Disneyland
We had planned this trip for a very long time. I'd wanted to take G to Carsland in the worst way. So maybe a year ago? We started talking to our friends who also have two young kids (almost 5 and 3) and we decided we'd go.
The trip was last weekend.
I have been to Disneyland my fair share. When we lived in California we went a few times. I've been maybe 5 or 6 times? We went every year there for a while. And I've been to Disney World twice. I love this stuff. Love it. I know all the songs, I know all the princesses. I know about this stuff.
But even still, when we were planning I was reading all these blogs and reading tips for doing it with young kids and I let myself get bogged down in the ridiculousness that is the internet. I mean I made a plan of which rides to ride and what time we had to get there (touring plans) and everyone on the internet said they were great and so I did it. Maybe it would help. Traveling with an 18mo I was in the market for anything that would help.
And you know what happened? We got to California, we got to the hotel and our room wasn't ready, so we just went to the park. And it was a Thursday and it was pretty empty and we just got on rides that had little to no lines and walked around and saw Mickey and did our thing. I mean it's a fairly small park. You don't need to have it all worked out.
In fact I would say with two kids it's better to have little to no plans. What did I want? I wanted G to ride rides and then get a group picture in front of the castle. That was it. I didn't personally need or want to do anything. Which helped me have fun. I think Lewis and I had the same expectations. Blow G's mind with the awesome power of Walt Disney. And therefore; mission accomplished.
He was in awe. Everything amazed him. He loved meeting all the characters and getting signatures in a notebook we made before we left. He was chatty with all of them and used good manners to ask them for their signatures.
He loved Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and Pirates of the Carribean. The Haunted Mansion scared him but he road it twice. The first time, we told him if he got scared he could use a "safe word" and say trumpet and we'd help him. Five minutes into the ride he says meekly ... trumpet. It was pretty funny. We told him to just roar at anything that scared him. Made it a game and he was totally fine. He liked Peter Pan's Flight but it made D sick and he threw up as soon as we got off. We had to miss the parade because of that. But oh well. I don't think it took anything away from G's experience.
It rained a ton which is always a mixed blessing. No lines ... but we were getting drenched. Friday was miserable. Less for me and more for my friend we were traveling with. It was a rough day. But we got to ride the Toy Story Mania ride twice which was great because after Radiator Springs Racers broke (the Lightning McQueen ride and the big draw) and the ride for Toy Story Mania became like ... really long. Even with the rain.
But Toy Story Mania is a great ride. You have a laser and you shoot targets and you have a score. It was fun. Buzz Blasters in Tomorrowland is the same concept and because of rain he got on that one twice (once with dad once with mom - D was asleep) like one after the other. Autopia (car race ride where kid drives the car) was fun too. We waited in line for it on Friday night (in the rain) but the cars broke and after over an hour in line (in the rain) and getting to the part where you get on the car they told us it was closed. They issues rain tickets for that day (it was 6PM, ridiculous) but I was so mad I just wanted out. But my friends we were with used hand sanitizer to change the date on it to the next day and it worked. They let them right on the ride with virtually no wait (D was asleep, and can't ride anyway). They didn't even take the card so then the boys (husbands and 5yo) used it to ride Space Mountain.
And the princess we were with (3yo) got to meet Ariel, Aurora, Cinderella, Mulan and Snow White. Even G liked meeting the princesses, and wanted to so he could tell his best friend at school that he met her favorite, Cinderella. He also met Buzz Lightyear, which blew his mind, Woody, ditto, Lightning McQueen (he now says he's seen the "real" Lightning McQueen) and Mater. And Mickey and Minnie and Pluto and Goofy. We could have seen Donald but we just moved on. Oh Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, too.
See what I did there?
He loved the Mater ride at Disney California Adventure, and called it going tractor tipping. There's a picture of the kids roaring at the tractors to try to make them tip over.
We saw Disney Jr. Live which was cute (and indoors and therefore dry) and the kids danced around and there were bubbles and streamers and good fun. Did I mention it was dry?
We watched the Bugs Life show which scared them but had 3D glasses so all the kids were swatting at things in front of their faces. Pretty funny.
We rode the Monster's Inc ride which was just kind of okay. I didn't hear much about it. We were running in a downpour to that one and it was hard to find covered stroller parking.
Really G loved the monorail. Which I knew he would.
The food was expensive the lines weren't bad and the weather was crummy. But we had a great trip. A rainy day at Disney is better than a lot of days a lot of places. Both kids enjoyed it but with G getting more out of it. D had his highs and lows. He grew really weary of the stroller. He did figure out how to fall asleep in it and did take naps. But they weren't quality and they are still super exhausted today. They were going from 6AM to 7/8PM for three days. The first day it was from 5AM Dallas time to 6PM Cali time. So like 15 hours? It was a hard day but they were troopers.
My recommendations ... if you want to go, go. That's about it. Bring food into the park because for some reason the kid food is really lacking. I don't remember that being the case last I visited but whatever. Virtually no chicken nuggets. Who knew that would be a problem? But they let you bring food in and coolers and I say take complete advantage. Also if you have two kids you need two strollers. We brought the Chicco and then just an umbrella stroller. I liked the Chicco for D because it could lay flat for naps, diaper changes and it had a hood to keep him dry. Which was an issue.
I don't think any age is too young for the park if your expectations are right. I'm not taking my kids so they have memories at this age. I'm taking them so I have memories of them at this age. They loved it and had a great time (I'd say D had an okay time. The rain limited how much he could get out. If it had been dry there are a lot of toddler play areas he could have run around in).
