I can't remember when exactly John and Ashleigh brought it up, but they told us they were planning a trip to Disneyland in September with their family plus Kenzie and they invited us to come along. It was the month before Rory turned three, which is the perfect time to go since they will still be free, and it was scheduled for a whole MONTH after Ada's due date, so it seemed like a no brainer. I was very excited about the prospect of this trip and then the closer it got I kept thinking, "Who takes a newborn to Disneyland?! I've made a huge mistake!" But thankfully the tickets were already booked by the time that crippling fear and doubt set in. We booked our trip through Costco and that included our hotel and our park tickets. We also opened up a Disney credit card to use for a while before our trip and earned some Disney money that way.
I spent months looking at Disney merchandise to plan the perfect outfits for the girls and also in an effort to decide how "Disney" I was going to get. If we were going to go there and spend all the money I wanted to do it right, I just didn't want to be embarrassing about it. And I definitely didn't want to spend all the money we don't have on looking good on this trip. I ended up finding a tutorial on YouTube for how to make mickey mouse ears, and I made some for all of the girls. All three of them got the pink and gold princess ears, Rory and Siena got matching Frozen ears, and Kenzie got the Ariel ones. The amount of pride I feel about these ears is a little outrageous, but also I made 6 pairs of ears for about $30 worth of materials so yeah... I'm that good.
We took off on Sunday, September 16 and I was beyond excited to put our minivan to good use! Rory had the whole back to herself and we plugged my laptop into the car outlet. She had a bag full of Disney movies on loan from the library and I think she probably thought that the car ride WAS the vacation. I sat in the middle with Ada so that I could keep an eye on her and feed her when necessary, and Stephen drove like the studly dad that he is. When we arrived at the hotel, John, Ashleigh, and Lucina had already made it there and Rory was so excited to see family! We stayed up a little too late reconnecting, but eventually everyone got to sleep to prepare for our adventures the next day!
Monday, Day 1: My baby Jasmine and Elsa in all her glory! We had a little bit of rough time getting out the door, but we finally got our strollers in gear and did the 20 minute walk to the park. We spent the first day in California Adventure and Rory liked it so much more than I thought she would! The first ride we rode was Toy Story Mania and she LOVED IT. We rode the carousel and met Bo Peep while some of the others rode the Incredi-coaster. Rory still only wants to sit on the seat on the carousel and refuses to go on any part that goes up and down, no matter how cute the animal might be.
Next, we went on the Little Mermaid ride. We got separated in line so Rory rode it with Lucina and Kenzie and Stephen, Ada, and I rode it together. Surprisingly, Rory hated it, and thus began her deep mistrust of any ride-through ride with animatronics- AKA just about every kid ride at Disneyland. John and Ashleigh took Kenzie and Siena to a princess breakfast at the Grand Californian and the rest of us made our way to Car's Land. We went on Mater's ride, and Rory squealed with laughter the whole time. Stephen and I took turns riding it with her because we both enjoyed her laughing too much to let the other one have all the fun. The day started to get really hot and the lines started to get a lot longer. Rory was too short for Radiator Springs Racers, and we didn't think to get Fast Passes for the adults so Stephen never got to try that one out. We rode Luigi's dancing cars, had a Red's Frozen Apple at the Cozy Cone Motel (delicious) and then went to the Animation building to get out of the sun and stand in line to meet Elsa and Anna.
John and Ashleigh's crew joined us while we were waiting in line and the girls had a blast watching the ceiling of TV's and dancing around to the music with all the cool lights. When we finally got in to meet Anna and Elsa, I was so happy that Rory stayed excited about it and didn't freeze up at all. Elsa held her hand and the two sisters spent a long time talking to our group and making the little girls feel so special Stephen and I joked about this trip constantly before going, just about how expensive it was, how we didn't want to be those weirdo Disney-obsessed families, how Rory would probably just cry and beg to go home the whole time anyways... you get the picture. When Rory was holding Elsa's hand and asking her about Arendelle and her beautiful dress, Stephen looked at me with his its-so-awesome-to-be-a-dad face and said, "Disneyland, take all my money." I 1,000% agreed.
