Disney - Day 2

I don't know about the rest of you, but this is the day I've been waiting for! Our first day at Disneyland!!!!



The picture above is from our breakfast nook at our hotel. There wasn't much to digest, but the view was pretty darn good! Please ignore the sour look on Joe's face...we had a very long night. We were all so excited to go, that we got to the park 20 minutes early! Oops!! Maddie and Ben were...I think a little confused. I have been talking about Disneyland and Mickey Mouse for MONTHS! I think they (especially Maddie) never thought it would come. So it wasn't until we got inside that they began to "get" it.

Our very first ride was Dumbo. This, as it turns out was also Maddie's favorite ride! She loved going up and down quickly and seeing how high she could go. Ben was a little more unsure. Of all the rides. I wouldn't go so far as to say that he hated them. I think he liked them! But he just wasn't confident on them. Ben is actually a pretty hard kid to get a reaction from and the rides were no different. After Dumbo, we did the carousel, the tea cups (Maddie was ok on them, but never asked to ride them again), and Autotopia. Autotopia was probably my least favorite ride of our entire trip. It just wasn't very stimulating; and Maddie is a bad driver when she can't see the road! Also, we had to wait in line a whopping 20 minutes! haha!! See? This is why you go in January, people!! Every single ride of the morning we WALKED ON! It was great!



By the time we got off Autotopia, Toontown had opened and I wanted to get Maddie over to Mickey Mouse stat! This is probably a good time to point out that, while most small children are terrified of adults in costume (as they should be!), I had a small glimmer of hope that Maddie would be ok. She had some positive experiences at the end of the summer with VeggieTales and I think that really helped her get over the fear. ....At least that's what I was hoping!

On our way through Toontown, we ran into Goofy. This was as good a time as any to test my theory. To my complete relief (and everyone else's delight) she was timid but excited to see him! She walked up to him and when he turned to her, she gave him a big hug...on his knees!! haha! It was very cute and I think completely caught Goofy off guard. They posed for pictures and we headed to Mickey :)

we had to wait for two parties to meet Mickey before it was Maddie's turn. When it was her turn, she walked up to him, gave him a BIG hug, and turned to pose for pictures. I was so intent on her having a moment that I don't really remember it!! She seemed to linger after her turn was over, as if she didn't want to leave him. But we eventually got her out the door. I can't even begin to tell you how special this moment was for her mommy. I am a huge Disney fan, and I am thrilled that I can pass that love of magic and make believe onto my children.

After Mickey, we went to Minnie's house. By this point Maddie had loosened up a bit more and even gave her a kiss! She seemed to enjoy Minnie's house a lot because of the tea set in her kitchen. But she couldn't quite figure out why she couldn't pick it up. Silly girl! We took some pictures next to Mickey's fountain, then headed for some lunch.

The following is my Maddie moment of the trip:

For the last several months I have attempted to show the kids a wide variety of Disney movies in anticipation of our trip. I figured they'd like it better if they knew who they were looking at! Maddie immediately fell in love with Mike and Sulley from Monsters, Inc. and pretty much refused to watch anything else. Two weeks ago, I finally got Toy Story 2 in the DVD player and she was in love. Move over Monsters, Inc. there's a new sherriff in town!

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Well, imagine my surprise when we walked around the corner of Frontierland right into Woody and Jessie from Toy Story! I pointed them out to Maddie as we got in line. Thank goodness for my dad's quick thinking because he got a lot of the following on tape (I can't wait to watch it!). When Maddie saw Woody, she freaked out! She got in a position almost like she was sitting in a chair (or having a fit) with clenched fists and started making the funniest noise. At first I think we were all confused, but we quickly realized she was SO EXCITED she didn't know what to do with herself!! She just kept kind of humming to herself in this funny tone and staring at them until it was her turn.

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When we told her she could go say hi, she started laughing in that funny voice and moving towards Jessie. It took a few seconds but she got up there and gave Jessie a BIG hug. A very LONG, BIG hug. It was so sweet. Then Jessie turned her towards Woody who was waiting for his hug. I'm not sure why, but she kind of froze. I kind of think she was so overwhelmed with seeing Woody in person that she didn't know what to do. But Jessie gave her a gentle nudge and she went over for her Woody hug. Then she turned and I got 5 or 6 great pictures of the three of them. She walked away very slowly, and turned around one last time to look at them before she left. Then she jumped and giggled as she went away, thrilled with her find. ....It was a moment that will stick with me forever :)

After Woody, we all did Pirates of the Caribbean, Ben passed out in his stroller, and we all headed back to the hotel. That night, we went to California Adventure for a short parade of Pixar characters. It was actually quite fun because the kids had seen all the movies: Cars, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Toy Story. The music was a little loud, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. The parks both closed early, so we grabbed some dinner at an italian restaurant and hit the sack. ....That night we ALL slept a lot better!