5 Happy Days

[Yakety76]

The Cast
Me(32), Trudy- A stay-at-home mom. I have been to Disneyland many times as a child, but have not been back for about 20 years.
DH(32), Bob- My loving husband of almost 7 years. He is a traveling salesman and in desperate need of a vacation.
DD(3), Riley-Our adventurous daughter. She is very outgoing and is not afraid of anything
DS(1.5),Kaleb– Our shy, but loving baby boy. Kaleb is very reserved around new people and in new situations. He loves Mickey, so we have high hopes.


Day 1 Sunday, February 24
My alarm is set to go off at 3:30 am. It is only 2:30 and I am already up and getting ready. I am too excited to sleep. We need to be on the road to the airport at 4:30. We know this is going to be the trickiest part of the vacation. Kaleb wakes up at 4:00. He is an early bird and often starts his day way too early. I hold him for another 20 minutes to let him get a little extra sleep. Bob wakes Riley up around 4:20. She is not as big of a morning person as Kaleb, so she is grumpy and asking why we woke her up. Bob tells her we are going to Disneyland and the change is instantaneous. She is automatically wide awake and ready to go. We pass through our city and she starts asking if we are in Disneyland yet. This is a refrain we will hear a lot over the next couple of hours.
We arrive at the airport at about 5:00, grab some breakfast, and wait for the flight. I take the time to get the kids dressed and brush their teeth. By the time we finish, the plane is ready for us to board. So far not too bad.

We get aboard and try to coax the kids to go back to sleep. That is not happening. We break out the DVD player to keep them entertained. Here is our first mistake. The DVD player isn’t charged. We charged it ahead of time in preparation, but didn’t charge it last night. Oh well, we have plenty of books and stickers to keep the little ones busy. Mom and Dad are already ready for a nap, but what can you do?!

We arrive at LAX after a fairly routine flight. We now wait for the Disneyland Express bus. It is raining outside, but warm. We had read the weather report, so we were ready for the rain. The kids are in rain suits and we have ponchos in the backpack. The ride to Disneyland was fine. The bus was comfortable and the DVD player on board was a nice touch to keep the kids entertained.

Finally! We arrive at the Disneyland Hotel. It is only around 9:30, so we are not expecting our room to be ready. We leave our bags and head for the park. Since it is raining, we opt to take the monorail into Dinseyland. It was kind of weird not entering through the gates on our first day, but it was worth it to stay dry. We get to Disneyland and it is dead. We seriously don’t see any other people. We cannot believe it and head right to Toon Town. This had not been our original plan, but we were going to take advantage of the rainy day.

In Toon Town, we explore Minnie’s house and then go to Mickey’s house. There are a couple of other families doing the same thing, but it still feels like we are all alone in Toon Town. Inside Mickey’s house is where our vacation starts to get exciting. We see Pluto right away. Riley is so excited. She runs right up to him and starts hugging him. Kaleb acts the way we expect him to. He is excited when we are far away and the closer we get, the harder he hugs Mom.

We turn down the hall, and there is Minnie. I put Kaleb down to see what he will do. He runs to Minnie and gives her the biggest hug. He is all smiles. I love the pictures of my two kiddos with Minnie.

Next up is Goofy and Max. The kids don’t know who Max is, so Riley is calling him Goofy’s friend. Kaleb is once again shy, but Riley lets Goofy pick her right up.

We come to a room and a CM brings us in for a visit with Fantasmic Mickey. Riley is once again so excited and Kaleb is still shy. We take our pictures and head out.

Not a bad start. We have been in Disneyland for less than an hour and already we have some great pictures.

 

[Mrs. Bee]

Love the report so far! You have a beautiful family! (Is it weird to say that? haha.)

Rain at Disneyland can be a blessing sometimes! We always loved to go on days like that.

 

[mindylovesmickey]

Sounds like a great start! Your first day was our last day in the parks and we decided to skip them because we were tired of the rain by that point. It's good you came prepared though, and you got to take advantage of the emptiness of the parks!

