The Happiest Place - 2

DAY TWO

We wanted to make the most of our full day at Disneyland, so we got up early and took the first shuttle from the hotel into the park. As we were waiting for the shuttle I snapped a couple of pictures of Joseph and this one was just about the cutest picture I've ever taken of him! I thought it was the perfect picture until my mom pointed out the well-endowed lion statue in the background. Oh well, it just adds character, right?

Just as we walked into the gates of the park, amongst the crowds of people, my mom notices this lady's haircut and starts freaking out. She urges me to get my camera out so she can take a picture of her hair because it's exactly the haircut she has been trying to describe to her hairdresser for a while. I'm just laughing at her and not making any effort to get my camera. The lady is getting more lost in the crowd and my mom is become more urgent and then starts running after this lady so as not to loose her. That's when I realized she really was serious, so I pulled out the camera and handed it to her and laughed as she ran off. She did manage to take a couple of shots of her and the lady had no idea.

After playing paparazzi, we made our way over to Tomorrowland where we went to see Buzz Lightyear. Some of Joseph's favorite movies are Toy Story and Toy Story 2, which he sits all the way through most of the time, so I thought he would really enjoy seeing Buzz. The only life size Buzz we could find at the park was a part of the ride, Buzz's Astroblasters. Joseph was pretty tensed up and nervous through the whole ride, but he wasn't screaming or crying at least. I think he enjoyed it?

After that ride we decided to split up and have my mom take the kids while John and I went over to California Adventure. Mom enjoyed her time with the kids making them pose for pictures and taking Joseph on the Teacups ride, again, and again, and... they were definitely his favorite ride.

John and I rode Soarin' Over California, which is a flight simulator ride where your feet are dangling as you hang over a huge movie screen that makes it feel like you are flying over different parts of California. That ride did make my stomach drop right at first, but it was enjoyable. After that we went on the Tower of Terror. Now, this was both our first time to California Adventure, and we had no idea what to expect out of this ride. I'm not usually a screamer, even on really scary rides, but for some reason this ride had me screaming the WHOLE time! John couldn't stop laughing at me since he'd never heard me scream like that. We then went on the California Screamin' roller coaster, which was fun, but started to put John on the nauseus side. After that my mom brought the kids over from Disneyland and we met back up to eat lunch. After eating, John went again on the Soarin' Over California ride with my mom and she really liked the ride too. I wanted to take my mom on the Tower of Terror, excited to see her reaction to her first time on it. So we got fast passes for it and all went over to It's a Bug's Life while we waited for our time. 

Joseph and I rode in the ladybugs, which are like the teacups, so of course he loved it. 

We all rode Heimlich's Chew Chew Train. Joseph was starting to get tired by this point, as was Kaili, but they kept hanging in there pretty well. 

John rested with the kids in some shade while Mom and I made our way over to the Tower of Terror. She was definitely nervous, not knowing what to expect, especially since I seemed to be making such a big deal about it. I thought she'd be screaming like I had, but afterwards, when we looked at our picture, it revealed her SMILING and me looking terrified again. I had to laugh at that. The ride did make Mom feel sick though. She said if it had dropped one more time she really would have lost her lunch! I felt bad about taking her on it without telling her what it did and was grateful she didn't vomit. I would have felt really bad then! On our way back over to John and the kids at It's a Bug's Life, Mom wanted to stop and take this picture of her and this makes me laugh every time I see it because it's so goofy. I can't remember what she was thinking or trying to do for her picture, but it was something specific as she was holding that pose. 

Next we made our way over to the 4D attraction of It's Tough to Be a Bug. Joseph was extremely nervous to be in there at the beginning when the bugs started flying toward him with his 3D glasses, and then the second we all were sprayed in our face he lost it completely and became inconsolable. John rushed him out of the theater and was disappointed to have to miss that one. Mom and I stayed in there with Kaili, who wasn't necessarily enjoying herself either. After we made it out we found that John and Joseph had met up with Chip & Dale who were just getting ready for a photo op. Kaili really seemed to like them. It was cute to watch their interactions with her. 

And speaking of Kaili, I have to interject here that we were so impressed with how well she did throughout the whole long day at the park. She was happy and contended to hang out in her stroller for a good portion of the day. I was proud of her, and very grateful too.

