Disneyland, Day 1!

Disclaimer:  I took over 1500 pictures of the trip, so this really is a condensed version.  It is very detailed because it’s for my records too and with the way I remember things, I need to get it written down ASAP!  Also, I was disappointed because my camera lens that has a wide range (18 – 200 mm) is having issues so I just had to use the 18-55 mm and sometimes switch to the 75-300 mm.  What that means is that I couldn’t always zoom in like I wanted, and sometimes I was zoomed in too much and I had to switch lenses back and forth.  It just would have been nice to have it all in one!  I’ll understand if you just scroll through the pictures and don’t read my long narrative!
The package that we got included a Premium Character Dining Experience, so what better way to start off the trip than breakfast at 7:30 a.m. on the first day?!  We went to Disney’s PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) Grill for a buffet and some fun pictures with Disney Characters dressed in beach garb.  Stitch was here too but I didn’t get a good picture of him…  Austin, who had been SO excited to see Mickey Mouse and his house, was terrified as soon as we walked in the restaurant and refused to get close to any of them the entire trip.  I think he maybe enjoyed them from afar.  So he got a red balloon that meant “don’t come to our table” and we took Jaiden and Zach around to see the characters.  Zach didn’t want to get too close at first, but he was fascinated and eventually warmed up.

There was a great selection of food, including custom made omelets while you watched.  I think I may have learned some tricks!  Zach was mad here because he wanted to go see someone, not sit and eat.
Ah, the flowers!
We walked through Downtown Disney to get to the park entrance.  Jaiden literally jumping for joy as this cool fountain spouted water.
    
Zach and Austin thought the fountain was pretty cool too!
    
We brought Zach’s wheelchair and got a pass to use the stroller as a wheelchair because of Austin’s broken leg.  We did get to go to the front of most lines, which was very nice, and most of the ‘Cast Members’ were very accommodating.  People kept telling Austin he’d lost a shoe, and then they’d realize his leg was broken!  There was a little bit of a drizzle the first morning but it was mostly a mist and didn’t last too long.
We had to wait a while to get in because we had tickets to get into Toontown an hour before it opened but I didn’t realize that it doesn’t open until 11:00, so we really couldn’t get into the park until the normal opening time of 10:00 and then go straight to Toontown.  We were first in line at our gate though!

“The” red balloon escaped and the boys were devastated.  Carlos thought it was pretty funny.  We attracted quite a lot of attention and an employee came over and talked to them through the gate and gave us a coupon for a free double balloon that day.  We could never find a balloon stand though and ended up not getting one.  It was a really nice gesture though!

Waiting on Main Street to get into the park…
    
We went straight to Toontown and though their little show was cancelled because of the rain, all of the characters were out greeting everyone, which I guess they don’t always do.  Austin and Grandma just pretty much hung out in the town square while we got pictures and went into their houses.
    
Except in this picture, where I was mean mom!
My Cute boys:
We made the mistake of going on the Roger Rabbit ride as our very first one and it was really dark and loud with a lot of jostling around.  It scared Austin and Zach and so they were scared on It’s a Small World too!  Once Zach got over it, he told what to take pictures of, but Austin covered his ears most of the time!

Next, we went to the Jedi Training Academy because Jaiden LOVES Star Wars, even though he’s never seen it!  I thought he would want to participate but didn’t want to.  They invited Austin, who was in the chair, but he didn’t want to.  Once they had chosen everyone, Zach did want to but it was too late! 
    
Remember Austin, the child who refused to come close to any cartoon character the entire trip???  Well, apparently, Darth Mal (??) isn’t frightening at all and is really quite fascinating.
      He came right up to Austin and my son just looked at him, not scared at all!  The freaky looking guy put his fist out and Austin gave him knuckles!  I don’t get it!  Silly kid!
After that, we did the rides in Tomorrow Land…                        
Zach fell asleep….
 
and we grabbed some lunch at the pizza something or other since we didn’t make it to the store for lunch stuff the day before….

We caught a ride on the Astro Orbiter (all except Grandma and Austin)…
    
Then headed out of the park, which took another hour or so while we looked for balloons, got Mouse Ears, the boys chose something with the money from Grandpa and Grandma, and got pictures with other characters…




From there we went to California Adventure for the rest of the day, but I’ll do that in another post tomorrow!

On the way there….

We headed out around 6:35 on Tuesday morning.  We had to stop in Nephi to try and fix my parent’s old “hamburger” car top carrier that was coming open at the front and making an awful sound.  Luckily, the guy at Napa Auto Parts opened earlier than was on the sign so we could get some wire and zip ties.  That set us back half an hour or so.  We ended up ditching the carrier at the DI in St. George.  It was just sad and noisy, created a ton of resistance and we couldn’t go faster than about 65.  So we said goodbye to it.  Sorry Dad.  Then we had to repack the van…that was fun.  
After that, we drove through Vegas and didn’t stop until Baker, CA.  I think the only permanent buildings in the town are the service stations and the fast food restaurants and that its sole purpose in existing is to provide a place for travelers to stop and to charge extra for gas.  But we needed the break so it was all good.  So, on to driving…
There was a lot of this…

Some of this….

And a little of this…

We could see a huge storm front as we were getting ready to drop down into the LA valley.

Finally, some green!  I have always thought this canyon was really cool.


There was also a lot of this and other silliness!



The boys did AWESOME traveling, thanks to Grandma in the back with them as well as lots of activities and the fact that there really are great little travelers!  Sometimes, when they’re driving me nuts, like around Christmas or on late summer nights, I buckle them in their car seats and drive around the fields in the areas by Utah Lake and random back roads for an hour or so.  Not good for the gas budget but great for my sanity! 
Anyway, thanks to Grandma for all her help and fabulous company!  And thanks to my boys for being so good!
I don’t know why I didn’t take pictures of the cool decorations and flowers along the freeway…oh, wait, it was because I was trying to help Carlos take the right exits and stuff.  It was the first time we’ve used the GPS in a city like that because, around here, I AM the GPS.  So we weren’t really used to the directions such and Stay Right, then Stay Left, which REALLY mean, there is an exit coming up but you DON’T want to take it.  Maybe they could just go without that step.  So we took a couple of exits we shouldn’t have and it had to recalculate, but we still made it without taking too much extra time.
When we turned onto the street to the hotel, the GPS woman told us to drive two miles to our DESTINATION.  I swear, she recorded that word with extra enthusiasm in her voice.  Really, listen to it if you have “that” woman talking.  It’s hilarious!
We arrived at our hotel in time for dinner at Denny’s and a swim with Jaiden, although Austin and Zach went to sleep.  We stayed in the Desert Palms Hotel, in a great kid’s suite.  They were very accommodating when I requested a bigger room after realizing the one we originally booked didn’t have enough room for the wheelchair AND the stroller that we were using as a wheelchair because of Austin’s broken leg.  It was a suite too, but a smaller one.  So they put us in a larger one that was PERFECT.  It had two queen beds in the one room and the other had really cool bunk bed and a sofa sleeper as well as a little closet.  It has a nice bathroom, another closet and a fridge and microwave.  It was just around the corner from Disneyland, about 10 minutes walking.  We parked our car and didn’t move it until we left on Saturday!

It was nice to be able to put the kids to bed and not have to turn out the lights and go to bed too.  Not that was stayed up much later than them!
I was just going to post pictures and minimal writing, but, as always, I couldn’t stop once I got going.  Disneyland/California Adventure, Day 1, coming soon…maybe tomorrow….