We had lucky timing because after we met Anna and Elsa the cast members took our group into another little room around the corner to meet Olaf! When we walked into the room Olaf was standing still off to the side and the cast member told us that he needed someone to wake him up with a warm hug. The little girls were not very interested in hugging giant Olaf and finally Kenzie stepped up to the plate and brought Olaf to life for us. Rory. was. terrified. It was hilarious. She wanted nothing to do with him and kept telling us that he was supposed to be small, and why couldn't he talk? I have to say, I too prefer my Olafs small and chatty.
After a few more rides we decided to break for dinner and went to the mexican place down by the Pier. I stopped to feed Ada in the mothers room first, and when I met everyone else to eat Rory was in full on melt-down mode. We are still not entirely sure what finally set off our sleep-deprived, over-stimulated, ticking time bomb, but it was her worst temper tantrum to date. She was like a caged Raptor, crying, screaming, and attacking anyone who came in her path. Stephen tried to take her out of the environment and distract her to snap her out of it, but he only succeeded in first looking like her was kidnapping her, and then almost losing her when she booked it as soon as he set her down. I couldn't stop laughing because in my head I wanted to film this colossal meltdown and label it "Disney Magic". The part I remember most vividly in my head was when one of the kind workers tried to give her a sticker or button to calm her down and she roared right in her face. She managed to reel it back in eventually, and we got a swirled ice cream from the Cozy Cones for our walk back to the Hotel. She slept great that night.
Tuesday, Day 2: We got up early to try to make the most of our Magical Morning in Disneyland. I forced everyone to wait in line for Peter Pan because I told them the line would only get longer throughout the day and it was the best ride in Fantasyland. Rory hated it and when we passed the ride later the line was almost always short. What do I know? While we waited in that line John ran and got us fast passes for Space Mountain. We were much more strategic about the adult rides in Disney and it made up for our poor showing in California Adventure the day before. Rory loved the Storybook Land boats, Dumbo (but only when she went with dad), and the Jungle cruise. In the middle of the day we stopped at the Royal hall to meet the princesses, and once again the wait did not disappoint. Siena wanted to show every princess her tumbling skills while Rory wanted to chat with them and talk about their pretty dresses. Having never done character meet and greets myself, I was seriously so impressed and finally get the hype. It was pretty magical.
We found some delicious food in the park, some of my favorites were the Red Wagon Corndogs (which we got twice), the Jolly Holiday macarons, and the food at the new Tiki Hut Hideaway by the jungle cruise. They had delicious little boas plus fancy dole whips in multiple flavors. After a quick sweet treat, we decided to head back to the hotel for nap time so that we could stay at the park later in the evening after the sun was down and see the parade. It felt so good to be back in the air conditioning and off of our feet. Stephen took a quick nap while Rory watched Princess and the Frog and refused to rest. After a little recharge we were ready to attack the park once more, and Rory insisted on wearing her Elsa nightgowns so she could wear a princess dress like the other little girls she had seen in the park all day (Note to self- next time bring her a real princess dress you noob. Also, I love that she feels so fancy in that nightgown. I can't really explain why, but it makes me feel like crying every time I think about it.)
On the walk back to the park Rory ended up falling asleep and we finally got that much needed nap time. We bought a churro and browsed souvenirs while we took turns watching her in the stroller. In true Rory fashion she fell asleep with her knees apart and her undies hanging out and we were too nervous to risk waking her her up by moving her, so we strategically draped her hand and called it modest enough. As soon as she woke up she was ready to hit the rides hard and she discovered her new favorite ride after Mater- the Teacups! I lost count of how many times this girl ended up going on them but she was in heaven and was in the best mood ever after her little power nap.
When we finally pulled her away from the teacups we went on It's a Small World a couple times and of course she ended up liking that one. It was way less creepy than I remembered and they have added a bunch of Disney characters throughout- or maybe they were already there? The point is, I didn't mind it. We posted up on some steps outside of the ride and hung out there until it was time for the parade. We sent a team for dinner and the kids enjoyed running around like the little wackos they are. The parade was fun and thankfully short.
