Disneyland with a biter, a runner, and a pee-er! Nov 8th - 13th TR Now with pics!

[letthembelittle]

Or in other words, our trip with our darling children.

The cast, me and dh both 30, dd 4 1/2 (the pee-er, poor thing got a bladder infection while on vacation), ds 2 1/2 (lets just say its a good thing we had one of those annoying leashes for him), ds 6 months (little guy really likes to bite my shoulder, no fun). We were also joined by my mom, dh's parents, and our bil and sil and their kids ages 8, 6, 4, and 9 months.

We drove down from the SLC area on Friday the 6th and stayed overnight in Las Vegas. We left bright and early on the 7th with the intention of going to the park that afternoon but instead we unpacked, took naps, swam in the pool and did some grocery shopping. Sunday we decided to go to the park, after buying our ART tickets we went to wait for the bus, overall I would have to say that I was pleased with the bus service but some days it definitely didn't come the every 20 minutes they claim it does. We got to the park late Sunday morning and rode Winnie the Pooh, Splash Mountain (well sil and I waited with my little guys and her baby while everyone else rode), and then Pirates of the Caribbean, then grandma and grandpa arrived so we went back to the condo to say hi. It was a very quick day at the park and I couldn't wait to go back for more!!

Monday morning we were there to open the park, it was fun to hear the countdown. We rode Jungle Cruise first, even though the drivers jokes were corny, I thought he was hilarious. And the baby fell asleep in the middle of the ride, must have been the gentle rocking of the boat! On a side note it is not so easy to get off the boat without using your hands. Then dh and the big kids conquered Tarzan's Tree House while I stayed on the ground with the baby. We then rode Pirates again, I had no idea that my kids would love the ride so much since generally they are scared of the dark and they find most Disney movies scary. We did exit the ride just as they were filming the parade piece so that was kinda fun. Then we took the train over to Toontown and did the rounds there, I am not a fan of the roller coaster but my kids seemed to like it and we didn't try Roger Rabbits ride but other then that the kids had fun and I am sure they would have like to have stayed longer but dh was all Toon Towned out. We did see Ryan Seacrest as we were leaving the park since he was filming for the Christmas parade on Main Street. That night we went back to the park after dinner, my sweet inlaws took both babies so that we could enjoy some rides with the bigger kids while they sat and watched the parade. We did Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Alice in Wonderland, and the Carousel. I think that was all for that day, I really thought that I would be able to remember all the stuff we did without writing it down! I think next time we go I better carry the camera so it actually gets used!!

Tuesday was our Magic Morning so we were up and at the park in time to take advantage of that! We waited in line 13, which moves a bit faster if line 14 is open cause a tree blocks the line from forming there. My middle son and dh rode AstroBlasters, then we all rode Buzz two times (I had no idea how fun that ride would be, I highly recommend it!), then we waited forever for Autopia well I sat out with the baby while the rest of the fam rode, and can I just say I have no idea why grown adults find that ride fun, if you can drive a real car please don't take up line space for those of us with little ones who find driving pretend cars interesting, I mean really. Then we headed over to Fantasyland and did Mr Toad, Pinocchio, Dumbo, and Teacups.

Okay, I'll add more later! Thanks for reading!! And ask any questions you can think of!

 

[Yakety76]

I think we might have been in the same line as you on Tuesday. I believe that we were lined up in 13 maybe 3 families back.
We headed to Fantasyland for Peter Pan first, so we probably didn't see you the rest of the morning.

I agree that Autopia should be reserved for the wee ones. Buzz is a blast. It is hard not to get a bit competitive with that one.

 

[letthembelittle]

How fun we were in the same line!! We were a ways back so I dont think I saw you but fun we were there together! And my plan was to head to Fantasyland that morning but dh had other ideas... Sometimes its easier to just go along rather then try to get him to follow my plan!!

 

[letthembelittle]

Tuesday continued: Then we did the Tiki Room, which was one of the things that was a must do for me this trip, ummm kinda disappointed. But what I wasn't disappointed in was the Dole Whip, WOW it was yummo!! We headed back to the condo for naps before going to pick my mom up from the airport! That turned into a fiasco along with our 5 minutes at Seal Beach, I LOVE the ocean but it just didn't work out this trip to get to enjoy it. And then the bladder infection in our dd started really getting bad, lets just say it was a long night and even longer morning as we tried to find a doctors office that could treat her.

