Happiest Place on Earth

We went to Disneyland two days in a row. We had a strategy, by going at the start of the school year Disneyland would be less crowded. I suppose "less" is a relative term. It definitely was not like peak times where every ride has an hour and a half long wait but it still seemed impossibly busy.

 

Day one it was the four of us, Nate's godparents Amanda and Wayne and my mom. It was nearly 100 degrees and poor Oregonian Gabs does not handle heat well. We took many precautions but she still ended up with a heat rash. Luckily, Amanda is an expert at all things Disney and guided us to the nursery (Carnation Baby Care Center). The nursery was calm, cool and staffed with the sweetest grandmotherly ladies. It was a wonderful respite in the chaos of Disney.

Nate seemed a bit shell shocked by it all and mutely followed us around. He did aptly name the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad the "Crazy Train."

Day two we got smarter and left Gabs with her Auntie Steena. The remaining three of us, Nate's godparents and my dad hit the parks at opening. Nate seemed to process everything from the day before and was rip roaring ready to do everything...except Splash Mountain. He didn't want to get wet.

At the beginning of the day my dad took Nate on the more kid friendly rides and Amanda and Wayne took Jim and me on California Screaming and Tower of Terror. What a blast! We then joined up and did everything we could. We screamed, we laughed and ate our way through both parks. The giant turkey legs were delish but the Dole whip floats were phenomenal. Have you had those? They are sold by the Tikki Room (most annoying place on the planet). The line is usually very long but it is so worth it. Pineapple soft serve floating in fresh pineapple juice. On a hot day where you are burning calories simply standing it is so refreshing!

What's also refreshing is getting soaked to the skin wet. We had been asking Nate for two days if he wanted to ride Splash Mountain. "Zippity Do Da" is one of Nate's favorite songs and we knew he would love it. Randomly, with a mouth full of turkey he said he was ready. Amanda happened to have fast passes in hand so we hightailed it over to the ride. Nate LOVED it. He thought it was hilarious that I was drenched and immediately wanted to ride it again. We rode it twice before leaving the park. Nate laughed so much, it was the perfect end to our day.

 

Right before exiting we asked another visitor to take our picture in front of the main Disneyland station. Not only did she say yes but ended up lying down on the ground to get the shot "just right". It's amazing how no matter how long the line, how hot people were, everyone was really truly happy.