I finally couldn't take it anymore and threw all the curtains back and shouted, "GOOD MORNING! IT'S DISNEY DAY!" As expected, I was the only one that was super excited. Everyone rolled out of bed and got dressed. We gathered our essentials for the day and headed downstairs. It was still about hour until the Disney bus route opened. There was a shop connected to our hotel building, so we grabbed muffins for breakfast and shopped around the store to kill time. That took up all of about 20 minutes. We decided to just sit at the bus stop to eat and wait.
To my surprise and delight, the bus pulled up not too long after. It started running early for whatever reason. After a very short ride, we were there! We pulled through the "Welcome to Disneyland" sign and the bus dropped us off right at the gates. I was a little weary when we got to the gates and I saw all the Halloween decor. I love Halloween, but I wanted to experience the magic of the original Disneyland, not Halloween stuff.
I'm happy to report that it made no difference at all. The park was still just as magical and pretty with all the fall decorations. It just made it even more festive and magical. It felt like a beautiful fall morning and Disney looked like a beautiful fall morning. It was perfection. We were early though, so we had to stand in line waiting for the gates to open. Pinocchio hung around to greet us as we patiently waited and the kids read the names on the brick sidewalk. Time flew by, really. It was chillier than I realized though and the kids were whining about that. Because it's not a vacation with the kids if there isn't at least a little bit of whining.
Since you couldn't actually go past Main Street yet (the park wasn't officially open for ANOTHER hour), we went to customer service to get our "First Time Guest" buttons. Alyssa, Daddy and I proudly wore ours. The boys tossed theirs in the backpack. LOL Then we just browsed all the shops. There were a LOT of shops. Some were just souvenir-type places, others were fancy jewelry stores, crystal galleries, custom tiaras, coffee shops, candy boutiques, fancy restaurants..... it was just a plethora of shiny, yummy must-haves. We ended up grabbing a corn dog. Again, that's how we roll.
Oh, and Brayden met Goofy along the way. Brayden was definitely the only one particularly interested in the characters. The rest of us would just kind of wave and move on. They are neat to see and all, but..... eh. Brayden wanted to say hello, hug them, get a picture and interact with them though. And not just a little side hug. Nope, a full-on, giant bear hug! He was totally in to it. My sweet, little Brayden.
Then...... the music sounded, the announcer welcomed us and Disneyland was officially open!
Our first stop was what Brayden was most excited about. The Indiana Jones ride. He's quite the fan of the movies and just knew that the ride was going to be the best thing ever. No one else wanted to ride it, so it was just the two of us. He proudly strutted past all the jungle trees and across a rope bridge. I could barely keep up he was walking so fast. He was just too excited for words. Then we had to walk into the temple. His pace slowed a bit. Then you turned a corner and started towards what looked like a mine. The lights flickered and there were some creepy noises. Brayden promptly spun on his heels and started back the way he came. LOL Some a-hole guy behind us wasn't helping. He was making ghost sounds and talking about all the bad stuff that was going to happen. Total jerk. I picked Brayden up and carried him the rest of the way.
There are so many things to look at, even in just the ride lines, that it was easy to distract him. There were signs warning me not to step on certain stones on the floor, so he finally perked up and helped me with that. He got back down and helped me navigate the dungeon or mine or whatever it was we were in. We finally got up to where you load onto the ride. We got into the truck, fastened our seatbelts and Brayden hid his face in my arm. The ride was really neat and fun. Brayden didn't see any of it. He did finally open his eyes at the very end when Indiana Jones is hanging from a vine and the big giant rolling rock comes after us. That's the last few seconds of the ride though. We pulled up to unload and you would have thought that he just conquered the world! He hopped out and said, "THAT WAS AWESOME!". Reminder: He hid his face the ENTIRE TIME! :) It didn't matter though. He rode it and it was awesome. His life was complete.
After that, we headed
towards Critter Country. As excited as Brayden was for Indiana Jones,
Alyssa was ten times as excited to get to the Hundred Acre Wood in
Critter Country. Because who lives in the Hundred Acre Wood? None
other than Eeyore. She's waited her whole life to meet that donkey and
she could barely contain herself. First, we found the Pooh ride. She
knew she was getting closer. Then we saw Eeyore's house! Her eyes lit
up. Eeyore couldn't be far. She did note that it was a rather small
house for such a big donkey. No wonder he was always so sad. There was
practically no line for the ride, so we all got on. You see Eeyore a
few times on the ride, but she wasn't satisfied. There had to be more.
