After three loooonng months, Cruise was finally able to remove that last chain that led to the picture of Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland. We had an 11:40am flight from Salt Lake to Long Beach, CA on November 2nd. We had everything logistically ready: headphones for each of the boys, a splitter so they could watch the same movie at the same time on the laptop, snacks, playdough, and a visual schedule. (The visual schedule consisted of a laminated folder with a single strip of velcro on the front and multiple strips inside containing all the laminated pictures for that day.) It seemed like we hardly had to wait anytime before boarding the plane. With each step I was able to show Cruise a picture from going through security to getting our rental after landing. The boys were absolutely wonderful on the plane. They stayed busy with watching movies and munching on snacks and I was wishing I had brought a book. I hadn't expected them to be so cooperative on the plane.
Upon arrival in Long Beach, we claimed our luggage and walked to the car rental place where we picked up a blue Ford Escape. From there, I pulled out my folder full of directions and we headed to the nearest Burger King to get the boys some food. By this time they were getting a little antsy; Cruise was excited to see his cousins (especially Duke) and Jett finally fell asleep. When we got to Char's the boys got to play with all of their Greer cousins at the park. It was definitely fun to see all the cousins playing together. Since it was my dad's birthday that day, we had all the kids line up for a picture to wish Papa a Happy Birthday.
That night, Dave and I purchased our Disneyland tickets on-line and printed them out. We got the 2 day Park Hopper tickets, just to be safe since we weren't sure if they were going to like California Adventure or not.
Disneyland Day 1:
Before we left for Disneyland, I pulled out my lunch baggies containing laminated pictures of every single ride at Disneyland. I also grabbed the laminated map of Disneyland I had previously prepared. We handed Cruise the picture of Sleeping Beauty's Castle and we were off! We parked there at the resort (which didn't cost us anything since my awesome sister Ruth got us a gift card for parking), pulled out two umbrella strollers, the cameras, and the backpack filled with snacks and extra clothes, and made our way onto the tram to take us to the Disneyland entrance.
The first place we headed once we entered Disneyland was Town Hall, where we got Cruise's disability pass (BEST.THING.EVER.) then we waltzed down Main Street to...SLEEPING BEAUTY'S CASTLE! Cruise was so excited! He held up his picture of the castle next to the actual one, just to make sure they were the same. We had the boys walk through the castle, but I think they were a little disappointed since it was a little dark and creepy.
After that, we spent a good portion of our time there in Fantasyland. Home of the Tea Cups and Dumbo ride. Dave and I were each in charge of a child, me with Cruise and Dave with Jett since Jett can't let Dave out of his sight. They both LOVED the carousel, which absolutely shocked me since they are deathly afraid of carousels at home. Jett thoroughly hated Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, but loved the tea cups and Dumbo rides. Cruise pretty much loved everything, and even liked the Matterhorn despite being a little scared of the abominable snowman.
After we exhausted Fantasyland, we walked over to ToonTown where we parked our strollers and pulled out Little Ceasars pizza from the backpack. We munched, had a potty break, and headed over to Mickey's house. Cruise was really excited to see Mickey, but once we got to meet him, Cruise couldn't look at him. He was a little overwhelmed, but still excited. Jett was also a little confused and shocked, which is probably why they look the way they do in this picture.
We went on a few rides there in ToonTown, but after a meltdown in the Roger Rabbit line, we decided it was time to take the train to Tomorrowland! (My personal favorite).
So, I just realized as I'm writing this that we have absolutely no coverage of Tomorrowland. I mean, we do on our camcorder, but not on our digital, so sorry folks. You're just gonna have to read about it:
Tomorrowland started off with riding the cars at Autopia. Both the boys loved being able to drive the cars and Jett giggled the entire time. From there we split up and I took Cruise on Space Mountain while Dave took Jett on the jets (kindof like Dumbo but faster and higher). Cruise was absolutely stoked about going into space and getting to walk around in the space station. When the ride started, he held tight onto my arm, but when it was over he said, "Space fun! Go again?" He absolutely loved it. Then we took the boys onto the Buzz Lightyear ride. Jett whined any time he couldn't see Buzz.