 

[WA Kay]

Great trip report so far and thank you for sharing the nice pictures. You have very cute children. Everyone looks like they are having such a great time. I can’t wait for the rest of your report.

 

[Mrs. Bee]

The Cast
Me(32), Trudy- A stay-at-home mom. I have been to Disneyland many times as a child, but have not been back for about 20 years.
DH(32), Bob- My loving husband of almost 7 years. He is a traveling salesman and in desperate need of a vacation.
DD(3), Riley-Our adventurous daughter. She is very outgoing and is not afraid of anything
DS(1.5),Kaleb– Our shy, but loving baby boy. Kaleb is very reserved around new people and in new situations. He loves Mickey, so we have high hopes.


Day 1 Sunday, February 24
My alarm is set to go off at 3:30 am. It is only 2:30 and I am already up and getting ready. I am too excited to sleep. We need to be on the road to the airport at 4:30. We know this is going to be the trickiest part of the vacation. Kaleb wakes up at 4:00. He is an early bird and often starts his day way too early. I hold him for another 20 minutes to let him get a little extra sleep. Bob wakes Riley up around 4:20. She is not as big of a morning person as Kaleb, so she is grumpy and asking why we woke her up. Bob tells her we are going to Disneyland and the change is instantaneous. She is automatically wide awake and ready to go. We pass through our city and she starts asking if we are in Disneyland yet. This is a refrain we will hear a lot over the next couple of hours.
We arrive at the airport at about 5:00, grab some breakfast, and wait for the flight. I take the time to get the kids dressed and brush their teeth. By the time we finish, the plane is ready for us to board. So far not too bad.

We get aboard and try to coax the kids to go back to sleep. That is not happening. We break out the DVD player to keep them entertained. Here is our first mistake. The DVD player isn’t charged. We charged it ahead of time in preparation, but didn’t charge it last night. Oh well, we have plenty of books and stickers to keep the little ones busy. Mom and Dad are already ready for a nap, but what can you do?!

We arrive at LAX after a fairly routine flight. We now wait for the Disneyland Express bus. It is raining outside, but warm. We had read the weather report, so we were ready for the rain. The kids are in rain suits and we have ponchos in the backpack. The ride to Disneyland was fine. The bus was comfortable and the DVD player on board was a nice touch to keep the kids entertained.

Finally! We arrive at the Disneyland Hotel. It is only around 9:30, so we are not expecting our room to be ready. We leave our bags and head for the park. Since it is raining, we opt to take the monorail into Dinseyland. It was kind of weird not entering through the gates on our first day, but it was worth it to stay dry. We get to Disneyland and it is dead. We seriously don’t see any other people. We cannot believe it and head right to Toon Town. This had not been our original plan, but we were going to take advantage of the rainy day.

In Toon Town, we explore Minnie’s house and then go to Mickey’s house. There are a couple of other families doing the same thing, but it still feels like we are all alone in Toon Town. Inside Mickey’s house is where our vacation starts to get exciting. We see Pluto right away. Riley is so excited. She runs right up to him and starts hugging him. Kaleb acts the way we expect him to. He is excited when we are far away and the closer we get, the harder he hugs Mom.

We turn down the hall, and there is Minnie. I put Kaleb down to see what he will do. He runs to Minnie and gives her the biggest hug. He is all smiles. I love the pictures of my two kiddos with Minnie.

Next up is Goofy and Max. The kids don’t know who Max is, so Riley is calling him Goofy’s friend. Kaleb is once again shy, but Riley lets Goofy pick her right up.

We come to a room and a CM brings us in for a visit with Fantasmic Mickey. Riley is once again so excited and Kaleb is still shy. We take our pictures and head out.

Not a bad start. We have been in Disneyland for less than an hour and already we have some great pictures.

Question....how tall are you and your husband? That mickey mouse seems really tall!

 

[Yakety76]

Love the report so far! You have a beautiful family! (Is it weird to say that? haha.)

Rain at Disneyland can be a blessing sometimes! We always loved to go on days like that.

Thank you.

