Our Trip to Disneyland

This past weekend, we decided to bite the bullet and take the kids to Disneyland since we wouldn’t be able to go on a family vacation.  Chase was so excited — it was all he could talk about for a few days, so you can imagine how happy he felt when he woke up the morning we were going.  Since we were going to be out all day, I told the kids to feed their fish because I knew they’d be too tired to feed them when they got home.  A few minutes later, poor Chase, who was so excited about Disneyland, came crying into the living room.  I didn’t even have a chance to ask what was wrong before he told me: his fish, Finding Nemo, was dead.  Oh, great.  I hoped this wouldn’t be an indication of how the day was going to turn out.

The good news is that it wasn’t.  After I explained to Chase that Finding Nemo was in Fishy Heaven, making lots of new friends and doing a lot of swimming, Disneyland was exactly what he needed to cheer him up and take his mind off his fish.  As for us, Del & I couldn’t have planned the day any better if we had tried.  Our timing  was impeccable, from the time we left the house to the time we left the park. 

This is Nick thinking, "What did I get myself into?"

We tried taking a different route than normal and ended up shaving half the time off our trip.  We got Fast Passes for the last World of Color show as well as Soaring Over California.  We decided to go to Toy Story Mania while we waited, and ended up seeing Mickey Mouse along the way.  The line to see Mickey wasn’t too long, so I thought I’d let Nick see Mickey, since this was his very first time going to Disneyland.  Let’s just say he wasn’t as thrilled to see Mickey as Mickey was to see him.  He wouldn’t even let me put him down.  It was the same reaction he had when he saw Santa Claus at Christmas.  While we waited for the time we could use our Fast Pass for Soaring Over California, Del went and stood in line at Toy Story Mania (a 45 minute wait — incidentally the only wait we had the entire day), and I took the kids to go get some ice cream since it was 90 degrees outside.  The kids finished their ice cream, and just as we walked back to Toy Story Mania, Del was heading through the turnstile to get on the ride.  We literally walked up and through the gate to the queue where we boarded the ride.  By the time we finished with the Toy Story ride, it was lunch time.  We ate lunch and returned to Soaring Over California just as the Fast Pass became active.  I won’t bore everyone with every little detail, but suffice it to say the rest of the day went just as well.

Carousel Fun

This was Nick’s first time going to Disneyland, so I was curious as to what his reaction would be.  It wasn’t quite what I had expected.  He mostly observed — just looked around and checked things out.  His biggest reaction came on the Merry-Go-Round.  He was fussing about being strapped onto the horse, but as soon as the ride started and he felt the horse start moving down, a smile sprang from the corners of his lips and stayed there for the rest of the ride.  His biggest reactions, though, came with the fireworks show and the World of Color show, which, by the way, was amazing.  He got so excited, laughed, and smiled the entire time.  And Felicity and Chase kept telling us all day long how much fun they were having.

Small World, huh? We'll see about that.

Overall, it was a fun family day, if you ignore how much it all cost.  That’s the one problem I have with Disney.  They make this wonderful, family friendly place, but there’s nothing friendly about the prices.  It should not cost a week’s salary to take your family to Disneyland for one day (or anywhere else for that matter) .  And that’s with Nick getting in for free since he’s still two, and Felicity still getting in at the kids’ price.  It’s absurd — $101 for an adult, and $91 for a child.  But … the kids had fun, and that’s what’s important.  So what if they don’t eat for a few days?

Tea, anyone?