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.