The rain wasn't too bad. It was only sprinkling. It was so neat to have the park to ourselves in the morning. We didn't take full advantage of the situation, but we had a great time

 

[Yakety76]

Question....how tall are you and your husband? That mickey mouse seems really tall!

I am 5'4". Hubby is about 5'10". We met quite a few characters that seemed really tall. I know I am on the short side, but they were towering over me. They were always nice enough to get down on the kids' level, so the kids weren't overwhelmed by them.

 

[Yakety76]

Riley has always said that she wanted to ride the Monsters Inc. ride first, so we head over to DCA. It is still sprinkling, so both parks are still really slow. We walk right onto Monsters Inc. We of course had to ride that twice. What a fun ride. Roz was a hoot. She said Riley was too cute and needed to stay in Monstropolis with her.

After that, we decide to go to the Pacific Wharf Café for soup and sandwiches. I had the Salinas Turkey Sandwich, DH had the Montery Clam Chowder and the kids had the Toddler meal. Not bad. Nothing spectacular, but it was fine.

It is now Kaleb’s nap time, so I head for the Baby Care Center to rock him while Bob and Riley go ride some more rides. Unfortunately our hotel room still wasn’t ready (it is only around noon now), so I had to hold Kaleb while he slept. He didn’t mind this, but it wasn’t the most comfortable for me. The Baby Care Center in DCA is not that nice. The CMs were talking to each other in really loud voices and housekeeping was coming in every two minutes. However, no other moms and kids were using the rooms, so I didn’t feel rushed or that I was putting anyone out by parking myself in a chair. While changing positions to try to get more comfortable, I woke Kaleb up. He only had about an hour nap which isn’t that great especially after waking up so early. Oh well, what can you do?!

We set off to find Bob and Riley. Bob had left his cell phone in our bags back at the hotel, so we had a plan to meet in front of the parks at 1:00. I decided to try to find them figuring they went over to DL to ride some rides. We leave DCA and head across the way to DL. Well, I had forgotten that I needed my ticket to get into the park. I had read that on the boards, but didn’t think about it when DH took the backpack with everything in it. We are now stuck between parks. Since we didn’t come in from DTD that morning, I didn’t know if I needed my ticket to go through security. Thankfully Kaleb was happy as can be playing with the birds. Bob and Riley came our right at 1:00 to find us and we went to our hotel room which was now ready.
Dad and Riley had a great time while Kaleb and I were napping. They stayed in DCA and went on the Bug’s Land rides. Bob also took Riley to see the Muppet Show even though I had told him that show and the It’s Tough to be a Bug show were off limits for Riley. She did say the Muppet Show was scary, but it seemed to be a good kind of scary. Not the same kind of scary she had when Dad took her to see It’s Tough to be a Bug. More on that one later.

We head for our hotel. The sun is now shining. The rain has stopped and people are arriving to enjoy the day. We had reserved a two bedroom suite at the Disneyland Hotel. We ended up getting our rooms in the Wonder tower. We were overlooking the waterfalls with views of DTD and the park. The room is a lot of space for the four of us, but we wanted the kids to each have their own room. We had read some negative comments about housekeeping at the Disneyland Hotel, but we were extremely pleased with our room.

After resting and unpacking, we head back to Disneyland for the 3:30 Parade of Dreams. We got there a little early, so we ride Pirates. I hadn’t planned on taking the kids on it yet, but Riley begged to go. They loved it. Yeah!! We also caught a little bit of the Sword in the Stone show. The kids were a little young for it, so we didn’t stay for the whole thing. We get in place for the parade and the kids love it. We were lucky to be in front, so the kids had a good view of everything. Dad and Riley go on to ride the Matterhorn after the parade. It is supposed to be closed for the rest of the week, and Bob really wants to ride it. Riley did really well on it. We had watched that one on Youtube to try and prepare her.

It is time to head back to the hotel. It has been a long day. We stop at Tortilla Jo’s and took some food back to the hotel for dinner. The kids are in bed and asleep by 6:30. Our Albertson’s grocery order arrives right at 6:30, so Bob brought that up and then headed back to the parks. He road Tower of Terror, Soarin’, and watched the Electrical Parade. I was able to see the fireworks from our hotel room, so I watched some of them and then we all went to sleep. The beds at the Disneyland Hotel are sooooo comfortable. What a busy first day.

