California Trip Day Eight – Disneyland!

Nate and I had done lots of research on Disneyland before we left home. Partly we wanted to get the most bang for our buck and mostly we wanted to have happy, non-whining kids. I’m happy to say that our research really paid off. We had an absolutely fabulous day! We used RideMax to plan our day and I am a huge fan. We managed to fit in loads of rides and shows with very little time spent waiting in lines.

It was an incredibly long day, but we had an awesome time. The kids were troopers! We had a few episodes of whining and fighting (and of course Abby being her charming, independent, 2-year-old self), but they did much better than I expected.

Here is the day in review (DISCLAIMER - more information than anyone else in the world wants or needs to know; we just want to be able to remember what we did):

5:30 – Wake up time . . . for Nate. I was lucky enough to be up at 3:30. I don’t sleep so well in hotels.

6:30 – We got the kids up and fed and dressed. They weren’t so thrilled about the early wake up, but they were mostly cooperative and we made it out the door by 7:10.

8:00 – By this time we had made it through parking, the tram ride, buying tickets and were through the gates within 2 minutes of opening. It is not so easy to be early birds with four kids in tow. I am still amazed that we managed to pull it off.

8:00 to 11:20 – Rides

Storybook Land Canal Boats

Star Tours for Nate and the big kids; Small World for me and Abby.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – We were ahead of schedule on our RideMax plan and the lines were short, so Nate went once with the three kids and then I took Ben and Emily again (Elise thought it was too scary).

Small World

Indiana Jones – Elise was pretty upset that she wasn’t tall enough for this ride. Luckily she suffered in silence and just looked pathetic and heartbroken. This was our first FASTPASS ride. We love the FASTPASS plan! Nate took the two kids once and then I took them again with a FASTPASS and rider swap card. Nate took Elise and Abby on the teacups and King Arthur carrousel so they could stop being bored. That made them much happier.

Pirates of the Caribbean

Splash Mountain (twice) – Another FASTPASS ride. Nate took the three kids with him and then I took them a second time (the nice guy working the turnstile gave us a second card so I didn’t have to leave one kid behind). Abby had a much needed nap in the stroller.

11:30 – Lunch at Hungry Bear Restaurant.

12:00 – We waited in a LONG line to meet the princesses. Ben was not a fan, but he ended up loving it as much as the girls. I must say that I love standing in by someone else’s really bratty kid. They make my kids seem so much better behaved. The girl in front of us whined/cried/yelled for the whole hour we were in line. Every time she said “I hate you” to her mom, I felt a little better about how great my kids were doing. They were angels by comparison.

2:00 – Jedi Training Academy. This ended up being a highlight of the day. Ben was one of the kids that they picked out of the audience to participate. He got to put on some Jedi garb, learn some fancy lightsaber moves, and then fight Darth Maul. It was great! The look on his face was just priceless. We were at a really lousy angle for taking pictures during his duel, and we were too cheap to pay $15 a shot for the Photo Pass ones, so we just have the thumbnail proofs from their website. Good enough.

3:00 – We headed over to California Adventure for the Aladdin show. The kids got Pluto’s autograph on the way. We were happy that the waiting line for Aladdin was in the shade. We were next to a nice local couple. The guy had a little water mister that he kept misting the kids with. It was HOT, so the combo of the shade and the mist was a good break. The show was amazing. It was really a high quality mini Broadway show. I didn’t know how the kids would do, but they loved it.

5:00 to 8:00 – More Rides

We headed over to Space Mountain and caught Mickey and Minnie for a quick autograph on the way. Nate took the three older kids while I listened to Abby say “I want daddy” 4,000 times. It was bliss. Then I took Ben and Emily a second time. They were loving the whole FASTPASS /rider swap combo. They got lots of rides in with very little waiting.

Buzz Lightyear – Abby just stared at the flashing lights on her gun the whole time, but the rest of us had fun shooting targets.

Star Tours – The kids wanted me to go on this with them so I could see what it was like. Bad idea. I am the queen of motion sickness and this ride almost did me in. I had to close my eyes after the first minute so I wouldn’t puke. Not so much fun for me, but the kids liked it.

Matterhorn Bobsleds – Nate and the three big kids

Buzz Lightyear – We caught this ride one more time before heading over to Fantasmic.

8:00 to 9:30 – Waiting and exhaustion. This is where we experienced our only major learning curve issue. I had read that you should be to Fantasmic at least an hour early for a good seat, but I figured 45 minutes would be fine. WRONG! We ended up in a standing only section and after waiting there for those 45 minutes discovered the kids couldn’t see a thing that was happening on the water. Grr. We bailed and found a decent spot for the fireworks show.

9:30 – Fireworks. The fireworks were amazing and everyone (except me) got over my poor planning. Ben did make me laugh when he looked up at me while we were waiting for the show to start and said “gas cap” with a big grin on his face. The kids all stayed awake for the fireworks, but Abby fell asleep within one minute of getting in the stroller to leave. Elise was asleep 20 seconds after she got in the van.

10:30 – Home. Ben and Emily stayed up to have a little late night snack and talk to us about the day. They were funny and cute and seemed so grown up staying up late with Mom and Dad while the little kids were asleep in the other room. It is fun to see them growing up.