Our Playground - Disneyland

We will be the first ones to admit that we are completely spoilt at the moment to have Disneyland as our personal playground. I think I mentioned in a previous blog story that we bought annual passes to Disneyland within days of moving here. We had a six week blackout period during the peak summer months (who wants to go there at that time anyway?) and our first non-blackout day was August 17, so where did we go? DISNEYLAND!!!

We made the mistake of telling Sydney 6 days before we were going that we were planning on going, so for six very long days we had to hear "Go to Disneyland now?" at least once an hour. It was the first thing she asked about in the morning, and the last thing she asked as she dozed off to sleep at night. We usually get up early, throw the kids in the car pyjamas and all and get them ready in the carpark when we arrive. We were running a bit slow that morning and they both woke up before we left, but because we'd told Sydney we were putting them in the car in pyjamas she insisted that we stick to that plan and wouldn't let us get either of them dressed.

A family favourite: the tea cups. Even John got in on the action during the ride and put his hands on the spinner. Rich and I managed to make ourselves extra dizzy as we tried to snap pictures during the ride - not a good idea! You get great shots, but you also get incredibly dizzy and I had to sit in the cup a minute when it finished so I could get my orientation back. The people waiting to get into our cup for the next ride were not impressed.

Because we're becoming seasoned Disneyland goers we're getting it down to a science. This trip we went straight to Toontown in the back of the park to visit Mickey before the other 40,000 people decided to go say hi to him. Toontown was EMPTY! It was great. We discovered a whole other park to Toontown we didn't previously know existed - a toddler-sized playground and Donald's Boat. Minnie Mouse was wandering around, sans "minder", just like the old days. There was no one by her, so we got some pictures. Then we went into Mickey's house to say hi and we waited - get this - 3 minutes! Sydney had been talking for a week about going to see Mickey, and of course as soon as we got in there she freaked. As we walked away, she waved at him, though and said "Thanks, Mickey, see you again soon".

I just love this above photo - it catches the feeling of the day - pure JOY! Baby Pluto had to come with us to Disneyland - to see his Daddy, of course! She carried him with her on every ride, he ate lunch with us, he watched the parade with us, and he said hello to his Daddy (even though Sydney wouldn't). Disneyland is often referred to as "The Happiest Place on Earth" - I don't think Sydney actually knew this, but she started to refer to Pluto as "a Happy Dog". I guess everyone's a bit happier when they get to see their Daddy!

I think John enjoyed his time at Disneyland, it's hard to tell. His eyes were wide in amazement at a lot of things, especially the parade. Here's Daddy and son chilling on a bench after the parade in front of Cinderella's castle. John is such an easy-going little guy, a real gem.

As for being the "Happiest Place on Earth" - there were a lot of not-so-happy kids there that day, and intense parents. At one point I saw this dad acting pretty much like a drill sergeant telling his whole family (mom, kids and grandparents) "let's go, the boat is going to leave without us, we have to go NOW - GO GO GO". Hmm, let's think about this, there's a boat like every 30 seconds on the Jungle Cruise, it's NOT going to leave without you! I was waiting for him to pull out his whistle and whip - he could have borrowed Indiana Jones' as we were right next to that stage show.

Whilst waiting in line with Sydney to ride Dumbo the little girl in front of us was doing, well, little kid things: hanging on the bars, picking up leaves (and her nose), whining because she had to wait, etc, etc and her mother kept barking at her "be quiet, stand up, get your finger out of your nose, let go...". I felt really sorry for the girl. I wanted to say to the mother "Get off your cell phone (she was on it the ENTIRE time we waited) and spend some time with your daughter! Maybe if you payed attention to her she'd listen to you". OK, off my soapbox now!

So, when are we going again? Rich is taking Sydney back this Sunday for half a day. Gotta love that!