California: Days 1 & 2

Here we go folks, you ready?

As I mentioned, we left Wednesday. Lucky it was not a "crack of dawn" flight and we were able to wake up normally, have some breakfast, finishing packing and all that before heading to the airport.

We parked our car and then had to ride in a shuttle to the terminal. Well, the boys and I and most of our stuff was on the first shuttle...Jason and the car seats weren't ready so we had to get us and our stuff off and wait for Jason and the car seats. The people on that first shuttle were like, "YOU've got everything...what does he have?". They joked that maybe he's got the other four kids. Oh well. Car seats can be tricky. I don't even do ours by myself.

Anyway, so the shuttle ride to the terminal:


Then the train ride to the concourse. Even though he was in the stroller, Dalton amused us by feeling the need to hang on to the pole like everyone else:


Poor Fin is never going to take a plane ride till the others are out of car seats. It is a PAIN to lug the gear for 2 kids around like that. And our car seats (Radians) have steel frames (so they're super-safe!) BUT super heavy as well. Even though they fold up nicely it was still heavy to each have a car seat on our shoulder and J had the computer bag. I had our backpack/diaper bag thing and Easton had his backpack as well. Plus I had to push the stroller. We had to pay the stupid $15 to check our gigantic suitcase because there was no way we'd be able to manage all we had plus carry-on luggage. Easton was a dream, and it really wasn't bad, just heavy. And security took awhile with all our gear.

We'd planned on Dalton being a "lap fare". He squeezed by with just a week to go till his birthday. Luckily, they had available seats so we were able to put both car seats on the plane and Jason just sat all alone a few rows behind us:


Dalton's diaper leaked and he was covered in pee by the time the flight was over but otherwise we did great:


When we landed at the Orange County airport I took him to get changed and he had to walk through the airport pantsless. Got lots of smiles.

We took a shuttle to our hotel and got checked in. We stayed at the Howard Johnson right across the street from Disneyland. I got a fantastic deal on one of their "premium" rooms by using the Entertainment card discount I'd read about somewhere. Exciting. And the hotel wasn't bad at all. We couldn't swing one of the Disney resorts so this was the next best thing if you ask me:

We were on the top floor, had nice vaulted ceilings (which had windows to let in maximum sun). The balcony with a Disney view:

That pointy thing is the Matterhorn. But notice the super-cool water park there at the hotel? Too bad the weather was so chilly our whole trip.

Jason ran off to pick up our rental car at that point so I had to entertain the boys for a bit. We stopped in the game room and the boys had a blast even though I didn't give them a single quarter:




They started getting a little antsy when I took a phone call so we headed upstairs for a TV show:


It wasn't long before Jason arrived with the rental car and installed the car seats and we were able to leave the property. We decided to drive to "Downtown Disney"...basically a shopping/restaurant "district" semi-attached to the parks. We thought that would be a great way to kick off our Disney experience without paying the ticket prices yet.

Plus we were starving so our first stop was the Rainforest Cafe:

We've been to several of these in various cities and they're always fun. We used to have one here in Denver but they took it away because they're dumb. We had a fun lunch and checked out both levels of the restaurant and all they had to offer. Dalton was literally shaking as I got closer to these elephants while Easton took our picture:


He didn't want Eastie posing with him, I guess:


Food's here!




Then Dalton asked Jason to "hold you" (him) and promptly fell fast asleep:


Poor little dude was O-U-T. Didn't even flinch when the "thunderstorm" at the restaurant hit. Eastie and I explored some more, checked out the shop, looked for his favorite part of Rainforest Cafe: the talking tree. She was missing. They said she was "on vacation". Easton told me, "It's probably broken". He's right.

I told him to sit next to the gorilla and I'd take his picture. He decided to climb on the gorilla:


Finally we decided to wake Dalton and headed in search of a grocery store to stock the mini-fridge in our room. We went a LONG way and never saw a single store. Instead I called the hotel and asked where the closest one was. Should've just driven the other direction. But on our drive we got to see where the Angels play:


We also saw where the Mighty Ducks play. And the boys entertained themselves with tourist brochures:




We finally got to the store and got our necessary milk, OJ, and bottled waters and a few snacks as well. We dropped it off at the hotel and headed back out to Downtown Disney for some browsing. Like the Lego store:






Then we stopped for some ice cream:




We headed back to the hotel after that and the boys went to sleep no problem. Jason and I had more difficulty but eventually it worked out. Till the morning when the boys were still on Colorado time so our day started at 5:45.

