Finally, my 2009 Family Disney Trip Report!
So on Wednesday September 16, my family and I got up VERY early in order to be ready by 5am when my mom picked us up to take us to the airport! We had ds sleep in the clothes we planned on him wearing on the plane because we can pick him up and put him in a car with out him waking up. We had no illusions about dd so we had just put her in her pjs and changed her when we woke her up. My ds woke up a little when we put him in the car, but not too much. Each kid had their blankie so we were ready to go. We checked in at the airport without much wait and then went through security with all our stuff...a couple bags, stroller, car seats, sweaters, etc. What a pain in the patooty! As we were walking out to the terminal we saw the in-laws checking in. Here is a pic of dh and kiddos waiting to board the plane.
We were one of the first to board the plane because of the small children which was good as it gave us time to get settled. (As we were about to go out to the plane, an employee of the airline came by with ds's blankie! Thank goodness! We hadn't even realized he had dropped it back at security!) I sat by the window and dh was on the aisle with ds between us and dd on dh's lap. It worked out really well. DD fell asleep at take off and slept for about an hour. Ds got the joy of watching Buzz Lightyear Star Command on my dh's ipod! I love how small that thing is and how it kept ds occupied!
We arrived at LAX without incident.
After heading to the baggage claim we took turns running to the bathroom. The bags came fairly quickly and we went out to catch our exclusive super shuttle. We only waited aroun 7-10 minutes for the shuttle and the guys installed all the car seats while the driver loaded our luggage and stroller. The ride to the hotel took very little time and the driver wasn't nearly as much of a maniac as I sometimes get with super shuttle! Once at the hotel we checked in only to find they weren't able to fill our requests. We had requested adjoining rooms on the sixth floor and ended up with one room on the 6th and one room on the 5th. We had also requested a good view and from our room on the 5th floor we could only see one little section of the middle part of the Matterhorn. Very bummed and not worth the extra money. We did get 1 sink inside and 1 sink outside the bathroom in our room but the inlaws said they only got one sink period. Huh
Anyway, we weren't able to actually get in our rooms at that point so we changed in the restrooms next to the arcade and stored our stuff before heading over to the main gate. After entering
Disneyland we got a second stroller for ds and one for our neice and were on our way. The plan was to ride the train all the way around the park and then get off in NOS but we didn't know how to collapse the strollers and we were starving so we just walked straight over to the Hungry Bear restaurant (grabbing fastpasses for Indy on the way). I got the AP discount (did this for most of our meals!) and told dh to grab some seats near the back on the water. He says he didn't hear me and he ended up getting some seats near the front kind of near the water...not what I wanted but everyone was already seated so not much I could do about it. We enjoyed the food (ds and I split a burger and apple slices.) After we finished eating we went over to Pooh Corner where ds decided to get the M & M cup for a treat for later (it didn't look too big in the case, but that thing lasted us a couple days!) We rode the Winnie the Pooh ride as the first ride of the trip and my ds was afraid of the Heffalumps and Woozels and kept burying his head in dh's lap! I was afraid this didn't bode well for the rest of the trip! Next we went over to Indy and while dh and I watched all the young kids, dbil, dsil, dn13 and dn5 went on Indy. The little ones played in Tarzan's treehouse. I carried dneice as she was exhausted but she ways SOOOOO much more than my dd and after carrying her all over that tree house my legs just about gave out! Once the others were back from the ride, they watched the kids while dh, dn13 and I rode Indy!
We rode the Jungle cruise next which everyone seemed to enjoy. Here is a pic of dbil and d neice in line.
It was very warm while we were there so we got the lemonade/slushie thing and a dole whip as well as a water bottle refill over at the baby station (fabulous by the way) and went on to Buzz Lightyear.
Ds absolutely loved this ride! It was his favorite of the entire trip! Next I watched all the kids while the rest of the group did Star Tours and then we went on Buzz again. About this time my in laws realized that my neice was not doing well. They decided to go back to the hotel and we continued on into tomorrowland. We played with the ball and then did Autopia which ds loved!
We then went on to Fantasyland where we did the Teacups, Alice in Wonderland,
Snow White (another of ds's faves!) and the carousel before heading to Village Haus for dinner. DD and I shared fruit. We then did Snow White again and Peter Pan before heading for the parade and Gibson Girl. DH got ice cream while kids and I watched the parade. We were right in front of the main float in the party zone! On our way out the park we saw Mickey and Minnie together and got a family picture.
We then took the train around the park before heading back to the hotel and getting settled for the night.
Next installment (Day 2! DCA park)
. We had no idea if ds would be ok with this or not but we were all so warm it was worth the risk. Dsil stayed with the little ones while the rest of us got on the ride.
