We had always said we would wait until the kids were older to do Disney - however after finding the best flights in Santa Ana for our San Diego visit and realizing we would only be a few minutes away from the park we decided to take the plunge and go for it.
We left Seattle EARLY in the morning (6AM) and had a very sleepy crew after arriving in CA by 8:30 in the morning! We got settled in, changed into shorts (it was so warm - yay) and were thrilled to meet up with Uncle Nathan who drove up to hang out with us for the day. We hit In N Out burger (a must) and then made our way to the pool for the afternoon. We planned to hit Downtown Disney that night but got a little tied up searching for Uncle Nathan's rental car keys. Big travel lesson: never lose your car rental keys! The headache it caused him was crazy.
The kids were bagged by 6PM. On the walk to Subway a block or two away Eliza fell asleep while I was carrying her. I tried to wake her to get a few bites into her and then we got those kids in bed as fast as we could. We had a big day the next morning and we wanted well rested kiddos.
Here first flight in her own seat
ahhhh...sun and palm trees
Just lounging
The next morning we woke up bright and early....to the sound of Eliza singing "it's a small world after all..." That was the cue that it was time to get ready. We wanted to hit the park early so maximize our time. We had research a lot as to what to do with one day at Disney and decided to focus our time in the Magic Kingdom. I am still amazed at how much we accomplished in one day. It was seriously a perfect day - the kids were great and we hit all of our top rides / attractions. It truly was the happiest place on earth!
We hit Fantasy land first and tried to hit as many rides before any lines formed. The kids haven't done a lot of rides before and didn't know what to expect so everything was just a real treat for them.
Super excited kids while waiting for the shuttle = a lot of silliness.
We found this guys right away. Eliza simply refused to go near him but the boys were game.
There was NO way we were going to race to see Elsa and Anna - the kids were just as happy sneaking a peek at them through the door and listening to Olaf joke around from his rooftop home.
Look Mommy - a little teacup just for me!
The classic small world ride - I love Eliza's eyes here - she was so excited.
After Fantasyland we went to Mickey's Toon Town. We kept being amazed by the lack on lines. Almost anything we did in the morning we could just walk on too. We didn't wait more than 15 minutes for anything.
Cole and Minnie really hit it off when they met. She just wouldn't let him go and covered him in kisses non stop. He figured she must have thought he was handsome.
After Toon Town we split....I took Eliza to the princesses and the boys went to ride Thunder Mountain Railroad. Both groups were beyond excited for these events. The boys loved the ride - one of their highlights. As expected - Eliza was in awe of the princesses. She looks so serious in all her pictures but she loved it. Again - so surprised at the lack of wait time! It was so nice!
Ariel - her absolute favorite
Another favorite. She loves Belle.
We didn't get our picture with another one of Eliza's favorites - Rapunzel - but we watched her show...and before the show she and Flynn stopped to talk to Eliza. She loved it.
Eliza kept saying - that's were Sleeping Beauty is!
We arrived at the park at 7:30 and by 1:30 we made our way back to the hotel for a mandatory nap. The boys protested but as you can see it didn't take too much convincing!
I have no pictures from our evening at the park but it was definitely much busier. We made it a priority to hit some of the rides we missed in the AM - Peter Pan and the much loved by our boys - Pirates of the Carribean. We took in the Jedi Training show and bits of the Holiday Parade as well (Eliza loved seeing Elsa and Anna on their float). We grabbed a late supper and then looked made it back to Main Street just in time for the castle lighting and snowfall. We debated trying to hit a final ride but we could just tell the kids were fading. We made the call to leave happily which is the best thing I think we could have done. A perfect ending to a fabulous day!
We are so glad we took the plunge and took the kids. It was a lot funner than I think we both expected it to be. The kids are still talking about it!
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