Disneyland Day 1

Disneyland Day 1
February 27

We had such a great vacation at Disneyland.  We were so ready for warm weather and some fun together.  Having a new baby during this winter, and trying to avoid the cold and germs, has left us a little tired of being inside, and ready for an adventure.  The weather was perfect.  We were expecting it to be a little cold in the morning, but with the sunshine it felt great.  We had such a wonderful time with the Helquists on our last trip to Disneyland, we have been planning this next one ever since!  The kids were exploding with excitement.

We spent our first entire day at Disneyland, and got a lot into our time there.  We got there early to get in line and get our tickets.  The park was open from 10 to 8 that first day, and we made the best of every minute we had.  The girls all wore their matching Minnie shirts.  Thank you Alison for finding those, they were so cute!

So excited to get inside the park!

One of my many favorite things about Disney is walking down Main Street and taking in all the sights and smells!

Our first ride was Dumbo in Fantasyland.  After Dumbo we were able to ride the little train, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, the Storybook Boat ride, the Carousel, the Teacups, and the Matterhorn.  I'm glad we went there first thing Wednesday morning, because the other mornings were pretty crazy in that area.  The little girls loved being able to move the Dumbo elephants up and down, they loved being trapped in a cage on the little train, and they loved being able to ride on the boats and look at the little houses from the Disney stories.  Their favorite was the carousel though, which we rode multiple times during our trip.  Jens and Matisyn were really looking forward to the roller coasters, but are at a good age to still be able to enjoy everything else too.  They loved getting to sit on the front of the boat during the Storybook ride. 

Emilyn had very little fear and was up for almost anything.  Sadly we ran into some problems with her height this time.  Even if she wasn't scared, she wasn't tall enough for some of the rides like Splash Mountain, that Sylvie could go on.  Luckily, most of the time Sylvie wasn't interested in the big rides.  The real disappointment was that they have changed the cars on the Matterhorn so even though she was tall enough last time, the new height requirement made it so she couldn't go this time.  We waited in the line together, and she was crushed when she got turned away.  Matt took her over to wait with Alison and Lucas.  As we got closer to the front, Sylvie ended up changing her mind anyway and went to wait on the bench for us to ride.  Poor Emilyn though wanted to ride so badly, and was not able to ride.  Since the line was short, everyone was able to ride again, but I opted to sit on the bench with Alison and the other kids the second time.  I was disappointed with the new cars and how bumpy and jerky it is now, even more than before.  Plus I was feeling sad for my Emilyn missing out.  Snacks were a good distraction!

The girls were so excited to go on the teacups with Daddy.  I was happy to let them go without me, and went to find a bench to feed Lucas.

Emilyn said the one character she wanted to see for sure was Brave.  When we saw her, we couldn't pass up meeting her, even with the very long line. 

After Brave we headed over to Toon Town.  Jens and Matisyn were the perfect duo on this trip.  They went everywhere together, loved riding rides together, and we couldn't help but capture them holding hands now and then.  These days will pass before we know it.  :)

Lucas was a fantastic baby the whole time.  He spent some time in the baby bjorn and some in the stroller.  If he needed to eat, he told us, and if he needed to sleep, he just fell asleep where ever he happened to be.  I discovered a place devoted to baby care on Main Street where I could change his diaper, and even nurse him.  It was a quiet lineup of chairs with moms all in a row.  Disney really knows how to do things!  When we weren't near that place, I just found a spot and threw a blanket over us.  He just went with the flow and took everything in.  We teased that he did some "defensive sleeping" because he could fall asleep in the middle of the craziest rides.  Right on the big drop in Pirates, he just went to sleep.  In other rides he just looked around wide eyed.  Such a sweet little guy!

Gadget's Go Coaster was again one of the favorite rides for all four kids.  Alison, Lucas, and I watched on the sidelines at their happy faces zooming around the track.