By this point we knew both the kids were really tired, but John and I still wanted to try to get a few more rides in. We walked back towards the pier and John and I went on Ariel's Undersea Adventure. I loved that ride! The Little Mermaid was my favorite Disney movie as a kid and it was really fun to see the movie come to life in the ride. John and I also felt that it would be one Joseph would enjoy too because it wasn't so crazy, loud and scary. After that we were going to ride on Goofy's Sky School, but the wait was too long, so we sat down a bit to rest. Joseph fell asleep in John's arms and Kaili fell asleep in mine as we sat there. Sadly, we later realized that this picture documents the last time Kaili ever used her fingers to self-soothe herself to sleep. We were sad to see that trait go. 

While we were resting, Goofy showed up to take pictures with people. I love people watching, so I enjoyed watching all the people lining up to take pictures with him and to watch all the different interactions with different people. Even Mom joined in for a picture with him. 

With both of the kids asleep and dinnertime nearing, we resigned to leaving the park and going back to the hotel. John slept with the kids and Mom and I went to pick up a pizza for dinner. We also stopped by Target to get a salad and a jacket for Kaili and a sweater for John, since we were planning on going back to the park later, but knew it would be a little chilly. 

So after naps and dinner we went back to the park to see The World of Color show over at California Adventure. We got there early and the lines were really short at that Ariel's Undersea Adventure ride that John and I had really liked earlier. So John and I took Joseph on it and sure enough, we were right. He did enjoy it. Then I went on it again with my Mom so she could experience it too. Then we waited in line for the show to start. We bought some cotton candy while waiting, but Joseph didn't even really care for it that much. Go figure. So The World of Color show is at the pier where they use water jets, colored lights, movie images projected on mist and music. I absolutely loved it! 

My camera was dying and I wish I could have recorded much more than this, but at least I was able to get this little part. 

After the show we went back to the hotel and settled in for a good, sound sleep after a long but very fun day.

The Happiest Place - 1

DAY ONE
On March 1st we all got up early to embark on our six hour drive to Anaheim. The trip went well and the kids did surprisingly really good. I'm sure that was due to my mom sitting in the back seat with them providing them with some good entertainment. 

Well, it wasn't a perfect trip. Our only mishap was that Joseph got carsick and threw up like the most throw up I've ever seen. That was really awesome to clean up. Before checking in to our hotel we made a couple stops at different thrift stores, looking for two things: a new shirt for Joseph and a stroller for Kaili. We realized after we had packed the car that we didn't plan for making any room for Kai's stroller, and a stroller would definitely be an item we wouldn't want to be without! 

After those purchases, we checked into our hotel. Joseph really enjoyed the experience of a hotel. 

We stayed at a Howard Johnson that had a complimentary shuttle to and from the park every day, which Joseph absolutely loved I might add. 

We finally made it to Disneyland by about 5pm. 

Our first objective there was to go see Joseph's "friends," or rather, to go see Mickey Mouse in his house. That's what he was the most excited for. So we made our way to Toon Town and played in some fun cars before going to see Mickey. 

Once we were in his house, Joseph was interested, but also really apprehensive. 

And, as you can tell by the picture, he was basically terrified of Mickey, but I was impressed with and grateful for Mr. Mouse's personality. He easily recognized Joseph's state of being and didn't push him beyond his limit by forcing him to interact with him. Thus we left with it still being an enjoyable rather than traumatic experience for our sensitive, slow-to-warm-up child. 

After Mickey's house we played in some more cars and then went into Goofy's playhouse.

(John was quite chilly, if you can't tell. He didn't expect it to be cold, so hadn't brought a jacket. Good thing we had an extra blankie for him!)

Joseph liked playing in there, but only so long as any other being was far away from him. Luckily it really wasn't too crowded that Thursday night. 

After Toon Town we went to Fantasyland. I was pretty sure we could get Joseph to ride a train, but beyond that, I was unsure of what rides we could convince him to ride. I was happily pleased to see he was easily willing to try a handful of them. We rode the Casey Jr. Circus Train, King Arthur's Carousel, the Mad Tea Party teacups (which were definitely his favorite ride of the whole park), and we even got him to go on Dumbo the Flying Elephant with John, which he really enjoyed too. 

Our mistake came when we tried going on a movie themed ride, Pinocchio's Daring Journey. It was much too visually and auditorily stimulating for him and he not only lost it, but refused to try another movie themed ride like that. 

On our way out of the park near closing time, we passed the Astro Orbitor ride and with the short line decided to give that one a try. He vascillated between wanting to ride it and not, especially when we got to the front of the line, but we were able to persuade him to go on the ride, telling him it was like the Dumbo ride. All three of us were going to try riding it, but we didn't all fit, so I went on it with him and he did enjoy it.