Disneyland--Day 1

Monday, March 22nd--(I warn you, this is a long read, as will probably be most of the posts for our trip) Our morning started out wonderful and exciting. First, coming from chilly Utah, just to be able to put on capris, t-shirts and sandals made us all happy. We had jackets on because it was a little cool in the morning. We caught the city bus from our hotel, Marriott Suites, and the driver dropped us off right in front. The cheery music was playing throughout the entrance plaza, flowers were in full bloom, adorable little kiddies with anxious smiles from ear-to-ear........we're back to our favorite place! What can I say? This is truly our favorite place to visit, as a family. It's a place where all 4 of us find many things that we personally enjoy. It's why we go every year, it never seems to get old. I swear Disney management must spray some type of special "pixie dust" in the air because we all totally feel euphoric just being there (I realize some don't feel the same way but we do and that's all that matters). And, unless you've had the full Disneyland experience you may not understand, we long for it when we're not there. Some day we'll move on to bigger, better things but, for now, Disneyland is our families "happy place".

We invited Nate's parents, Dan & Rosemary, along. We drove down to Anaheim the day before. It was a great drive, aside from major traffic we hit from Barstow to Anaheim. We find that our kids do really well on road trips, which make them enjoyable. I just love chatting with Nate, getting in time to talk about all sorts of things we never seem to have time to talk about at home. The kids and I had fun chatting with their grandparents and learning things about them we didn't know before. It's a win-win because we also save tons of money not flying and I feel it's great family-bonding-time.

Anyhoo, back to day 1 in Disneyland. We spent the entire day in Disneyland and decided to alternate the 5 days doing Disneyland one day, California Adventure the next day and so on. Our first ride was a family fav--Indiana Jones. As usual, not a disappointment. It's the one "crazy" ride I can actually handle, no major dips or jerks that can make me sick. We loved that the crowds weren't bad at all. Next, onto Pirates of the Caribbean. I don't like the dips on this ride so I stayed off and looked through the shops in New Orleans square (love the shops here!). Of course, I found some adorable things I wanted to buy right away but I was good and just kept things in mind I may get later on.

Nate and I have a great system, which makes our trips so wonderful. He takes the kids on all the rides I can't stomach while I go into all the shops he can't stomach. He rarely has to go into any of the shops and he's a happier man for that. Plus he enjoys the fact that our kids love all the crazy rides he does. Of course, when all is said and done, I end up turning over ALL my paychecks to Nate, for the next couple of months, making up for the unique things I find in these shops and just "have to have!"

I think we hit Haunted Mansion next, which is another favorite. It amazes me that Elise & Brady seem to love this ride so much, after all, it really is creepy. After that is was off to Rosemary's favorite ride, Splash Mountain. Once again, I can't stomach this ride so I snuck off to Critter Country and went into the Pooh Corner shop to grab my favorite Disneyland treat, their amazingly delicious sugar cookies and an ice cold Coke. We also love the Mickey Mouse pretzels so I got a bag for us all to share. Those sugar cookies, oh my, those sugar cookies! They are the reason I gain weight at Disneyland, even though we walk so much every day! The lines for Splash Mountain were small so they went on twice while I savored my longed-for cookie! After Splash Mountain Elise wanted to go into the Pooh Corner shop and start spending the money burning a hole in her pocket. Both kids had been saving money for several months, including Christmas money. Nate and I collected most of their money and went to the Disney Store in the Orem Mall and put the money on Disney cards. They loved using their cards to buy things. Elise wanted to buy a lanyard and start getting cool Disney pins to collect. It didn't take long before she had very little money left for the rest of the trip so we told her to look around and take notes of things she might like and then buy them at the end of the trip. We knew she'd be sad if she spent all her money the first day and had nothing the rest of the time. Everyday, she walked around with her special lanyard, full of pins, with pride and joy. Each pin had a very special meaning to her so trading was not an option.

It seemed like shortly after Splash Mountain the crowds started to get bigger and bigger. We noticed, everyday, right around lunch time the crowds would get pretty thick. So we would scramble to get as much done in the mornings. Frontierland was next and everyone, but me, as usual, went on Thundermountain Railroad. I didn't mind just sitting down and enjoying the weather. Then it was Jungle Cruise in Adventureland.

From Adventureland we walked over to Small World and got to see some of the subtle changes made then off to Tomorrowland. It was lunch time and we gathered for the next Jedi Training show. We got there early so we ate the lunch we had packed. Elise put on the Jedi costume we brought, Brady wasn't sure he wanted to participate. The same thing happened in Disneyworld. When the show began, the Jedi Master picked children from the crowd and picked Elise, while acknowledging her costume, and placed her in the middle on the highest platform (awesome!). Brady was also picked and he seemed nervous but happy to participate. Elise got to fight Darth Vader and Brady got to fight Darth Maul. It was aweseome! I loved watching them. We asked Brady if he'd like to come back and wear the Jedi costume. He said he didn't need to. Once was enough for him! Autopia was next. Not a fav to me. It's rather boring, in my opinion, but the kids get so tickled at the fact that they can "drive". Then to the Buzz Lightyear ride. Nate and I enjoy competing against each other on this one. It seems like one of us win 50% of the time. Then the kids wanted Star Tours next. Rosemary and I stayed off while the rest went. She doesn't really like the ride and neither do I. When they came off it was my turn to finally suggest a ride/show. I saw the sign for Captain EO and insisted we go in and see it. I could tell most of my group would rather skip it but I wanted to see the hype. I had seen bits and pieces of it on YouTube and thought it was, er, rather silly (Hooter!). And, well, ahem, in my opinion, it was silly at Disneyland too. However, the music and dancing was phenomenal and so I just "had" to get a Captain EO t-shirt as a souvenir. The theater was packed full and when MJ first came on screen everyone cheered and then cheered again at the end. Truly a tribute, he is not forgotten. Captain EO was made at a time he looked his best and I like to remember him that way. From there it was Space Mountain, another one I don't ride but enjoy the shops instead. Brady doesn't like it either so we looked through the Star Wars shop and then grabbed a bucket of popcorn and sat down. The weather was so perfect and so welcomed (high 60's, low 70's)!

After walking around a little more, we ate dinner at Pizza Port in Tomorrowland. Usually a favorite of mine but this time, we just weren't impressed. I don't know if they changed things a little or what but we didn't go back again the rest of the trip.

From there we hit a few shops so the kids could get some pennies from the penny-press machines (a daily activity). Our final stop was close to the entrance/exit. We watched the newly improved Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln. I gotta say, I liked the old version much better than this new one. and then it was time to go. We were all too tired to stay for any fireworks or parades. Nate and I still needed to catch up on sleep. Luckily, our hotel room was on the 10th floor and pointed right to Disneyland so we got to see the firework show every night.