Disneyland!

**post only written February 6, 2018 & backposted

We finally had our first real family vacation (farther than just across the border for summer holidays AND on an airplane!). Destination - sunny California!

We decided to keep the trip a secret from the kids (not sure the pros outweighed the cons on that decision). And after months of planning out almost every last detail, the day had arrived!

The suitcases were all packed standing by the door, so we woke the kids up early and asked if they wanted to go on an adventure?! Of course Rhys was the first to jump up and say "Yah!". He thought we should take his tricycle on the adventure so he could go fast! Skye was a little harder to convince. So we were ready and bribed her with a "present" - they each got a small West Jet toy airplane as a hint and they guessed that we were going on an airplane - so exciting! Skye thought we should go to Mexico!

After going through security there were more surprises!! They got to open another "hint" - Mickey & Minnie keychains - which Skye guessed as we were going to Disney castle. When she heard there were rides and remembered that the princesses lived there, the excitement got real! The final surprises came soon after, when their Pezzente cousins started to arrive at the airport and they realized that we were all going together! Our large group of 17 (yikes!) consisted of Jenn, Maurizio, Jayden, Leighton, Parker, Jenn's sister Lindsay and their parents, Barb & Rob, Leo, Kerri, Brooklyn, Ava, Londyn and the 4 of us!!

The flight went great and was just the right length before the kids started to get antsy.

We took a bus shuttle from LAX to the Disneyland Hotel right on the resort. We arrived mid afternoon and had a little time to unpack before we went for dinner at Goofy's Kitchen and met most of the Mickey Mouse group of characters. The kids were very excited and it took Rhys a little time to warm up. But then he was right in there with the rest of the kids getting autographs and jumping around to the character parade music. After dinner we toured Downtown Disney and discovered all the fun it had to offer! So much to see and lots of fun shopping. 

This was definitely not a morning shot!

No smiles that early for this momma!

Every morning was an early one! And bedtimes were usually around 10:30/11pm (except for mom - who had to reorganize and repack snacks and the stroller/clothes for the next day). This was NOT a relaxing vacation whatsoever. One of the reasons we chose to stay on site was the fact that we could take advantage of the "magic hour" and access the parks an hour earlier than the general public. But that meant getting out of the room some mornings before 7am! By doing this we got to avoid a lot of line up time and get in more rides per hour than we normally would. With young kids we thought this would be beneficial, rather than suffering thru longer waits. With the fast passes, we achieved this as well. And when the hot sun (we were so lucky to hit a rare Spring week of +30 - 6 out of the 7 days) got to be too much in the afternoon (and we were starting to get grumpy), we would head back to the room around 2pm for a rest and some A/C. We would also freshen up and change into evening clothes for dinner - usually around 5pm.

Because of our large group size, we knew we wouldn't be able to walk into a restaurant and be able to sit together. So a lot of our preplanning of the trip consisted of choosing restaurants and booking them 60 days prior (as soon as we were allowed). We typically only booked dinner reservations, the character meals and our Bippidi Boppidi Boutique visit. Lunches were just eaten at vendors or wherever we were at that time. It worked out quite well. Also because of the group size, we tried to preplan out our days somewhat - as far as deciding what days we would tackle Disneyland and what days would be California Adventure or pool time. We coordinated these days with how the magic hours fell for the parks and what days we had booked special events in each park. It saved a lot of wasted time and headaches once we arrived, to already have a starter point itinerary. We had pre-purchased a 5 day park hopper pass before we arrived as well.

 For our very first ride on the first morning, we rushed to Carsland to ride the Roadster Racers. I thought this would be a favourite for both kids, as they love "Cars" the movie. We toured thru the ride and then got lined up to start the race. Honestly, I didn't really know what the ride was about, but it was known to be totally fun. WELL...the flag went down and we took off like a bat out of hell! A total shock! And not just for the kids, but for the adults as well. As our heads were whipping back, I looked over to poor Rhys between Dino & I (Skye was in the other car with her cousins), and his mouth was wide open, so I put my arm across the poor kid so he wouldn't get whipped around! (see photo!!) Once the ride ended all Rhys could say was "too fast! too fast!" and he was in shock. 

Soooo...it kind of freaked him out for the rest of the week :-(
We could hardly get him on anymore rides.
Oops!

