Recap on our Disneyland trip

Over our winter break we decided to take the boys to Disneyland!!! What a crazy idea!! We haven't been on a family vacation in 2 years. We weren't sure what to expect with two little boys on vacation for 5 days so we decided to drive. It seemed that everyone else had the same idea so we got the last room in all of Anaheim. We lucked out...it was a great room. It even had a refrig and microwave which came in handy for Bubba's warm milk at bedtime. Of course we brought too much stuff and we brought home even more stuff...but it was a great trip. The weather was perfect, the parks ended up being empty. It seemed like we had California Adventure Park all to ourselves. The kids had a blast. Neither of them knew anything about Disney or Disney characters before we went but by the time we left they seemed to know all the character's names and even some of the songs. Bubba really loved the Dumbo ride, Casey Jr and the King Arthur's Merry Go Round. We rode Dumbo one million times. We even ran into a friend from home in the Dumbo line. Either Dumbo is really the most popular children's ride or the world is really that small. Boy wonder's favorite rides were Casey Jr Circus Train, Story Book Canal, Peter Pan, Madhatter's teacups and It's A Small World. Both boys loved the nightime parade and the fireworks show.

Hubby and I got to see a very different side of Disney then we would have, had it not been for the wee ones. There is special entrance hours into Fantasyland an hour earlier than the rest of the park if you stay in a disney property or disney's good neighbor hotels and it is a must if you have small children. The lines are very short and you get on the rides fast and then it allows you to walk the park and do other things like greet characters, see street entertainment, jump around Toon Town, and climb on the Disney Firetruck...Boy Wonder's favorite memory of all things Disney is the Disney Firestation and the old time firetruck.

Being with the small ones we needed to take frequent potty trips and we made an awesome discovery. There is a wonderful family bathroom/nursing area called the Nursery on Main Street. It is original in decorations to when the park opened. Talk about quaint, there are even "nurses" dressed in old time attire that are there to assist with anything you could need. There's even a small playroom for your older child while you are helping another child eat or use the potty and a small kitchen for heating up baby food, etc. The toddler toliets are so cute..they are teeny tiny perfect size for the youngest to use and never a line. I guess it is not that well known. So no matter where we were in the park we made a beeline for the nursery when BW or Bubba needed to go....it was a nice clean retreat from the normal loud, wet, public potties.

We discovered the kiddies loved meeting the characters and it is very hard trying to chase them down in the park as everyone wants to meet them too. So we tried out Goofy's kitchen for a buffet breakfast. The boys loved the mickey waffles and meeting Goofy and friends. Dale from Chip and Dale really took a liking to Bubba and drew him a special picture on his breakfast mat which I of course had to take with us. We even got to meet Bleu from the Jungle Book.

Even with the kids in tow we did manage to visit my favorite restaurant "The Bayou" in the Pirates of the Carribean Ride and the boys did very well during dinner even in it's dark ambiance. I love their food...yummy. And they have a great menu for kids too.

If you were to ask hubby what his most surprising discovery of disneyland was this trip he would probably say the Tiki Room (Bird Show). We had never had the pleasure of seeing the show and it was a great discovery. It too must be original and unchanged. The kids loved the singing puppet birds, plants, and tikis. And we all enjoyed sitting and just relaxing. What a great discovery.

I think hands down the most favorite part of the trip for all my boys was meeting Lighting McQueen and Mater at California Adventure Park. They are remote controlled life size cars and they really look like their onscreen counter parts. Bubba is so obessessed with the characters from the Cars movie that he has renamed each of us by a character's name in the movie. He of course is Lighting McQueen, daddy is Mater, BW is DJ and I am Sally. We couldn't tear Bubba away from staring at the cars for even a second, so in all the photos of the boys Bubba's head is turned toward the car he is standing next to. It is really funny.

We can't wait to go again. Maybe the same time next year. After going when the park is less crowded and not so hot I don't think I could make that trip with little ones during the summer which is when we have gone in the past.