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| Inside the Happiest Place on Earth |
Disneyland
will always hold a special place in my heart.
It was one of my first college jobs.
I went to UC Irvine for undergrad, only about 20 minutes away from the
big D. I didn’t work there for very
long, but it was a “magical” time. So I
was super excited when my sister mentioned that she might want to do a
Disneyland bachelorette party. Aaron and
I have been saving up to get passes (which was our delayed big Christmas
present to each other) for several reasons: a) it’s something that has always
been on my bucket list (not sure if that’s a lame bucket list item, but there
it is) b) many of our friends have passes and we’ll be able to go with them and
c) with a baby, the pass makes a lot more sense because then you’re not rushing
around trying to get on all the big rides.
If the baby is tired or fussy, it’s ok to just find a quiet spot and
hang out for a while or even head home at noon.
Disney passes are not cheap! We
opted to go with the Southern California Annual Pass (the second cheapest
version), so we can go most Sundays and anytime during the week (if we ever
have the day off). No July entry or
Saturday entry, but honestly, we’d probably be avoiding Disneyland during those
times anyway due to the crowds.
We
got there right as the park was opening at 10am. Not surprisingly, there were several other
people with strollers and babies/toddlers.
Guinevere’s little face lit up every time she saw another kid or
baby. She’s a very social little one!
My
sister had been delayed due to traffic, so I went straight to the “mother’s
room” (which is on the Disney map as the “Baby Care Center”) where I could nurse
Guinevere. I walked in and this nice old
nurse greeted me and asked what services I need. I said I wanted to nurse my baby, and she
directed me to a sectioned off area behind a room divider dedicated to
nursing. I walked in and they had large
semi-comfortable chairs (the chairs were wicker, which is never comfortable,
but they also had nice cushions, which was comfortable) facing away from each
other so that it felt more private.
There is also a pump room, a couple of high chairs if you want to feed
your baby away from all the crowds, and a changing station in the back with
about 5 changing tables. They also had
mini-toilets for potty training kids. In
case you ever go to Disneyland and need to find the Baby Care Center, it’s at
the end of Main Street. Just walk to the end of Main Street, hang a right by the
Plaza Inn café is and then it’s on the right hand side. It’s kind of nice that it’s tucked away for
privacy purposes, but was kind of a pain when I was trying to find it in the
first place.
Once
I was finished feeding G, my sister (Sharon), her fiancé, his sister, and the
rest of our group had all gathered and we were ready to start the day! We decided to start with Indiana Jones. Of course, babies aren’t allowed on Indiana
Jones, so we decided to try the “ride switch” thing. Disney has a great program where, if there is
a baby in your group, your friends can ride the ride first and then when they
get to the front of the line (or after they’re done riding), they ask for a
“ride switch pass.” This pass then
allows whoever was waiting with the baby plus one person to go through the fast
pass line so that they don’t have to wait forever. It worked really well for us! While everyone else went on Indiana Jones, we
took Guinevere through Tarzan’s treehouse.
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| On Tarzan's treehouse. |
We a
little nervous about leaving our stroller in the “stroller parking” where
EVERYONE leaves their strollers.
Seriously, I can’t tell you how many strollers were left just sitting
out unattended. My friend, Kim, who also
has passes says you just get used to it.
Obviously you don’t leave any valuables in the stroller, and everyone
does it. I have a feeling that by the
end of our next visit, we will probably be comfortable with it. I’ll admit I felt a little weird every time
we left it – either that someone would take it or that we would forget where we
left it and never be able to find it again in the sea of strollers. Though, I guess one of the advantages to
having such a distinctive looking stroller as the Orbit is that it’s pretty
easy to find. And every time we came
back to our stroller, it was in the exact same place and everything was fine.
After
Indiana Jones, we went on the Jungle Cruise.
Babies are allowed on that one.
We strapped Guinevere in the Ergo so that we wouldn’t have to worry
about her squirming out of our arms while on a boat. Of course, she fell asleep while we were standing
in line and slept through the entire ride.
