Sydnie does Disney

[Sydnie]

I somehow missed the trip report page until now. WELL. That must be rectified

Let me start by introducing myself. I am Alison, 27, and I live in San Jose with my husband, Tom (29). Cue cheesy wedding pics now...

Well you know what happens when two young people are in love....

Name: Oliver
Age- Turned 3 today!
Aliases:Bug, Buggers, Ollie, Monkey
Height: Matterhorn but not Splash Mountain
Areas of expertise: All things Toy Story or Cars
Superpowers: Using your words against you, avoiding naps like the plague

Name: Jack
Age- 1
Aliases: Jackers, Bitty, Jack-Jack, Munchkin
Height- Small World, Dumbo, Pirates
Areas of expertise: Mickey and Friends
Weapon of Choice: Disarming you with his smile, spotting a speck of food from a mile away.

 

[Sydnie]

So we decided that since kids were old enough (and I wasn't pregnant for the first time in awhile) that we would do a Disney trip. Our boys' birthdays are at the end of May and beginning of July, so we figured we'd split the difference and do a mid-June trip. Also the fact we'd be getting in right before we'd have to pay for Oliver didn't hurt either

So our little trip for our family of four slowly started snowballing...before we were done we had my parents, Tom's parents and all his siblings and their kids coming along too! Our group ended up being 17 people, 6 of whom were children age 6 or younger.

Yes, we are brave.

We decided that I would drive down with my parents on the first day (Saturday June 11th) and my husband would meet us down there on the Tuesday, the same day my parents would be flying back. This way he got some extra time at work and we all got to spend time together in Disney.

 

[Sydnie]

Day 1.

We left San Jose at about noon and drove straight through until we reached Disneyland at 6pm.

Here's Jack hanging with Sully, ready to hit the road and get his Disney on!

We checked into the Grand Californian Hotel and were excited to begin our stay!

Here's the lobby (stunning!)

The little miniature chairs where kids could watch Disney while we checked in

We headed into Downtown Disney for some dinner

Tortilla Jo's was great. The chips and salsa are free (a must for any Mexican restaurant I think) and the food was pretty good and not too horribly over priced. At about 7 o'clock on a Saturday we only waited about 30 minutes for a table for 5-not too bad! Also there was live music-a huge hit with both of the boys. Only downside was the waiters who weren't overly friendly, it seemed pretty apparent they were trying to turn over the tables as fast as possible.

Some shots of the musicians

We then headed back to our hotel room. We were right above the monorail on the third floor. I was a bit worried about the noise but it was virtually silent. And honestly the kids loved having it pass right by their room. Since we only had 5 day hoppers we just headed to bed so we could be up bright and early for MM the next morning!

Day 2 in next post...

 

[kylie71]

Your boys are Adorable!! Can't wait for more!

 

[reyasmommy]

Happy Birthday Oliver!

Your boys are TOOOO cute. Jack reminds me a little of my own little boy. He's 18 1/2 months old, how old is Jack?

I'm jealous you stayed at Grand Californian, I hope to be able to stay there one day. We walk through it from the hotel we stay at when we walk to the parks. It's so beautiful.

Anyway, I look forward to reading more. I'm intrested on how Jack reacted to everything, might give me an idea on what to expect with Jayden.

 

[Sydnie]

Thanks for the replies ladies! If I can figure out how to find your PTRs/TRs I will go read them. ReyasMommy, Jack is 13 months and he LOVED it..read on!

So Day 2.

We woke up early to head into the park for MM. We managed to hit the golden spot in line, we didn't have to wait for the rope to drop and just walked in as everything opened. Everyone and their brother seemed to be heading towards Star Tours which we had no interest in, so we headed for the Matterhorn. Little did we know it would be closed for the entire rest of our stay so it was amazing good luck we did it first.

Here are the boys getting ready to go into the park. Ollie is wearing a Lightning McQueen hat we bought in DTD the night before, he insisted on wearing it the whole time, most of the time backwards

The iconic pic. I apologize for the quality of the pics-I was wrangling two toddlers the whole time so didn't have time to get great shots

Ollie's first ride in Disneyland!

