First Family Trip Ever! May 28-31 w/ pics! UPDATED

[anicholson75]

Hi everyone!
We took our first family vacation ever, and decided to go to Disneyland! We've been to WDW several times (just DH and I, and DD, as DH was too little last time) and we had a blast! Hope everyone enjoys my trip report!

DH - Kevin - 41 yrs, works for Southwest Airlines, so free airfare!
me - Anne - 33 yrs, SAHM, has to have everything planned out!
DD - Noelle - 5 yrs and is going to be the future Mrs. Jack Sparrow, so she says
DS - Ryan - 2 yrs and is not afraid of ANYTHING!

Day 1: May 28, Wed.
We get up at 4:15am and start getting ready. I got the van packed up the night before, so really all I need to do is get dressed, etc. and wake up the kids by 4:40am. Both were SO confused at that early hour, until I reminded them we were getting on an airplane and going to DL! Suddenly, they perked up! Got to Love Field (we're in Dallas) by 6:15am, our flight leaves at 6:45am. We flew from Dallas to San Antonio, then to Las Vegas (plane change) and then LAX. Kids did really great on the plane, as I had tons of new things for them to do. New movies, leapster game, those little wax stick things for Ryan, etc. Layover in Vegas proved difficult because they just wanted to play with the slot machines and the slot machine nazi was hounding me about keeping them away the whole time. Ugh, why do they have to put those things all up and down the aisles? They just look like chuck e cheese games to kids! Picked up some lunch at Subway. Kids ate mostly chips.

Ryan watching a Baby Einstein on the plane (pink dvd player was borrowed!)

Kevin and Ryan on the plane

Noelle playing her new Disney Princess Leapster game

Finally, we get to LAX and head off to get our luggage at wait for the DL Express bus. Just missed one, so we wait 1/2 hr longer. Get on the bus and there were only a few people on there. I think it took about 45 min to get to our hotel. The bus driver was SO nice! He asked where we were staying and took us right to the door! I had prepared everyone that we might be dropped off by Hojo's and have to walk, as I've heard that's what happens sometimes, but yea! Kids were SO tired, by now it's 1:00pst and to them it's 3:00. We stayed at the La Quinta Inn Suites on Clementine, Kevin gets an airline employee discount. We got the kid's suite, which was awesome! I was truly impressed by this hotel. It was clean, cheap ($84/night) and the room was plenty big. I loved the bunkbeds! Top was a twin and bottom was a full. French doors separated the 2 rooms, and each had a tv. Fridge & microwave was in the kids' room though, which was weird, but not an issue.

Our hotel

Kids on the top bunk (sorry it's blurry!)

Our part of the suite

Soon after we got in our room, the front desk called and said our Vons grocery delivery was there, right on time! I ordered some water, kid snacks and breakfast items in case the free breakfast at the hotel was gross, and some beer for Kevin and I after the kids go to bed. I wanted the kids to try and rest a little, but they were way too excited! We changed into jeans and went down to wait for the ART to go to the park.

Waiting for the ART

We get on (we're the only ones!) and in 10 minutes, we're there! Love the ART. It worked out great for us and beats walking! It's now about 3:00 and we have a few hours at DL before our early dinner at Goofy's Kitchen.

Looking down Main Street

As soon as we enter Main Street, we see Mulan! She just got there for her greetings and Noelle was the first in line! Noelle loves Mulan, and even cut her hair by herself one time, because "Mulan did it! Why not?" She signed her autograph book and was very nice.

According to my Ridemax plans, we went all the way over to Critter Country to ride Winnie the Pooh, and noticed the line was very long! The CM then announces that it's broken down and it will be 30 min. So we leave there and go to our next step in the plan, Pirates of the Caribbean. Now, I have to say, Noelle is IN LOVE with Jack Sparrow. Really, she sees the movie and gets all red-faced and googly. She tells everyone she is going to marry him. So, needless to say, this is her favorite ride.

About to go on POTC

I know everyone hates it when you take pics w/ flashed on this, but Noelle had to have this picture.

