7am to give ourselves an hour to shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, then wake up the boys and feed and dress them. The hotel had a really good breakfast so we filled ourselves up on scrambled eggs, yogurt, and fruit. And Andrew ate his weight in muffins. I froze a bunch of yogurt cups, water bottles, and gogurts to go in our cooler bag along with sandwiches, chicken nuggets, veggies, fruit, and chicken salad that I had prepped the night before. We loaded our cooler, stroller, jackets, diapers and wipes, and a change of clothes for the boys in the car and were on our way at 8am. I wanted to give ourselves enough time to drive to the park, find a place to park, ride the bus from the parking lot, then get in line for the park- all before it opened. Told you I did waaay too much planning (which we all know is very unlike me to do).
His backpack was loaded with his McQueen water bottle, fruit snacks, granola bars, pretzels, and gold fish.
Both of them were pretty dazed and confused about why mom had woken them up before they were ready.
Poor Alex, so tired. He zonked in the car on the way there.
We were in the "Woody" parking lot and Andrew was beyond excited to see Woody all over the place. It about put him over the edge when he realized the bus we were waiting to get on had Toy Story characters all over it. Finally, someone to share my giddiness with! :)
We rode the bus, got our bags inspected, and went through the park entrance all before 9am. They have more gates once you get in the park that don't open until the park is open. I guess so there isn't a bottleneck at the ticket scanners. I knew the first thing I wanted to do was get in line for a "fast pass" (a special ticket that gives you an hour window to return to the ride and cut to the front) for the Radiator Springs Racers ride. It's brand new and everyone said it was super cool but they run out of fast passes really quick. That was our first jaw dropping line of the day. It was 8:45 and the line was crazy long. Once the park opened the line went super fast (only 20 minutes or so) and we got our fast passes and were on our way.
Aren't you so glad you are getting such a detailed narrative? :)
First ride of the day! Grizzly River Run. It reminded me of a similar ride at Lagoon. Remember going on that one dad? Lagoon's was a lot wetter. Which was fine sine it was still early in the day and cool outside. I rode it while Robert waited and watched with the boys.
Next, we rode Soarin' Over California. There wasn't a line so Robert got to hop right on it and got a "switch rider pass" so that I could cut to the front when he was done. This ride was AMAZING. You sat on these seats that were lifted off the ground and moved you in front of a ginormous screen. The seats swayed, tipped forward, etc. to make you feel like you were riding a hang glider or something. Air even blew on you so you felt like you were flying. It showed video clips of parts of California and felt like you were just sailing through the sky. Sometimes you felt like you could just reach your toe down a little further and dip it into the ocean that you were soaring over. There was only a lap belt and that always makes me a little nervous. I need a five point harness to feel a little more secure, I guess. I had a death grip on the handles by my seat. Not even meant to be a scary ride, what a wimp! Definitely a favorite for me and Robert.
Robert tried to get a fast pass for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, but the ride was down. I was secretly REALLY relieved. So we went to the "Bugs Life" area and rode those rides. They were all so perfect for Andrew and he loved all of them. Alex even got to go on some too!
a fun bumper car type ride
The Lady Bug Boogie ride which was kind of like the teacups ride. We sat in a lady bug while slowly rotating and spinning in a bigger circle.
Riding Heimlich's Chew Chew Train.
A little train ride that went through a watermelon, an animal crackers box, and past a few other foods. All of which you could smell when you went past. The watermelon even dripped on us! This was a favorite of Andrew's and we went on it 2 times in a row.
Then we saw Flik! Andrew was freaked out.
Now onto CARS LAND!!!
It was beyond cool!
It was set up just like you were in the movie,
The only disappointing part was how it was all so commercialized. Don't know why I was surprised by that. Only one of the buildings was a ride "Luigi's Casa Della Tires" and the rest were stores or restaurants. I was thinking you would be able to walk into them and they would be set up like the movie, but instead they were all stores. Fillmore's was a little snack shop, "The Cozy Cone" was a walk up fast food stand, "Flo's" was a restaurant which that one made sense, "Ramone's" was a clothing and souvenir shop, I think the "Doc Hudson Museum" was a store too.
