What I Learned from the (almost) Happiest Place on Earth/Days 1 and 2

    We returned from a six day trip to Disneyland last week. I call it the almost happiest place on earth, because to be the happiest place we would have to be there with our whole family and our youngest member stayed home with grandma for this trip.  When we started talking about and planning this trip, my mom offered to keep Mason.  I had mixed emotions about this and had a really hard time when it came down to actually dropping him off, but I think that it turned out in the end.
     Mason did great for my mom (she said he only cried once) and basically got spoiled the entire six days.  Anything he wanted he got.  If he wanted to see the Christmas lights, she bundled him and and walked him outside, if he wanted to play he got all the toys to himself, if he wanted to take a bath he got to stay in for as long as he wanted.  He took monster naps everyday and although we missed him a ton, I really think he probably had more fun sticking to his routine than he would have getting in and out of the stroller all day.  We have now been back for almost a week and he doesn't seem mad at us (hopefully we didn't damage him), but he is a little more possessive of toys.  He will scream if Little Man or Kiwi touches what he is playing with.  I think getting a taste of being an only child was the first time in his life that it occurred to him that he didn't have to just play with things that somebody else wasn't playing with.
      It was nice for Mike and I to focus on the older kids and since Kiwi was almost tall enough for everything, we were all able to go on the rides together and go all day long.
     We have been looking forward to and planning this trip for over a year now and it didn't disappoint.  I need to go through my 400 plus pictures and journal our experience, but for now here are a few pictures and things we learned from the magical kingdom.


1.  Everyone is a kid in Disneyland
           Where else will you see grown men proudly wearing Buzz Lightyear sweatshirts with little circles that say "laser" on their arms?  There are mouse ears, dog ears, magician hats, and character t-shirts being worn by the old and young alike.  The grown woman who waited forty five minutes to meet Rapunzel and had no children with them?  Now that was a bit of a mystery to me, but who am I do judge?  I donned a pair of mouse ears and found myself literally skipping through the park at times I was so excited.  There is just something about being there that makes you feel like a child again.

2.  It's a place to fall in love
            I snuggled with my husband on It's a Small World, I was reminded of how amazing and fun my two older kids are as I was able to just BE with them, play with them, and enjoy them away from all the normal day to day responsibilities.   I fell in love with my baby all over again, because I missed him like crazy and haven't been able to stop squeezing his little body and smothering his cheeks with kisses since we got home.  Which means he's spent a lot of the last few days trying to squirm away from his mommy.
       And Little Man was smitten.  With a princess.   Sleeping Beauty to be more specific. We went to princess story time one day and as we were taking our seats, one of the the assistants asked Little Man if he would like to help during the story and be the "handsome prince."  Little Man (who had already participated in other shows at this point) was more than willing to help.  The princess who came out to tell the story was Sleeping Beauty and Little Man played the part of the prince when they dance in the forest.  He was so cute up there twirling around and then gave her an gallant bow at the end of his twenty seconds of fame.  
       The next day, we waited in a line to meet and greet three princesses so the kids could get their autographs.  When we got to the front of the line, we saw that one of the princesses was Sleeping Beauty.  Little Man immediately said, "I bet she'll recognize me."  Mike and I exchanged a glance over his head and told him, "You might need to remind her that you danced with her at story time yesterday"  (we weren't sure how many Sleeping Beauties there were floating around Disneyland).
       Well, when it was our turn, not only was it the same Sleeping Beauty as the previous day, but she remembered and recognizes Little Man.  After signing autographs and taking pictures, she asked him if he would like to dance again.  This time, Little Man's compliance was a little hesitant. Whether embarrassed to be dancing with a princess (he's just starting to be conscious of social things like that) or shy because he had a little crush, I'm not sure.  Still he danced with her and gave her another bow and hug.  As we were walking away, he said (very loudly), "Daddy, she REALLY likes me!"  Which made everyone in ear shot, including Sleeping Beauty, laugh.  For the rest of the trip, he got a little embarrassed smile when we mentioned "his princess.  He also told us, "I'm not bringing that picture in to show my class.  They would laugh their heads off!"
      So, like a good mom, I am not sending the pictures to school with him, but simply posting them online.

3.  For claiming to be the happiest place on earth, there are sure a lot of crying children.
     Luckily, our kids did really well.   While we missed Mason like crazy and were constantly pointing out things that reminded us of him (the soft stuffed animals at the gift shop, Winnie the Pooh, the dolls in "It's a Small World" that Kiwi was convinced even looked like her baby brother) I was grateful to not have to chase him through the lines or try to keep him strapped in a stroller.
      Little Man only dissolved into tears once at the park when we were two people away from meeting Buzz Lightyear and the staff member announced that Buzz could not sign autographs (which I thought to be a legitimate reason to be sad).
      Kiwi had a couple of meltdowns, but seeing that she is four and we were going for ten hours a day, I'd say she did a really good job.

