A couple months ago I made the mistake of talking to Will about Disneyland and saying something like, "Maybe we can go for you birthday." Why did I say that? Because sometimes I forget that Will remembers everything. So slowly but surely we looked into the idea of taking Will to Disneyland before his 3rd birthday, when he would still be free. After a while of looking at ticket prices and trying to decide if it would be worth it (we really wanted to take Will to Cars Land!) a friend of mine asked if I would like some free tickets! We are so grateful and, seriously, it was my favorite Disneyland trip ever.
We arranged for someone to watch Emma for us that day (Will's "best friend Jodi") and left about 7:00. We got to Anaheim before the park opened (on purpose) so we could eat breakfast at The Original Pancake House. They have a couple of these in Utah and in Las Vegas so we eat here most times we travel. As always it was delicious and it filled us up so we only needed to grab a few snacks at the park throughout the day.
Then we got to Disneyland. We decided to go straight to Cars Land. I think Taylor and I were more excited for Will than he was. It was like walking straight into the movie (that we've seen hundreds of times). They had everything! Every building, every street sign, every rock formation. It was so cool.
Will was a little overwhelmed at first. He hesitantly met Mater, obediently walked with us through the line to the first ride, and then once he saw the rides in action he started to warm up. Since it was a random Tuesday in January we had practically no wait and walked onto almost every ride. We rode Mater's Junkyard Jamboree twice in a row (it was pretty fast and fun for a kiddie ride), walked through Luigi's tire shop, saw Red the firetruck, rode a couple more rides, and by that time Lightning McQueen had shown up so Will got to see him as well. We had a lot of fun in Cars Land.
Will was perfect. I always forget how easy having one kid is after you having two--he climbed in and out of the stroller himself, laughed and said funny things in our short waits in line, was just overwhelmed and shy enough that he pretty much obeyed everything we asked him to do, and he was such a trooper with such a long, full day with no nap.
Next we went to A Bug's Land. Will wasn't as into it, but we decided to go up in "hot air balloons" and he thought that was pretty cool since we had recently learned about them in Joy School.
The day before I had made a list of all the things I thought Will would like (or that I wanted him to like because I loved it growing up) and it turns out most of those things were in Disneyland. So we left California Adventure and spent the rest of the day in Disneyland. By the time we got there, Will was getting pretty tired. He didn't want to take this picture:
And frankly, I decided it was time to give the camera a rest and just enjoy the day. I had some vague aspirations for brochure-worthy pictures documenting every detail of the day... but then I got there and decided I'd rather just be part of it. It was a nice "Aha" moment that I think made the day so much better. I'm glad I have the pictures that I have, but I'm glad I didn't do overkill.
We did everything on my list at Disneyland: Autopia (Taylor let Will drive crash the car), Nemo's Submarine, Pirates of the Caribbean (twice--Will really liked the big drop!), Jungle Cruise, Tarzan's treehouse, Casey Junior Train, and the parade! The only ride we missed was Winnie the Pooh (which Will would have LOVED but it was closed). It was such a great day! We took a couple breaks for snacks and to give Will a chance to regroup but since the park was so empty compared to summertime we managed to do everything really quickly. We really wore Will out. It was all we could do to stay there long enough for the afternoon parade so that was our goal. While we waited I took out my camera again.
Will was really obsessed with looking at the map.
And this is probably why:
After the parade ended, we left. Tired, happy, but oh so tired. We didn't even bother getting Will out of the stroller while we took this somewhat awkward but completely necessary picture.
What a fun day of memories. I'm totally sold on the magic of Disneyland. I grew up going there with my family but it is so much more fun with your own kids (or kid... next time, Emma...)
And we didn't get the Measles... or... "Weasels" according to Will. :)
