DisneyLand - Day One

So, as most of you know we spent 3 days at DisneyLand last week as part of Chris' block leave and you've probably seen the pictures, so here's the rest of the story.

On Wednesday morning we woke up and drove up the road to Disney. Madelyn dozed on the way and that set us up for a perfect first day. When we arrived we went straight to FantasyLand to look around and Chris and Madelyn rode the carousel. Madelyn had a minor meltdown, but once the ride started she was great and had a fabulous time! Then we ventured into Toon Town to let Madelyn get out and roam a bit. There we checked out Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Chip and Dale's houses. Madelyn had fun wandering about and playing in Goofy's garden. It was pretty hot and we saw a ride that was an indoor wait and a short wait so we went for it. It was a Roger Rabbit crazy car ride and Madelyn LOVED it! She was looking at everything and loved being flung around as long as she was between Mommy and Daddy. We walked around a bit more checking things out and getting a lay of the land, rode the river boat and found where we wanted to eat lunch in Critter Country. After lunch, Madelyn and I went on the Winnie the Pooh ride and as we exited I saw that Eeyore and Tigger were out signing autographs and taking pictures so we got in that line.

It was at this point in our vacation that I think Madelyn really started realizing what was going on. She LOVED riding the Pooh ride, we were up front and she could see everything, then she could see Tigger and was so excited. Unfortunately just as we got to the front of the line it was time for them to take a 5 minutes break and Madelyn cried when they walked away. It was OK though because when Tigger came back he brought Pooh Bear and Rabbit with him! Madelyn was so excited when she saw them walking up. Everyone was oohing and ahhing at her, it was sweet. Then she tackled Pooh in a hug and ran right over to Tigger and Rabbit for hugs and pictures.

At some point we ventured out to the hotel to check in and eat a sandwich for dinner and to take a little break. Madelyn napped in her stroller on our way there and we got about an hour and a half break before heading back out in the cooler evening hours.

We decided to brave it and take Madelyn on Pirates of the Carribean. She was enjoying the ride until we got to the drops and we were in the front! We just held her tight and clapped at the bottom. You could tell that she really wanted to be scared and her eyes were huge but she clapped along with us at the bottom of each one and then enjoyed the rest of her ride waving and saying "Hey!" to the pirates.

Then it was time for the Haunted Mansion, again she did great and spent the majority of the ride waving and saying "Hey!" to the ghosts.

After our rides we couldn't really decide what we wanted to do, if we were going to see the electrical parade at California Adventure or if we were going to hang around for the fireworks. A little feet dragging on our part and some store walking through on my part put us in perfect position for seeing Mickey and Minnie! We were hanging out on a bench talking about what we wanted to do and they walked up and started signing autographs. We were like 6th in line for Minnie. There was a Disney employee, Kaitlyn, helping with crowd control who just fell in love with Madelyn and started playing with her. Madelyn never would give her a hug, but Madelyn chased her all over the place, around lamp posts and around and about the area. After we saw Minnie (whom Madelyn also tackled with a hug), we waited on Mickey and during one of Madelyns trips to chase Kaitlyn, Madelyn veered off course and took off towards Mickey. I caught her just as she pushed a timid little boy out of the way.

After Mickey and Minnie hugs we rode the train around the park to see it all lit up at night and arrived back at Main Street just in time for fireworks! Madelyn fell asleep before we were even out of the park and slept through getting her out of the stroller, changing her diaper and clothes and moving her into the middle of the bed. She was one tired little pumpkin!