Waiting for our turn to see Lightning McQueen. He really couldn't believe his eyes!
He was so giddy when it was our turn to meet him and take our picture.
We never did go on this ride, the line was always super long and it didn't look too exciting.
Red drove down the street!
Then on to the Radiator Springs Racers ride. Robert went first while I found a bench to sit down and feed Alex and for me and Andrew to eat some lunch. The fast passes are genius. Instead of waiting in a 90 minute line, you go in the fast pass lane and go clear up to the front! They only issue a certain number for each time slot so there is never a crazy long fast pass line. Then it was my turn to ride! When Robert went, I didn't realize that you could also ask for a switch rider pass, so I got one which meant we would be able to return to the fast pass line and ride it again! Even though it was a bummer to not get to ride rides together, it still worked out great! Andrew was 2 inches too short for this one which was too bad because he would have absolutely loved it!! You get in a car with two rows of three people and put on a seat belt. Then the ride goes through scenes in the movie: over the bridge with a waterfall, you and mater go for a drive, almost run into a train, sheriff yells at you, you and mater go tractor tipping, all with life size cars characters and realistic scenery. Then you turn the corner and either go to luigi's and get new tires put on or go to ramone's shop and get a paint job then you come out of either shop and meet up with another car full of people at a starting line and race through a course. So fun! Lots of tummy turning hills, speeding around corners, etc. Roo would have loved it! This was one of my favorites!
I think after that we rode the Chew Chew Train again and went on Ariel's Undersea Adventure. For that ride, me and Andrew and Robert and Alex got into clam shells then rode through an animatronic retelling of the little mermaid movie. I thought it was a cute ride with fun music and cool visuals. The air conditioning and sitting down part was really nice too. Andrew wasn't a fan though. He spent the whole ride with his head in my lap. Ursula and the eels freaked him out.
Then we went to an amazing stage performance of Alladin. Andrew zonked on Roberts lap in the dark, cool theater and Alex was perfectly content because I let him nurse the whole time. It told the story of Alladin, sang the songs from the movie. I was glad Roo fell asleep because i think it would have made him nervous. The singing and dancing was awesome and my favorite part was the flying carpet ride where they flew above the audience on a magic carpet. I missed the end though because Alex had a dirty diaper. By the time I was done changing him it was over :( The costumes, the music, the singing, the choreography was all so good! And Andrew got a nap in, wasn't too sure how we would swing that one!
While I was out changing Alex's diaper I saw Mike and Sully from Monsters!
At some point, I don't remember when, Tower of Terror was back up and running and Robert got fast passes for it. He went first while the boys and I wandered around and I tried to come up with an excuse to not go on it. Robert loved it! I worked up the courage and did it too. The cool thing about Disneyland's rides is how they build up this whole story/experience for the rides even the workers are dressed in outfits and are "in character" to go along with the ride. For the Tower of Terror, you go into this huge "hotel" that has all these old fashioned furnishings. Then you go with a group of about 15 people into a small room. The "bell hop" told us to stand in the center of the room and not to touch the bookshelves or any of the furnishings around the perimeter of the room. Then he left and shut the door. I knew that for this ride there was some scary drops involved and started freaking out! I was like, "Wait a second!! I thought I would be sitting down for this!!" As I was panicking and looking for a way out, the lights went out and an old fashioned fuzzy movie screen started playing a video with the story of the tower of terror hotel. Something about a creepy elevator and the twilight zone. Don't really remember, I was too terrified of the floor dropping out at any second. Luckily another door opened into a big room that looked like the boiler room of an old building. We weaved through the line until it was our groups turn to get into the elevator. We got in, sat down and strapped ourselves in. Again, another instance where I felt only a small lap belt was insufficient!! The bell hop then gave a dramatic/creepy monologue about staying buckled, keeping our arms and legs inside of the ride, yada yada. The the elevator doors closed and the fun began! The elevator would slowly climb, then drop, then drop some more, climb, drop, climb, drop. Periodically it would stop and the elevator doors would open. One of the times they opened it was to the outside and you could see clear out over the whole park...because we were very high up! Other times the door opened there were twilight zone type images of us flying through space/stars, creepy ghost people, twilight zone music, etc. Yeah, guess what I saw every time I closed my eyes for the next week or so? The elevator doors opening and twilight zone music! It was scary enough to make your stomach turn, but didn't go so far that you were scared out of your mind and swear you will never do something that stupid again. I remember blast off and re-entry at Lagoon being a lot scarier! I enjoyed it. Not enough to do it again, but it was fun :)
See the smile on my face? Clearly I'm having fun :)
While I was busy wetting my pants, Robert and the boys went to Turtle Talk with Crush. I think it was some kind of interactive show or something. Robert said Andrew was being especially noisy and crush asked if there was a dolphin in the audience. haha sounds like Andrew to me!
