Our first trip to Disneyland with Dad!!

[wendypooh22]

I need to start with the fact that having my DH come with us on a trip, even for a day trip is a HUGE deal… His last trip to DL was way back when Indiana Jones opened and we had tickets to the Mark & Brian party.. He is soo not a Disney guy, but he said that he would join us for a day, so we took it and ran off with it…

The cast: Me, DH, DS (8) and DS (6)

We decided to go on a Wednesday since crowds would hopefully be low and DH hates crowds… We left home at 7:00 and asked the traffic gods to be kind to us…. We made it to DL in record time for AM traffic 1 ½ hours… I was surprised how many cars were already in the parking structure when we arrived…. After parking, we found seats on the waiting tram and headed off to DTD. I was soo happy to be there with them. Once we left the tram, my boys guided their dad from the tram, thru security and up to a line to enter the park. We stopped for our picture in front of Mickey’s flowers and headed off to the rope drop. Hubby really doesn’t get the rope drop thing, but when the announcer came on and the countdown started, he chimed in with the rest of us and counted down to zero… The boys led the way and changed our “regular” route from FL to NOS and Pirates was our first ride of the day… It was soo cute how the boys would check their maps to plan out the next adventure… It was their day to be the guides. We didn’t storm thru and conquer it all, but we took our time and enjoyed each ride… They boys decided that on this trip they wanted to ride Space Mountain for the 1st time with their Dad… It is one of my favorites, but the boys thought that it would be too scary. After it was over, they said that it was the “best ever” and wanted to go again LOL.
I laughed when we went on Buzz since my hubby is a big hunter/outdoor guy. I gave him a few pointers and to be fair, told him the secrets to scoring BIG. In the end he didn’t do too bad with a score of 150,000 but he claimed that his gun was off synch. I finally broke the 600,000 mark and ended up with my highest ever score of 636,800 !! I was really proud of that one… We thought about a rematch, but it was lunch time and we needed food. We left DL and headed over to whitewater snacks for lunch. As usual, the food was good. DS (6) had the PBJ DS (8) had the kids chicken strips and we both decided on the Cheeseburger. DH was surprised that we would walk soo far for lunch, but once we found a table outside in the patio area he realized how nice and relaxing it was…
Whenever we have gone to DCA before the boys would play in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail area and say that “We can’t wait to bring Dad here”. Well, today was the day and boy did they have fun!!! Hubby was worn out after hiking all over the rope course while I was able to sit back, relax and take it all in. We found out that DH’s inner animal spirit is the bear and it fits him….
This trip also brought on our first experience with Grizzly River Run… Usually, our trips are in December and I don’t like to be wet and cold, so we never rode this. Even on our return AP trips, it wasn’t on our must do list. That has changed now!!! We basically walked on to the ride. I tell you that was the funniest, wettest and craziest time we have had in a long time…. Hubby had a BLAST and we laughed soo hard watching our raft mates try to avoid the water. On other visits without my boys, my sister and I have spent a lot of time at the lookout watching the rafts get soaked by the underwater geyser and I knew that karma was going to get me. After the big plunge which I took backwards with my DS(6), I waited for that thing to get us, but it missed us… Oh, I love that ride and we won’t pass it up again. While we were at DCA, I wanted to take him up in the Sun Wheel, but the line for the non-swinging car was out to the entrance and since we only had one day with DH, we passed it up… We watched it’s tough to be a bug and laughed at DH because he didn’t hold his breath when the stink bug came out… The boys tried to warn him, but he didn’t listen. DCA was fun, but my little one wanted to show his dad Splash Mountain ;-) so we headed back to DL… Looking back, I have learned a few things on this trip. 1) One bag of beef jerky is not enough for 4 people. 2) Sometimes, you can see Mickey’s little friend while waiting in line for the Matterhorn and 3) Do NOT put a 280 lb man in the second seat of Splash!!! We did and we got SOAKED!!! My little one was soo wet and the sun was starting to set, so while DS (8) and I rode HM, hubby and DS (6) found a sunny spot for him to warm up in. It didn’t work too well, so we took off his t-shirt and put his pullover sweatshirt on for the rest of the day.. I can’t have him going back to school the next day with pneumonia… While he was drying, we walked around a bit more and decided that our last ride would be Star Tours. I really don’t care for it, but the kids like it so I sucked it up and went on… The park closed at 8:00 and DH was disappointed that it closed soo early. I told him that it was the off season and the late hours during the week don’t start until summer… He said that he would have liked to stay longer, WOW!!
Now the park has closed and we make our way down Main Street… It was such a great day! We walk thru the tunnels, out the main gate and out to the tram area and it was PACKED! Not surprising since the park just closed… I didn’t even ask them if they wanted to wait, so we walked thru and followed the path back to the parking structure. Boy, I really didn’t realize how far that was, but we only saw 2 trams pass us by so I figured it was a good move to walk back. Plus, people are just soo darn pushy and mean that I didn’t want to ruin a great day by fighting our way onto a tram… As we were driving home, DH and I talked about our day while the boys slept… DH couldn’t believe how much walking we did and how the boys knew their way around without a map. LOL. I thought it was great that for the first time, the boys saw the inside of the men’s room… Since it’s either me or my sister, the boys aren’t allowed to go into the men’s room alone. Sorry, I am paranoid… It was nice to be a girl today…
Today was a HUGE success… The lines were great and most of the time it was maybe 15 minutes... We had a great day with the family and DH got to see first hand how much the boys love DL. I don’t know when we can get him to come back with us, but we are working on it…

Thanks for reading and I hope that you enjoyed our Wednesday with Dad!