We get off POTC and Ryan is throwing a fit "a-gin, a-gin" as he will do after every.single.ride this whole trip. We keep telling him, let's go see what's next! So we go next door to the Haunted Mansion, and they both loved it! They both love "scary" stuff, and this ride almost ends up being Noelle's favorite new ride. I tried to take a pic of us in our Doom Buggies but they're too fast!

It's about time to start walking toward the Disneyland Hotel for our PS at Goofy's at 5:40. We're ALL starving, and I'm dying for a diet coke, but hold out until we get there. We take a nice, but brisk, walk through Downtown Disney and get there 10 min. early. Kids play on the Autotopia car in the lobby area while we wait to be called for our picture w/ Pluto.

Finally, it's our turn! Ryan LOVES Goofy and Pluto the best, so he's excited!

We get seated, and the restaurant is under half-full. I hardly have time to get our drink orders taken and characters start coming quickly! Did I say I was DYING for my diet coke? I think I could pour one over my head and be happy. But, I get it, and drink the whole thing down at once. Waitress laughs at me and brings another quickly. We try to eat when we can, in between character visits. I thought the food was pretty good! I loved all of the California salad items; I could eat artichokes on everything I think! Kids mainly ate the mac and cheese and fruit, some corn on the cob and I think Ryan had part of a hotdog. Kevin thought it was ok, but he's picky like that. Desserts was ho-hum, except for the bread pudding. It was to die for! I ate 2 servings! Here are all of our characters we met:

Dale

Alice (she was my favorite! Very much into character and sounded just like her!)

Chip

Jasmine (Kevin's favorite--wonder why??)

Rafiki (so happy to see him!)

Jane (Kevin liked her too, man, I'm glad we didn't go to Ariel's instead!)

Bert

cont'd in the next post...

 

[anicholson75]

Day 1, continued...

Goofy!

As we were leaving, Noelle decided she wanted Chip AND Dale together, so she rounded them up.

We stopped in the DL Hotel gift shop for a t-shirt I wanted, then walked back to DL. Next on our list was Adventureland, so we went to the Enchanted Tiki Room.

Noelle loves birds, so this was right up her alley. We all really liked it (boy, was it freezing in there though!) I really liked the Tiki gods/totem poles the best. Kevin sang the song the rest of the night, which drove us all crazy.

Next, Kevin and I took turns riding Indiana Jones with our fastpasses we got earlier. We both loved it! Noelle got a 4 foot stuffed snake from the gift shop (she loves bugs, reptiles, etc.) and wore it around her neck. Kevin took them on Jungle Cruise while I rode Indy, which he said they loved. I took them up Tarzan's Treehouse while Kevin rode.

Jungle Cruise

At this point, it was about 8:00, and we were all beat. Since we've been up since 4am, we decided to head back to the hotel. Ryan was such a trooper the whole day, I can't believe he made it without a nap! And wasn't cranky either!

Day 2: Thurs, May 29


We woke up a little earlier than we planned, thanks to Ryan. But I guess that gave us some extra time to get ready, right? We packed up and were waiting by the ART stop by 7:15, ate our breakfast on the ART and were at DL waiting in line by 7:30. We talked with a super-nice mom whose family was there for a Make-A-Wish trip for her daughter, who had brain cancer (I think, it had a more appropriate name but I can't remember). We talked for awhile and I think about her daughter a lot now. Hope all is well with her.

We are let in at 8am for our Magic Morning and we make a quick walk to Peter Pan's Flight, I think we were 15-20 or so in line. I love this ride! DL's is better than WDW's in my opinion.

In our ship!

Next we're off to Dumbo! Kevin and Ryan ride together (Ryan is going through a Daddy-only phase, so he was with him on most everything this trip!)
and Noelle and I ride together.

I take a quick picture of Fantasyland while on Dumbo

We get off Dumbo and Noelle tries to pull out the sword and can't, then declares "my Daddy can do it! He's the strongest man in the world!" Much to her dismay, he can't. I say, but he's not King Arthur!

Next, we go to Alice in Wonderland, love the caterpillar cars!

Ryan is insisting we ride the carousel, so that's next!