Wednesday, Day 3: On our last day, we debated which park to do, but ultimately decided there were still a few things we wanted to see in Disneyland. We took our time getting out of bed and let everyone sleep in, just a little. After meeting princesses the day before Rory kept saying that she couldn't wait to meet Sleeping Beauty because suddenly that was her favorite princess. Stephen and I both tried to let it pass, but the more she brought it up the more we felt that Disney pressure to make all her little toddler dreams come true. I found out on the app the Aurora would be at the wishing well at 9:15 am, but like I said we took our time getting out of bed that morning, so we were in the middle of breakfast when it occurred to us that if we were going to find her there at 9:15 we needed to move now. Stephen grabbed the stroller and ran like only a father trying to make his daughter's dream come true can. We bobbed and weaved through crowds, somehow didn't lose each other, and made it just in time to close out the line. Rory was once again extremely adorable and made all our efforts feel worth it, bless her heart.
We had some time to our self after our meet and greet and so we went and rode some of Rory's favorite rides in Fantasyland again before everyone else made it to the park. Eventually we all worked our way over to Toon Town. The Minnie meet and greet was probably the only one that was disappointing, because the worker had told Rory she was going to have a tea party with Minnie, so when all she did was give her a hug and send her along, you could see Rory's little toddler heart breaking. She said, "But we didn't even sit down Mom! Where was my tea?!" Thankfully she recovered pretty quickly. We were able to talk her into riding the little roller coaster with Stephen, and when Siena showed up and wanted to give it a try, Rory even went a second time to go with her, though to say she liked either one would be a lie.
At one point in the morning before we left for the park I told Stephen that we needed to make sure to get fast passes for some of the big rides that we hadn't made it on yet, like Splash mountain. Stephen took that as, "I want to ride Splash Mountain." which actually makes a lot of sense, but was not what I meant. I was thinking more along the lines of checking things off the Disneyland to do list. Anyways, John went and got four fast passes specifically so that I could ride it. I don't actually like Splash mountain very much, but I felt ambivalent about riding it because it's not as if I still felt scared of it. Well, that is what I thought. Until we were waiting in line and all the dread started creeping back in to my stomach. I got so nervous for it! John, Kenzie, Stephen and I all rode it together and when the big drop came Stephen wrapped his arms around me tight from behind and I still had to plug my ears and squeeze my legs tightly around the seat (and coincidentally John) to deal with it. I consoled myself afterwards with a treat from Pooh's corner and the Tigger tail was delightful.
We made sure we got on all of Rory's favorite rides one more time and tried any snacks we may have missed the first day. We went back to the fancy dole whip place of course, got some beignets, and a blackberry mint julip. We had skewers from the hut by Indiana Jones for lunch and those were delicious. Rory loved playing in the Tarzan treehouse. We skipped the rides like Pirates and Haunted Mansion since we knew she would hate them anyways. By 8 pm she was thoroughly worn out and we had just enough time to stop into the Bippity Boppity Boutique for her to pick out a souvenir. We were riding high on those Disneyland gift cards the whole time and we had just enough left for her to go in and pick something only slight morbidly overpriced. In the end she chose an Anna style purse and didn't throw any tantrums at all. We walked back to the hotel, packed our stroller up in our minivan, and set off for a long late drive home.
Things to remember about this trip that I haven't mentioned thus far:
We watched the Frozen show in California Adventure and Rory was in heaven. I love how much she loves that movie.
I broke Stephen's heart by refusing to ride Tower of Terror with him. He said riding it would prove my love for him and I thought bearing him two children had probably already made that point pretty clear. We were able to sneak away and ride Big Thunder mountain together twice and that was one of my favorite parts of the trip, because when I love people I want to do things they enjoy with them.
Ada was there the entire time and was a total baby dream boat. She slept mostly, pooped a little, and ate just enough that I always had a good excuse to go find a cool place to sit down for a while.
I didn't get a breadbowl of soup and I thought I would be ok but I'm still a little sad about it.
We loved having our Disneyland gift cards and it was so fun to go wild on food and souvenirs.
The memories of Disneyland are always a little more rosy and magical in hindsight than they are in the moment. I think that's the real magic. And I think it's a good thing I waited a while to write this post because those rose-colored Disney lenses are feeling extra bright right now and have already got me thinking about our next trip...
Now excuse us while we all recover from our Disney hangover.