Cruise also got to go on Space Tours a couple of times which he was really crazy about.
Then it was time to cross Main Street and head over to Adventure Land where Cruise and Dave went on Thunder Mountain Railroad while Jett and I took a stroll around. Then we headed to New Orleans Square where we were horrified to find that Pirates of the Carribean was closed. So disappointing! So we walked over to Critter Country and introduced Cruise to the ride of all rides: Splash Mountain!
Cruise LOVED Splash Mountain. But we didn't quite know HOW much he loved it until Day #2. While Cruise was on that, Jett went on the Winnie the Pooh ride, which became a big favorite of the boys. So we went on it a couple more times. The boys got to see Winnie the Pooh and Tigger from a distance. It is unbelievable how long the lines get to see the characters.
Then, of course, the boys wanted to go on the Winnie the Pooh ride once more before leaving, so we thought, what the hey, and rode again.
By the time that ride ended, we all were ready to go back to the house. But knowing the boys would most likely fall asleep on the way home, we decided to eat in Downtown Disney before leaving. So we passed by all the really expensive restaurants and found one little Mexican restaurant that was just within our budget. So we ate and headed for the car. And, like we had predicted, the boys were out cold within a few minutes.
Day 2: California Adventure
The first day had gone so well, I was bracing myself for the second day to be a complete disaster. It was raining when we left and since we only had sweatshirts, we decided to stop by Target a pick up a couple ponchos for the boys. Once we got to Anaheim, the rain had cleared and the sun came out. So Dave and I left our sweatshirts in the car thinking they'd just be in the way (which was a huge mistake). We showed at opening to get into California Adventure and headed first for the Monsters, Inc. ride. The boys enjoyed it and it was very low key. Walking to our next destination, we snapped some pictures and the boys got to get a photo op with Sulley.
Our next stop was to Turtle Talk with Crush (from Finding Nemo). We all waited for about 15 minutes and about 2 minutes before the doors opened, Cruise said, "Gotta go potty!" So he and I bolted for the nearest bathroom and hurried back as fast as possible. But we were too late and Dave and Jett had already gone in. We weren't allowed in and the next showing wasn't for another 25 minutes. The lady there was super nice and said we'd get priority seating for the next one, which was so awesome. So while Dave and Jett were at that, Cruise and I caught a little street show by Monsters, Inc. Once Cruise and I got to enter Turtle Talk with Crush, they let us sit right up front. When Crush swam in to talk, he picked Cruise to have a conversation with (good and bad, lol!) But it was super cute and Cruise really got a kick out of the fact that he got to talk with Crush.
While Cruise and I were at Turtle Talk, Dave took Jett over to A Bug's Land and went on a few rides there. He tolerated most of the rides, but absolutely LOVED the spinning lady bugs, he couldn't stop laughing!
Cruise and I met up with them and went on the bumper cars (which really weren't as fun as we thought they'd be).
After that, we sat down and made ourselves some PBJ sandwiches and bagels and cream cheese, and then...
THE RAIN CAME!
It started lightly, and then slowly became a shower! We pulled out the boys' ponchos (which we ended up cutting up because they were too long...good thing I also bought scissors along with the ponchos) which they weren't super happy about. One child in particular:
We went on one last ride before leaving A Bug's Land.
And that is where the craziness began.
Dave and I had umbrellas but I couldn't hold mine and push the stroller at the same time. And since neither of us had our sweaters, we had to tough it out in the rain. We decided to head over to the Toy Story ride which we had heard so many great things about. By this time the rain was pouring and we were both drenched, not to mention the wind that had picked up. We ran as fast as we could, laughing so hard the whole time, pushing the strollers to the ride, hearing comments from people we passed like, "I wanna go on that ride!" We booked it.