 

[Katie0677]

Great report so far! We were there last week too and Sunday the 24th, was definitely the best (as far as crowds!!) I think we were able almost all the rides on that day alone! Can't wait to see the rest!
Katie

 

[Yakety76]

We have reservations at Goofy’s Kitchen for 7:30 am, so we get dressed and head over there. Pluto is the official greeter. Riley runs right up to him, but Kaleb is still feeling rather shy. I hold him and we get a cute family photo with Pluto. Captain Hook escorts us to our table. Both kids were a little hesitant about this one. Captain Hook is the one person Riley did NOT want to see. She has never watched the Peter Pan movie, but we have read a Peter Pan book. Captain Hook is really the only villain she knows about, so she did not want to meet him. The Captain Hook at Goofy’s Kitchen is so not in character, though. This ended up being good for us. He really tried to win over the kids and in the end they loved him.

We had such a great time. Goofy worked hard to get Kaleb to like him. He spent quite a bit of time at our table. This made all the difference for Kaleb. From this point forward he LOVES the characters. I am so glad we did the Character breakfast at the beginning of our trip. We had a great time with the characters and thought the food was decent- especially for buffet food. We saw Pluto, Goofy, Alice, Captain Hook, Jasmine and Donald Duck there.

Is it just me or do they have the same smile?

After breakfast, we head for Disneyland. We get there at around 9, so we are toward the front of the line (the park didn’t open until 10). We make a last minute change in our plans and decide to try for Nemo. They let us into Main Street at 9:30. By this time the kids are really tired of waiting. As soon as the rope drops, we head for Nemo. We were on the first sub. Go Us!! I know many are not impressed with this ride, but we really enjoyed it. Kaleb especially thought it was great. Riley got a little scared by the angler fish, but other than that like it. After Nemo, we ride Buzz. I have to say I kick butt on that ride. Riley and I both outscored my husband- not that he will ever admit it. I tried to take a picture of our scores, but it didn’t turn out. Next we go on Pirates, again. Everyone loved this ride. I am so glad because it was one of my favorites when I was a kid. After Pirates, we look over at the Pirates Lair and see Captain Jack. We get on the raft and head over. There was a pretty sizable line to meet Captain Jack. The kids don’t know who he is and really weren’t interested. They wanted to dance to the Bootlegger’s music, so that is what we did. This drew Captain Jack’s attention, and he wondered over to watch my little ones dance. He was totally in character. What a great experience. Thanks Captain Jack!!

It is now time for lunch so we head back to the hotel for sandwiches and naps. Kaleb and Dad nap while Riley takes a rest. She doesn’t nap anymore, but still needs about an hour of down time to rejuvenate. Riley and I take off to DCA when she is ready. We tried to go into the Animation Building, but it was down. Monsters was down, too. We happen upon the Drawn to the Magic show and watch that. Riley loves Woody. Again, she has never seen the show, but has read books with him. She was thrilled to see him. We then went to Bug’s Land and rode some rides. Nap time is over and Riley wants to go swimming, so we head for the hotel. The kids swim for a while. They loved the Neverland Pool.

After swimming we go to the World of Disney store and Lego land for souvenirs. We then go to dinner at the Rainforest Café. The kids weren’t that impressed with the Rainforest Café. It was hard for them to focus and eat- too much going on. I bet it is great for older kids, though.
It is our bedtime, so we head for the hotel and get some sleep.

 

[momto2nenas]

Loving the report! The pics are great and naptime is really working out for y'all! We just let our 2 take them in their strollers!

Waiting for more.....

 

[Mrs. Bee]

Great report and photos! I love the one of Captain Jack and Riley. too cute!

 

[Yakety76]

Loving the report! The pics are great and naptime is really working out for y'all! We just let our 2 take them in their strollers!

Waiting for more.....

