We've all heard it before right? Well, at least those of us who haven't been living under a rock our entire life. And to be fair, our first day/night was indeed pretty happy (with a few exceptions) nonetheless, if you ask me--and I'll pretend you did--it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there's a tidbit missing to this claim (i.e.) a 'disclaimer' if you will, which, IF they were being totally honest with us, might go something like this:
"Disneyland, the HAPPIEST place on earth WHEN YOU ARE:
-RESTED
-IN A GOOD MOOD & w/o children (i.e. those young lovebirds we love to love and hate all at the same time who can be standing in an hour-long line lost in each other's eyes and arms entirely oblivious to everything and everyone around them, though we can't seem to stop watching them, even casually as we try to pretend we don't notice and aren't burning with envy....wait, what!? Did I just say all that?
-OR WITH children who are (in addition to ourselves) also well-rested, in a good mood, and ding-ding-ding WELL behaved-why!? Because they're just so dang HAPPY!
-WHEN THE PARK ISN'T jam packed with lines for every ride and amusement up the wazoo.
-WHEN just a few of the rides/amusements you planned on enjoying aren't "temporarily shut down" with no explanation. Gosh darn it! I really wanted to fly with my main man Pan!
-WHEN "THEE GREATEST fireworks show on the face of the earth" ISN'T cancelled at the VERY last minute after ten minutes of --needlessly--teasing announcements. No other explanation than "high altitude winds" (hardly windy at all) and you get some lousy two minute castle light show instead that barely scratches the edge of that ten foot pole to the real deal.
-WHEN you don't have to find out too late that the "hour early park access" with your "all-inclusive package" is the day before and the day after the 'actual' day you thought it was, as you find out only after you hustled your little ones out the hotel room just to beat the crowd to the rides, which, as it turns out after all, still don't actually open until 10 am (park time) so although you've made it through the doors an hour earlier (though we didn't) there's a good chance you'll still have to wait in line because, yeah, those other ‘early-access’ customers who were 'smarter' than you and practically camped outside the doors at 5am still beat you....
(And finally)
-WHEN you are not forced to leave half a day early due to feeling sick from the overload of sugar, fried food, artificial colors and preservatives you've just allowed yourselves and children to pump down all your throats "just because" you are at the once-in-a-lifetime, once-in-a-year...or however often you go "HAPPIEST" place on earth and it somehow just 'seems' like the "right/cool parent" thing to do.... hmmm??? Scratching our heads now at that line of thinking.
-WHICH of course then brings us full circle back to the 'NOT-so-well behaved' kids and Disneyland's NOT-so-forthright claim about it being the-uhhuh-"happiest place on earth." And there ya have it folks! A TRUE disclaimer! Then again, can you really blame Disney for all of these things? Maybe. Maybe not. Suppose that's just a matter of perspective. However, if WE are being truly honest with ourselves, we have to take at least some of the blame right?
We’ll own it. 'Parental mishaps' if you will. So yeah, daddy almost lost his lid trying to manhandle his out-of-control (almost) three year old yesterday, who was clearly not accustomed to the highs and lows of sugar crashes brought on by the slushies and (undiluted) juice boxes which (OUR BAD) we allowed her to have one too many of, on TOP of the ‘all-you-can-eat’ breakfast lounge food where she went straight for the chocolate chip muffins. So, ultimately we decided we'd either start pulling out our own hair OR just pull the plug on a 'FULL' second day altogether. We chose the latter, although by then we had had our TRUE fill of the “happiest” place anyway.
At the very least it served a valuable lesson for us as parents reinforcing exactly why we stick to organic and healthy foods, early bed times, and strongly limit the amounts of sugar, artificial food coloring, and preservatives in our home. AND needless to say, 'the next time' we find ourselves at Disneyland I think we'll be thinking twice about all that junk in our systems and ESPECIALLY theirs.
BUT, since I'm an 'end on a high note' kinda girl, I would much rather reflect on the highs rather than the very few lows as they were (with the exception of the fireworks being cancelled) and the first day/night was just about as MAGICAL and "HAPPY" as it gets!!! The girls were in great moods! Hannah didn't stuff her face with nearly as much sugar as she had yesterday, and it is INSANE what a difference that makes in a child’s behavior.
The "all inclusive" package we got included a continually stocked fridge and fresh food, coffee, hot cocoa, movies for check out (OH YEAH we watched Peter Pan before our dinner at Goofy's Kitchen), beer, wine, and champagne/mimosas (which made for two easy going, “happy” parents) in a lounge that overlooks the entire park. And YES we ABSOLUTELY took advantage of that! This (hands down) was the best part for us about the all-inclusive. We spent much less on food than we would've and had the options of healthy snacks like fruit and veggies.