Oliver loved the ride...until the Yeti. I had totally forgot about it and of course should have known the monster would freak him out. I was impressed though that the speed of the ride and the height didn't bug him at all.

Some shots of Main Street USA. You can see how empty it was-and the very overcast mornings were typical. By about 12 or 1 the haze burned off and the sun shone.

After we did the Matterhorn we headed over to have some breakfast at Minnie's before the lines got too long. I can't tell you how much I recommend this! We didn't have to wait at all to get in and because it was pretty empty in there each character spent a ton of time with the boys. If you have little ones especially I would recommend doing a MM breakfast since it will really help them get comfortable at first. I was a little worried Jack would freak out but he lovvvvvvved them.

 

[Sydnie]

To finish up our MM we headed to Fantasyland, and the teacups! This ended up being one of Ollie's favorite rides.

With my Dad in the faux teacup since Jack was too small for the real ones

Ollie just hating it

And then the rocket ships in Tomorrowland at Oliver's request. This line surprised me-it took a lot longer than it looked like it would, we must have waited about half an hour or 45 mins. The only explanation I can think if is younger kids waiting while other family members rode Star Tours, or perhaps it just really is that popular?! I have to admit the height made me a little queasy

More Day 2 to follow...

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Happy Birthday to Oliver!!! I love it so far!!

 

[reyasmommy]

Great pictures. Don't take this the wrong way, but Jack is a chunky monkey. (((So is Jayden))) Jack looks the same size as Jayden but is 5 months younger. Could just be the pictures though. My husband took my son to work last week and everyone thought he was at least 2 because of his size and were shocked when we said he was only 18 months. I'm afraid he's not going to fit in his pack n' play when we go on the trip because he's growing so fast.

 

[kindakrazy2]

Great report! Loving the pictures! Your kids are gorgeous and so are you. Looking forward to reading the rest.

 

[smile4stamps]

I love your Trip Report so far! I am SO JEALOUS you found Pooh at Minnie's Breakfast... I have been there 3 times and still no Pooh!!

Your kiddos are SO CUTE!

Just curious... which dates in June were you there?

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

You look really pretty!!

 

[Sydnie]

Great pictures. Don't take this the wrong way, but Jack is a chunky monkey. (((So is Jayden))) Jack looks the same size as Jayden but is 5 months younger. Could just be the pictures though. My husband took my son to work last week and everyone thought he was at least 2 because of his size and were shocked when we said he was only 18 months. I'm afraid he's not going to fit in his pack n' play when we go on the trip because he's growing so fast.

Hey no offense taken-I love the chubby babies! He IS big for his age-at his on year appt he was 23 lbs and 31 inches-people often think he's closer to 1.5 than one. I envy the people with petite little kiddos-my back does not love carrying him ( I am only 5'2 myself ) Both boys have always been tall and solid- they take after my 6'3 220lb DH.

Just curious... which dates in June were you there?

We were there the 11-16th. It was a blast

Sorry I have been ignoring this thread but I am getting stuff all prepped for Ollie's party this weekend so I have only been online for 5 minutes here and there. I will finish this one soon and start my PTR for our next trip

 

[reyasmommy]

Yeah, my DD was always really small for her age. Then there's my son. It kills my back holding him, so I know how you feel. He loves to walk, the problem is he always likes walking in the opposite direction of where I'm going. I'm thinking about bringing one of those monkey backpack leash things like I had for my DD? When DH took him to work last week he was dubbed the nickname "bruiser" !

 

[skiingfast]

What good luck with the Matterhorn and an excellent first ride to be remembered!

 

[blabbermouth]

Hey, this is a trip report, not just a PTR! Great!

Your kids are such cuties! They have that mischevious look in their eyes though, haha. Glad they didn't have any problems with the characters or the rides. So nice to be able to have your parents along for the trip.

 

[Belle Ella]

Great TR so far! I absolutely love Minnie & Friends Breakfast in the Park

 

[smile4stamps]

We were there the 11-16th. It was a blast

That was the second half of my trip! I was there a total of June 6 - 16!

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Love thr TR so far!! You look very pretty.

 

[JH87]

I am glad I came across your TR! Your boys are adorable