Back to Cars Land! Lightning McQueen was just cruising down the street telling everyone, "Ka-chow!"
One of Alex's many catnaps that day.
He was so excited for his turn to meet Mater that he didn't want to wait in line. He was doing anything he could to get a glimpse of him.
The Cozy Cone
Andrew was so cute he walked up to him and smiled and said "Hi Mater!" Then as we were leaving he kept waving and saying "Bye Mater. Bye."
Andrew and I rode on the Mater's Junk Yard ride. He was all grins and giggles. Robert went on it with him again while Alex and I went and staked out a spot for the Pixar Parade. We got a good spot in the shade and snacked on some still frozen yogurt from the cooler. It was really nice to have frozen water bottles that we could continuously refill with water.
I know I've said that practically everything was a "favorite" but the parade was a favorite favorite. They had every Pixar movie character you could imagine, plus dancers, cool floats, music, bubbles, and water guns. The only missing from this over-the-top parade was candy being thrown!
"Woman! Where's my super suit!?" Robert asks me that sometimes in the morning and I tell him his "business casual" clothes are hanging up in the closet :)
Dancing green army men
Jessie and Woody with giant squirt guns
We got to see Mater again! We also saw some of the fish from Finding Nemo!
Once the parade was over we sat around for a bit and sipped on our ice water and snacked some more and realized just how beat we were. It was about 5pm and we had been going strong all day! We picked ourselves up off the bench and headed over to a new part of the park. We waited in line entirely too long for the Toy Story Midway Mania ride. Everyone I talked to said they loved this one so I figured it was worth the wait. Andrew was starting to drive us crazy. He had been so good all day but waiting 45 minutes in line was a bit much for him. He kept trying to duck under the rope things that kept everyone in line and run off, swinging on the ropes, sucking on the ropes, pushing any little kid who even thought about touching "his rope", and just about anything else he could to get the point across that he was not a fan of this standing around thing. Luckily Alex was being especially cute so everyone just oohed and awed over him instead of getting annoyed with us. Plus I'm sure they had seen some truly unruly kids that day, so ours was nothing in comparison. I know I saw some pretty embarrassing and over the top tantrums that day!
You had to wear 3D glasses for this ride and Andrew wouldn't leave his on so I don't know how much he was able to see. It was a fun little ride where you got to shoot a little gun at stuff while your car moved through different scenes. It was a lot like a carnival game. When it was done you had to walk downstairs and into a store full of Toy Story everything in order to get out. Clever. We looked around and then peeled Buzz out of Andrew's hands so we could leave.
Robert got in line for a thrill and rode the huge California Screamin' roller coaster. You can see part of it behind him in this picture. He said he loved it and it was a really great roller coaster. While he was riding it we wandered around the pier, looked at the carnival games, and carnival rides. There was no way I was riding the roller coaster. I get nauseous just swinging on swings at the park
Second only to the train, this was Andrew's favorite ride, King Triton's Carousel. He went on it once with Robert, then again with me. I don't know if I have ever been on a carousel and I loved it too! He would have ridden that thing for the rest of the night. It was so cute to see him carefully choose his see creature and grin from ear while it went up and down and around in circles. It's moments like that that just make your day as a parent!
