There really is something magical about Disneyland, especially that first morning as you're waiting in line and entering the park to go on the first couple of rides. We were all so anxious and excited! I loved imagining what Ariana and Matthew must have been thinking as they were seeing everything for the first time. There's so much to see and do!
We went straight to the Dumbo ride, one of my favorites. We'd decided to make a schedule using the
RideMax program to cut back on time in line, and that's where it told us to go first. Even standing in line was exciting those first couple of rides!
Who doesn't love the Dumbo ride? It's such a classic!
We went next to Big Thunder Mountain, which Bryan was very excited about. He's big enough to go on all the rides this time, and he was especially anxious to get to all the big-people rides! He and Matt both went with Javi and Jose, and even Matt liked it. David and I used a switch pass to go afterwards. It was so fun!
Ariana was anxious to see Minnie and Mickey's houses, so we headed to Toon Town next. We had to get a picture with the castle on our way.
Ari liked seeing the things in Minnie's house, but when it came to meeting Minnie, she kind of freaked out. It was her first time meeting a character and I think she was a little overwhelmed. Thankfully, Minnie didn't seem to mind.
She did a little better with Mickey, and this time we had the boys with us as well. They all enjoyed seeing Mickey's silly things, especially the car outside. And then we had some fun in Goofy's yard as well before heading off to our next ride.
After Toon Town we got to go on the Peter Pan ride, another one of my favorites! Like the Dumbo ride, it's just such a classic Disney ride! I love it, and I was really excited to go on it with Matthew and Ari who love Peter Pan, pirates, and Tinkerbell. :) We had a little bit of a wait since it's a favorite of lots of other people as well!
We hit the carousel next, but Ari wasn't too excited to go on a horse by herself... The boys had fun, at least! Ari did get used to it as the days went on, and by the end of our time at the park the carousel was one of her favorite rides.
For lunch we headed over to Tomorrowland Terrace, where they hold the Jedi Academy. Bryan had been talking about the Jedi Academy for months, so it was REALLY big deal that he get to participate. We caught the end of one session as we were eating, and then we decided to wait around and see if Bryan could get into the next one. We had him go and sit down in the designated area a long time before they were going to start so he could get a prime spot, and then Javi "coached" him and gave him tips on how to get picked. :) David and Jose also went down to sit with him and make lots of noise to draw attention his way when they started the selection process.
I was SO nervous and was totally stressing out when it all started, but to my total relief he was picked!! He was so excited, and I was so happy for him. :) It was a little boy's dream come true! He got to wear a Jedi cloak and the Jedi masters trained him on how to use a light saber and defeat a member of the dark side. Bryan got the opportunity to battle Darth Maul, which he thought was pretty cool since Darth Maul has a double light saber! He did a great job and loved every minute of it!
Ari wasn't too sure what to think about it all... She cried a little bit when Bryan was fighting Darth Maul. :)
Our Patawan!
After Bryan's "graduation" from the Jedi Academy, we visited a few stores, went on the Buzz Lightyear ride, Space Mountain (Matt cried the whole time, poor guy), the cars, and the It's a Small World ride. We loved it all! (Except for Matty and the Space Mountain ride...)
One of the things I really wanted to do was let Ari meet some of the princesses, so I insisted we wait in the hour-long line at the Princess Fantasy Faire. :) We'd bought an autograph book for Bryan to use to get different character's autographs, so he was on board, but David and Matt weren't so excited. It was a long wait, but it ended up being so worth it! Ari was so excited and the princesses were so cute with the kids!
We ended our day with the rockets ride, the Matterhorn, Indiana Jones, the Haunted Mansion, and of course, Pirates of the Caribbean! I think we got tired of picture-taking, because I don't have any pictures from these rides, except for these showing off the guys in their plaid. Somehow they all ended up in plaid shorts!
It was definitely a full day, and we were exhausted by the time we made it back to our hotel. I was glad, though, we still had two more days to go! We still had so much to look forward to!
