disney pictures

the desert

before hitting the theme park circuit we spent a nice week in the desert ... the weather could have been more deserty, but the company was nice, the food was good and my kids had a great time.  a huge thank you to kathy for all the fun things she arranged for the boys and also everything she did with & for both of them ... she definitely earned her "great kathy" gold stars while we were there.  here are a few (totally random now that i'm looking at all of them together) pictures from the trip:  [... ummm, i can't figure out how to type under each of them, so here's a quick rundown starting with the top photo ... 1) my grandpa & kathy have these great decorative birdhouses in front of their house, their color is a nice contrast to the desert scene 2) kathy with the boys in the backyard 3) my angel of a mother with aidan 4) their dog red (who, i'm happy to say, survived our visit) 5) my grandpa taking the boys (and me) for a drive in the golf cart 6) my grandpa and aidan (i love this picture) 7) a random hotel room shot of jack 8) jack and my grandpa 9) aidan in the backyard at night]

 

disneyland tips (and then i'm done ... until i post some pictures)

disneyland tips that seem a little "duh" now that we're done:

1) spring break was really crowded.  we knew this would be the case, but this is when we could go, so we did.  if you have flexibility, go during the week when school is in.

2) if you have kids that even remotely provoke each other, don't bring a double stroller.  either rent or bring two umbrella strollers.

3) our kids aren't really early risers ... if yours are the same, then i'd say let them sleep and swim at the hotel ... nap or whatever ... then go to the park in the afternoon.  we started out forcing things in order to do everything we wanted to do and in the end it only slowed us down.

4) the kiddie rides are much more crowded in the mornings and afternoons than in the evenings and nights ... if your kids can handle it, let them stay up.

5) if the lines are long then find rides that put a ton of people on at once (rather than two people per car) ... a 40 minute line that moves feels like 40 minutes ... a 40 minute line that barely moves feels like 2 hours.

6) the maps have the height requirements on them and a surprisingly large amount are 40" (aidanish) and above.

7) downtown disney is a much better food option than inside the park and it's only a short walk outside the entrance ... they have espn zone, rainforest cafe, etc. - rather than the park food.

8) get to the parades early so you can sit down ... a super great opportunity to rest (um, and people watch).

9) if you're there during the fireworks there are very, very short lines for the rides (this applies, though not as strongly, to parade times too).

10) you're allowed to bring food and drinks into the park.

11) if you can manage it, stay at one of the 3 on-site hotels ... it just gives you more flexibility.  we only stayed like 15 minutes away and it felt like hours once we had to get to our car and out of the parking lot and back to the hotel.

12) you have, have, have to let your kids run somewhere if you're going to push them through the day ... at california adventure they have a cool ropes/bridges/slides area called 'redwood creek trail' ... it's huge and my kids could have run around in there all afternoon.  it was closed when we were there, but tom sawyer's island at disneyland might offer the same outlet.

13) we got a park hopper pass and that worked really well because you could just come and go as you pleased between the big D and california adventure (which, i didn't realize, are right next to each other)

14) fast passes.  these confused us at first, so let me explain.  on the maps you'll see some rides have the fast pass icon on them.  this means that you can take your park entry ticket to the ride and you'll see a 'fast pass' area where they have machines (a la ATM machines).  you enter your ticket and you'll get a slip of paper (a la a movie ticket) that will allow you to bypass the main line and enter a shorter line through a separate door at a specific assigned window of time.  this time is posted above the fast pass area at the actual ride.  you can only get one fast pass an hour and (i think) three per day.  get them early.  if you try to get them late (lunchtime and beyond) they a) are only redeemable at some insane hour like 11pm or are b) sold out for the day.

15) following on from the fast pass tip ... some rides have 'single rider' lines.  john used this once and was only in line for 15 minutes or so.  just ask one of the worker bees near the ride if they offer it.  also, my understanding (although we didn't use this), is that if one parent waits in line they can get a pass for the other parent to either bypass the line/go in the handicapped line/go in this single rider line/go in the fast pass line ... like i said, we didn't have the opportunity to try this, but very worthwhile if it works.

16) i feel like i have so many more, but they're not coming to mind ... i will say that it was not a cheap trip, but my kids (and us) had an awesome time.  aidan will remember it, jack won't (but he is under 2 and was still free to get in, so it's all good).

D2

some other things that are important to note:

1) just because your child meets the height requirement for a ride doesn't mean they should be riding it.  there were no tears, but a look of "what the hell did you just do that to me for?" when we took jack on the matterhorn.

2) if you have to vomit, please find an appropriate corner to do so in.  puking every six feet as you walk through a crowded theme park is super uncool.  even more uncool when you're like 55 years old and not 5.  (please note that this was a traumatizing experience for me to witness as i was wearing flip flops and narrowly missed what the woman was sharing with the d-land public).

3) in an elbow to elbow place for 3 days you'll eavesdrop and you'll learn, among other things, that the big D is a true test to how strong one's marriage is (as well as one's parenting skills).

4) lastly, i learned that kids don't really need to sleep ... as long as you don't mind a little biting, pinching, poking, screaming and tantrum throwing in the double stroller.

the big "D"

things i've learned from my visit to mickey's hood:


1) in your haste, excitement and over-stimulation you may forget to feed your children at regular intervals and with any sort of balance of food products ... you may actually just forget to feed them at all.  also, suckers are a food group here.


2) strollers have locking belts for many very good reasons.


3) mickey is very popular during spring break.


4) if you're 2 and contained in a stroller the various characters are much less scary to high five (i'm not sure why).  buzz is now a personal friend if anyone needs anything.


5) overall, humanity is pretty awesome in the happiest place.  in an area with wall to wall people and hot weather everyone was patient, happy and kind ... especially the thoughtful woman that watched jack in the stroller (right) outside the bathroom stall while i peed.


more to come ...