Then it's on to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride; I took a lot of pics here, not sure why! The ride broke down 1/3 of the way into it, (right before Kevin and Ryan made it into their car). They turned on the lights and a CM came and got us, and we walked back through the ride to the entrance. They said we could wait but it would be 20 min or so. No thanks!

Noelle and Mr. Toad

Me and Noelle on Mr. Toad

We decide to not go to Mad Tea Party, since Ryan is too short and would have a fit watching and not doing. No biggie to any of us. We went to Pinocchio's Daring Journey, but it too, is broken down. We'll come back later 'cause I love Jiminy Cricket!

Oh, did I mention the Matterhorn was broken down too???? grrrr...

We ride Snow White, Ryan LOVED the witch! In fact, his fit getting off of this ride was "more witch! more witch!" lol

It's now about 9:15, so we start heading over to DCA for the 9:30 opening of Soarin'. My favorite! We get there about 9:35 and Noelle and I go ride Soarin. She loves this ride (who doesn't?) and Kevin waits with Ryan, who is too short still. After that, we go over to Bugs Land and go to It's Tough To Be A Bug, I think there were only 3-4 families in there at the time! So strange compared to WDW. Both of the kids loved it!

Me, Noelle, Ryan and Hopper

At this point, we're so hungry! But, it's only 10:30 and we're trying to hold out for 11:00 so we can "officially" call it lunch, lol. We ride Heimlich's Chew Chew Train in the mean time.

love the watermelon part! smells so good!

After that, we head over to Pacific Wharf Cafe and Kevin gets a turkey sandwich, I get the clam chowder in a breadbowl, the kids get the mac and cheese meal. Noelle ate too much mac and cheese the night before I guess, so she ate turkey meat from Kevin's sandwich and some chips. I LOVE that clam chowder! It was hands-down the best thing I ate the whole trip. I could have an IV drip of it going into my arm I think. ha!

This is the part of the day I think I forgot to take pictures! After lunch, we went back to Bug's Land and did Flik's Flyers & Ladybug Boogie. Then we headed over to the Animation building and played around until it was time for Turtle Talk with Crush. We sat right up front on the floor w/ the kids and Noelle got picked to talk to him! She asked "What do you eat?" so cute! She was Gnarly Noelle. I think he picked her because I had on a bright red shirt. Ryan threw his croc suddenly at the screen and Crush made a joke of it, thank goodness!

After Crush, Ryan was getting WAY cranky. It was almost time to line up for the Playhouse Disney show, but I knew it would be pushing it for him. Kevin and Noelle went ahead and I parked the stroller near some benches so Ryan could nap and I could rest with my newly purchased Diet Coke and my dill pickle I got earlier at DL on the way out. Who should show up for a greeting right in front of us? Mickey!

Ryan eventually took a nap, I guess the Cheetos knocked him out!

After Kevin and Noelle got back, we waited for Ryan to wake up and then Noelle fell asleep!

Soon it was time to go see Aladdin and the kids woke up during our stroll down to the theatre. Kevin was freaked out by all of the people waiting for the show, but I assured him that everyone here on the DIS said it's no big deal! Sure enough, we all made it in, and got great seats on the mezzanine, 2nd row. The show was amazing, and even Ryan enjoyed it, didn't seem to get bored. After it was over, Noelle threw a little fit that we couldn't go see Jafar so she could show him her snake. I said, remember, he's in the genie lamp? Oh yes, you're right, mommy! she says.

Now we head over to Paradise Pier and Kevin and I switch out while we each ride California Screamin. I loved it! The takeoff is awesome!

After that, Noelle and I ride Mulholland Madness, which she loved. She loves roller coasters of all kinds, I think she would have ridden California Screamin if she could have. She wants to ride again, so Kevin and her ride it next. Ryan and I visited a little candy shop and get some lollipops and I get some cherry sours.

The Pixar Play parade is about to start and we're hungry, so we all get corn dogs at Corn Dog Castle. YUM-O! Ya'll weren't kiddin'! Even Ryan takes down 1/2 of one, which was amazing. He sat on Kevin's shoulders with his humongous corndog in his hand (why didn't I take a pic!) while watching the parade. The parade was very cute!

