Disneyland!

On Friday morning, both kids were feeling well, so I took them to school. Jeff and I decided that if both were well by the end of the day, we'd fly by the seat of our pants, get in the car, and take them to Disneyland. I picked them up around 4:45PM. The director of the daycare told me that Henry had informed the daycare census takers who count up the number of kids in each room every few hours that he was going to Disneyland. When I picked them up, Henry was in a great mood and showed off his new skill...galloping. We went home, Jeff took Lily to a nearby kennel, we packed, and then we headed to California around 7PM. The DVD player kept the kids occupied. We stopped by Carrabas in Mesa for dinner. The meal was nothing short of a disaster. Henry was in a mood and irked that we wouldn't let him wander around the restaurant. We arrived in California around 2:30AM. The kids were asleep. They woke up when we transferred them to the hotel beds, but they settled down relatively quickly.

Henry had told several people that we was going to see the castle at Disneyland. So we decided to make that our first stop on Saturday.

















We went to Peter Pan's Flight. Then Miss R had a request for the horsies (which meant King Arthur's Carousel). Next was Toad Hall for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.





















We went on Pinocchio's Daring Journey and Snow White’s Scary Adventures. The lines were short, which was nice. We were beginning to wonder if the rides were a little overstimulating as the sounds were very loud. From there, we decided that it was time to find a play area, so we headed over to Toon Town to Goofy's Playhouse (playground). After lunch, we saw Donald Duck. Henry gave him a big hug. Miss R was excited to see him, but she preferred to keep a little distance.






















We went to "It's a Small World," which still had its holiday decorations. The kids loved it. We visited the Innoventions exhibits. The kids loved the video game of soccer that was projected onto the floor. When they touched the projection of the ball, it would move. Henry got into a tussle with another young boy over the virtual soccer ball. By then, it was time for a nap, so we headed back to the hotel for a couple hours.

After some order-in Chinese, we went back to Disneyland for another round of Small World, Nemo's Submarine, and fireworks. We then headed to Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, which includes laser guns to point at targets for points. With some help from Jeff, Henry got a few points. We went on a boat ride in Storybook Land, which was nice. We topped off the evening on an Alice in Wonderland ride. We all slept well!

On Sunday morning, we started off on a Jungle Cruise in Adventure Land. The kids liked the animals. We went on Pirates of the Caribbean twice. Henry liked it. Miss R was not a fan. The one thing that is missing at Disneyland is toddler play areas. There's only so long that a toddler is going to wait patiently in a line and sit on a ride. But at least there was Tarzan's Tree. Miss R climbed all of the way to the top by herself. I carried her down. Henry and Jeff were well ahead of us. Henry met a girl (probably 4). They held hands down the tree. He had fun with his new girl friend. She was unhappy when her father said it was time to go.





















We had lunch at the Hungry Bear Restaurant. Henry didn't want to sit down and acted out. Jeff and I questioned our parenting skills b/c Henry was by far the most fidgety toddler in the park. Whereas other kids would sit still and eat, Henry always had to be moving and exploring. After lunch, we went on a Winnie the Pooh ride in Critter Country. The kids got to meet Winnie the Pooh and Tigger whom they loved. Henry wasn't interested in posing for pictures. He just wanted to hug Winnie and Tigger. We heard lots of "Awwws" from the people in line behind us at Henry's cuteness when he hugged them.





















We took the train from New Orleans Square to the Main Entrance. The kids liked the dinosaurs that we saw on the way. Miss R especially liked the deer that we saw.

We decided to search for a play area in California Adventure. On our way to the Tug Boat area, Henry fell asleep for over an hour. So we kept walking until we found a nice bench near the carousel. Henry slept. Miss R showed no signs of drowsiness. She rode the carousel once with Jeff and then four times with me.

We walked to the Bugs area and saw A Bug's Life 3D. Henry claimed to like it, but Jeff asked him if he wanted to do it again. He said "No!" I think that it was a little scary and overstimulating.

We went on a flying ride. Miss R didn't like it. Henry did it again with Jeff, while I went over to the spinning lady bug ride with Miss R. She liked it. We did it again with Henry and Jeff. Henry wasn't a fan. Then we went on a caterpillar ride, which we all found kind of boring. We headed back to the tug boat play area for awhile. It was OK, but not inspiring or interesting. We had dinner, and Henry actually behaved throughout the meal more or less. After dinner, we went on the Monster's Inc. ride, which was a huge hit. We had repeat requests from both kids, so we went on that ride five times in a row. We went to see Muppet Vision 3D, which the kids seemed to like. Not as scary as the bugs show.