We were hoping Kaleb would nap in his stroller- especially on our first and last days. However, we knew that wasn't likely. He has never been able to nap on the go, so we are used to stopping everything midday for his naps. It works for us, but it would have been nice to be able to keep going. In a couple of years neither kid will be napping and then we can.

 

[Yakety76]

Great report and photos! I love the one of Captain Jack and Riley. too cute!

I love that one too! It was so amazing how he just left this huge line of people to come watch her dance. Of course she stopped dancing once she realized all eyes were on her, but it makes for a fun memory.

 

[Yakety76]

At around midnight Bob and I were awakened by the sound of really loud music. I thought it had something to do with Downtown Disney. In the morning, Bob called the front desk to ask if this music would be playing at midnight every night we were there. He was told that they were rehearsing Fantasmic and it was a one time only deal. Then the very helpful CM offered us free passes for Goofy’s. Wow!! What great service. The CM even made our reservations for us- 7:30 am on Wednesday morning.

We got ready and had some breakfast in the room and headed out to Disneyland for our first Magic Morning. We were at the gates early, but so was everyone else. I think they were all headed for Nemo though because we didn’t have any trouble with lines. We road Peter Pan, Dumbo, Alice, Mad Tea Party, Toady, Pinocchio and Autopia. The only one we waited in line for was Autopia. I remember not really liking that ride as a kid, and I still do not. I guess I am just not a good driver.
Kaleb had been begging to ride Autopia, but honestly I think he liked sitting in the Autopia car by Goof’s Kitchen better. The kids loved Peter Pan, Dumbo and Alice. Riley wasn’t so sure about Toady and Piinocchio.

After riding the Fantasyland rides we went on a ride on the Disney Railroad. We took the full circuit around the park. That was nice and relaxing. The kids liked the train, but did not like stopping at the stops and waiting for everyone else to board.

It is now time for lunch and nap.

After nap, we head back to Disneyland. We pass by the Haunted Mansion and ask Riley if she wants to go in and see the ghosts. We had shown her this ride on Youtube, so she knew what to expect. She was up for it, so we were able to ride Haunted Mansion. I didn’t think we would be able to, so I am excited. The only part that was a little scary for the kids was in the elevator when all the people scream. We did have a couple of those people in the elevator with us who insisted on saying the lines. A little annoying since I haven’t been on the ride for so long, but oh well. Our Doombuggy got stopped in the ballroom scene. We were there for about 5 minutes. I thought the kids might break down, but they did great. What troopers.
After Haunted Mansion, we head over to Winnie the Pooh. The kids LOVED it. I did miss the Country Bear Jamboree, but honestly think the kids enjoyed Pooh more than they would have the Jamboree. After riding Pooh, we stop and get Tigger Tales. YUMMY!!

The kids spy Tigger and Pooh and decide that we have to wait in line to meet them. This is seriously the longest line we wait in our whole trip. I tried to talk them out of waiting, but they were set on it. They were great in line and seriously ran to Pooh when it was our turn. I am glad they made me wait. It was so worth it.

Bob starts heading back to the hotel and I jump over to DCA to ride Soarin’. What a great ride. I had a smile on my face the whole time. I especially loved the smells.

We ordered room service for dinner. Not worth the price. We would have been smarter to pick something up on the way. The kids and I went to bed and Bob headed back to the parks to ride some rides. I think he road Indy, Star Tours and Space Mountain. He said that the best part of Indy was the line and the boulder. I haven’t ridden that one- new since I have been, so I don’t know.

 

[daisy_77]

I love your trip report! Your kids are cuties!

Looking forward to more!

 

[Yakety76]

We start off the day with breakfast at Goofy’s Kitchen at 7:30. Kaleb heads right for the Autopia car to play while we wait for our turn with Pluto.

Our pictures with Pluto turn out even better than the ones we had on Monday, but I had already bought the set from Monday. I thought about asking if they would trade me, but decided not to in the end. We had another enjoyable breakfast at Goof’s. It was busier than it was on Monday, so the characters weren’t able to spend as much time with us. They all did make a stop at our table and chat with the kids a bit, though. Our table was by the kitchen, so I was worried about being missed as these seats didn’t seem as good as the ones we had on Monday. The characters were great, though. We will definitely be going back our next trip to Disneyland. We saw Goofy, Pluto, Chip, Dale, the Mad Hatter, and Cinderella.