I will take them again. I hope to do Disney World in the next few years, and then maybe once more when they are older. But again ... I love this stuff.
If you want to see the pictures ...
The trip was last weekend.
I have been to Disneyland my fair share. When we lived in California we went a few times. I've been maybe 5 or 6 times? We went every year there for a while. And I've been to Disney World twice. I love this stuff. Love it. I know all the songs, I know all the princesses. I know about this stuff.
But even still, when we were planning I was reading all these blogs and reading tips for doing it with young kids and I let myself get bogged down in the ridiculousness that is the internet. I mean I made a plan of which rides to ride and what time we had to get there (touring plans) and everyone on the internet said they were great and so I did it. Maybe it would help. Traveling with an 18mo I was in the market for anything that would help.
And you know what happened? We got to California, we got to the hotel and our room wasn't ready, so we just went to the park. And it was a Thursday and it was pretty empty and we just got on rides that had little to no lines and walked around and saw Mickey and did our thing. I mean it's a fairly small park. You don't need to have it all worked out.
In fact I would say with two kids it's better to have little to no plans. What did I want? I wanted G to ride rides and then get a group picture in front of the castle. That was it. I didn't personally need or want to do anything. Which helped me have fun. I think Lewis and I had the same expectations. Blow G's mind with the awesome power of Walt Disney. And therefore; mission accomplished.
He was in awe. Everything amazed him. He loved meeting all the characters and getting signatures in a notebook we made before we left. He was chatty with all of them and used good manners to ask them for their signatures.
He loved Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and Pirates of the Carribean. The Haunted Mansion scared him but he road it twice. The first time, we told him if he got scared he could use a "safe word" and say trumpet and we'd help him. Five minutes into the ride he says meekly ... trumpet. It was pretty funny. We told him to just roar at anything that scared him. Made it a game and he was totally fine. He liked Peter Pan's Flight but it made D sick and he threw up as soon as we got off. We had to miss the parade because of that. But oh well. I don't think it took anything away from G's experience.
It rained a ton which is always a mixed blessing. No lines ... but we were getting drenched. Friday was miserable. Less for me and more for my friend we were traveling with. It was a rough day. But we got to ride the Toy Story Mania ride twice which was great because after Radiator Springs Racers broke (the Lightning McQueen ride and the big draw) and the ride for Toy Story Mania became like ... really long. Even with the rain.
But Toy Story Mania is a great ride. You have a laser and you shoot targets and you have a score. It was fun. Buzz Blasters in Tomorrowland is the same concept and because of rain he got on that one twice (once with dad once with mom - D was asleep) like one after the other. Autopia (car race ride where kid drives the car) was fun too. We waited in line for it on Friday night (in the rain) but the cars broke and after over an hour in line (in the rain) and getting to the part where you get on the car they told us it was closed. They issues rain tickets for that day (it was 6PM, ridiculous) but I was so mad I just wanted out. But my friends we were with used hand sanitizer to change the date on it to the next day and it worked. They let them right on the ride with virtually no wait (D was asleep, and can't ride anyway). They didn't even take the card so then the boys (husbands and 5yo) used it to ride Space Mountain.
And the princess we were with (3yo) got to meet Ariel, Aurora, Cinderella, Mulan and Snow White. Even G liked meeting the princesses, and wanted to so he could tell his best friend at school that he met her favorite, Cinderella. He also met Buzz Lightyear, which blew his mind, Woody, ditto, Lightning McQueen (he now says he's seen the "real" Lightning McQueen) and Mater. And Mickey and Minnie and Pluto and Goofy. We could have seen Donald but we just moved on. Oh Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, too.
See what I did there?
He loved the Mater ride at Disney California Adventure, and called it going tractor tipping. There's a picture of the kids roaring at the tractors to try to make them tip over.
We saw Disney Jr. Live which was cute (and indoors and therefore dry) and the kids danced around and there were bubbles and streamers and good fun. Did I mention it was dry?
We watched the Bugs Life show which scared them but had 3D glasses so all the kids were swatting at things in front of their faces. Pretty funny.
We rode the Monster's Inc ride which was just kind of okay. I didn't hear much about it. We were running in a downpour to that one and it was hard to find covered stroller parking.
Really G loved the monorail. Which I knew he would.
The food was expensive the lines weren't bad and the weather was crummy. But we had a great trip. A rainy day at Disney is better than a lot of days a lot of places. Both kids enjoyed it but with G getting more out of it. D had his highs and lows. He grew really weary of the stroller. He did figure out how to fall asleep in it and did take naps. But they weren't quality and they are still super exhausted today. They were going from 6AM to 7/8PM for three days. The first day it was from 5AM Dallas time to 6PM Cali time. So like 15 hours? It was a hard day but they were troopers.
My recommendations ... if you want to go, go. That's about it. Bring food into the park because for some reason the kid food is really lacking. I don't remember that being the case last I visited but whatever. Virtually no chicken nuggets. Who knew that would be a problem? But they let you bring food in and coolers and I say take complete advantage. Also if you have two kids you need two strollers. We brought the Chicco and then just an umbrella stroller. I liked the Chicco for D because it could lay flat for naps, diaper changes and it had a hood to keep him dry. Which was an issue.
I don't think any age is too young for the park if your expectations are right. I'm not taking my kids so they have memories at this age. I'm taking them so I have memories of them at this age. They loved it and had a great time (I'd say D had an okay time. The rain limited how much he could get out. If it had been dry there are a lot of toddler play areas he could have run around in).
I will take them again. I hope to do Disney World in the next few years, and then maybe once more when they are older. But again ... I love this stuff.
If you want to see the pictures ...
Comments