Disneyland 2013 Day 1

I will post a separate blog or 2 about ALL of my planning, preparation and money saving ideas for our Disney trip soon. It was over a year of planning and researching and it was all so fun and totally, totally worth it!!

If you know me, at all, you will know that Disney is one of my very favorite things in the whole. wide. world. Like, serious obsession level. It is so a part of who I am and my childhood. I had a Disney wedding. (Not AT Disneyland, but lots of Disney incorporated in the ceremony and reception.) Nelson had to go to Disneyland before we could get married. (seriously.) I love it, I love it all! Needless to say, I have waited my whole life to have kids and take them to Disneyland. I had incredibly high expectations and I was beyond excited. For real, I did not sleep for 3 nights before we left. I was SO EXCITED.

We decided to take our first family trip this year, while Kalaya is 4 and Jakiah is 20 months. I knew that everything, EVERYTHING would be 100% real for Kalaya. The princesses, the characters, the magic. She may only remember parts of it (though, her memory never ceases to blow my mind), but I will and we will. It was pure magic and imagination and watching it through her eyes is something I will never. ever. forget. Many people didn’t understand why we took Jakiah at such a young age, telling me he won’t remember it. Duh. But, he was FREE! The park, the airplane, the hotel and even several meals. So, who cares??? Plus, I will remember it. I’ll remember how he held his little pen and autograph book out to each character, how he looked with adoration up at Mickey, how Chip picked him up and rocked him and how when Tinker Bell told him, “Don’t fly away!” and he replied “OKAY!” Every moment was wonderful.

October was a fabulous time to go. We chose to spend 3 days in the parks, 2 in Disneyland and 1 in California Adventures. It was the perfect amount of time. 2 days let us not have to rush to try to do everything in 1 day at Disney and 1 at CA Adventures was enough, because our kids are 2 young for the thrill rides. I cannot say enough about how awesome this time of year was for the trip. Sunny California, but not too hot and the lines were so awesome! Seriously, we didn’t wait more than 20 minutes for most rides (and most of them were even less!) and even less than that for most of the characters. And we met a LOT of the characters! Both of the kids’ autograph books are completely full!!

Day one was spent in Disneyland. The main focus of that day was meeting characters, but we rode a lot of rides too, because the wait was so short for everything! They did awesome at waiting in line (and yes, it was just Nelson and I watching them both) and were very patient. We managed to meet Minnie, Chip, Alice, the Mad Hatter, and Pluto in the first hour, it was awesome! We went straight to the castle, which you can now walk through again to see the story of Sleeping Beauty, which was in Kalaya’s top favorite activities of the whole trip. And, no line, so we could do it again though out the trip! We spent most of that morning in Fantasy Land riding rides and meeting Rapunzel. Then, during lunch, we told Kalaya she was going to get her hair, nails and make up done at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, which she had seen pictures of online already, but had no idea we were going to take her there. Her expression was PRICELESS (and, no, we don’t have a picture on purpose. That memory is just for us J) She was giggling and clapping and jumping up and down.

The Boutique was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. I am SO happy a friend recommended it to us. Yes, it was expensive, but it was SO wonderful and worth every penny. She love, love, LOVED it and has not stopped talking about it. And, it’s been 5 days and the hairdo is still there! Basically, she got to be made over into a princess. And, the cast members through out the park called her princess the rest of the trip, which was super cute. She was adorable and so sweet and excited about every part of it. It was such a great start to the Disney magic and experience!

And, of course, the boutique is located right next to the princesses, so off we went! #1 priority was meeting Cinderella, who has been an obsession of Kalaya for over a year. It was….magical. Seriously, it was just so perfect. Kalaya was enraptured and Cinderella made it so special, teaching her to twirl, curtsy and princess wave. The look on her face was so priceless!!

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Jakiah was fantastic with the characters as well. We weren’t sure how he’d react, because so many people were pretty discouraging, saying that their kid had freaked out or that they didn’t really get it or didn’t know how it worked or who the characters were.

Not this kid.

He LOVED the characters!! He was SO CUTE, he would toddle up and say, “Hi ______!” (we have been watching many episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in preparation and in line, I would have him practice saying their names) and hold up his little autograph book and pen, it was the cutest thing!!! People were just gushing over him. He was totally in love with hugging and kissing them and giving hi fives. So sweet!

We rode a LOT of rides the first day, some of them even twice!! The lines were that short! One bummer was that the carousel was closed, which Kalaya had really, really been looking forward to. Luckily, we were able to tell her we’d be riding one on Friday at California Adventures. Some highlights included; Snow White, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, It’s a Small World, Autopia, visiting Toon Town, Casey Jr train, Jungle Cruise, and Winnie the Pooh. Characters from that day included Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Alice, the Mad Hatter, Chip, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Aurora, and Tinker Bell. Not bad!

We wrapped up the day with dinner at the Jolly Holiday Bakery and watching the parade, which included the princesses, Mary Poppins, the classic characters, Peter Pan and Hook, Tiana, The Lion King and Aladdin. We were at the park for 12 hours, but the kids did GREAT! Jakiah napped in the stroller with no problem and everyone had gotten a great night’s sleep the night before.