Spontaneous Memories

As much as I love a good adventure, I am not a particularly spontaneous person, so the fact that we ended up at Disneyland 9 hours after we decided to go is kind of a big deal. 

On our way down to San Diego, we stopped in LA for a night with my high school friend and her husband, who happens to work for Disney. When we were talking about plans for Saturday morning, his free passes and Daddy-o's desire to see Pirate's of the Caribbean before they make changes to it this spring, pushed Disneyland into the top contender spot. Everything just fell into place and a few hours later, we were waking the kids up and heading to The Happiest Place on Earth!

And it was a pretty happy day. Peanut, being the Peanut that he is, was NOT happy to be woken up at 6 a.m. after a late bedtime the night before. When we told him where we were going, he actually started crying and said he didn't want to go at all. We ran through all the fun things we would get to do and when we mentioned Goofy, he finally decided that maybe Disneyland wasn't going to be pure torture.

  Then, we were left with the challenge to make sure he actually got to meet Goofy. Luckily, he was easy to find in Toon Town, which made Peanut's day.

And Goofy was so fun with him. Peanut had already bought a Goofy hat before we found him, so they were twins. :)

But first up, we went to Pirates of the Caribbean to make sure we got in the main reason we were there. Peanut had a small panic attack as we first stepped in the building and it looked pretty dark, but I scooped him up and we talked him down and he ended up enjoying the ride.

He was even willing to do another one right after--Jungle Cruise wasn't quite so scary since it was all outdoors where it was nice and light.

And we assured him that the animals were not real and would not be attacking us.

After that, we split up for a bit. While everyone else went on Star Tours and Space Mountain, Peanut and I headed into Fantasy Land (which he enjoyed more than this picture looks like, haha.) We toured Sleeping Beauty's castle,

rode Casey Jr.'s train

and Alice in Wonderland. (We did not ride the teacups because I can't handle spinning in circles, but he seemed okay with just getting a picture in one.)

He even got to meet Captain Hook--and once again, I was reminded that despite his fears of the unknown, he has come a long way from a few years ago when we dragged him around Disneyworld and he was terrified of all the characters as well as the rides.

And then we met back up with everyone

for more rides,

(This kid got to ride the Matterhorn 3 times thanks to using Peanut's fast pass, and then the ride operator pulling our car to the side for a couple minutes and letting us go a second time to make up for the delay.)

meeting more characters,

exploring Toon Town,

and Tom Sawyer's Island.

And of course we had to eat our way through the park-- churros, pretzels, popcorn, and Dole Whips. It felt like a really full day, and it was only 3 p.m! We still had San Diego waiting for us.

Our Last Day

Our last day was back to Epcot.  We still had a couple spots in the Future World to explore, as well as several countries.

We hadn't been to The Seas yet, and it ended up being Peanut's favorite.  He has recently learned how to sign "fish" and spent the whole time we were there doing his fish sign and smiling.  He was even smiling on the Nemo ride.

 He loved the aquarium and had fun in the play area.  It was really nice to see him enjoy a little part of the trip.

 Then, we were off to Norway. 

 A couple of vikings.

 Even after our not so successful experience leaving the park  midday before, we tried it again because the kids still hadn't been in the pool and we had a long night ahead of us.  This one went a little better, even if it was a little chilly at the pool, but we were all a little refreshed when we got back to the park for our dinner in Norway.

 Akershus was nother delicious buffet.  We were seriously so impressed by all the food this whole week.  And I'm glad we did this dinner, even though we don't really have any princess lovers at our house.

 But the kids still were excited to get everyone's autographs.

 And Daddy-o got to see his first crush from when he was about 5, Aurora :)

 After dinner, we headed over to China.

 Peanut wasn't too sure about the hats.

But the Chinese acrobats were amazing.  We really enjoyed all the little shows at the various countries.  We wandered around Germany and Italy, and then found our spots for Illuminations.  Fireworks are always a great way to say goodbye.  And even though the kids were a little sad about the things that we never made it to, everyone was pretty tired that night.  It's amazing that 7 days isn't even enough to see it all, but at our pace, it wasn't.  Although I don't think we really could have handled any more days of walking and playing.  There really is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

Hollywood Studios--Park #4

Hollywood Studios.  Our last new park of the week.  This was honestly the one I was least looking forward to, mainly because it doesn't seem to have quite as much for the kids, and I just don't know as much about it.

 There were the characters we didn't really know (but for some reason, Bug was determined to get his picture taken with Stitch.)

 Mixed in with some of the favorites.

 There were some awesome things--like the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area, which the kids absolultely loved.

 And a stunt show that even Peanut liked.  I actually couldn't believe he liked it with how loud it was, but I guess all the cars racing around was enough to keep his attention.  I think by this point, he'd also accepted that this was his new reality and just how life was going to be.  He seemed less shell-shocked and more resigned to a world of strange people, loud noises, dark buildings, and jerky rides.

 But a lot of the rides were just a little too much.  Daddy-o was the only one who actually liked the Tower of Terror.  Bean went on it with him, but said she'd never go again.  I wouldn't even go the first time--I'm not much for straight drops.

 Everyone but Bug (and Peanut) did go on the Rock'n'Roller Coaster, and it was fun, but by far, the favorite ride was Toy Story Mania, which unfortunately had such a long line, we only did it once.

 The boys and I got to watch ANOTHER parade while the brave part of the family did the Tower of Terror, and once again, there were some favorite characters like these guys, and then some that we weren't sure who they were.  We don't have cable, so we haven't seen a lot of the Disney channel shows.

That night, they did have a pretty impressive Christmas light display--the whole back part of the park was lit up, and the massive crowds of people were there to enjoy it.  It was by far the most crowded time for us all week, which we're grateful that it wasn't like that the whole time.  We went along with the crowds to see the lights, and get the Mickey pretzels we'd been promising the kids all day.

One Last Magic Kingdom

 Last day at the Magic Kingdom and we still had Tomorrow Land to explore as well as a couple others stops in the park.  The kids had fun on the rides (except Space Mountain--they weren't so impressed by that one).

 Then, we headed over to the new part of Fantasyland again to try out the Beauty and the Beast Castle lunch.  The dining room was amazing--they did such a fantastic job recreating the castle.

 And the food was pretty tasty as well--a big step up from the typical counter service.
deluxe sandwiches, quinoa salad, and gourmet cupcakes.

 Chip and Dale--very silly and had Bug laughing hysterically.

 Tom Sawyer's fort--Bean and Bug had to be talked into going over to the island, and then could barely be dragged away.

 This little Bug was in heaven shooting guns at the fort.  In spite of everything I've done to discourage the gun thing, it seems to be ingrained into this little boy.

 Pirate show with Jack Sparrow--a very impressive version.

 We called it a day a little early, which was hard since it was our last day, but we had fun plans for the evening as well.  A little boat ride from the harbor at our hotel over to Downtown Disney, and then we had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.

 I've been so excited to take the kids here, and Bean and Bug did really enjoy it, but the thunderstorms every 15 minutes terrified Peanut, he hated the animals, and the food was the least interesting of all our sitdown meals that week.  But the atmosphere really was fun for the kids.

 And then we got to go to the Lego store.  I think this was almost as exciting as the whole Disneyworld trip for these kids.  They LOVE Legos and the lifesize models are amazing.

 Even Peanut had fun in the construction room.

This picture makes me laugh--even the Disney gift shops are just over the top.  But its all part of the fun.