Day 2 of Vacation; 1st day in the Parks part 1

Our first night went by so fast.  Both kids slept great.  Hunter has been asking for months for Jeremy and/or I to sleep in his room so we kept telling him that on vacation we will sleep in the same room.  The first night he told Jeremy that I was going to sleep in the bed with him.  So I did...the monkey took over the whole bed and that was the only night I slept in his bed.  When I woke Hunter up, I asked him if he was ready for a fun day and of course he said "yes!".  Hunter then woke Jeremy up by asking if he was ready for a fun day.  It was pretty cute. 

Since we were staying on Disney property we were able to enjoy the Extra Magic Hour perk each day.  We headed to the park with our rented double stroller.  That thing was awesome!  Both kids took great naps in it and it really helped us move quickly when we needed to.  We rented it from an off site vendor and it was delivered to the hotel.  We were able to take it to the beach house, though we didn't end up using it.  Then the company picked it up from there.  Once we arrived in the park, there were a lot of photo-ops this first timer wanted to take advantage of and I'm bummed that there are a few I didn't get.  But after we got into the park I was able to get a picture of Hunter in front of the castle.  I purchased Photopass-plus but found out that I couldn't get my pass until the shops on Main Street opened.  Which was fine, I got our pass while others rode It's a Small World.  The pass ended up being so awesome and I'm totally happy that we purchased it.  Not only did we get endless pics taken at both parks (Jeremy was a big trooper and just went along with it), we got a photo package at each character meal.

waiting to enter Disneyland

Hunter in front of the castle 

I will say, I use to be one of those people who thought "why take my baby/toddler, they won't remember".  But in my reading up on Disney many people said if you wait too long then, your child will miss the magic.  I totally agree.  Eva won't remember the trip but we will always have the memories of how she loved riding the rides and watching the parades.  Her expressions and sounds of excitement on the rides and during the parades was priceless.  More on that in later posts.

On to the rides!  We were able to ride most of the rides in Fantasyland with little to no wait.  First up was Dumbo.  Kids loved it.  Hunter kept waving at the rest of the family who was watching from below and Eva just smiled and "wooed".

Waiting in line for Dumbo

Eva watching Dumbo

After the ride

Next was King Arthur Carrousel.  I thought Eva loved Dumbo but then having her on the horse, I couldn't believe how happy she was.  It was so sweet.

Teacups - both kids loved it (we didn't spin it)

Casey Jr. Circus Train - fun ride, most of the family fit in an animal cage.

Pinocchio's and Snow Whites ride were fun slow dark rides and the darkness didn't bother the kids.

Dancing to the music.

After those rides, I took Eva to get our photopass while everyone else rode "it's a small world".  Jeremy said Hunter loved it.  Ok, I've said that about every ride.  Don't think there is a ride he didn't love.

Eva and me 

Eva happy to have her feet touch the ground

The family on it's a small world

On to Toontown!
Pluto was out for pictures and this was Eva's first encounter with a character.  We quickly learned that her position would be wrapping her legs around you and burying her head in your shoulder.  Though she loved looking at the characters from afar and would wave.  Once they were within 3 feet she monkeyed up.

the split second Eva raised her head to see if we were safe

We went through Minnie's House and met her.

Eva wasn't going to look up for anything

We went on Gadget's Go Coaster which was actually really fast.  When looking back at the videos Jeremy took on his phone we found audio from the ride (he didn't know his phone was recording in his pocket).  It was fun listening to Hunter and Nora scream.
Other things we did in Toontown was play at Chip n Dales Treehouse and Goofy's Playhouse.
The last thing we did was the Roger Rabbit's ride.  Jeremy and I got split up from Hunter and the rest of the family so we rode it by ourselves.  It was pretty fun and I'm sure Hunter liked the spinning the car did.

G-ma and Eva walking around Toontown

Eva in her Minnie inspired dress

Cally, Eva and G-ma

yes, Eva wore a leash harness.  The girl loves to run and it really worked out well for us.  The sad thing is when she would be in the stroller and when she saw use get it out, she would get so excited...same way Bow does when he sees his leash...

After Toontown, we walked through Fantasyland and walked pass the Evil Queen!  She looked perfect and in such character.  I wish I would have stopped her for a picture but I didn't know the protocol on characters just walking around.  (I later texted my go-to and she said, yes to stop them especially if it's the Evil Queen and Cruella De Vil.)  Bummed I didn't see her again.  We went into  Adventure Land to see if we could get a fastpass for the Indiana Jone ride, but the ride was down at that point.  While walking there, we passed one of the Main Street Vehicles (horse drawn trolly).  Hunter really wanted to do that so we rode that and one of the cast members pushed our stroller down the street so we didn't have to fold it up.  So nice!  The ride took us up to the front of the park.  We saw a lot of other characters but we needed to get over to California Adventure for our lunch reservations.

On our ride, having a snack break

Hunter with our horse

getting ready to go down Main Street

While walking over to California Adventure, Eva fell asleep.  Once we found were we were meeting for lunch we walked around and took a few pictures and Hunter and I rode King Triton's Carousel.

Eva was asleep in a lot of photos.

We had lunch at Ariel's Grotto and saw lots of Disney Princesses.  Eva had a great time dancing to the music.  I thought the food was great, but unfortunately Jeremy didn't like it.  Since we were celebrating Jeremy's moms birthday while we were at Disney, Shannon and Larry had a cake made for her at our lunch.

After lunch Jeremy, the kids and I headed back to the hotel to rest for a couple hours.  As we were leaving we were able to see The Green Army Men perform.  Hunter had a great time watching and dancing with them.  As we left the park, we grabbed a seating fastpass for World of Color.  It was for the later show, and that was fine b/c it wouldn't be as crowded.  Our rest time was great.  Eva ran around (she did enough actual resting in the stroller), Hunter rested and Jeremy took a nap.  We all felt great after a few hours and were ready to head back to the parks.  

Watching the Green Army Men perform.