Wednesday morning was taken up with the great doctor search and of course we had reservations for the Princess lunch at 11:40. My dh took her to the doctor while the rest of us headed over to California Adventure in time for our lunch. Thankfully they were so nice to wait for dd to join us, she made it just in time. Poor little thing felt just awful but as soon as those princesses arrived at the table she turned on her happy face for pictures. But as soon as the final princess made it to our table she wanted to leave, so I had exactly one bite of my lunch before we left to walk back to the bus. I am not totally sure what the rest of the group did while we went to the condo, got lunch, and found Walgreen's for her prescription. Definitely not how I planned on spending my day but thankfully the medicine helped her to start feeling better. That evening my mom was sweet enough to babysit my kids so that dh and I could go to lunch with a childhood friend of mine and her husband. After that we went to the condo grabbed jackets and headed to the park for some grownup time! We rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad twice, Matterhorn, Finding Nemo, and then we watched the second show of Fantasmic and then squeezed in one more ride on Haunted Mansion.

Thursday morning we headed off to California Adventure. We watched the High School Musical performance, then we took turns riding Soarin over California. I loved it but am still not sure why the height limit is 40 inches, my two year old would have loved the ride but while we waited we took pictures with Mater and Lightening McQueen and checked out the little shops. After lunch we headed over to the Toy Story ride, I nursed the baby while the rest of the crowd rode the ride, the littlest kids rode the carousel then we had an ice cream cone and headed over the Bugs Land, we rode the little Heimlich's Chew Chew train (another favorite of mine, the smells were YUMMY). Then we went to see Turtle Talk but were sidetracked by Sully, after a picture we headed into the theater, it was super cute and nice to sit down for a bit!! After that we rode Monsters Inc. Then we headed over to Disneyland to get our spot for the parade, lets just say it was amazing to see how rude people were. After all that the parade wasn't even that impressive, boo.

And again, next time I am going to do a better job of recording what we did but feel free to ask questions!

 

[letthembelittle]

Friday was our last day at the parks. While the grandparents took the boys to do Jedi Camp my mom and dd and I went to ride Alice in Wonderland again and then waited for the Princess Fantasy Faire, kinda a disappointment since there was only Ariel and Mulan. Then we rode Its a Small World since it was open, I was so excited since that has always been my favorite ride and the last time we went it was under renovation. I loved it just as much this time as I always have and it was fun to ride it with our whole group of 14, we took up a whole boat!! We then did a complete circle of the park on the railroad. I then went to get our spot for the afternoon parade. I loved the parade, for being the first performance of it I thought the characters did a great job! Then we went to upgrade to APs!! Happy day for me!! My mom and sil and I went back that night for one more ride of Its a Small World and to do some shopping. As we were leaving people were packing in to see the fireworks, it was crazy how many people were on Main Street.

We had a great trip. There were things I wish went differently but now we know better for next time, right?!

Now I just need to get our pictures off of the camera so I can share some! Thanks for reading!

 

[laura&fam]

Did you see It's a Small World when they had the light show thing on it? Sorry, I don't know what it's called but it was really awesome. There were colored lights projected to match the front of the ride and then they did images and photos and music, way cool! Then they lit up all the lights on the front of the ride, and man are there alot of them.

I saw it twice but I don't know how often they did it. I need to find a youtube video of it somewhere so I can show DH who was at the hotel sick

 

[letthembelittle]

Laura, we did see it, once during the day when we were in line (not as cool as it is at night) and then again at night while we were in line and then again when we were in our boat waiting to get off, it is really cool, I hope you find a video to show him! I think it must play every 15 minutes or so.

 

[Yakety76]

Oh, My...Your poor Dd. A bladder infection at Disney cannot be a fun vacation-especially for a little one. The lines for the bathrooms always seem to be long. Hopefully the medicine helped and she started to feel better.