We exited the ride and walked through a small souvenir shop. Side
note: They had almost NOTHING Eeyore related. A few stuffed toys, but
that was it. No t-shirts, no backpacks, no ears, no necklaces -
nothing. We were rather disappointed. We left the shop, walked around the corner and there he was! Eeyore, in the flesh..... er..... furr! We got in line to meet him and Alyssa was a little anxious. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hug him or not. Brayden and I volunteered to stand next to him in the picture and she could stand wherever she felt comfortable. She hesitantly stood next to him, but wouldn't touch him. We all smiled for the picture and I pulled away from him to try to give Alyssa the opportunity to get a little closer if she wanted. I said, "Eeyore - this is Alyssa. She's your biggest fan." Eeyore turned towards her and bent down just a little. He patted her on the head and rubbed her arm. *sniffle* I tear up every time I retell this story. The look on her face was priceless. All her worries and fears melted away. She was in heaven! They held hands and she rubbed his paw. She looked up at me and said, "Momma, he's so soft" and just snuggled up against him. *sniffle again* We said our goodbyes, waved and told him to have a good day. Now Alyssa was the one that felt complete and could die happy. She met Eeyore - and it was everything she had hoped it would be.
The youngest two had things they were really excited to see or do, but the eldest child? He wasn't very enthusiastic about anything. In fact, he wasn't having the best day. In his defense, he had every right to be a little pouty. All of the rides at Disneyland were 2 or 4 riders. Because of Brayden's age, he had to ride with an adult. Because Alyssa was nervous and scared of practically every ride, she needed to be with an adult. That left Gabe as the odd man out. Every single ride that day he rode solo. Even if he was in the same section of the ride as us, he didn't have a partner to sit with. That'll put anyone in a foul mood. I felt really terrible for him. So we rode some things multiple times so that he could ride with someone. That didn't make him feel any better though. He also just wasn't into any of the rides. Nothing really perked his interest. He did have quite the smile on the Dumbo ride though. It went faster and higher than he realized. Since he was a solo rider, he got to control it and do whatever he wanted. He loved it.
He was also the only one tall/old enough to ride solo at Autopia. So he got to drive a car all by himself. When it was over, he said, "It's really hard to push the gas pedal, steer and pay attention to where you're going." Tell me about it, kid. We spent the rest of the day riding rides and watching shows. We watched Storm Troopers fight off Jedis while we ate lunch. We went into Tony Stark's Iron Man room and saw all the suits. We played with all the cool gadgets in "The House of the Future". We were just soaking in all the sights and sounds that Disney had to offer. Some major rides were closed due to prepping them for Halloween and/or yearly maintenance. It was one of the cons of going in the off season. Practically no wait time for the rides and very small crowds was definitely worth it though. I'd do it again.
Towards the end of our first day, we found the Toy Story ride. Gabe
finally perked up and showed a little interest. "This might be fun", he
said. It was another two-seater ride, so he frowned as he got into the
seat alone. Then he realized that this was a shooting game! Since he was
riding solo, he got to use both guns! His frown immediately turned into
a devious grin. We all started shooting the bad guys and trying our
best to rack up as many points as possible. Gabe was quite boastful
that he had the most points. Having control of two guns does have its
perks. I was sad that it took all day, but it made my heart smile to
finally see him smiling and excited about how much fun he was having. We rounded out the evening by buying a couple ridiculously priced Mickey balloons and chose our spot for the parade. The sun was starting to go down, bright lights popped up from the tops of the buildings on Main Street and the music began. As the band rounded the corner and I could see Mickey and Minnie dancing on the float, it was probably the first time all day that I really, truly felt like THIS is Disney! It was fun, energetic, festive and just pure Disney joy. I really loved the parade. It was also the first time I realized that the performers that work at Disney are legit! These aren't just average joes that dress up and walk around. There is some real, actual talent. Musicians, dancers, actors..... these people are ta-len-ted!
Our first official day at Disney was over. Brayden was asleep (he slept through the entire parade actually), Alyssa was ready for dinner and Gabe wanted to go check out the Lego store in downtown Disney. We ate a nice, big dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe and browsed through all the stores at downtown Disney. It was a really great day. We had so much fun, in fact, that we ended up missing our bus and had to walk back to the hotel. It really wasn't that far though and gave us time to just be calm and unwind. I can honestly say that I have absolutely no recollection of entering our hotel room and laying down in bed. We were all zonked and slept like babies that night. A day at the happiest place on earth leads to a night of the best sleep of your life. We all slept like peacefully that night.
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