October 15, 2015

Fox's First Disneyland Trip

We planned on taking Fox to Disneyland for the first time in October 2016, when he would be about 2.5 years old. Katie’s family used to go every year when they were little and we wanted to start this tradition with Fox as well. 
When our friend Tiffany, went with her then 14 Month old daughter a few months ago and said it was the best trip ever and that she was just the right age for it, we pulled the plunge and decided to go a year earlier than planned.
Neither of us had been to Disneyland during Halloween Time, so we were really excited to go and the entire family joined us, Katie’s parents, her sister and her boyfriend and her brother and his girlfriend. 

We left Phoenix at noon on Thursday and arrived in Los Angeles around 6pm. Fox did surprisingly well on the car ride. We stopped for 30 minutes to let him run around at a McDonald’s Play Area (which was filthy) and I was able to entertain him in the backseat for the rest of time, but let me tell you…when we arrived and met Katie’s parents for dinner that night, I just handed him over and took a deep breath. It was stressful! 

That first night, we all stayed in a 2 bedroom suite close to Disneyland and it was so much fun. Fox ran around the apartment way past his bedtime, just checking everything out and laughing, he loved it.
The next morning, it was time to change hotels and we drove over to Disneyland to check in at the Disneyland Hotel. We arrived at the park around 9am (because half of the family forgot their Entry passes at the hotel – Spoiler Alert: It wasn’t us!). 

Here we are, waiting in Downtown Disney for the rest of the family to get back with their passes! :)

We finally made it on the monorail!

Our first ride was Autotopia. My favorite part of the trip was that the entire family was together, I really loved it. Having other people’s arms and shoulders to carry Fox was just an added perk! 



Ready to go!

There’s Fox next to Katie. You can hardly see him! She said he loved it!




Grandma’s favorite ride has always been Small World and I think experiencing this with Fox was very special to her. She was smiling ear to ear and Fox kept pointing at the characters, yelling “Wow”. Truth to be told, I didn’t see much of that ride, because I was way too busy watching Fox experiencing it for the first time!


We went over to the kids area afterwards and rode some other rides that I can’t remember. I think Pinocchio and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Neither of them were good for Fox, he got a little scared of the loud noises and darkness. He never actually cried, but whined and that just made me really sad, so we stayed away from those kind of rides from there on out. 


Toon Town was up next! I should also mention that it was 106 degrees that day, so be ready for lots of sweaty pictures! It was way too freaking hot and we swore we’d never go back in early October. Of course, the next weekend it was in the 80’s! 

The first character he met was Goofy. I wondered for a long time, if Fox would love the characters or lose his shit, but he did pretty good. I think he was confused for the most part. 


Giving Goofy a high 5!
















Dumbo!





We rode a few more rides but called it quits after we stood in the blazing sun, in line for the Haunted Mansion for about 45 minutes. I felt so bad for Fox, so we decided to go back to the Hotel for a while to let him take a nap.
We returned to the park around 4pm when the sun was much lower and it was bearable. 

We went to California Adventure next and watched the Pixar Parade. Fox loved it! He was sitting on Matthias’ shoulder the entire time and pointed at the characters. It was really cute! 



That night, we had reservations at Goofy’s Kitchen. No one was impressed by the food and for $50 a person, it was safe to say that it was a rip off! There were a few characters there that would come to your table, but like I said, the food wasn’t that good and next time, I’d rather go there for breakfast!











Dinner ended with Fox in tears because Pluto trampled him over. I’m not even exaggerating, he literally trampled him to to the ground. Pluto was just standing there in the middle of the restaurant when Fox went up to him. Fox raised his arms in the air and said “Up” (Melt my heart!), but Pluto didn’t see him and ran him right over and Fox got knocked to the ground. He was fine, but in total shock and immediately showed his boo-boo lip. Poor Guy!

After we brought Fox to bed, Katie’s parents came to our room to watch him, so me, Katie and Matthias could go back to the park, since we had tickets for Mickey’s Halloween Party! We saw an amazing Light Parade and Fireworks and got to ride a bunch of the “Big kids rides”. It was a lot of fun and we were exhausted when we returned to the hotel around 12:30am. 

We started the next day at California Adventure, but there wasn’t much to do for Fox and it was still super hot, so we only made it a couple of hours before returning to the Hotel for Nap Time! 







We went back to the Park around 5, because we had Fast Passes to “Cars” (which ended up being my favorite ride), Fox stayed with Grandma while we rode it with Katie’s dad. 

This was hands down Fox’s favorite ride, it’s Little Mermaid at California Adventure. We rode it three times and he was so happy (it was also cold in there, which was an added bonus!). He waved at the dolls and kept yelling “more”. Seeing him so happy and mesmerized was the best thing ever, I just loved watching him. 





While Grandma was waiting for us with Fox, they played some Arcade games and came back with four stuffed animals! Grandpa had to carry Fox and his new buddy for the rest of the night!


We had dinner and watched the light parade. It was so awesome! Again, Fox kept pointing, yelling “Wow” and “More” and it was one of our favorite moments of the trip! 

Family Selfie at the Light Parade

Matthias took Fox back to the room after the parade and we stayed with the rest of the family to spend a few more hours at the Park!

View from our hotel room.

The next morning, it was time to say goodbye to Mickey and Co. and we drove back to Phoenix with lots of memories and plans to return next year! 
It was truly one of the best trips Katie and I have ever done. We’ve been to Disneyland many times before, but there’s nothing like watching your Child experiencing it for the first time and being with the ones you love most. 
We can’t wait for next year!
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1 comment:

  1. What a great trip! I love all the pictures, especially the one of Fox on It's a Small World! Now I'm missing Disneyland. How is it possible that 8 months have already passed since we visited?!

    That last picture with the Mickey ears is a heart melter. :)

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