And don't even get me started about the look on Hannah's face when she saw Minnie Mouse for the first time...my heart practically exploded it was SO sweet! And by every sense of the word MAGICAL. Truly priceless! It happened as we had JUST arrived and were checking in at the hotel. We spotted her in the lobby and of course this mama made a bee line for her. Later on, only after I realized what a blessing this was (those characters can be TOUGH to catch and the lines are so long to meet them) that I was definitely thanking God for it!
Minnie Mouse was as SWEET as pie and Hannah was GLOWING in her presence. We also bumped into Goofy and Pluto, and if the pictures don't say a thousand words alone, I'll just say that for Adelynn, the meeting was a little less than magical. Haha! But who can blame her!? Those massive sized, weird looking, NON- human things. I mean really!? What baby wouldn't be spooked?
And just to be clear, we're definitely not trying to take home "parents of the year award" for this trip. What type of parents you ask? Us! Yes, we take our children (that young) on the super realistic rides like ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ or the freaky ‘Sleeping Beauty's castle’ with the witches shadow howling at you toward the end (even too much for Hannah to take) and the creepy-ish Pinocchio ride where Adelynn was gripping the rail for dear life and shaking the whole time. Poor baby! Of course I held her close and made happy sounds and voices all throughout the rides so they'd both know there was nothing to really be afraid of. "It's all pretend" as we tell them. Though you can’t quite expect them to believe you on that!
Goofy's kitchen for dinner was a BLAST where Hannah got to see her favorite gal all over again and meet a few more characters. And the food/buffet REALLY surprised us. Everything was SO good--less junk food and for that we were very happy! After dinner we threw on some sweaters and pants and went back out, deciding we would've rather been in the mix for the fireworks than in the lounge, didn't realize the mistake in it until the announcement was made that the fireworks were cancelled.
Nonetheless, the parade was SO much fun to watch from our viewpoint, and with the all- inclusive wine, beer, even the shots of tequila at the round bar on our way back in that we had thoroughly enjoyed at that point, had left us feeling SUPER relaxed and happy even in the midst of the disappointment surrounding the fireworks. Yes! The best part about staying at the actual hotel is not having to drive, and ya better believe we are those (smart) parents (kids or no kids) who we were gonna take advantage of that. Ha! The girls were nice and tuckered out in the double Bob stroller we scored off Craigslist a few days ago and we were all happy campers after a fun-filled day and full-bellies.
So, mind you even though the sleep was rough (Ad woke up quite a bit) and naps were inconsistent, that disclaimer in the beginning really only applied to a small portion of our trip (yesterday) after Toontown and a few rides, but at that point, our full day/night felt like a week already so we weren't too reluctant to head home early anyway. And yesterday’s silver lining, just before high tailing it out of there after a late lunch at the ESPN Zone, was FINALLY getting to meet Daisy--who plays a close fiddle to Minnie Mouse for our little miss Banana. In fact, we were shut down twice by Daisy's security as it was time for her to leave and Hannah had been DYING to meet and hug her ever since she met Minnie. And just before heading out, we used our free photo coupon with our package to get the Daisy picture.
Also included in our package were two black and white pics with autographs from a bunch of the characters and of course these will be framed in Hannah's room alongside Minnie and Daisy. Overall, and of course--MINUS--the mistake of too much sugar on day two, we'd do it all over again! And in fact we will....IN A YEAR! We decided that for us (personally) keeping the magic alive in it would require no more than that. And as the girls get older it will only get easier and MORE fun! Even if we had to pull the plug yesterday and didn't get to see the Anna & Elsa Singalong (like we planned) among a few other amusements, we realize that there's truly no rush. The new motto is: "THERE'S ALWAYS NEXT YEAR!"
We realized that we'd much rather take our time and really enjoy the sights and thrills and all the simple moments than to be rushing to get from point A to B and hit up every single ride/amusement. Disneyland is Disneyland and even if all we got to do was tea cups and the carousel (Hannah's two favorite things) that would've been enough for this trip. We knew it would be a gamble taking the girls this young, but we had a GREAT time and we are so fortunate…BLESSED to be able to afford and enjoy mini trips like this. We got home earlier than expected yesterday but got to really reflect and enjoy the fresh memories of it all as we scrolled through all the thousand-and-one pictures we took and sipped on Pho as we talked about how much fun we had.
Last night as we said our bedtime prayers, I asked Hannah what she was most thankful for about Disneyland and this was what I got: "I meet Minnie Mouse and she give me hugs and kisses". Of course my heart leaped all over again. That was enough for her. And that will always be in my memory as my very favorite moment of this first trip to Disneyland. The magic was and still is alive in her eyes as she remembers it.
Truly priceless....Truly Blessed.