We then headed back to Disneyland because Henry had a "Buzz Lightyear" request. I got us FastPass tickets, which meant that we wouldn't have to wait in line but had a half-hour to an hour do something else. Miss R fell asleep at this point, not having napped at all. We decide to go to Small World again. Jeff took Henry once. Then I took Henry.

After Small World, I took Henry on the Buzz Lightyear ride. I hadn't ridden with Henry on it before. I handed him the laser gun and he managed to get to Level 2 all by himself (1700 points!). He really seemed to get it. Then Jeff took him, and Henry obtained 1400 points (Level 2 again!). We have a video game expert on our hands.

We watched the fireworks with a view of the castle. They were fantastic. Henry loved them. Miss R woke up and didn't like them. She cuddled into me. Although the park still had over an hour to go before closing, we decided to go to a store in Tomorrowland and call it a night. Miss R got a Nemo stuffed toy. Henry insisted on getting a Nemo bucket.

On Monday morning, we went to IHOP for breakfast. Again, we had a relatively problem-free meal. We got to the park before it openned and converted our 3-day hopper passes into annual passes. We headed straight to Fantasy Land for a ride on Peter Pan, the carousel, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and Dumbo. Henry went on Dumbo twice. Miss R conveyed that once was enough for her. Both kids enjoyed the train around Storybook Land. Then we fit in one more Peter Pan Flight into our schedule.






We went to Toon Town to let the kids run off some steam. The Chip'N'Dale Tree House was pretty lame. We walked around a "boat" which was OK. The kids played on some cars. We ran into Goofy on our way to his Playhouse (the only toddler playground in the park). Henry gave Goofy a hug and a kiss. Miss R was scared of Goofy and refused to go near him.





















We had lunch at the Blue Bayou, the restaurant overlooking the start of Pirates of the Caribbean. The food was excellent. The drinks came with little clip on lights (my drink had Tinkerbell and Jeff's drink had LightningMcQueen on it). The restaurant is dark, lit with Chinese laterns. So the clip on lights entertained Henry. Miss R napped through most of lunch. Toward the end of lunch, Henry decided to go looking for "The Rat!" from Lady and the Tramp under our table. I'm sure that the staff was pleased to hear a child exclaim "Rat!" while in the restaurant.

We then walked to California Adventure to get our picture id cards for the annual membership. It was near the Monsters Inc. ride, which we proceeded to ride twice. We also saw princess Jasmine from Aladdin. Miss R was very fond of her but Henry wasn't really interested. Seems Henry likes the characters in suits while Miss R prefers people to masks.

It was a little after 3PM when we left. Henry fell asleep in his stroller. Miss R was awake. We checked out of the hotel and got on the road at 4:09PM. Big mistake. Monday late afternoons are not a good time on the SoCal freeways. It took us 2.5 hours to drive 68 miles.

We stopped in Blythe, CA at about 9:30PM. We went to a McDonald's that has a play area. The play area was admittedly awesome for toddlers. More stimulating than the playground area at Disneyland or California Adventure (a weakness of both parks). Henry was very funny when I told him that the cubbie holes were for putting shoes.

HENRY: What's that?
KATE: A place to put your shoes.
HENRY: I want to take my shoes off.
KATE: OK. [I helped take off Henry's shoes.]
HENRY: I want to take my socks off.
KATE: OK. [I helped take off Henry's socks.]
HENRY: But...I want to leave my pants on.
KATE: OK. Sounds like a good plan.

The not-so-great part of our stop was that I became unnerved when a suspicious character followed me near the bathroom. I didn't go in. I went back to the play area but kept my eye on him and his friend. Long story short, we think that they were doing drug deals in the bathrooms. Very shifty behaviors. We were trying to get out of the restaurant quickly b/c I felt them eyeing us. Henry then acted up and refused to come down from the two story play area. But we made it out of there. We arrived home around 2:30AM. The kids were asleep.

On Tuesday morning, we got out the door around 9:30AM or so. Henry didn't want to go to school. He was excited to see the babies and told Miss Stephanie from the babies' room that he was going back to Disneyland. He cried and threw himself on the floor as I left. It was very sad. Miss R wasn't excited to go to school, but she didn't protest.