 

[Zena Wright]

I loved your report and I can so relate, I am a mom of 2 girls ages 13yrs and 2yrs old. I fell in love with Disneyland the minute I laid eyes on all its wonderous magic . I was 32 yrs old the first time I went and my now 13yr ols was 9 at the time and it was the first time for both of us .

Since then I have taken my girls at least once a year and sometimes twice, we usually go at it by ourselves with maybe aunty or grandma but up until recently dad always said, "I don't do Disney" . I know this sounds bad and on this site those are about as close to swear words as we can get but its true he really felt that way .

Well about two years ago we had our second child and for her first birthday I decided to do a family trip to Disneyland instead of having our traditional 1 years baby luau, (this is a Hawaiian tradition), we are from Hawaii and 1 year baby luau's are kinda a big thing here, anyways I planned the trip and this time my husband couldn't say no because how could he miss his little girls first birthday celebration . He agreed to go but he didn't hid the fact that he was an unwilling participant to my crazy addiction , I am known as a Disneyland addict in my family and most of my friends and family think I need to go to DLA (Disneyland Annonymus) , and they are probrably right but my motto is you can never have to much Disney!

So we arrive in LA and check into our hotel, Paradise Pier, and so far so good. My husband seems to be coming around alittle at least he no longer looks like a kidnapped victim .

Our second night at Disneyland I reserved special seating for all of us for the Fantasmic Show , If you have never done that it is a really nice treat, its alittle costly @ about $60 per person but so worth it, they rope off a really good section and your seats are up close and personal to the show and you get all these fancy Disney desserts and any drink you would or could want except for alcohol because this is Disneyland after all, and best of all you don't have to fight the crowd .

So my husband is pretty impressed so far with seating arrangements and then the show starts and I look over at his face and I swear he was 4 yrs old again , his eyes were twinkling and he had a permanet smileplastered on his face , from that night on my old non-disney loving husband dissapeared and in his place was this crazy man that wouldn't stop following us .

By the time we left to go home, my husband had more disney clothing than me & my girls put together , he bought a different charactersweater & cap everyday, he even wore the mickey ears hat, it was amazing.

Now he is looking forward to any & all Disney trip I plan & never wants us to go without him ever again .

So the moral of this story is Disney has the magic to chage even the most skeptical DL non-fan and turn him into a DL lover !

Thanks for sharing your story, it brought back all the wonderful memories of ours.

Aloha & Mahalo from Hawaii

Zena

 

[blackjackdelta]

I loved your report and I can so relate, I am a mom of 2 girls ages 13yrs and 2yrs old. I fell in love with Disneyland the minute I laid eyes on all its wonderous magic . I was 32 yrs old the first time I went and my now 13yr ols was 9 at the time and it was the first time for both of us .

Since then I have taken my girls at least once a year and sometimes twice, we usually go at it by ourselves with maybe aunty or grandma but up until recently dad always said, "I don't do Disney" . I know this sounds bad and on this site those are about as close to swear words as we can get but its true he really felt that way .

Well about two years ago we had our second child and for her first birthday I decided to do a family trip to Disneyland instead of having our traditional 1 years baby luau, (this is a Hawaiian tradition), we are from Hawaii and 1 year baby luau's are kinda a big thing here, anyways I planned the trip and this time my husband couldn't say no because how could he miss his little girls first birthday celebration . He agreed to go but he didn't hid the fact that he was an unwilling participant to my crazy addiction , I am known as a Disneyland addict in my family and most of my friends and family think I need to go to DLA (Disneyland Annonymus) , and they are probrably right but my motto is you can never have to much Disney!

So we arrive in LA and check into our hotel, Paradise Pier, and so far so good. My husband seems to be coming around alittle at least he no longer looks like a kidnapped victim .

Our second night at Disneyland I reserved special seating for all of us for the Fantasmic Show , If you have never done that it is a really nice treat, its alittle costly @ about $60 per person but so worth it, they rope off a really good section and your seats are up close and personal to the show and you get all these fancy Disney desserts and any drink you would or could want except for alcohol because this is Disneyland after all, and best of all you don't have to fight the crowd .

So my husband is pretty impressed so far with seating arrangements and then the show starts and I look over at his face and I swear he was 4 yrs old again , his eyes were twinkling and he had a permanet smileplastered on his face , from that night on my old non-disney loving husband dissapeared and in his place was this crazy man that wouldn't stop following us .

By the time we left to go home, my husband had more disney clothing than me & my girls put together , he bought a different charactersweater & cap everyday, he even wore the mickey ears hat, it was amazing.

Now he is looking forward to any & all Disney trip I plan & never wants us to go without him ever again .

So the moral of this story is Disney has the magic to chage even the most skeptical DL non-fan and turn him into a DL lover !

Thanks for sharing your story, it brought back all the wonderful memories of ours.

Aloha & Mahalo from Hawaii

Zena

Great story. I still do not understand men who either do not like Disney or won't admit it. I hate crowds as much as most people do but to take the time to watch my kids faces when they are having fun in the park is something not to be missed. They are either teens or young adults and the fun has not changed.

Jack