October 2, 2009

Disneyland, at last.

The day was finally here. We were going to Disneyland.

As we entered the park, Mickey Mouse and his little band just so happened to appear around the bend. I could not believe our good luck. The boys were in complete awe as they got to greet their beloved Mickey Mouse, who was conducting the band. Complete with drums. It was double perfection. And truth be told, I got a little teary-eyed. It was priceless.

The very first ride the boys went on was King Arthur's Carrousel. It is currently Calvin's favorite ride.





And the Merry-go-round is Finn's favorite ride too, along with Dumbo.

The boys LOVED flying high.

Calvin adopted a particular hand wave that day, as seen above.

Mom came with us the first day and was in charge of Ollie.


Ollie wasn't a huge fan of the Carrousel or Dumbo, but he was totally enraptured by "it's a small world", and was clapping during the ride. It was darling.


Introducing, our first ever shot posted as a family of 6!




We took a pit stop at Mark Twain's River Boat, and of course we had to take a bunch of shots of Twain!





Twain was a complete and total doll the entire trip. We barely heard a peep out of him.






As the day went on, it became more and more crowded, so we only went on a grand total of 6 rides the entire day. The final ride of the day was the
Nemo Submarine.

The Nemo Submarine.

I was initially very excited to go on this ride. And yes, I totally neglected to read the warning sign --Do NOT ride if you are uncomfortable in enclosed spaces...blah, blah, blah. I have never really considered myself claustrophobic, so I would not have been phased by the warning anyway.

The lights inside the cabin dimmed as the submarine started its voyage. The water outside rushed by and bubbles appeared as our submarine sank to deeper levels.

And that is when I started to panic. I game myself a little pep talk. "Focus on the cute fishy holograms outside the little cabin window. This is fun. Wee!"

But what if we all drown? What if the submarine springs a leak and we can't all get out in time? What if? What if?

Oh look it's Dory and Marlin! This is a kiddy ride. This is fun!

As we started to go through the 'ring of fire', the music became loud and sinister. And that is when Calvin lost it. He burst into inconsolable petrified hysterics.

Into the mouth of the whale we went, and Calvin burst into another fit of hysterics.

Finally the sub came to a halt. The ride was over. And there we waited, in darkness. And waited. Even mom started to look uneasy.

Finally the lights flickered back on and I could not get out of that death trap fast enough.

Later mom informed me that the subs never go completely under water. "See?" she said pointing to the tidy line of subs passing by.

Heh. That would have helped to know. Silly me thought the ride was real. In my defense...forget it. I have no defense. I am hopeless.

At least Finn thought the ride was awesome. And I have to admit, if it wasn't for my claustrophobic episode, the ride would have been really neat.

It was getting late and we decided to call it a day. We were staying the night at the hotel and had another fun day of Disneyland ahead of us.

The sky grew dark as we started to wind our caravan of strollers through Fantasy Land. And that is when things got a little crazy.

The sky erupted into a series of loud booms, as the Halloween Screams Fireworks began, DIRECTLY above us.

It was SO loud that poor Calvin burst into terrified gasping sobs once again.

And it was not the fireworks that bothered me. It was the spooky cackling of the Disney villains that did me in.

We got away from the fireworks as fast as our legs could carry us.

Whew. What an adventure. And even though we had a rough time near the end, still nothing compares to the magic of seeing your kids' faces glow on their first trip to Disneyland.

And the next night, we actually enjoyed viewing the fireworks from the safety of Main Street, where you could not hear the cackling, spooky music. It's all pretty funny now.

And the next day was the most blissful, wonderful day ever. It was like night and day, compared to the first day.

It was not crowded. The wait for the lines was minimal.

And the weather was nice, cool and breezy.

John's parents were able to join us.

(riding the Jungle Cruise)




John and I decided that Calvin was the perfect age for Disneyland because he truly believed that everything was real. He had so much fun playing in Toon Town.






Another highlight was meeting Pluto.




Ollie was so, so excited to meet Pluto. He was completely giddy.




And here is the obligatory Castle picture, as per request of my sister Jessica.

(and yes I AM wearing white sneakers with a black shirt because my toes were going to fall right off in the black shoes I wore earlier).





And a special thanks to Angela, for giving me the idea to make the boys the Mickey tees.

Workers would randomly call my boys by name when they read their embroidered names on their tees. I'm sure my boys thought the workers had special powers for knowing their names.




As far as vacations go, it will be VERY hard to top Disneyland!

And HUGE ENORMOUS thanks to this sweetheart for helping make our trip possible!!!!!

26 comments:

  1. Yea! I am so glad you had such a good time!Beautiful photos as usual!

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  2. how much fun!! i LOVE the shirts!! oh and i still have my mouse ears from my first trip to disney over 20 years ago!

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  3. Sounds like a great trip! I'm so glad the second day was way better than the first. Love your pictures!

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  4. You are so adorable making those shirts for the boys! Darling I tell ya! Glad you guys had a good time - great pics!

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  5. I cheated. I didn't read all the words, but I did look at all the pictures. They are darling x infinity billion.