4.  The people who play the characters have a very, very important jobs.
      Like way more important than the minimum wage they are probably being paid.  The characters were magic to my children especially to Kiwi.  To her, we were truly in Mickey's house and waiting to go into Rapunzel's Tower.  A special thanks to those extra special characters who helped make the trip so memorable for my little ones.  A big thank you to the lady (or perhaps man) under that huge Jessie head.  I may never meet you, but you have earned a special place in our family's memories forever.

 My normally reserved and shy little girl ran right up to her favorite cowgirl and hugged her tight.  Through a series of gestures, pointing, and jumping up and down, Jessie let her know how much she liked Kiwi's hat, cowgirl boots, and Jessie shirt (Kiwi packed them all in hopes that she would meet her favorite character).

         Belle was the first princess that we met and Kiwi was awestruck.  She was just staring up at her and Belle took the time to get down on her level, talked to her and asked if she wanted to get a picture of just the two of them.

   This lovable Pluto's antics and valiant attempts to answer Little Man's many questions with gestures and actions caused him to rocket from never before mentioned Disney character to top of Little Man's list.  Both kids were allowed to choose one souvenir from the abundance of gift shops (that most rides end in).  We told them to wait until the last day so they'd know what they really wanted and when the last day came, Little Man choose a stuffed Pluto.

He also chose Pluto for his mouse ears.

We did a character meal at Goofy's kitchen. And if you happen to have Disney gift cards received from cashing in points given to you for a job well done by your employer that you have been saving for a year  to spend on this trip, I would recommend using them for  a character meal.  You don't have to wait in line to see the characters that are there and each one of them (there were seven at ours) comes around to your table to greet you.  The kids loved it, Kiwi even said, "This is the best restaurant ever!" 

It is a little pricey, so I wouldn't pay for it unless seeing the characters is at the top of your family's list of things to do there, but for free it was awesome!  Thank you Boeing.

5.   There is something magical in the air there.

Although I know "It's a Small World" was lit up by Christmas lights, the the snow falling was coming from the snow machines perched on top of the light posts, and that the music was being piped through speakers, there was really only one word to describe it and that word was "magic."

I mean, look at the expression on this girls face.  And if this was a video clip, you wold see that she was literally jumping up and down when the snow started coming down.  

And for kids who love characters, the Christmas Fantasy Parade was pretty magical (I really can not think of a better adjective) also.

Every time he spotted a new float or character coming down the road, Little Man would whip his head around to tell me what it was.  Just in case I might not spot the fifteen foot gingerbread house, I guess.
    The half an hour waiting in a roped off area while we devoured the crumbs of Triscuts, the only remaining snack in our backpack and the kids whined? Absolutely worth it.  The first words out of Little Man's mouth when the parade was done, "I'm SO glad we saw that!"  Me too, buddy. Except while he was so glad to have seen Buzz Lightyear in a space ship, I was feeling unbelievably grateful to be his mother and witness that moment.

6.  It helps tremendously to research the parks and have a plan, but it's also good to change the plan.
         I was glad that I had read up so much on the attractions and shows and made a list of the the "must dos" or I think it would have been really overwhelming.  That being said, we never exactly followed the plan and that was okay.  Sometimes things I didn't think the kids would love, did catch their interest and so we spent time doing that.  Like the little counter wheels that you walk through before you get onto a ride.  Kiwi loved them, as much and probably more than some of the rides that they were the gateway too.

So, there were a few highlights.  Now for documenting/picture overload part.

Wednesday
      We dropped off Mason about 12:30.  As soon as we got in the car, I started crying.  And then we picked up Little Man from school and he realized we had already dropped Mason off (I thought he knew that was the plan) and he started crying, which made me start crying, which got Mike all choked up, and Kiwi burying her head in her hands.  Not exactly how I had pictured the start of our trip.  By the time we got to the airport, however, the kids were beyond excited.  And although I was still feeling a little sad, it was nice to know that Mason was taking his nap rather than having to be tired at the airport.  At the airport, we got to ride an underground train thing to get to our terminal and an escalator.  The kids found the escalators to be fascinating and would have rode them all day.   As we walked through the airport, Little Man said, "This is an adventure!"  Forget Disneyland, we should have just taken them to the airport.   Every job we saw from flaggers on the runway to pilots, Little Man said he wanted.  In the end, he decided he would be a pilot and Kiwi would be an air traffic controller (this career choice remained solid until we got to Disneyland when Little Man then wanted to grow up and work there).
      As we were walking onto the plane, the kids were literally jumping up and down.  They kept saying, "We're almost on a plane, we're going to see what a plane looks like in just a minute."   Although they had both flown once previously it was when each of them were a baby, so they have no memory of it.  When we walked onto the plane, the pilot actually invited them up into the cockpit and let them look around.  Little Man even got to sit in the co-pilots seat and "drive" (Kiwi was too nervous to take a turn).  I have never been in a cockpit before and it was really neat.
       When we got to California, we then rode a bus to get to our hotel.  When we got on the bus, Little Man said, "It's been transportation day today!"  Which I guess it had been; our van, an underground train, a plane, and then a bus.  Although it was their bed time by this point, both kids were dancing around and full of energy for the last leg of our trip.  We checked into the hotel (where the elevator became the new hit), and got ready for the next day.