Of course by the time we got in line, the ride broke down. By this time, the boys were grumpy, everything was wet and windy, and I was FREEZING! I was trying really hard to stay in a good mood. We decided to see if the rain would let up, so we found refuge in one of the stores where we purchased the boys some suckers so they'd stop complaining and crying...and Dave bought me a poncho (for the same reason). Ha ha ha!
We then decided to head to the other side and try out the Ariel ride, since Cruise was asking about it. Luckily the line was so short, so we went on it...4 times in a row.
After Ariel, we decided to walk back to Disneyland and hit up the kids' favorite rides again (thank GOODNESS we bought the Park Hopper tickets). I first took Cruise on Space Mountain while Dave took Jett on the Nemo Submarines. Luckily after we got off those rides, the rain had stopped. Then Cruise and Dave went on Star Tours and the Matterhorn while Jett and I went on Dumbo and the carousel.
From there we just went and did what each kid wanted to do. So Dave took Cruise on Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountian while I took Jett on the Winnie the Pooh ride...SIX TIMES. After six times, Dave met me by Splash Mountain where he and Cruise had already gone on it twice. We switched places since I was about to lose it if I had to go on the Winnie the Pooh ride one more time. So we swapped kids and of course I went on Splash Mountain with Cruise. He had a poncho on, I had left mine with the stroller. So of course we sat in the very front and went on the ride three times in a row, without getting out (since there was no line). Cruise kept asking to go again and again, but by the third time, I was near hypothermic conditions: I had to get off the ride. We met up with Dave and Jett and guess what ride Cruise wanted to go on? The Winnie the Pooh ride. The things I do for these kids.
Lastly, we went on the Jungle Cruise again (funny enough, Cruise kept calling it just the Jungle since we would ask him, "Do you want to go on the Jungle Cruise?" But he thought we were asking, "Do you want to go on the Jungle (comma) Cruise?" Ha ha ha!
The next day, Saturday, was a day for family. Unfortuantely I didn't take any pictures. But we had a big birthday party at a park with everyone. Later that evening, we had the awesome opportunity to attend our niece, Maleise's baptism.
Sunday we wanted to take the boys to visit the beach. But of course it rained. We didn't want to take them to church since we had forgotten to bring Cruise's Sunday bag (that includes a ton of sensory toys and pictures of everything). That, and going to a different building might make him upset since it was different. So we drove to Laguna beach in the rain where Dave took them each out for a little walk on the beach in the pouring rain. Jett tolerated the poncho a little better this time.
Once we got back to Char's, I did some laundry and the boys enjoyed their last moments playing with their cousins.
Later that evening, we got the boys in their jammies and headed for the airport. The flight home wasn't as smooth since Jett was exhausted and couldn't get comfortable. But luckily Cruise handled it well.
We got off the plane and Dave took Jett with him to get the car while Cruise and I grabbed the luggage and car seats. We waited outside for Dave to drive up and the whole time Cruise said, "Want Mommy's car." As soon as Dave pulled up with the Jeep, Cruise ran up to the front bumper and gave it a big hug! Someone was happy to be home.
The trip was our first ever with the boys and I have to say, it was pretty successful. Cruise had a hard time only at night. He would wake up and cry because he wanted to go home and wanted to see Lucy. Every time we would get into the rental car, he'd ask for Mommy's car instead. But other than that, he had a blast at Disneyland and with all his cousins. Jett did awesome and despite having a tough time falling asleep the first night, he zonked out pretty easily the following nights. Dave and I really had a blast being able to take the kids to Disneyland and to see how excited they were. It is something else to see your kids enjoy something you have fond memories of yourself. But once we were home, we both agreed...WE NEED A VACATION!
1 comment:
Thanks for documenting the trip so well. It is so much fun to take the kids to Disneyland when they are young. I'm so glad the boys had a good time.
- Dad
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