I agree about the height limits for Soarin. I am sure they have a reason, but my shorty of a son would sure have liked that ride. Well, I guess that gives you a reason to come back.

 

[letthembelittle]

Thankfully we never had to wait in a line for a bathroom, she tends to get the infection every time she gets sick so we kinda knew what we were in for and luckily the medicine works fast! But I felt bad for her to be so sick at Disneyland. And yep, another reason to come back only I kinda doubt he will grow 5 inches by March, maybe by next fall!!

 

[letthembelittle]

My ride reviews based on my family's opinions by land:

CRITTER COUNTRY:
Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes ~ we didn't ride, probably wont until the kids are a bit bigger!

Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ~ I think this ride is cute, kinda like a bad acid trip for Pooh, but it is really loud much louder then I think it needs to be. Its the only ride that my baby cried on, until we covered his ears, and the only ride my 4 1/2 yr old covered her ears on. But overall a very cute ride for the little ones. And the outside area is very pretty with the little stream.

Splash Mountain ~ My dh and dd rode this one, dd hated getting wet but liked the rest of the ride, dh did cover her eyes for the big drop, perhaps we should have done the garbage bag dress for her for this ride.

 

[letthembelittle]

NEW ORLEANS SQUARE

Pirates of the Caribbean ~ I was very nervous letting my kids ride this one, they don't like the dark and are scared by even some Dora episodes and most Disney movies but SURPRISE they LOVED it! DD didn't like the little drops at the beginning but by our second or third ride she knew where they were and what to expect. When you ask ds what his favorite part of Disneyland was he says "Pirate ride with Grandpa". My dd's favorite part was the fireflies at the beginning of the ride, she asked if they were going to land on her! They liked the animals that are in the scenes, too.

Haunted Mansion ~ Again I was fairly certain that this ride would be a no go with my kids because of the dark and it being scary but we tried it and they did just fine. I think because of the Night Before Christmas overlay it is a bit less scary and much prettier. They didn't really like the elevator part at the beginning but they liked the eyes of the paintings following them. I liked the really big angels in the graveyard area. I remember the "ghost" sitting in your car being the most scary part when I was little but it isn't scary when it is a Christmas item.

I guess you never know what to expect with little kids, we asked dd to try every ride once and that seemed to work really well.

 

[letthembelittle]

FRONTIERLAND

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ~ DH's favorite ride. He did take dd on it twice, I think she might have liked it more if she would have been seatbelted in. I liked it but I am not a huge roller coaster lover so I could do without ever riding it again!!

Mark Twain Riverboat ~ We didnt ride.

Columbia Sailing Ship ~ We didnt ride.

Pirate's Lair ~ We didnt go over, although we would have liked too we just ran out of time even with 6 days there. Maybe next fall when we go since it will be closed in the spring when we go.

 

[letthembelittle]

ADVENTURELAND

Enchanted Tiki Room ~ I was super excited to do this but was kinda let down, it was probably amazing when it was new but it seemed really dated to me. The kids didn't seem very interested even though I was sure they would like it. I did love the Dole Whip though, that was probably one of my favorite things from this trip. They did like the little fountains and tikis in the waiting area.

Indiana Jones Adventure ~ We didn't ride.

Jungle Cruise ~ I really liked this ride. The baby even fell asleep on it, making it even nicer!! The big kids like the animals, I liked the drivers really corny jokes. One of my favorite rides for sure!

Tarzan's Treehouse ~ DH took the big kids while I held the sleeping baby, the kids seemed to like it but dh wasn't that impressed. I would like to do when we go back because it looked really fun.

 

[letthembelittle]

MAIN STREET USA

Disneyland: The First 50 Years ~ We didn't try to see it, I think it was reopened in the lobby on the Friday we were there.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle ~ The walk through of Sleeping Beauty's story is really cool. The kids liked it but I probably liked it better then they did. Make sure to watch each window for awhile because most of them have a little show. There were LOTS of stairs so it was a great way to burn off some extra energy! I also really liked the windows in the shops of the castle that had little scenes from Cinderella.

 

[letthembelittle]

More to come later!

 

[laura&fam]

I love how you did your TR with reports on each ride rather than by day. I wish I would have seen this before I did mine because I think it's more interesting and applicable for readers.

