With the realization that Nathan will be here in 4 months and the fact that my 2-year-old can recite lines from several Disney movies, Ryan and I decided that it might just be the perfect time to take Jack to visit Disneyland! School isn't quite out yet, the weather isn't hot and I'm not completely pregnant-waddling at this point so it seemed like the perfect time to go.
We got in Sunday night and spent some time in Downtown Disney having dinner and visiting Lego-Woody.
Jack was SO excited about the pictures of Mickey around Downtown Disney! Ryan and I were cracking up knowing what was actually in store for him the next day.
Bright and early Monday morning we hit up It's A Small World first... It started like this...
"Okay, we're on a boat. Wait, what is that up there?"
"Are we going in a tunnel? What's all that singing?"
"Holy Cow - look at all the stuff!!!" (We heard "Look at all the stuff" several times through the trip) "Da-aaaad, wake up! This has GOT to be the coolest ride at Disneyland!!!"
As soon as we could get in, we hit up Toon Town so Jack could meet some of his favorites including Minnie Mouse!
"I think I'll write Minnie a love letter on her computer."
We never got a picture of it, but Jack went nuts playing in Minnie's kitchen. You could wash the dirty dishes in a magical dishwasher, see inside her refrigerator and look at her stockpile of cheese, and when you pushed a button on the oven, a big cake inside inflated to some funny sounds. We didn't realize how neat Jack thought the cake was and now when we talk about Minnie, he'll tell anyone within earshot, "Jack bake a cake!!!" It was pretty cute!
Then we were off to see Mickey in his special house, who also got a big hug from Jack.
I think all of the characters got a Jack-High-Five too!
Jack checking out Mickey's phone... he was thinking about giving Minnie a call next door.
Mickey's garden had a gopher that stole carrots and Jack could NOT stop laughing at him.
He tried to hotwire Mickey's car.
Next he commandeered Donald's Boat!
Playing a tune on Goofy's piano.
Taking a break in Toon Town. Notice his mouth looks full. Yes, that is my fantastic parenting at its finest! I carried a pocket-full of jelly beans to keep Jack occupied during any long lines. Whatever your opinion, it totally worked!
Ryan and Jack in Chip 'n Dale's Treehouse.
Getting ready to ride Dumbo. We timed the rides really well. I think this was the longest wait we had and it was 25 or 30 minutes. Almost everything was only about a 10 minute wait and Jack did much better than we expected with waiting in lines, much to our relief!
This was on the Casey Jr. Circus Train. The Disney cast members were smart, and seeing Jack they put us in the "Wild Animal" cage car. This is Jack realizing they are actually locking the doors!
Blowin' up Toon Town.
And then he took over the Toon Town firetruck to put out the flames.
Check out the newest Toy Story 3 models!
This is when we went over to California Adventure. If you haven't seen it before, they have the biggest Ferris Wheel I have ever seen, with a giant Mickey Mouse right in the middle. As we turned the corner Jack screamed, "It's huge! It's awesome!" over and over again. We aren't sure where he picked up "awesome" but this was where it made its debut. The other best line of the trip was, "Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy!" as we got onto several different rides. Since he was so excited about the Ferris Wheel we decided to take a ride. This is a real parenting sacrifice as both Ryan and I hate Ferris Wheels!
Funny faces at 4,000 feet!
Ryan and Jack "up in the clouds" (according to Jack).
We got a chance to meet Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars. Lightning asked Jack to kick his tires and make sure they looked ready to race. Jack then asked Ryan if he could "Go in 'da car?" but Daddy told him "He's real, so you can't go inside him."
Jack and I in California Adventure. Enlarge this picture and you can just see the tops of his arms up as we swung around.
He kept his arms up even after we landed.
We are pretty sure Jack's favorite ride of the park was the Ladybug Boogie. It looked simple enough...sit in a ladybug car and it moves around just like the "Tea Cups" ride to some cute music....we had no idea how good of a ride it was! Enlarge these next pictures for sure!
This ride really got going! I finally had to grab on to him for safety as he squealed with delight through the entire ride. Several parents around Ryan who were also taking pictures were cracking up at the kid who was laughing so hard through the whole ride.
We had to go back immediately for another turn!
Doing some bumper cars with Dad.
He needs to have his license revoked!
On the Heimlich the Caterpillar's "Chew-Chew" train ride.
This was Jack standing up and dancing during the Disney Jr. Live on Stage show. Mickey Mouse Club and Handy Manny characters came out to perform and he was screaming "Hot Dog Dance!" (from one of the shows) during the performance.
As we were walking around we ran into Goofy.
Of course, a high five!
Goofy's Kitchen. I highly recommend this to anyone going with kids. As you eat, tons of characters come around and hang out at your table.
Before we went in, though, Jack asked to give Goofy a hug.
"Hey- who's behind me?!?"
"Oh my Gosh!"
"It's Minnie!!!!!!!!"
"She's so pretty!"
We met the Fairy Godmother, but Jack was about to turn into a pumpkin because it was getting really late.
But then Pluto came over to say hi and he rallied.
"His nose is cold!"
It's now 8:15 and we've been at this Disneyland thing for over 12 hours. Jack is getting a little grumpy, but don't worry... Goofy to the rescue!
He knew just how to make him smile. Don't tell Ryan, though. He thought it was his excellent parenting that did the trick!
If Goofy couldn't make Jack smile, this old Autopia car in the lobby of the hotel could.
The last agenda item of the night was the World of Color show at 9:15pm. This made for a very long day, especially when he'd only taken a 1-hour-long nap in the stroller. We resorted to buying him one of those spinning light up Mickey Mouse toys to keep him entertained (or lull him to sleep) during the show.
Getting ready for the water show. You can see the HUGE Ferris Wheel all lit up in the background. To put things in perspective, most of the tiny looking buildings in the background are two stories tall!
Tuesday morning we woke up to rain. While we were getting ready in the bathroom, Jack alerted us from around the corner that he was awake with "Jack up!" but his next words were: "Jack go to Disneyland???" We hoped the rain might keep the crowds down but it seems like everyone else had the same idea we did. We powered-through in an effort to do some more rides.
Jack in the "Blue Airplanes."
The rain was really whipping his (our) face(s) here!
Then we found a nice ride where the waiting lines were under-cover. We went underwater for the Nemo Submarine Voyage!
Best ride of the day- Autopia! Jack actually gets to steer the car while Ryan works the gas pedal. (I couldn't figure out why they wouldn't let pregnant women ride on this but once they got back and I saw the whiplash Ryan suffered from Jack's driving I understood.)
He tried to drive off by himself after Ryan got out!
Jack cracking up at the boat captain's jokes on the Jungle Cruise.
Demonstrating his wings after watching several ducks flying around the park.
Jack did really well on all the rides. The only ones where he got a little scared were when it went totally dark. Snow White made him a little nervous and I think Pirates of the Caribbean actually scared him. When the boat went over the first "waterfall" in the pitch-black dark, he was squeezing my finger REALLY hard. But at the end I think he liked it. When we would talk about or see pirates afterwards, he would say, "Arrrrrr!" and then holler, "Boat go DOWN!"
Going for our final Disneyland Train ride.
...And this is what you look like when you are two-years-old and have been at Disneyland for two days straight!
What a great time!
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