We were at Disneyland from April 21-25 and had an absolutely fantastic time. It took me more than a month to find time to edit the video and photos, but here they are.
So much to tell...
Carol's parents Dennis and Mary joined us at Disneyland and were in the hotel room next door.
Carol has been planning this trip in her head since before she got pregnant with Audrey. She got serious a few months ago and researched how to do it with young kids. One key was to go for multiple days, so we bought a package deal through Alaska Airlines with free airfare for the kids and 5-day passes to Disneyland and California Adventure (a whole new amusement park in part of the former Disneyland parking lot). With a multi-day pass we could relax and not have ambitious goals. We decided the trip was really for the girls so we would let them set the agenda (with some guidance from us :)
We were a little afraid they might not ride anything so we took them to the small amusement park at Seattle Center to get them used to the idea. Carol showed them videos of Disneyland rides on YouTube so they'd know what to expect. Finally we used a little bribery: we told Audrey she could have cotton candy if she went on Pirates of the Caribbean and Charlotte if she went on the Haunted Mansion. They both did so, and they got their cotton candy. We went on tons of other rides with them and they enjoyed all but one...
Audrey indicated she wanted to go on the Matterhorn so I hopped on with her. She got scared right off the bat by the monster in the cave (you only see his glowing red eyes and hear him roar) and spent the whole rest of the ride terrified that he was going to show up again. I don't think she even realized she had ridden a roller coaster.
Most days we took a break for a few hours in the afternoon and went back to the hotel. Then we could enjoy the evenings being a little refreshed.
We deliberately scheduled the trip outside of anybody's spring break and that really paid off. Almost everything we wanted to go on we could walk right on. Our last day was a Saturday and it got a lot more crowded, so by late morning we were back at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail at California Adventure which just has free play and no lines to wait in.
Some highlights and surprises:
- Charlotte loved the Haunted Mansion and rode it more than once.
- Audrey loved Soarin' Over California, a spectacular IMAX film in which you sit in a feet-dangling seat that rises way up in the air for the film so you're up in the middle of the tall screen. Amazingly immersive.
- Carol got choked up by Charlotte's reaction to meeting the princesses (especially Snow White) at the character breakfast. Charlotte was mesmerized.
- Audrey was afraid of the caves on Tom Sawyer Island. But I convinced to try them with me and she fell in love with them. They were a childhood favorite of mine so it was rewarding to see her come around to them.
Saturday afternoon I picked up a rental car and we drove to Palm Desert. Everybody seemed ready for a rest because the girls were calm and content. Carol and I just laid around for the entire first day. We made our usual visit to The Living Desert and saw the huge model train layout again. Grandma and Grandpa got to show off their granddaughters at Sunday donuts at the clubhouse. Audrey couldn't get enough of the swimming pool. She discovered that putting her head under water was not so hard and then she couldn't show off her new skill enough.
With Carol's parents at Disneyland and then a pleasant visit with mine, the girls got to spend time with all of their grandparents.
We can't wait for our next visit to Disney in a year or two!
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