Disneyland Day 1

On Monday we went to Disneyland for the first time for all of us! It was a bit chilly so we wore long sleeve shirts and jackets and walked to the park from our hotel. From the weather forecast it looked like this would be our coolest day for the week with a slight chance of rain. We brought our umbrella stroller for Baby K and packed a few sandwiches, snacks, water bottles, umbrellas, 2-way radios, camera, diapers and a change of clothes for the younger two (just in case). I was a little bit worried about Kitty who was recently potty trained, but she had no accidents at all on our whole trip.

Since we were staying on the block just south of the park and on the west side, the hotel worker told us that the quickest way to get to the park was to walk up the street for 3 traffic lights and at the third one you walk through the Disney hotel and out the other side which puts you right in Downtown Disney - which connects you to both Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. So as soon as we figured out which way to go and found the entrance to Disneyland, we took a couple of pictures at the entrance and then headed for our first ride.

We decided to go on the Astro Orbiters (similar to the Flying Dumbo ride) because it was close to the entrance and there wasn't a very long line. Since Baby K couldn't go on the ride, DH got in line with the kids and I stood off to the side with Baby K and the camera. Well, as soon as they got in line it started to rain! When they made it to the front of the line, M&M and Blondie got in one orbiter, Luke got in another one and DH and Kitty were supposed to get in a third but the attendant counted wrong and they were all taken. So DH and Kitty had to wait off to the side for the next ride. While the kids were on the ride it really started to pour and the wind was blowing pretty good as well. Then they got off and DH and Kitty rode. I felt so bad for them because it was pouring rain and they were freezing!

Unfortunately for M&M we had a small mishap with jackets on this trip. The night before we left I laid out all the jackets that we were going to take on the living room floor. When we were loading up everyone into the car on Saturday morning I told all the kids to grab their jackets and get in the car. Well, M&M just grabbed her fleece pullover and left the jacket there. Normally I would have seen it there and grabbed it before we left, but DH got to it first and thought that since all the kids were in the car that this was an extra one and he hung it up in the closet. Thankfully the jacket that I took has 2 parts to it that can be taken apart so I took out the liner part and that's what M&M had to wear - but unfortunately it didn't have a hood on it so she got a little wetter than the rest of us.

After our first soaking wet ride we decided to do a couple of inside things and hoped that it would stop raining in the meantime. So we did the Astro Blasters Buzz Lightyear ride and then went to see the show "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" which was incredibly LOUD!! After that it was still raining a little bit but we decided to split up into two groups so DH could take M&M and Luke on some bigger kid rides and the three little girls and I went over to the FantasyLand area to do a few rides.


After that we met up again and went on a few rides together, including Dumbo's Flyers, Carousel ride, Matterhorn Bobsleds and It's a Small World. At this point we went to find some lunch over in Toon Town. The sun was finally trying to come out and we were able to dry off a little. It felt so good having the sun shine on us! Next we visited Minnie and Mickey Mouse in their houses - Kitty was terrified of Minnie and wouldn't go sit with her. She finally warmed up a little before we got to Mickey and we got a cute picture of her with him. Then we took the kids on the small roller coaster ride in Toon Town because even Kitty was tall enough to go on it. The kids loved it! I think that one ended up being one of their favorite rides in the whole park.
We then went over to try and go on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride but it was closed. So we bought a few churros to eat and walked around a little bit (and DH was asked to play the washboard in a New Orleans street performance). Then we went back to Pirates and it was open this time. For some reason that ride just wasn't terribly exciting for any of us...

The only ride that we didn't get to that day that the kids really wanted to do was the Teacup ride which was closed the whole day because of the rain. It rained pretty much off and on all morning and we were absolutely soaked and freezing! Luckily I had brought an extra jacket for Baby K and I also brought my baby carrier sling which really saved my arms and back while we were waiting in line for rides. I also brought a fanny pack so that I could put all of our valuables in it and always have it with me. This allowed us to leave the backpack with food and clothes with the stroller and not have to carry it on all of our rides. We also were really impressed with the 2-way radios that we bought before the trip because they worked great for finding each other when we split up.

When we went on the Matterhorn Bobsled ride we tried using the kid swap feature - where one parent sits out with the kid(s) that can't go on the ride and then as soon as they get off the ride the second parent can go immediately to the front of the line to get on the ride. I had mistakenly thought that all of the kids would be able to go with the second parent, but they only allow 2 people to go to the front of the line with the pass so we ended up just waiting in line again since the line was pretty short - how can you pick only one of your 4 kids to go on the ride a second time with you while the other kids sit and watch?!?

We were a little frustrated with some of the rides at the park because we would go on it once and then the next time we tried they would change the rules on us and so we had to do things differently. The worst one was the Peter Pan ride. I went on it with the 3 younger girls when we split up for the first time and the operator let all four of us on the side boat. Then when we split up a second time after the Pirates ride the girls wanted to do the ride again after we got off the Alice in Wonderland ride. Well, we waited in line and when we got up to our turn they wouldn't let us on because the operator said that only 3 people were allowed per boat. I told her that I had just ridden it earlier that day with the same group of kids and she told us to wait off to the side and she would call someone to ask. Well, we waited for a few turns and then the ride broke down! We were getting tired of waiting for the ride to get fixed and for the lady to call someone when DH called on the radio and said that they were on their way over to meet us, so we left. Then on our last day we took the whole family on the ride and they made me take Baby K out of the sling... There were also a couple of rides where the first time M&M was allowed to ride with Blondie so that Kitty and DH could ride together, and then the next time they wouldn't let her so DH had to do a threesome with himself and Kitty and Blondie.

We left the park before it closed because some of the kids still had wet clothes and we were getting cold and hungry. All in all we had a fun day and the kids were excited that we had two more days to spend in the park. After we walked slowly back to the hotel, DH, M&M and Luke went out to Subway to pick up some dinner for all of us and stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few items. Baby K was excited to finally get down on the ground and crawl around some while we enjoyed eating dinner on our beds and watching some Dirty Jobs and How It's Made shows.

When we were first toying with the idea of making this trip to Disneyland my parents had talked of coming with us but because of a couple of siblings of mine that ended up expecting babies the first part of this year they weren't able to make it. It would have been really nice at times though to have had an extra set of adults to go on rides with the little ones or to sit out and watch the little ones while DH and I went on rides with the older kids. It was very challenging trying to manage 3 small kids by myself plus a stroller and all of our gear and try and find rides that we could all go on without another adult.