The thing is - is that I actually did a lot of reading up on which rides would be "scary" for kids and which ones to likely avoid. But what they didn't say was - the fast rides might be even more scary than the dark rides or the rides where things jump out at you or have loud noises. And seriously - even in A Bug's Land where all the rides look like totally harmless "kiddie" rides, some of these were even too much. The spinning lady bugs - which we convinced Rhys to finally go on - didn't seem like they spun that much UNTIL you were on them...oops again. So I think it all depends on your child and their temperament/adventure comfort level!

We did get him on the Hungry Caterpillar train and thank goodness that was slow as molasses. Lots of rides, that looked mild, we thought we had Rhys convinced to go on, and we would get in the lineup and he would start to climb up us or freak out a bit, so one of us would back out and stay with him, while the other continued with Skye. And then the riders would come out and say "thank goodness Rhys didn't go on THAT one - he would have freaked out for sure" - cause it wasn't as tame as it initially appeared. So that became the joke of the week "Thank goodness...!" LOL. But even though he didn't enjoy the rides so much, he LOVED the entire Disneyland experience. He was so chill just to sit in the stroller or hang out while everyone else went on the rides. There was so much to see and characters wandering around.

Rhys still has the look of fear on the

river boat ride - on the LAST day

I had initially thought that we might have to hang back on the smaller rides with the kids, while the rest of the group (with older kids and adults) hit the bigger rides and roller coasters. But of course our daredevil child Skye saw that they others were going on all the rides and she wanted to as well, so off she would go and she had a BLAST. She loved every single ride. The faster and crazier, the better! One of the only rides she didn't go on was the California Screamin' roller coaster and that was because I told her she wasn't tall enough (even though I didn't check, cause I didn't want her to go upside down...).

Sometimes Dino would go with her as her partner and other times I would go. I'll admit, I do not like roller coaster or free fall type rides, but I DID suck it up and go on a few with Skye. I didn't actually ride them gracefully, but I did go! And as I was squeezing my eyes shut and screaming my face off - for real, Skye would be laughing beside me and squealing WHEEEEE and wanting more. The only roller coaster ride that I DID enjoy was actually Hyperspace Mountain - which seems terrifying because it is all in the dark and you are going SO fast and up down and around and maybe even upside down! BUT I came off of there and said "I actually really enjoyed that ride because I couldn't see a thing! and I couldn't see if I was going to die!! LOL. And Skye said matter of factly (hands on hips) "MOM -  WHY would you die??!"  (oops...). Skye loved Splash Mountain too - and her comment off that ride was "Even my panties got wet!!" haha 

 
My favourite ride, other than Hyperspace Mountain, was Soaring Over the World. It was AMAZING! It's a simulator type ride where you feel like you are hang gliding across the continents of the world (there were a few moments when I was actually freaked out as you feel like you might fall thousands of feet). They infuse smells into the air and you feel the wind and it feels so real. And things like airplanes and birds fly right at you and you think you are going to collide! Google the video for it and have a look! I could have rode that ride over and over. 

 

Besides the super fun rides, we spent one night watching the Electrical Parade, another taking in the really cool fireworks.

We booked a dinner package and got preferred seating for the World of Color water show at Paradise Pier. That was incredible as well. As the coloured jets of water shoot in the air, Disney movie clips are projected onto the water and choreographed to Disney music.

Another character lunch we had was at Ariel's Grotto, where the kids got to meet 4 princesses - Ariel, Cinderella, Snow White and Tiana.

A couple days later 5 little girls got to visit the Bippidi Boppidi Boutique and get transformed into Princesses themselves, complete with gowns and tiaras. Rhys got to be an honorary knight! They had their pictures taken and then were led thru the castle where they got to meet more real princesses! 

The kids were thrilled (okay mommy was right beside them!) to meet some real life superheroes - Captain America and Spider Man. So cool!

Besides all the fun at the parks, we managed to squeeze in a little bit of pool time at the hotel. We probably could have spent another full day there, since the kids love the water so much.

      

 And just as we were ending the week, and packing up to leave on Saturday, the weather took a turn and it started to get breezy and chilly with drizzly rain. So we couldn't have asked for a more perfect week! 

We were so fortunate to have had an amazing vacation, spent with great family, and SO much fun and laughter, that the memories will last forever! Hoping the kids remember!! but I have all the photos and info to refresh them if it fades :-)

 

I'm pretty sure that someday we will make it back to Disneyland again. The kids  talk about it almost EVERY week and ask to go back. Rhys even talks about maybe going on a roller-Toaster!
Goals little buddy! Goals! ;-)