Plenty of time to be silly and play while I showered:




We had breakfast at the Mimi's Cafe next door to the hotel on our walk there and made it to the gates, like, half an hour before the park was scheduled to open:


We waited in line for a bit, then they let the guests onto Main Street for a short time before everything else officially opens. We walked into Pluto first thing:


At breakfast earlier, Easton was doing something or other to misbehave and I threatened him with, "If you don't _____, then we will not ride the Buzz ride first." So here we are on the Astro Orbiters:




Yup, he didn't shape up so I kept my word. After the Orbiters which were still fun, we got to do Buzz:


It was a lot to take in:


They take pictures of you on the ride which you can then email to yourself at the end. We did but you can't see the kids. So for now I'm not going to bother posting them. They had a super-cool souvenir shop at the end of the ride too:


We talked about how we'd have to come back for something. You know how our boys love Toy Story.

Then it was on to Autopia. Dalton entertained the people behind us in line so much that they were seriously taking pictures of him!

They don't recommend pregnant women do this ride but the reason is because the person behind you might not stop in time and the bump could be quite jarring. Instead I just made sure Jason was behind me:


Easton was driving but J was on the gas. We left without issue. Well, unless you count that I couldn't get a great picture of Dalton and I on the cars:


That ride needs to be updated with cars that don't run on gas and perhaps using the "Cars" movie characters.

We went into the Innoventions house (this is all in Tomorrowland) after that. It was boring and we left quickly but not before checking out these tables by Microsoft that J even has at work:

Those tables have this "surface" touch screen technology and they're pretty cool. They're full of the Virtual Earth stuff which is what J does. So that was fun to see everyone getting all excited at other nearby surface tables to see their 3D cities and stuff and know my husband helps to make that possible! What wasn't planned is that J is wearing a "Microsoft Virtual Earth" shirt right there! Ha!

When we walked out of Innoventions we walked right into a Buzz meet and greet with a line only a couple of kids long!

Not even Diddles was scared of meeting the real Buzz Lightyear! That was exciting.

We then wandered over to the Honey I Shrunk the Audience 3D attraction:


Easton doesn't get scared too easily (in my opinion) but the 3D effect were just too much for him. It was hilarious and sad at the same time. He was ducking and jumping from the stuff flying out from the screen but he lost it when they had "rat tails" tickle the backs of your legs and a giant cat lunge out of the screen. He was screaming. After removing his glasses he was just fine. Poor fella.

Then it was time for Fantasyland. We did a bunch of things over there including Easton and Jason taking a trip on the Matterhorn. And a spin in the tea cups:


But we were getting too hungry so we decided to head back to Tomorrowland and hop on the monorail to take us back to Downtown Disney for some real lunch. We went to this Jazz Kitchen place where the kids meals were $10!!! But, that's kind of what you expect on a Disney vacation, right? So we forked it over only to have the kids not eat. Our own meals were huge and there was no way we could save it so we blew a bunch of money there. To get Easton to take some bites he was promised he could stand on the stage:


And Diddles chose my lap to fall asleep on this time:

It's been so long since I've held one of my sleeping babes.

Because D was out, E got to enjoy the kids meal dessert and both the spoons himself:


I carefully maneuvered my sleepyhead into the stroller, keeping him asleep...

...only to be told by the monorail staff that we'd have to fold up the stroller to board. D'oh! Oh well.


And D stayed asleep anyway. We headed back for Fantasyland. I think Dalton woke up sometime in there. But here we are waiting to ride "it's a small world". I have no clue what Easton was doing:


A nice lady offered to take a family picture on the carousel from atop her horse:


Dumbo!


I was a fool and when they asked how many was riding I just pointed to E and I. I wasn't thinking of my whole party, just who would be in my elephant. Well, Easton and I were the last ones on. Jason and D had to wait unhappily for the next round. Seriously, D was crying. I was going to have him come in with us but then they started the ride. :(

Their turn:


Eastie and I killing time:


For some reason my camera didn't really come out again after this. But we headed over to the other lands: Frontierland, Adventureland, Critter Country and did all kinds of rides over there. After riding Pirates of the Carribbean Easton said, "I think I might like to do that again". So we did. We did Winnie the Pooh and Haunted Mansion and were absolutely delighted to find out Easton was tall enough to make it onto Splash Mountain which he loved. D and I had to sit that one out.

At some point we made it back over to the Buzz ride again. D is too interested in the anamatronic Buzz behind us to pose:


The park wasn't too far from closing so we decided to head out when we ran into Mickey and Minnie:




Then we started walking back to our hotel. D was in the stroller and E fell asleep in J's arms. We stopped at Mimi's Cafe for dinner and with our hotel right next door I ran over for D's milk and left J to get a table. He had to fold up the stroller and so had to set Easton down. E was so tired that he stumbled to the nearest leg he could find and hung on. But we didn't know her! :) Jason got to the booth and we never heard from E again:


Dalton, on the other hand, was a complete hoot. He was just getting warmed up and kept Jason and I completely entertained and laughing hysterically the whole time:




We stuck E right in the bed and D wasn't too far behind. We all slept a lot better and even a little later that night.