Disneyland, Day 1

We had been talking about this trip forever so it was hard to imagine it was finally here!  I took lots and lots of pictures that I will post here and each night I wrote down the details of the day which I will also share here.  I don't want to forget anything about our fun-filled days!  I doubt Justin will even read the entire posts so if any readers want to just browse the pictures, I'm sure you'll get the general idea.

We didn't really go in to Disneyland with a plan.  We just wanted to have fun and relax and enjoy our four days there.  So when I asked the kids where they wanted to start, the only one who spoke up was Stockton and his request was Buzz Lightyear's AstroBlasters.  We got to the park right at 10 when it opened and headed straight there and were able to hop right one.  Stockton started to get pretty tense when we got there-it was loud and dark and that made him nervous. But he did okay.

When we got off, Justin and Molly jumped right on Stars Tours.

I stayed with my mom and dad and we took Stockton and Brynn on Astro Orbitor and Autopia.  Stockton's favorite rides were those that were outside.

Brynn took a few rides to get warmed up but after both of those rides she was good.  She threw a fit, though, getting on Autopia because she had to sit on the seat next to me and couldn't ride on my lap.  She cried through the first half of the ride and then said, "This is fun, Mom!"

My parents and I took Molly on Space Mountain after that.  Having loved the ride three years earlier, she knew what to expect and was excited for it.

We got a stroller pass so she was able to turn around and ride it with Justin and I, which happened a lot during the whole trip.  She was one happy girl!  She got the very front both times.

Stockton got another ride on Astro Orbiter with Grandpa while we did a second run on Space Mountain.  Brynn opted out, she didn't love that ride.  We walked up right as they were getting on so Molly was able to go with them as well.

We walked over to the castle after that and took a few minutes to take some pictures.

Then we headed through the castle to Fantasyland to spend some time there.  The lines were not long at all and we quickly flew through Snow White's Scary Adventures, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

These were actually not Stockton's favorite, because they were dark and loud and that was not his thing.

We did the King Arthur Carrousel and that was a favorite all around, especially Brynn.  The carousel's in both parks turned out to be her favorite rides.

After all the "scary" rides, we let Stockton pick next.  He chose the Casey Jr. Circus Train so we got in line.  Right after we hopped in line (we were still the last people in line), Rapunzel happened to just walk by.  We hurried over to say hello and that was super fun.  Brynn had to tell her all about her Minnie dress and Rapunzel was so cute and said all the right things to make the girls happy and excited.

Molly was not too excited to ride another kiddie ride, she was ready to go onto something bigger and a bit more exciting so my mom and dad volunteered to stay with Stockton and Brynn while Justin and I took Molly and headed to the Matterhorn Bobsleds.  The line was long and we were okay with that but halfway through the ride started having some problems and they closed temporarily.  So that was a bummer but not much we could do about it.  Stockton and Brynn had done the train, Mad Tea Party (the tea cups), and Storybook Land Canal Boats while we stood in line.

 

The three of us were able to jump on the tea cups really quick while they were finishing up on the boats.

 

We were done with Fantasyland for the time being and decided we needed a rest.  We hadn't even stopped for lunch and had just eaten our sandwiches on the go!  The Mickey and the Magical Map show was playing nearby so we went to that.  While we were there, Mom and Dad ran over to Adventureland and got Fast Passes for Indiana Jones.  The show was cute and everyone enjoyed it. 

We had a little bit of time to kill before we could use the fast passes so we explored Toontown.

Justin and Molly took my mom and dad on Gadget's Go Coaster but Stockton didn't want to go and Brynn wasn't tall enough.  I saw a short line outside on Minnie's House so we got in line to meet Minnie.  We're not usually fans of waiting hours to meet the characters but this looked like a line I could handle.  It was very deceiving though, because it took forever!  Probably close to an hour!  Luckily, Stockton was able to go do some exploring when everyone got off the coaster so it was just me and Brynn in line.  I spent the whole time trying to keep her awake because there was no way I was standing that whole time just to have her fall asleep on me!  It was much better once we got in the actual house.

And meeting Minnie made it all worth it.  Brynn ran up to her and gave her a great big hug.  And it just worked out so that everyone else was walking out of Mickey's house right as it was our turn so they got to jump in the picture and we got a family shot.

  

Brynn didn't see much of Toontown but the rest had seen everything and it was time to use our Indiana Jones Fastpass so we headed there next.  Molly went with Grandma and Grandpa first.  Justin and I got a Dole Whip and found a table to sit down at and wait for them to be finished.  We lucked out again-about 10 minutes later Jasmine, Aladdin, and the Genie walked out of a door right next to our table.  Molly had just finished so we were the first in line to see them.

Molly had a quick snack and then we switched places for Indiana Jones but when we got over to the ride it had closed temporarily because of some technical problems.  They said they'd honor our Fastpass all night so we just all went on the Jungle Cruise while we waited for it to start going again.

Indiana Jones was running when we got off so we rode that really quick, then walked through Tarzan's Treehouse before dinner. 

After dinner we walked over to Main Street to get a seat for the parade, which was our last thing of the day.  It is a fantastic parade, the lights and music and costumes and floats are just incredible and it was a magical way to end our first day.  The kids were enthralled and so excited to point out all the characters they knew.

The park closes at 8 during the winter months, which actually worked really well for us.  I don't know if the kids could have made it much later than that!  It seemed that as soon as we exited the park, they were exhausted and could barely keep their eyes open on the shuttle.  Brynn never actually took a nap that first day after I kept her awake in the Minnie line so she fell asleep as soon as the parade was over.  My parents bought some Mickey ears for the kids before we left, so we just had to guess at what she would like!