After that, the kids wanted to ride Heimlich again, so we went over and did that again. Oh, and once more after that! We called it a day after that, still sleep-deprived from the day before. We went back to our room and the kids had their baths and played around in the room some. Kevin and I ordered late night pizza to have w/ our beer from some place called Pizza House who delivered to our room, and it was SO good!

Day 3 to be continued soon...thanks if you've made it this far!!

 

[kellynz]

Sounds like you all had so much fun, your kids are gorgeous!! Im looking forward to the next installment.

 

[wendylady36]

Sounds like a great trip so far! Your family reminds me a lot of all the trips of taken to Disneyland with mine growing up. My mom is the same way with her Diet Coke I think she even mentioned one time that she just wanted someone to pour one on her! My niece love love LOVES POTC, and unfortunately for me, what the niece wants the niece gets; I must have rode it 5x in a row

I can't believe most of Fantasyland was breaking down on you!

I love the way the watermelon smells on Heimlich's too, it reminds me of Bubblicious Watermelon gum- I used to eat that stuff ALL the time growing up.

Can't wait for the rest

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

You TR has me cracking up here! You are too funny!!!

I was laughing at you wanting to pour Diet Coke on your head, and putting a clam chowder TV drip in your arm.. You are too much!

Actually, I feel the same thing about the clam chowder. That stuff is so good. Last trip I was digging the bread out of the bottom of my bread bowl, and my spoon broke!! I was sad!

I think it's totally awesome your kids are so young and into all that scary rollercoaster stuff! If I were your sons age and I saw It's Tough to Be a Bug, I'd be pooing in my seat!!!! What brave souls!!!

Keep it up!

 

[bumbershoot]

Fun!

You guys were just a couple days behind us. And my son has red hair like your kiddos.

The only question I have is...too short for the Mad Tea Party? There's no height limit.... I won't tell your kids, though.


I have just about the EXACT same picture of the Heimlich sign.

 

[bumbershoot]

If I were your sons age and I saw It's Tough to Be a Bug, I'd be pooing in my seat!!!!

And people think that I invite the tag fairy with the things I type!!!!!

 

[chickyann]

awwwww what a fun trip

Looking forward to the next update

 

[Yakety76]

Your kids are gorgeous!! What cute dimples your daughter has.
Sounds like you had a fabulous trip.
You saw so many characters at Goofy's. What fun!

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

And people think that I invite the tag fairy with the things I type!!!!!

You do! But I guess that was a shout to the tag fairy!

 

[anicholson75]

kellynz - Thanks for the compliments and glad you're enjoying my TR!

wendylady36 - Yes, I have a huge diet coke problem, I may need to start cutting back! We did POTC several times, I don't know if I could have taken it 5 times in a row! What a great aunt you are!

prettyprincessbelle - I STILL am thinking about that clam chowder. lol, my spoon broke too! My kids are definitely dare-devils! ...pooing in my seat...that's funny! At least the dung beetles would like you!

bumbershoot - Don't you love how people have to TOUCH your kid's hair, as if they need to feel how red it is? lol Happens all the time! I had read somewhere about a height restriction on Mad Tea Party, I thought, but you're right, there isn't one! Oh well!

chickyann - Glad you like my TR! I enjoy reading everyone else's so much I had to do one of my own!

Yakety76 - Thank you! She does have some big dimples! I loved Goofy's, so many characters and great interaction. Totally worth it!

Day 3 (last day!) which is a full day at DL, coming in a few minutes! Thanks for reading everyone!

 

[anicholson75]

Day 3: Friday, May 30

We were up by 7:15 again to try and catch the free breakfast at the hotel before leaving for DL by 8:15. Breakfast was so-so, not too bad considering it's free. They had biscuits and gravy, toast, doughnuts, cereal, and some mystery canned fruit. Still not sure what it was, but Ryan ate it anyway. We caught the ART right on time and were at the gates by 8:35, went down the shops down Main Street to wait for the opening. What a madhouse! Trying to maneuver 2 strollers through all of that was craziness. Finally, they opened and we made our way over to Tomorrowland, since Nemo is not on our agenda and Fantasyland was accomplished during our MM. We go straight to Buzz Lightyear and get right on. I love this ride! Come to find out this was Ryan's favorite ride by far, as he loves to "shoot the bad guys."

