21 November 2005
Early Monday morning, before the sun got up, Mommy
and Daddy got up and fed me (I was still asleep but got up enough
to drink my milk). Daddy loaded up the car while Mommy got
me ready. They we loaded up into Mommy's little blue Subaru
and drove 6 1/2 hours to a place called Anaheim. Daddy said
that it's where Pooh Bear and Mickey Mouse live. Mommy and
Daddy thought it was going to be cold down where Mickey lived so
they brought sweaters and lots of blankets. They were very
surprised to find out that it was 85 degrees when we got into Orange
County! Mommy and Daddy kept thinking that we should have
brought shorts! Sheesh, shorts for Thanksgiving?! Anyway,
we got in and got into our hotel room which Mommy says was only
a few blocks from Disneyland. We brought all of our suitcases
into the room and got comfy. After we rested awhile, we went
to a place that Daddy called Downtown Disney. I think it's
next door to where Pooh Bear lives. There were lots of shops
and places to eat. There were lots of people to see.
There was a giant giraffe there!
We visited a few other shops and ate at a really
nice restaurant. Then we went back to the hotel so we could
get some rest. After all, Mommy and Daddy got up at 3 and
3:30am so we could drive down in the dark. (Mommy said that
we needed to do that so I could stay asleep for most of the trip.
It worked. I woke up once when we stopped in the middle of
nowhere - literally, it was called "Lost Hills".)
So we went back to the hotel room and got ready for resting...
I got to play with the remote and push the buttons. Mommy
wanted to watch the news so she could figure out how hot it was
going to be the next day. They weatherman said that it was
going to be 80 degrees! (Mommy just couldn't get over the fact that
the weatherman's name was Dallas Raines...she thinks he just made
it up for TV but Daddy said he thought that was the guy's real name.
hmmmmm. I don't know...).
The next day we got up early in the morning. It was
about 7am when Daddy got up. There was lots to do because
we were also going to check out of our hotel room that morning so
we could go straight to Grandma and Grandpa's house after Disneyland.
So, we got up, got ready, repacked everything and got dressed up
for Disneyland. When we finally walked through the gates it
was about 9:30am. Not too bad considering all of what we had
to do in the morning. I couldn't believe it...I was at DISNEYLAND!!!
YAY!! So much to see, so much do to, so much
to get into! The day was just beginning and my eyes just weren't
big enough to see everything I wanted to see. I couldn't decide
where I wanted to go. Mommy & Daddy seemed to have something
of an agenda but nothing too important. I decided to go this
way and then changed and went that way...and when too many people
were around Mommy told Daddy to put me up on his shoulders.

But Daddy didn't like keeping me up
there because he couldn't see my expression. Just in front of the
castle is a statue of Mickey with Walt. Mommy wanted us to
take a picture there because I'm little like Mickey and Daddy is
taller like Walt. It would have worked but I was just too
distracted with all of the people around. Mommy took the pictures
anyway and here they are.

Mommy just loves the castle. Actually
the castle at Walt Disney World is her favorite because it's Cinderella's.
But she really likes Sleeping Beauty's castle, too.
Especially because they decorated it!

Epecially for Disney's 50th birthday,
the Imagineers at the park have gone in and touched everything with
gold. They put very pretty material all over the castle and
created a fireworks show that can be seen throughout the park.
Here you might notice that the castle also has some crowns on the
pointy parks that Mommy called "turrents". She tried
really hard to get a picture of me when I was actually looking at
the camera. But again...too many interesting things and people
to see.
Passing through the castle I entered
Fantasyland. There were so many people! Mommy said she
had never seen so many strollers in her life. I had never
seen so many kids my size! We went on a bunch of rides:
Pinocchio
 |
...a blurry
picture of me on the carousel
|
Mommy and Daddy still laugh because
my expression never changed when I went onto the rides, when I got
off of the rides and when we moved to a new thing...
"my Disney expression"

There were so many things to look at,
including the planters. They had pretty flowers in them and
the fence things were just my height. I just loved wandering
around a place that felt build for people my size. Here is
a picture of me enjoying of those planter things that were my height.

Then we got hungry and ate at Pinocchio's
restaurant. We never made it onto Peter Pan or Mister Toad's
Wild Ride because the lines were just too long. When after
all of the excitement of the Fantasyland rides, I got tired so Mommy
fed me a bottle or two of food and then I drank some milk and took
my first nap. Actually, I was in the process of eating a Kix
and passed out in my stroller for 2 hours. Mommy said that
while I was asleep we went all over the park to look at things and
I just didn't wake up at all because I was so tired.
While I slept, Mommy and Daddy walked
around. They wanted to go and see a special display for the
50th but that required them to take me out of my stroller.
Since I'd just fallen asleep that obviously wasn't going to work
so Mommy never got to see that thing either. Instead, Mommy and
Daddy strolled around the New Orleans area and took some pictures.

