D I S N E Y L A N D !

We were in Anaheim for 6 days and 5 nights. We spent 4 of those days in Disneyland/California Adventure. So please bear with us as we try our best to get posts and pictures up. There is so much to cover!

Day 1
We got in to Anaheim at 3 in the afternoon (after a stop in Barstow for In-n-Out) and checked into the Disneyland Hotel. I KNOW! The freakin' Disneyland Hotel! Moving on. As James is checking in, guess who should show up - Goofy! Zoe's first character meeting and we hadn't even taken the camera out of the car. After we got settled into the room we walked around the Downtown Disney District and then met up with James' boss, coworkers, and their families and went out to dinner. Our room was nice - it was in the farthest tower of the 3 and had a great view of a large parking lot, but the front was amazing - huge waterfalls and ponds. At night they turned on lights under the fountains and it was really gorgeous.

Day 2
James left for his convention (Infocomm) in the morning and then my mom and I took off for Disneyland. I decided to break our four days up by the different "lands" and day one was devoted to Fantasyland and Toon Town. The first ride of the day was Dumbo, then the Carousel. After that we did a couple dark rides (Pinocchio and Mr. Toad). Then we finished off the morning with Small World and the Storybook Land Canal boats. Zoe loved Dumbo and the Carousel, but was fairly indifferent to the other stuff - although she really hated standing in the lines. Just as we got her occupied with something we had to move. Oh well. We went home for lunch and naps. Then back to the park for Alice in Wonderland, then we met James and headed to Toontown. Zoe loved it. I regret that we spent so much time in Fantasyland when she loved Toontown - especially Goofy's playhouse (she had a meltdown when we left). She even got to meet Mickey Mouse! After we came back to the room we decided to swim a little before putting Zoe to bed, then James and I headed back to the park and went on the Matterhorn (my all-time favorite), Space Mountain, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Whew! What a day.

Day 3
On the menu for Wednesday was Frontierland, Adventureland, and Critter Country. I have to say - it was the BEST day of the four. We got to ride Indiana Jones, Thunder Mountain, Winnie the Pooh, and we met Tigger. Then Zoe fell asleep in the stroller (miracle of miracles) so we had lunch in the park - Rancho del Zocalo is amazing. Then we did the Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room. We really milked the fast passes and rider switch tickets and got to do a ton of stuff. In the afternoon my friend Kelly Benson, who is in Anaheim selling pest control, came over and we laid out by the pool until James came back. So then we went on Splash Mountain (I got to go twice and got soaked the second time). And then Thunder Mountain (again) and dinner at Rancho del Zocalo again - so good. Then we got to walk right on to Pirates because everyone was crowding around for Fantasmic and the Fireworks. Right as we got out of Pirates, Fantasmic was in full swing and we had a pretty good view from the ride's exit. The greatest thing about the entire day was that we didn't have to wait in line with Zoe once!

Day 4
Thursday was reserved for California Adventure. But first my mom and I woke up super early to use our early entry to get into Disneyland. We walked as fast as could (no running in Disneyland) so we could get in line for the Finding Nemo submarine ride - it just opened up on the 11th and everyday there were huge lines (like 2-4 hours) so we went as early as we could. Then James got up with Zoe and brought her over a little later. We ended up not having to wait in line all that long (at least not for the ride) and it was awesome. Great ride. Before James had to leave us we got to meet Buzz Lightyear and ride Astroblasters. After he left, we went over to Toontown one more time for some pictures and autographs before heading to California Adventure. (As a side note, I have to say that the only disappointment I had was that there weren't many "roaming" characters. Each has a scheduled time to be in certain places and if you are not there at that time, you don't see them. We didn't see a single princess because I was not about to wait in line at the "Princess Faire" for a show I didn't care about to wade through hundreds of little girls for two seconds of face tilme with a princess! Maybe when it's not the peak season they are out and about.)
By the time we walked to the other park Zoe was asleep so we didn't get a whole lot done there before heading home for lunch. James met us in the room for lunch and then we headed back to California Adventure. We crammed in as much as possible in the few hours we had left - which really wasn't all that hard because there isn't that much to do in California Adventure. While James and I were checking out the park, my mom took Zoe over to a "puddle park" in A Bug's Land. While they were there, my mom said Zoe took 6 steps in a row (before this she has only been standing and taking one or two steps, or pivoting around one foot). Of course I forgot to leave the diaper bag and camera with my mom so we don't really have it documented. Anyway, Zoe loved A Bug's Land and had a fit when we had to leave. That night we headed to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. That proved to be a bit much for me and Zoe after our already long day and I had to leave early to put her to bed. Phew! Almost done.

Day 5
We wanted to get a fairly early start to our day on Friday but it just didn't happen. We finally got up and made our way into Disneyland to get fast passes for Space Mountain, then went to California Adventure to finish up a few rides we had missed the day before. Then back to Disneyland! We didn't have much left on our to-do list so we just took it easy. We had Zoe's sillouhette cut and played on Tom Sawyer's island. There we ran into Captain Jack Sparrow - who licked Zoe's hand, gave James a lecture on the duties of a captain, and stole my wedding ring. Really. It was great. Then we had frozen lemonade, rode Space Mountain and headed home for dinner and a dip in the pool. And then we went BACK to Disneyland for the night. We still hadn't been in the Haunted Mansion so we did that, then I got to yell at some screaming teenagers in Pirates before heading to the Jungle cruise. We thought it would be closed at night but were pleased to find it running. We finished up our day with shopping on Main Street and got Zoe her first set of ears. They even have her name - how sweet!

Day 6
We got up early and finished packing up our stuff so we could get on the road. Everything went as planned and we got my mom to the Ontarionairport with plenty of time before her flight. Zoe slept from the moment we got on the freeway until we stopped in Las Vegas at In-n-Out (yes, again). Then we drove the strip (can you believe that was my first time?) and then headed home. We pulled back into our driveway around 10:30 pm for a trip time of 12 hours. Yikes, Zoe and I are not looking forward to ever being in the car again! But we had the greatest time ever and we are so lucky that we had the opportunity to go.