Kaleb is still shy with the face characters.

The parks didn’t open until 10:00, so we went back up to our room. We didn’t feel the need to get to the parks early because we were starting at DCA. The kids got impatient, so we headed out. There was actually a pretty big line to get into DCA. We didn’t get in it because we just wanted to go to the Visa Meet and Greet. When the gates opened, we headed for the Meet and Greet and stood in a short line to meet Camp Mickey.

We got a cute picture and then headed for King Tritons Carousel. Bob took the kids on the carousel and I rode California Screamin’. That is one fun roller coaster. I did feel a little nervous about abandoning Bob with both kids, so I hurried over to the carousel. They had happily ridden on it three times while I was gone. No one even missed me.

After the carousel and California Screamin’ we went to ride Monsters again. I think we road it three times or so. Then we went to Taste Pilots Grill for lunch. Not bad. I like the Mickey plates that the kids’ meals come on. We also got the kids a Woody cup. We then went to Engine Ears and got two boxes of Potato Head accessories. We went back to the hotel for nap. The kids had to try out all the new Potato Head things first. What a fun souvenir.

After Riley finishes her rest, she and I had to Toon Town. I left the stroller with Bob and had planned on taking the Monorail, but it was down. We stop and get a free Disney stroller rental with our Disney Visa. We go into Toon Town and ride Roger Rabbit. This is the only ride that Riley has not liked yet. She is too young for the movie and had no clue about any of the characters. I think it was just a little too intense. She didn’t cry or freak out- not her style. She just said that next time I could ride it on my own. The ride for Gadget’s Go Coaster was 30 minutes, so I decided to skip that one. We head to the play areas: Donald’s Boat, Goofy’s Playhouse, and the Chip ‘n Dale Treehouse. I was really disappointed by these. There was no where for the kids to really play. There was only one little slide and that was it. I was expecting to spend awhile here letting Riley burn off some energy, but she was pretty much not impressed either. She did like the jail. I think it is really a dog pound, but she called it a jail. She wasn’t that into all the other noise makers in the area. We did find some fun souvenirs at the Gag Factory, though.

Kaleb and Dad are up from their nap, so we go over to DCA to meet them. We go to the Animation building for Turtle Talk. Snow White is sitting outside, so Riley gets a picture with her.

Riley thinks Turtle Talk is pretty neat, but Kaleb is a little bored. I am worried because our next stop is the Aladdin show. There is a long line and the helpful CM tells us not to worry that it doesn’t fill up and there are no bad seats. Good to know. We wait until they open the doors and then get in line. I need not have worried. The kids were engrossed as soon as the music started. Kaleb loves music, so he was dancing along (sitting on my lap of course- not in the aisle) the whole show. The kids haven’t seen the movie, so I was a little worried it might be scary. They both thought it was the best. We have been home for a week now and the Aladdin show is the thing Riley talks the most about. We pretend to watch it or put on our own show at least once a day.

Kaleb has yet to go to Bug’s Land, so we head over there. He loved Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train. Riley’s favorite ride in Bug’s Land was Flik’s Flyers.

On the way out of the park, I stop by Greetings From California to get our free 5x7. Bad idea as this is what everyone else is doing too. I wait for quite a while and then join up with Bob and the kids at the hotel. He had gotten us some chicken nachos from Tortilla Jo’s for dinner. Yummy. After we eat, Bob heads out to Disneyland for some adult rides and I put the kids to bed. Tomorrow is our last day.

 

[Yakety76]

I love your trip report! Your kids are cuties!

Looking forward to more!

Thanks so much!! I think they are pretty cute, too.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

I am enjoying your report!

 

[Yakety76]

I am enjoying your report!

Thank you. I am having so much fun reliving our wonderful trip. I really cannot wait to go back.
Earlier this week I asked Riley what she wanted to do as we didn't have any plans. She said she wanted to go to Disneyland. Don't I wish?!