I thought there wasn't anything in the Opera House right now. I should have checked it out while we were there, but we ran out of time too.

It was interesting to me how I remembered rides versus how I experienced them with my kids. I didn't remember that the little drops in Pirates were in the pitch black but it terrified my DS5. I wish I would have remembered so I could have warned him. Also I didn't remember it being so dark in the elevator in HM, which scared my DS5 and my DD9.

 

[letthembelittle]

MICKEY'S TOON TOWN

Chip 'n' Dale's Treehouse ~ we didn't do this

Donald's Boat ~ very cute, ds loved steering the boat and looking into the periscope

Gadget's Go Coaster ~ Umm, lets just say not my favorite ride but I don't like roller coasters. The kids seemed to like it alright but it wouldn't be worth standing in a line for in my opinion.

Goofy's Playhouse ~ very cute, the kids had fun exploring here

Mickey's House ~ it looked closed but I think the line was just entering from the side instead for from the front, but we did see Mickey on Main Street so it was okay to miss this

Minnie's House ~ very cute, my dd loves Minnie's house and all the fun things to look at, standing in line to see Minnie was not really worth it since we could have stood in a shorter line on Main Street and the Photo Pass person did not take a good picture with our camera so that was a bummer

Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin ~ we didn't ride

 

[letthembelittle]

FANTASYLAND

Alice in Wonderland ~ One of my favorites, super cute ride. The kids seemed a little scared when it goes outside since you are up in the airs a little ways.

Casey Jr. Circus Train ~ closed while we were there

Storybook Land Canal Boats ~ closed while we were there

Dumbo the Flying Elephant ~ How can you not like Dumbo?! I just wish all the Dumbo's were the same color, dd was sad both times to not get pink or purple.

it's a small world ~ My very favorite ride and all the the kids seemed to really like it. There is so much to see that it was easy to keep their attention.

King Arthur Carousel ~ The kids liked it but its not anything special to me.

Mad Tea Party (Teacups) ~ The kids rode with dh several times, I am not a fan of teacups nor do I like wasting time on these while you could be doing something fun but sometimes you have to do what the other people with you want to do.

Matterhorn Bobsleds ~ I thought it was kinda a rough ride and once was definitely enough for me but my ds LOVED it, dh covered his eyes when the yeti jumps out at you.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride ~ I don't think I will do the ride again, the kids didn't know the story line and it wasn't really that fun.

Peter Pan's Flight ~ Even with its long line it was still dd's favorite ride, it is really well done and I think worth the wait to see.

Pinocchio's Daring Journey ~ My kids hadn't seen the movie so they didn't really get the ride but since we have been home they have watched it several times so it might be worth doing again in the future.

Snow White's Scary Adventures ~ I didn't ride but dh took the kids, he said they were fine on it.

 

[letthembelittle]

TOMORROWLAND

Astro Orbitor ~ Dh insisted on taking ds on the ride, Dumbo was much more fun because the little ships are kinda hard to see out of if you are 2.

Autopia ~ Dh took the kids, he didn't think it was worth the wait (fastpass wasn't on) but the kids loved it. I don't understand why grownups who can drive real cars on real roads would waste time doing this ride.

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ~ Another family favorite, super fun since you can use the gun to get targets, downside is there are only two guns so plan who rides where carefully to avoid tears.

Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage ~ Dh and I rode this on our date night, it was kinda hot and cramped to me, dh did not like it at all but I though the little movie with Nemo was cute.

Space Mountain ~ One of dh's favorite rides, he was the only one to ride it.

Star Tours ~ we didn't ride

Honey I Shrunk the Audience ~ we didn't attend

Innoventions ~ we didn't attend

 

[letthembelittle]

SHOWS

Disneyland Parade ~ The Christmas parade was WONDERFUL! I didnt care for the Celebrate Street Party though.

Fireworks ~ The little parts I saw as we were heading over to Downtown Disney were pretty but I dont really care for fireworks so I didnt mind missing them and not standing in the huge crowd of people.

Fantasmic ~ I really liked it, my kids would have been scared so I was glad we did this on our date night.