The last picture just above is a sign
they posted on the railroad bridge near Splash Mountain in Critter
County, cool huh? The train passed just as Mommy snapped the picture.
When I did wake up we went to more rides,
this time they were bigger rides for bigger people.
Pirates of the Caribbean
After those rides we walked all over
the park again. we wandered back to Critter County and went
on the POOH BEAR RIDE!! It was so cool! Pooh Bear, Tigger,
Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga & Roo were everywhere! It was sunset
when we got to the Pooh Bear ride. Mommy liked the lighting so much
that she took this picture of me.

Mommy was sad because she couldn't go
on the new version of Space Mountain or on Indiana Jones because
I'm not big enough to ride. But she seemed to enjoy the rides
we did go on.
Just outside of the Pooh Bear ride,
Pooh Bear, Eeyore and Tigger were visiting all of the little kids.
I was so excited to see Tigger. He was so bright and big and
soft and huggable that I just kept running to him. But Mommy
and Daddy kept telling me that I had to wait my turn before visiting
with Tigger. I don't even know what that means. All
I knew was that Tigger was there waiting for me and I couldn't go
and visit. Instead I had to wait in another line and visit
with Pooh Bear and Eeyore first.
Pooh
|
Eeyore
|
Tigger
It may not look like it but I'm actually enjoying this hug.
I ran to Tigger after waiting my turn in line. After
this hug, I turned back to Tigger and gave him a big hug.
Unfortunately for Mommy, she wasn't ready and missed my Tigger
hug...I know she will always remember it, though...
 |
After we visited with Pooh and his friends,
it started getting dark and colder. It was about 80 degrees
all day long. At least that's what Mommy and Daddy said. I
don't really know what temperature is yet. When it got darker,
all the lights in the park started turning on and I just loved it!
I love lights. We left Critter County and started walking
around again. I took another nap and I think that's when Mommy
and Daddy had dinner at some soup place in New Orleans square.
When I woke up it was really dark. We decided to go on the
Haunted Mansion ride. I wasn't so sure I'd like it but I was
kind of along for the ride. When things got kind of scary,
Mommy would cover my eyes but I wouldn't really let her.

It's sort of hard to tell but the Mansion
was decorated for Christmas in the style of "A Nightmare Before
Christmas". The whole thing had jack-o-lanterns and candles
and the characters from the movie. I've never seen the movie
but Mommy and Daddy seemed to like it a lot.
At 9:30pm the entire park started getting
ready for a big show. We walked towards the back side of Fantasyland
where Mommy said the Small World ride was. We sat down for
a while and waited. And we waited. What were we waiting
for? We'd spent all day walking and eating and seeing and doing.
Here we were and just waiting? Then I saw what we were waiting
for: FIREWORKS. Daddy explained that there was a special fireworks
show that Disney made for the 50th anniversary of the park.
It last 20 minutes and they had all kinds of stuff going on.
They projected a movie on the face of the Small World ride while
people did some talking over the park speakers. Then in the
sky was a huge fireworks display. I've never seen anything
like that. The lights were timed with the music. It
was beautiful.
At the end of the fireworks and the
music and the talking, the speakers began playing this pretty song
Mommy told me is called "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas".
Then it began to snow. Well, not literally. The light
poles began spraying these bubble things that looked like snow and
it was so pretty. All of the kids had 'snow' in their hair.
All of the big 'kids' had 'snow' in their hair. Everyone was
a kid for that part. It was really cool.
Can you see the snow? I'm trying
to catch it.

After the music and fireworks were all
over, there was the biggest exit I've ever seen. Mommy calls it
an 'exodus' because all of the people who were watching the show
picked up their stuff and their strollers and began moving towards
the front gates. The Conveys on the other hand moved closer
to the rides so we could finish up our night riding away.
Since we were near the Small World ride, we went there first.
The entire ride was decorated in lights. It was soooo pretty.

Let me just share with you how much
I enjoyed this ride. I just got that Disney expression and
pointed and stared and then I actually started waving my hands.
This ride is the BEST. It has music, little kids like me who
are dancing (the dolls), and so many colors and lights. It's
the most amazing ride.

After that ride, I started getting tired
again. We decided to start making our way to the main gates.
We took a few more pictures...

As we walked through Fantasyland, we
noticed the line to Dumbo was short. We went on and I enjoyed
my flight on the little elephant. Daddy showed me how to use the
controller and Mommy helped me push.

After that we saw that the line to Alice
in Wonderland was short so we decided to go on. I think I
was too tired to appreciate this ride. Actually, I think Mommy
and Daddy were pretty tired, too. We didn't even take pictures.
After that ride we began the long walk back to the gate and
the tram ride back to the car. It was a looong day.
I almost 'closed the park'. We were about 1/2 a hour away
from the close of the park. But we estimate that by the time
we got to the car, got everything in and got goig it was about midnight,
when the park closed. We needed to gas up before taking the long
drive out to Grandma & Grandpa's house in the sticks.
It was a very very good day.
It was a magical day at Disneyland. I really enjoyed my first
visit!

|