Disneyland 2013 Day 2

Day two was just as fun as the first day! I’m really glad we gave ourselves 2 days at Disneyland for multiple reasons; it let us take our time, we didn’t feel pressured to do too much, if we weren’t able to do something the first day, we got to the second day, etc.

Day 2 was different because we added another adult to the mix! Our good friend from college, Nan, joined us. It was great to see him, but it also added some awesome parts to our Disney experience. (1) Using Kalaya’s ticket, we were able to get 4 Fast Passes at a time (Me, Nan, Nelson, Kalaya). Since Kalaya and Jakiah are too young, we were able to ride the thrill rides and never alone, it was perfect! Nan got to do everything twice. This included Star Tours, Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain, as well as the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. (not Fast Pass rides, but our kids were too young for both) (2) Nan and his wife Beth are annual pass holders, which meant we got to take advantage of their 10% discount in the stores and restaurants. Basically, just the sales tax, but every little bit helped!! (3) Another person to keep track of kiddos and give Nelson some ‘guy time’.

We started off the morning with ‘Magic Morning’, because we bought 3 day (non hopper) passes. Which means we got to enter the park and hour before it opened, meaning 8 o’clock. Fantasyland and Tomorrowland were the 2 lands open to us. We headed straight for Peter Pan’s Flight, because, seriously, that line is ALWAYS CRAZY LONG. I don’t really get it. I mean, it’s a nice ride, but it’s really short and nothing fancy. And, Disney hasn’t figured out how to make that go faster. Come on Imagineers! Anyway, even with early admission, it was one of the longer lines we waited in, but still less than 30 minutes and it went quickly. We also rode the Buzz Lightyear ride and then it was time to meet Nan up at the front of the park, while hoping to meet characters we had missed the day before. We managed to be at the front of the line for both Daisy (Kalaya’s #1 request besides Cinderella) and Goofy, but missed Donald again, much to Jakiah’s disappointment. Nan and I immediately went to ride Star Tours while Nelson took the kids to meet Merida. (Disney’s latest princess from the movie Brave, which our kids are too young for, but we highly recommend!!)

We had scheduled a character breakfast Breakfast with Minnie at the Plaza Inn, which included an all you can eat breakfast buffet. I purposefully scheduled it close to lunch time (about the last reservation available time wise) so that we could call it lunch instead. The food was good and Nelson was very happy to EAT! There were so many characters that came through, including; the Fairy Godmother, Minnie, Suzy (one of Cinderella’s mice friends), Max (Goofy’s son), Tigger, Eeyore, Pooh, Pinocchio, Chip and Dale. Poor Dale managed to knock Jakiah completely over, he plowed RIGHT into him, Jakiah is just so tiny! He was fine though and Nelson and Nan thought it was hilarious, we’re waiting for the Dale nightmares to begin… Only downside was that the characters made the kids not interested in the food whatsoever, but I had anticipated that and it was worth it anyway. Plus, Jakiah was free!

The rest of the day was spent riding thrill rides and rides we had missed the previous day, or riding rides for the second, or third time. Some new rides included Storybook Land, the Enchanted Tiki Room and Finding Nemo (used to be the submarine ride), as well as getting our Mickey ears and picking our their special souvineers. We told them they could each pick one thing at the parks, but not until at least the second day (so they could look around). Jakiah picked a stuffed Tigger and Kalaya picked a Minnie Mouse purse. Jakiah got basic red Mickey ears and Kalaya, of course, picked the girlyest, princessiest ears in the park which included a tiara and veil.

We called it a night early that night, the kids were wiped and we wanted a good night’s sleep before California Adventures. I believe we left the park around 7pm, after arriving at 8am. Another great day!