Not the best pic, but we were spinning!

Next, we head over to the Astro Orbiter, which was a cool point of view. Kids liked it. Kevin ran to go get Splash Mtn fastpasses, and I take the kids on Buzz again. We then remembered that we still haven't gotten to ride Winnie to Pooh yet, so we head over that way. It's a walk-on too, such a cute ride!

After, we go into Pooh's Corner to get the kids a Tigger Tail and I got a toffee /chocolate pretzel. The kids thought they had died and gone to heaven! I wish they could have split one, but you know that would never happen.

Enjoying the Tigger Tails!

We decide to go to Toontown next, and thought we'd do Gadget's Go Coaster, but the line was unbearable. I keep the kids distracted with the lure of Roger Rabbit for the time being. It was a cute ride but Noelle was so confused about who Roger Rabbit was. Never heard of him before! After that, we play around Toontown for awhile and the kids really liked Goofy's House the best.

We're hungry for lunch at this point, I think it was about 11:00 or so, so we went over for lunch at the River Belle Terrace. Boy, it was pricey! $12.99 for a sandwich? Kevin got the roast turkey sandwich, which he liked, I got the BBQ pork sandwich (it was ok, but I'm from Texas, probably should have stayed away from that!), the kids got turkey and roast beef sandwiches. Ryan mostly ate the pasta salad that came w/ my sandwich, and Noelle just ate turkey meat and grapes. $50 lunch!

Next, we go over to Critter Country to ride Splash Mountain. I think Kevin picked up fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain on our way at some point. I stay with Ryan and Kevin and Noelle ride with fastpasses. Noelle got soaked! She really doesn't like getting wet at all and decides that she doesn't like that ride! Kevin waits with the kids while I ride by myself. Is it just me or is WDW's better? I seem to remember the WDW Splash Mtn telling the story better or something. Anyway, still such an amazing ride.

Next in our plans was Tom Sawyer Island! Noelle FINALLY gets to meet the love of her life! We get on the raft and she talks the CM's ear off about Jack Sparrow. The CM then tells us that Jack just left for lunch! Ugh, we have to wait it out on the island I guess. We play around on the island for an hour. The kids loved it though! I wish they had a drink place over there.

I love this picture!

Finally, it's been an hour and we watch the little pirate singing trio near the "pub" thinking Jack will come out around that area. He doesn't show and we start wandering around looking for him. We finally see him getting off the raft but he's being escorted quickly to his meeting area I guess. We (and a BUNCH of other people, mostly kids) follow him, go through the cave and we lose him! We did he go? No one can find him, it was like there was a secret door or something. Finally, we ask another pirate and he tells us he's on the other end of the island. We go and find him there. He's acting so weird though, but I guess that's just Captain Jack! A little boy about 3 was sitting on top of the gold chest and Jack yells at him "Get off!" The little boy starts crying! It was so sad! I think I would have been mad if that were Ryan or Noelle. I know it was just his character, but still. Anyway, Jack won't pose for photos with anyone, and it's like pulling teeth to get him to sign an autograph. Noelle gets to talk to him and he talks in circles, she's so confused. But still, she's in love. She's all red faced, it's so cute. This is the best pic I could get.

I don't think we got the "good" Jack Sparrow. Maybe ya'll can tell me.

We leave the island and decide to ride the train all the way around the park. We're getting tired after our Pirate's Lair adventure! I give the kids their light sabers I bought off of ebay and they were loving it! Ryan just wanted to hit everything with it though, so his was banned to only stroller use after awhile.

We ride the train and I loved the dinosaur scenes! So neat!

You can tell Ryan's getting tired, he's got "the stare"

After the train, we get off in Frontierland and go over to Big Thunder Mountain. Ryan has fallen asleep in the stroller, so Kevin stays with him and Noelle and I ride and she loves it, of course. She wants to ride again, so we switch out and Kevin and Noelle ride while I wait with Ryan, still sleeping.

