Disneyland Trip: Day 1

Tuesday before Disneyland was quite a busy day.  We hosted a playdate, packed, packed, did laundry, more packing, and watched the presidential debate.  Around 6:30pm, Gabriela passed out and I was so glad she would be getting extra rest before our big day. After all, we would be waking her up at 5:30 in the morning for our flight. It turns out, she was just taking a nap and woke up at 8:30 pm. I tried getting her to lay down in the bed by herself, but she said it was so hard to sleep without me. So, I laid down with her until she fell asleep and got back to prepping for our trip.

 It  was pretty hard getting Gabriela to wake up in the morning until I said today was the day we were going to Disneyland.  Her eyes opened right up and she sat up, got dressed and was wide awake.  These two kiddos were such great travelers. Easton was awake the whole time for his first airplane flight. I didn't even nurse him at take off, he was too busy looking out the window in his big sister's arms.

We arrived to our spacious hotel room by 9:30 am.  I am so glad we decided to fly.  We made sure we had everything for the day at the park and hopped on a shuttle to California Adventure.  I wanted to go there first just to make sure we could spend two whole days at Disneyland. 

When we originally planned our trip, we thought October would be perfect - a midweek trip after school was in session would mean fewer crowds, shorter lines, and we'd also beat the heat.  Well, so much for that last one - it was 96 degrees the first day we arrived.

We rode some of the kid rides at the park and then spent some time getting wet at the water play area, which was a total hit.  I told Gabriela she could get as wet as she wanted.

 Gabriela and Easton both rode King Triton's Carousel while Lane and I took turns going on California Screamin' roller coaster.   Gabriela really wanted to ride too, but she was a few inches too short.  She was so excited to find out what it felt like to ride upside down in a roller coaster.

 Easton adored riding on the carousels and after this would point out frantically whenever he saw one, reaching toward it with his whole upper body saying, "DAH! DAH! DAH!" over and over again.

 Daddy got Gabriela a popsicle treat to help her cool off.

 We met up with Uncle Nate, Auntie Liss, Emilie, Chaney and Beau for the Little Mermaid ride, which turned out to be Gabriela's favorite.

Lane and I each took a turn riding on the Silly Symphony Swings with her too.

 We caught the afternoon Pixar Parade and got to see characters from Monsters, Inc, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and some other movies.

 

Gabriela rode on Goofy's Sky School Coaster with Auntie Liss.  She had so much fun that we went again. A little girl unknowingly sat right next to Beau which caused Gabriela to burst into tears for a few moments. After we fixed the seating arrangement, Gabriela rode the whole roller coaster with Beau's arms around her - in case she got scared.

 I took Gabriela on this ride called Soaring over California since she loves roller coasters and it was like a flight simulation ride over all different parts of California.  Gabriela did not like it. at. all. I felt so bad, she kept saying over and over again how it was scary.  It reminded me of how hard it is for children to separate reality from fantasy.  Even though she knows exactly where the Golden Gate Bridge is, and knew we were far from it, it totally freaked her out to be flying over water. Poor Baby. She gave that ride a thumbs down.  We waited about 20 minutes for Lane to have a turn on the ride before we headed over to Disneyland to catch the evening parade. When Lane came out of the ride, this is what he found:  One tired girl at 5:30 pm.

We still headed over to Disneyland, thinking she might wake up for the Soundsational Parade.  She didn't, and that parade was loud!  Gabriela slept through the shuttle ride home and back into our hotel. We ended up ordering room service so we could at least eat, even though our kids were sound asleep.

I was impressed with our hotel. Their room service rates were the same as the restaurant rates, and there was no extra charge for room service.  This worked out wonderfully in our favor.

Gabriela rested soundly until 6:00 the next morning.

Day one: Success.