It was starting to get dark so we headed back over to Cars Land and Bugs Life to ride a couple more rides before the evening show, World of Color. We had only one pass left for Radiator Springs Racers so Robert told me to go on that and he would take the boys on some rides. Can you guess which one Andrew wanted to go on again? Heimlich's Chew Chew Train! Was that four times now? They also rode the lady bug one again and rode Flik's Flyers for the first time. You ride in little juice boxes that raise up and spin around. When I went to the cars ride the regular line was over 2 hours long (they have the current wait time listed at the line entrance). I can't even imagine spending two hours of your life waiting in line. At the DMV maybe, but not at Disneyland! Too many other fun things to go and do! I got to go in the fast pass line and while i was waiting I visited with a guy and his wife. Boy was he the right person to be in line with! He was asking me about what we had done that day and what our favorite rides were. When he found out that it was our first trip to Disneyland and that we didn't have a park hopper pass, he hooked us up! He said he works at the park and gave me two Disneyland Park passes (they were only good for that day) plus two fast passes for space mountain (that expired at 9:45pm). Suweeet! What a nice guy huh? The Radiator Springs Racers ride was even better the second time around! I got a front seat too!
We met back up and went to the pier to find a spot for World of Color. We weren't quite sure how high up in the sky the show would be and ended up behind a trellis that kind of blocked our view. But we could still see well enough to enjoy it. I don't even know how to describe this show. We just stood there in awe with our mouths open wide.
This was the only picture I got but it kind of gives you an idea of what it was. There was water being shot up from fountains down in the water that made a screen for images and colors to be projected on. They played all the best Disney songs and showed clips from the movies (projected onto the water). It was beautiful! As it was nearing the end we knew we needed to book it out of there ahead of the crowd in order to make it clear over to Disneyland and in line for Space Mountain before our newly acquired fast pass expired. We walked as fast as our tired little legs could carry us. Alex in the bjorn and Andrew in the stroller. At some point during the day, don't remember for sure when, Robert rode the Grizzly River Run and I forgot to warn him to lift his feet up and his tennis shoes and socks got soaked. So his feet were feeling pretty miserable from being wet and walking all day and I thought I was going to have to carry him. Not really, my feet were hurting just as bad. When we went through the ticket gate and into Disneyland Park, there was the most amazing fireworks show going on. Like, better than Stadium of Fire in Provo on the Fourth of July, amazing. We watched them as we hurried to the ride. I made it just in time at 9:40pm to get on and asked for a switch rider pass for Robert. Oh man, this ride was soooo good. Another "favorite" :) As you go in you wind through this space station with screens with people in space suits building up the ride. Once you finally walk through all of it (normally the line would be huge but everyone was watching fireworks) you get in this little rocket ship looking thing and ride into the darkness. It's pitch black with a ton of stars and away you go! Lots of twists, turns, and dips. Plus it's dark so you couldn't see what was coming! And the lap belt thing again...give me a harness!
My thoughts at this point, "AAAAAHHHHH!!!!AHHHHHH! Did I leave the iron on? AAAAHHHHH!!!". Cute huh? Now compare it to Robert's expression on the same ride:
Robert's thoughts, "Huh. Well done, Walt Disney, well done. This is mildly amusing."
By now it was well after 10pm and we had caught our second wind and decided to do one more ride before going back to the hotel room. We wanted to go on one that the boys would enjoy so we chose the Finding Nemo Submarines. Another favorite!
This one was so fun!! You climbed down into a submarine and it made you feel like you were going down super deep. It said a few interesting facts about marine life while you went past anamatronic fish. Then as you continued on it told an abbreviated version of Finding Nemo with images projected in the water. It was really realistic and lots of fun. There was kind of a scary part with that fish that lights up with the big teeth. Remember that part? It surprised/scared Andrew so he lifted up his hands like claws and let out a super loud RAR! That must have made him feel brave because he turned to me and confidently said, "I rarred it mommy!"
We were so tired that it was all we could do to stumble back to the bus, get in the car, and drive to the hotel.
And don't worry....I still have two more days of Disneyland stuff to share :)