    I will be back to read later...can't wait to hear about your adventure!

    xo

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  6. Thanks are sharing your darling photos. I'm so glad you had (mostly) a great time! I'm thrilled that the boys grandparents got to experience their first trip with you all. Your shirts are cleaver and I love Calvin's orange socks!

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  7. ummmm, okay, cutest family EVER!! i'm in love with their shirts!! sounds like such a magical time! so glad you had such a great trip :)

    p.s. i shoulda warned you about the nemo ride..same thing happened to me..blech..never again!

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  8. My favorite picture by far is Calvin in the big green chair in toontown. It made me giggle out loud. That is going to be one of those classic pictures. I love it! Good job photographing the experience, I know how hard that is! What fun you all had and if it consoles you at all I had a full on panic attack back when they were just basic submarines and I won't go on it again. =0)

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  9. Fabulous pictures, D!!! I loved every single one, especially the one of Gee standing in the playhouse. And Ollie wearing his hat, and Twinkie by the steamboat, and the family shot, and of course the castle!

    The girls looked at them with me, and it was so fun, seeing Ansley remember the "kea-cups" and Grandma, and Geegee and "Cal-finn". And she was most overjoyed at seeing you. Lol.

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  10. DAVI! These pictures are so cute! Looks like you had an awesome time. I can't wait to take Rowan there when he's old enough to understand what's going on. I bet it was so cute to have all 4 of your boys there. :-)

    Oh and I LOVE those shirts!!! :-)

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  11. What beautiful pictures to document your big trip to Disneyland! My favorite is the one on the Jungle cruise. I just love the look of awe in all the boys' eyes. :) Great job on the shirts! Oh and Nemo...I didn't feel trapped, but I definitely don't think it's worth the wait. My husband and daughter don't agree with me though. ;)

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  12. Seriously! SO adorable. I love the shirts!

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  13. Disneyland! One of my favorite places to play! I get to go free on my Birthday this month, and can't wait to have Mickey greet me!

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  14. i LOVE it!!!
    your family photo is beautiful.
    thats awesome that the grandparents were able to come along!
    such a fun weekend, happy happy.
    xoxo

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  15. I'm dying over here. DYING. The combination of your boys, Disneyland, and those shirts are just TOO MUCH. ohhhhhh, I love these pictures!!!!! I seriously think these picture should be an ad campaign for Disneyland, they are just that precious and perfect and magical. And how cute are you, making those shirts for your boys. Classic Davi :) (great idea Angela!)

    I am so glad that you had such an amazing first time to Disneyland! It really sounds like everything was so wonderful, from Twain being such a good boy, to the weather, to the fact that it wasn't busy. I'm so happy for you and your bunch of boys. Isn't Disneyland the best? Thank you for posting about this, I couldn't wait to see the pictures!! :)

    ps. I realized last week that I NEVER blogged about our Disneyland trip which was almost a YEAR ago. Would I be completely lame to blog about it now??

    pps. the next time we go to Disneyland I am taking you with me so you can snap gorgeous pictures of my kids like these all day long. hehe!!

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  16. wow, looooong comment. Sorry, I may have been a bit over-excited. :)

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  17. omg..seriously..the shirts, I can not handle the cuteness..wow.

    And..Glad you had a blast..love the pics!!

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  18. Yay for Disneyland! The shirts are adorable and so are your gosh darn cute boys!

    I can still remember that panic feeling from riding the submarines when I was a little girl. I never liked that ride. Now that I'm all grown up, I can tolerate it but I still have to close my eyes during most of it so I don't get nauseous. Now that I think about it, I don't know why I ride it at all....

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  19. Beautiful photos D! So happy you guys had a great time. It looked wonderful and so much fun! Great memory for the boys!

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  20. I'm soooooo glad you had a great time! I thought of you so much while you were gone!

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  21. What a fabulous trip! It is so special when it is the first time for the kids. I was rather freaked out on the Nemo ride too, they had people get off one of the subs but then wouldn't let anyone get back on and skipped that particular sub. I was sure someone puked in it and was terrified that would happen when I was on the ride! Eeek!

    The shirts, oh so cute! I love that the employees magically knew your boys' names. Your pictures are amazing. :)

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  22. Wow I really am the LAST one to see this ;) Love it love it love it! The shirts turned out AMAZING! My favorite picture is the one of the family in front of the castle ... must be framed! Love you friend and SO glad you got to take such a special trip!

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  23. I am glad you had so much fun! You and your family are, as always adorable and totally photogenic. :) And again, as always, love the pictures, love your boys and love you! Can't wait to see you soon. I have been quarantined to my house for almost a week!!!

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  24. I love love love the shirts you made! There is SO much to comment on, you did such an amazing job capturing such great moments! We're going to Disneyland next month and I can't wait!
    How did you manage to make your trip look so carefree and relaxed?! It almost seems as if they shut down the park just for you guys looking at your photos, i love it ;) haha!

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  25. I love the Mickey tees you made. They are so cute! I totally agree about finding Nemo. I thought the whole thing was horrible. I hate cramped, tight spaces. I thought we were going to drown! Glad you had fun!

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