We've just returned from our first trip to Disneyland in Anaheim, California! We all agreed it was a GREAT vacation. We WILL be back someday. I enjoyed my first plane trip, but I didn't really see the need for 2 planes each way. I thought one flight of two hours was plenty. But a nap helped pass the time! And the Dallas airport has a cute play area for kids.
We arrived early for both flights (I hear this is not normal) and had no issues with luggage. I strongly recommend the SNA/John Wayne airport if you are visiting Disneyland. It is super small and only 20 minutes from Disneyland.
Unlike Disney World, there are a ton of off-site hotels within walking distance of the parks. We stayed at a Fairfield Inn that was one block from the entrance. We could see the tip of Space Mountain (behind palm trees) and the monorail from our room. It also had a McDonald's right out front which helped my parents get their morning caffeine fix. The day we were leaving, 3 bus loads of high schoolers were pulling in - we think we left just in the nick of time!
I was MUCH braver than when I visited Disney World 2 years ago. I tried A LOT of the rides and as long as I wore my noise reducing headphones, I felt like I could pretty much try anything.....including Goofy's Sky School. Despite Mommy's warnings I could not be swayed - I was doing this ride. As soon as I got off I said "I didn't know it was a roller coaster." I will be in NO hurry to try anything that looks remotely like a roller coaster again!
Day 1: My body had not adjusted to California time so I woke my parents up at 5 am ready and raring to go for the day. Thankfully, the parks opened at 8 am so even after a sit down breakfast we made it to park opening. We spent the first day in the Disneyland park. It was pretty busy, but we were able to get on A LOT of rides. I am probably the only kid who made sure his first ride was It's A Small World After All.
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| The Queen of Hearts greeted us on our first day. She made me bow before she would sign my autograph book |
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| I told Mickey he was my favorite character and he gave me a HUGE hug. |
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| Found Small World! We might have been the first person on the ride. Isn't it neat looking?! |
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| Heading in to Small World! |
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| My FAVORITE ride - Buzz Lightyear. My best score was 7,200. It was a walk-on ride most of the time we were there. I lost count of how many times we rode it after 15. |
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| Another favorite ride. Mommy's only complaint was this ride was a L O N G way from all the other rides we enjoyed. She didn't join us a couple of times so she could go on Pirates of the Carribean, Haunted Mansion & Big Thunder Mountain. I think she just didn't want to walk all the way to Winnie the Pooh. |
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Showing the host of Jedi training academy my sign before the show
I made this sign all by myself - Daddy helped with the words |
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| Thanks to a tip Mommy found online, I was picked the first time I tried to battle in Jedi Training because I was holding a sign (only 30 kids get picked each time and there were at least 200 kids trying to get picked) |
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| I made a friend while waiting for the parade. I showed her every ride I had been on so far. We then saw her and her family for the next 3 days at least once a day - who says there are a lot of people in California? |
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| The best part of the parade - Disney has done better parades, but it was nice to see once |
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| No evening is complete without a Mickey balloon |
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| Isn't this a neat wall?! We found it while walking to dinner one night |
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| The train ride was neat. In one of the tunnels there were dinosaurs! |
Day 2: We had planned to visit California Adventure today. However, the park did not open until 10 am and since I was up early again, we decided to go to Disneyland first to get on a few rides at rope drop. The two parks are about 100 feet apart so park hopping is super easy and I think we hopped every day.
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| Always happy to be greeted by a character, even if I don't know who they are! |
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| The Nemo sub was so much fun. Unfortunately, the wait was so long we only got on it once. |
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| The Jumpin Jelly Fish were great. Mommy thought they went a little too high and thought a flimsy little seatbelt wasn't enough to hold us in! She refuses to post the picture of her on this ride because it shows how scared she was! |
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| I'm in orange - helping the Army Men play street games |
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| Another favorite ride - The Little Mermaid - it was a very fast loading ride which meant we got to ride it a lot |
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| The Ferris Wheel was great. We opted for a non-moving car. I don't know why Mommy wouldn't join us. |
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| Sailor Mickey! |
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| Another favorite ride - Monster's Inc. Roz talks to you at the end. She called me a "hunk" and a "cute little monster." This was another ride where we lost track of how many times we rode it. At one point, the people in charge of the ride didn't even have to ask how many were in our party because they recognized us. |
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| The Chew Chew Train - what's not to love? It includes rude burping noises! |
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| This was as close as I was willing to get to Grizzly River Run. |
Day 3 - 6: Each day was pretty much the same. Get up, hit rope drop at Disneyland, then hop over to California Adventure, then eventually hop back to Disneyland. The good news for my parents is I got so tired during the day, I started sleeping in until 7 am which is unheard of in my normal everyday life. No matter how many times we returned to the room for a nap, Daddy was the only one who napped! We even made it back to the parks for a couple of evenings. Being there for 6 days really let us take our time and stop and soak in everything we saw. We didn't feel the need to rush to make sure we fit in the next ride. I'll let the pictures tell the story.
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| No one answered my knock. |
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| The Storybook boats were really neat |
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| The hula dancers were the best part of Small World |
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| Hungry Bear Cafe - our favorite place to eat in Disneyland - onion rings and a water view! |
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| The Tiki show was fun but I could have done without the "rain and thunder" at the end. I have now got "Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room" stuck in my head. |
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| A rare sighting of Mommy in a picture |
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| I got to meet Mommy's college friend Sangita (and her husband Matt who didn't make the picture). Can you believe they live 15 minutes from Disneyland and rarely go?! They MUST come with me next time so I can show them all the good rides. |
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| The ONLY time (no really - I mean it) I was grumpy was first thing in the morning when we had to wait for rope drop. I just couldn't understand - if I was here shouldn't they open the parks for me? |
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| 5 minutes after rope drop - clearly I got over the grumpies! Toy Story Mania was my second favorite ride. We got to ride 4 times by waiting for rope drops. Otherwise the wait was just too long. |
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| There were some neat street parades at California Adventure |
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| Soarin was a lot of fun. I don't think the fireworks at the end were necessary. We also learned on this ride that if you have to go potty right as you reach the front they will give you a front of the line pass for when you get back. |
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| An easy dinner at McDonald's scored me the Green Lantern mask and ring so of course I had to wear my Green Lantern pj's to bed that night |
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| We REALLY lucked out with the weather. This was our only morning of rain and because we bought the ponchos it only lasted about 30 minutes! Most days were partly cloudy and a light sweatshirt with shorts was perfect attire. |
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| On Thursday we had breakfast with Minnie and friends. We all agreed this was a highlight of the week. Chip and Dale visited our table 4 times to tickle me! |
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| Gideon loved me so much that after he walked me out, he then followed me and kept calling me back for hugs and kisses! |
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| California Adventure - can you believe I enjoyed that Ferris Wheel?! |
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| Stitch! I was just the right height that most characters used my head as a table for their arm or to sign my autograph book. |
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| Decisions, decisions |
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| Dumbo is always fun |
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| Toontown |
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| I got to "blow up" the building with Pluto |
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| High fiving Pluto after blowing up the building |
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| The end of our 6 days - I have just heard the monorail may be delayed a while - thankfully we got moving pretty quickly and I was back to my happy self |
Day 7: Heading home :(. It was such a great trip. I have already asked about a thousand times when we can go back again.
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| Waiting for the airplane (my Star Wars battle face) |
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| Flying is fun! |
Fighting Darth Vadar....
Talking with Crush....