Next we went on Haunted Mansion.
Guinevere woke up in time for that ride.
I think she actually enjoyed it!
I will admit that I got a little nervous when we were in the elevator
and all the lights went out and everyone screamed. But she was fine. Kim has a 2 year old and a 5 month old, she
said she would take the 5 month old on Haunted Mansion, but not the 2 year old
– mostly because our babies are not old enough to get scared of things like
that yet.
After
Haunted Mansion, everyone else went on Pirates.
I love Pirates – it may just be my favorite ride in all of
Disneyland! But this time, I knew G was
getting hungry and I was hungry too, so we opted to get some lunch and stake
out a table for when everyone else joined us.
(This is the advantage to having passes; I didn’t feel bad about
skipping out on Pirates because I know there will be another opportunity to
go!) Once we were all satiated, we made a plan of action. Somehow, with the park not opening until 10,
it seemed like time was getting away from us – even though the park wasn’t
crazy crowded. The group decided to do
Splash Mountain while it was still warm enough that they didn’t mind getting
wet.
While
they did that, Aaron and I took Guinevere to meet Pooh! I had been waiting all day to take Guinevere
to Pooh Corner. She was soo adorable!
First we met Tigger. Her little
eyes lit up when she saw bright orange, fuzzy Tigger walk out. She reached out to try to touch him, even
though we were still a couple people back in line. Once we got up to him, G seemed a little
confused that this big stuffed animal was walking around and moving on his own,
but then she smiled and squealed and giggled with glee. Then we rounded the corner and Piglet was
standing there to greet us. G had a
Piglet rattle that she’d been carrying around all day and we showed it to
Piglet. She reached out and touched Piglet’s
nose and seemed super thrilled. And
then, the pièce de resistance, we met Pooh!
Pooh corner was my old stomping ground back in college. Being Pooh may just be the best college job
in the world! And then watching my baby
meet Pooh for the first time, warmed my heart.
It was definitely the best part of the day for me!
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| With Tigger. |
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| Meeting Piglet - she was thrilled! |
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| Meeting Pooh - I was thrilled! |
We
then made our way over to Tomorrowland and split the group up. Half the group went on the Matterhorn, while
the other half went on Star Tours. My
sister’s fiancé didn’t want to go on either ride, so he watched Guinevere for
us. It was my first time going on Star
Tours since they revamped it. The
animatronics while you’re standing in line have been cleaned up and updated,
and were great! But, I have to say, I
was disappointed in the ride itself. I
am not a huge fan of 3D glasses – especially when the 3D element doesn’t enhance
the experience. And in this case, I
really don’t think they needed to add 3D glasses/technology. I loved the old Star Tours so much. It wasn’t 3D and it was still amazing. But the 3D glasses made me feel a little
dizzy and there was no point – I think there was only one time that anything
felt like it was coming out of the screen.
At least now I know that I don’t need to wait in a super long line for
that ride next time we go to Disneyland.
Since
the people in the group who don’t have annual passes bought the Park Hopper
tickets, we figured we should take advantage of it and head over to California
Adventure for dinner. The nice thing
about California Adventure is that they serve alcohol in a couple restaurants. Sharon’s fiancé is a native New Yorker, and really
wanted some Mexican food while we were in California (and with all the wedding festivities
that would happen over the next couple days, he’d have to settle for theme park
“Mexican” food because there would be no time to have real Mexican food). We got some burritos and Margaritas for
dinner. Guinevere banged some spoons on
the table while we ate. By this time, we
were all tired and basically ready to go, but there was one last ride people
wanted to go on – the Tower of Terror.
The sign at the front of the line said it would take 20 minutes. Haha!
Several of us waited with the baby while the others went on the
ride. It was a very long wait! But when they all got back, they were full of
the enthusiasm that comes from going on a thrill ride.
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| Our group at the end of the night - forgive our tired faces. |
All
in all, it was a fantastic day. I am soo
excited that we got passes and can’t wait for the next time we go!
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