After lunch at the Jolly Holiday Cafe on Main Street (we enjoyed some fancy treats with our lunch), we split up for a while.  The dads took the big kids and rode Indiana Jones and the Haunted Mansion while the moms spent some quality time in the potty, nursing lounge, and riding the carousel again.  I was really grateful for Alison taking care of Emilyn while I got Lucas changed and fed.  The dads and big kids also looked into some shops.  Apparently Matisyn asked Jens if he wanted to try some hats on together!  They ended up trying this bride and groom set on!  Once was enough for Matisyn to ride Indiana Jones, she thought it was too rough and crazy for her.  She is 45 inches without shoes, and the height requirement was 46 inches, so they checked her a couple of times before sending her through.  She passed on riding it again when Jens and Mike went back later.

We met up together again in front of Pirates of the Caribbean.  It was closed during our last trip so we were all so excited to get to ride...except for Sylvie who screamed and cried that she didn't want to go on it, it was too scary.  Nobody wanted to get out of line with her, and some how they got her to ride.  She actually settled down once it started by closing her eyes and talking about how everything was not so scary.  The rest of us loved it, except for Lucas who decided it was better to fall asleep than deal with the pirates!

Matisyn loved having a map, and spent lots of time pouring over it helping us decide where to go next.  She really loves maps of all kinds, and spends time at home making them, and always loves to get her own when we go places like this.

 Since Alison is pregnant she missed out on some of the rides, but was very kind to stay with Lucas so we could occasionally ride together.  Next we rode Splash Mountain while Emi (so sad she wasn't tall enough) and Lucas hung out on a shady bench with Alison.  We had 3 more fast passes, so Mike ran back through with the big kids while we took the little ones on Winnie the Pooh.  Emilyn loved that ride, and Lucas looked around with his big curious eyes.

All three cute kids in a row!  We decided to take two strollers, and I'm so glad we did.  Lucas got his own stroller most of the time, but one of the girls occasionally used it if he was being carried, and they rotated in and out of the other stroller.  The funny thing is Matisyn the six year old always wants to ride more than Emilyn the three year old!  I'm grateful we had the two to rotate the kids into them as they got tired. 

Then we all rode the Jungle Cruise, which was one of our longer lines for the day.  Wednesday was the best day for shorter lines.  Afterwords we set Alison up to save a spot on the parade route with Lucas, Matisyn, and all three strollers while everyone else ran to find dinner.  We got salads and pasta at the Pizza Port in Tomorrow Land and the food was pretty delicious.  The parade was a huge hit. We somehow situated ourselves in a perfect location, right at the curve between the entrance to Tommorrow Land and Main Street.  Our girls were waving their arms, and calling out to the characters and princesses.  It was so fun to watch them get caught up in the magic of the day.  

Waiting to watch the parade we tried to capture some of the beautiful castle lights at night.

The parade really is fun to watch, and these kids LOVE it.  We watched it two nights we were there.

After the parade, Sylvie and Alison headed over the carousel while the rest of us went over to Space Mountain to use our fast passes.  The first time Matt stayed out with Emilyn and Lucas and I rode with Mike and the big kids, then we ran as fast as we could out to find Matt and see if we could use our extra fast passes before the park closed.  Mike took the big kids one more time, and I ran over to Astro Blasters with Emilyn so she could go on one last ride too, while Matt stayed with Lucas.  We did some good shuffling this trip to accommodate the different rides and combinations of big kids, dads, baby, pregnant Alison, etc.  It took some creativity sometimes, but mostly it worked out really well.  Emilyn was so happy to have made it on the ride.  There was no line and we just ran right on.  She loves Toy Story, so she had a "blast" blasting Zurg.

On our way out of the park we stopped to get a chocolate dipped pineapple on a reccomendation from one of Mike's friends.  It was so delcious.  I think I ate three more over the next two days.  It is a new favorite for all of us.  We made it home around 9:00 and it took some settling down to get the girls to bed.  They were running on Disney adrenaline and sugar!  Plus Emilyn had a catnap on our walk out of the park and on the bus ride to our hotel, so she got her second wind.  Once they were asleep though, they were out until morning, exhausted from our big day.  We had a great first day!