After that, we're all hungry for dinner. I wanted to catch the Billy Hill show at the Golden Horseshoe, but we were 5 min late and it was packed! Standing room only, which wasn't happening. I think we had to stop at the shooting gallery which held us up. Darn it! We did meet the nicest CM ever though, next to the Stage Door Cafe, which is where we decided to eat. He was a fiddler (not part of the show though) whose name was Farley. He let Noelle play his fiddle! I think he's been at DL at long time.

At the Stage Door, I got chicken tenders and fries, Kevin got the fish and chips, Ryan and Noelle got the PB&J to split. It was all just ok. Nothing special.

We go back over to Fantasyland to ride Pinocchio since it was broken down the day before.

Noelle's getting tired here, she's starting to carry around a blanket...

Jiminy!

We decide to go on the Storybook Land boats next, as I wanted to do that at dusk, which was perfect timing! This was the longest line we waited in the whole trip; about 30 min. It was very cool though! Ryan loved getting "eaten" by the whale.

We get some popcorn for a snack after the boats, and see if the Matterhorn is working yet. It is, but it's a 1 1/2 hour wait! No thanks!

We go over to Tomorrowland to do Autopia with our fastpasses, but there's no line so we just get right on! Ryan actually lets me ride with him on something for a change! He drives for a little while, but decides to have me drive most of the way. Those little cars go faster than I expected!

We still need to do Space Mountain! Kevin got fastpasses earlier in the day, so Noelle and I go ride first. I wasn't sure how she'd do on this one, she loves roller coasters but is afraid of the dark. I don't tell her it's dark until we're about to take off, is that bad?? I tell her and by the time it registers, we're in outer space! She screams a lot (good screams) and loves it! We get off and realize the fireworks are about to start. It's packed and there is no place to stand or sit, so we just keep making circles around the hub, while we watch. It was awesome!

We go back to Space Mtn, Noelle wants to ride again with Kevin, so they go and I wait w/ Ryan. They come right back and say that even the fastpass line was huge! I guess after the fireworks everyone decides to use their fastpasses? They decide not to wait, and we go over to New Orleans Square to get a spot for Fantasmic at 10:30. I tell Kevin, let's get a spot here! (Right behind the big black tower) and he thinks I'm crazy! I tell him, just trust me! Sure enough, the thing raises up and he thinks I'm a genius! lol Thanks DIS!
He goes to get us some Dole Whips while I wait with the kids. Noelle falls asleep. Kevin gets back just in time and says the Dole Whip machine broke. What a bummer! We watch Fantasmic, which was incredible! I liked it better than WDW's for sure! The location made all the difference. Noelle slept through the whole thing, not sure how! Ryan was awake and really liked it. I had planned to let Noelle do Haunted Mansion again afterward, but she was OUT!

We go toward Main Street and Ryan falls asleep along the way. It's really getting cold now! I buy some twisty lollipops for some of the kids' friends back home from the candy shop off Main Street and we say goodbye to Disneyland!

We just miss our ART! grrrr...we wait in the cold about 20 min and try to handle taking both sleeping kids out of the strollers and load up. Back to our room quickly and in bed.

We had a great, but too quick, trip and everything went fairly smooth. No major kid meltdowns, and considering the lack of sleep they had, I was impressed! Hope everyone enjoyed my TR and thanks for reading!

 

[jlparedes]

Great trip report and pics! I was wondering, what height is your son? I'll be taking my 2 year old this Fall. She'll be 2 1/2 and I'm hoping she grows a bit more. She isalready over 36" (tall for her age). thanks, can't wait for more.

 

[wendylady36]

What a great trip you all had!

I think you must have gotten a "bad" Capt. Jack, because I've never seen/heard of one that didn't sign autographs or take pictures...he was WAY too in character.

I'm glad that you all had fun! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Walking around the hub looking at the fireworks isn't a bad way to experience the fireworks if you want a decent view without waiting for an hour or two.

 

[anicholson75]

Great trip report and pics! I was wondering, what height is your son? I'll be taking my 2 year old this Fall. She'll be 2 1/2 and I'm hoping she grows a bit more. She isalready over 36" (tall for her age). thanks, can't wait for more.

Ryan is 34" tall. Your DD should be able to ride everything except for the 40" rides like Splash and Space mtn. Thanks!