Thursday
Thursday morning, I woke up early and went down to the to the hotel gym to workout (the only morning I did this, I was too wiped out for the rest of the trip to wake up early).  I tried to stay on the treadmill, but was so excited I didn't last long.  We got ready, ate the hotels yummy breakfast and then caught the bus to take us to California Adventure.  Our bus driver that morning was great.  He had everybody singing "It's a Small World" and "Happy Birthday" to some people who were celebrating their birthdays.  We thought that every bus driver might be like that, but that was the only one we had that ever said more than announcing the stops.
       When we pulled into the parking lot, we saw another bus that had Toy Story characters painted on it and Kiwi freaked out.  The kids were so excited that they were pointing at characters on buses, posters, pictures, and we hadn't even entered the park yet.

 Little Man standing in front of a Cars land poster.  I wish that this had been completed as Cars is this first graders favorite of all time, but we are looking forward to seeing it next time we visit (and Mason will be perfect Cars age then).

 Upon entering the park, the huge Christmas tree was one of the first things we saw.  It was a little shocking to be reminded that it was December, because we all had t-shirts on.  Christmas time with sunshine and warmth is such a foreign concept to us.

 The first ride we headed to was Toy Story Mania.  This had been one that both kids were excited about when we saw it online and I had heard that the Toy Story characters often hang out by their ride, so I wanted to head their first thing to see if we might get to meet them.


     While waiting in line, Mr. Potato head entertained guests by asking questions. Sometimes, he would even specifically call out someone in line (this surprised us the first time, but then we saw there was a camera up above him).  This was our favorite ride and we went on it four times.  Both Kiwi and Little Man were asked by Mr. Potato head who their favorite character was.  Little Man answered "Buzz" and Kiwi "Jessie" of course.  Which caused Mr.  Potato head to ask who their second favorite Toy Story character was.
     Before going on the ride, I asked some staff members if they knew when the Toy Story characters were coming and they said it would be about twenty minutes from then.  Perfect! We went on the ride, rode the carousel, and then headed over to where they said the characters came. The first to make an appearance was Woody.

 I love how Kiwi is holding onto the back of Little Man's shirt in the picture.  She was a little bit nervous.

 Since we had got the scoop about the characters schedule we were second in line to see Woody.  We then went on Mickey's Ferris Wheel until Buzz came out.  I was really proud of Little Man on this ride.  He was nervous to go so high (almost to the point of tears), but did a great job and even wanted to do it later in the trip (but the line was too long).  Kiwi, however, had no fear and loved it.

 The lines were so short (I wish we could just go five Thursdays in a row) that we were able to go on rides between meeting all the characters.  After the Ferris Wheel, we went to see Buzz.

This is where Little Man experienced his most disappointing moment of the trip when he found out Buzz didn't sign autographs.  He got over it pretty quickly, however, when I said we could put a picture of him and Buzz on that page of his autograph book.

And then it was time for the cowgirl.  As I mentioned earlier, this Jessie was awesome and gave my kids some extra time when she saw how much Kiwi loved her.

I love Kiwi's "I'm trying to hold all my excitement in even though this is like the most exciting moment of my life" smile.  

 At Paradise Pier.  If we didn't live by so much family, I think I could definitely relocate to southern California or somewhere sunshiney.  I loved the weather!

After going on more rides, we went to Disney Junior Live on Stage.  Little Man has just recently started to outgrow these shows and hasn't been that interested in watching them, but he still enjoyed the show and since both of them have watched these shows they knew all the characters and songs.   Kiwi's current favorite show is "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" so she was especially enthralled by that part.

 Later in the day, we walked out an exhibit to see Jake.  And there was no line! This kept happening to us Thursday.  I guess it was our lucky day.

 California Adventure is full of these old Disney posters with characters and the kids loved them.  They wanted to pose and get pictures of almost all of them.

      On our way to dinner, we checked out Downtown Disney.

 We had seen that there was  Lego store in Downtown Disney so of course we had to stop there. They had a huge giraffe that took ten people something like 600 hundred hours to build.  They also had a Darth Vadar and a Woody made entirely of Legos.  If we wouldn't have had dinner reservations, I think the boys could have spent hours drooling over all the Lego sets they had here.  They also had little tables set up where you could build.  It was pretty incredible and next time we'll have to leave more time to explore there.

Dinner was at Goofy's Kitchen that night and as I mentioned earlier, was really fun.  The food was pretty good too, but the characters are what made the meal.  

 I got pretty excited when we saw that Minnie Mouse was coming around and had to jump in on that picture.

Snow White was another really nice character.  She talked to the kids for a while and answered Little Man's questions.  He asked her who her favorite Disney character was (she answered her prince) and who her best princess friend was (she said Belle, but that she really liked them all).  

After dinner, we boarded the bus back to our hotel exhausted, but happy.  When we got back to the hotel, Little Man declared, "That was one fun filled day!"  And that it was.