Disneyland...Day 1

It's a good thing we planned on being at the park early because we had no idea! No idea where to park. No idea that we couldn't bring a wagon (they only allow pushing items with wheels).  No idea how to get to Disneyland from the parking structure.  Yes, I'm laughing now but it truly was a comedy of errors that morning.  Despite all of that, we still managed to get through the gate around 8am.

It was a beautiful day!  The weather was excellent and the park was not too crowded.  I think everyone was next door in California Adventure.  We stopped by City Hall to get our Guest Assistance Cards for the boys and the kids all received "1st Visit" badges.  We hopped aboard an old-fashioned car for a quick ride down Main Street.  We learned that the Australian equivalent of the Today Show would be filming all week.

       Grandma bought tie-dye shirts for the little kids

Believe it or not, there was no line for "It's a Small World".  We were able to all ride in the same boat which was nice.

James and Amada are hiding

The kids were not so sure of the Alice in Wonderland ride, but they loved Dumbo and the teacups.  And our whole family was able to go on the ride at the same time!

Me (by myself), Adriana & Amada, Michael & Alex, Grandma & John, Dad & James

 

Not too sure at first

The smile says it all!

Despite the look of sheer terror on Johnathan's face, he was really looking forward to this ride (Thunder Mountain Railroad).  To our surprise even Amada was tall enough for this one.

And on to Splash Mountain...well, everyone except Amada, mommy, and grandma.

 

Amada got to have a snack though.

And not long after, she fell asleep. 

We took advantage of her short nap and left her with grandma and Michael while Daniel and I rode Matterhorn with the rest of the kids.  Sorry, no pictures of that one.  Pretty cool though.

Not the clearest picture, but I love everyone's expressions.

 Johnathan wanted so badly to go on the "rocket ride" as he called it.  I sat this one out.

We decided to try a ride which we could sit down for a few minutes, so to the Jungle Cruise we went.  Our tour guide was hilarious, well not to everyone on the boat.

We ended up taking the train from the front of Disneyland, all the way back to Toontown.  The kids rode several rides back there, then we rode the train back to the front of Disneyland.  There were some neat surprises along the train ride!

There were some rides mixed into the day, such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, the Matterhorn, and a few other smaller rides that we didn't take pictures on.  Everyone was ready for some ice cream and we were just in time to catch the parade as well.  Amada actually asked me when we were going to Disneyland while we were there.  It wasn't until she saw Mickey and Minnie that she believed we were actually at Disneyland.  The parade was so magical!

What trip to Disneyland would be complete without stopping in the gift shop to pick out a little something to help remember our visit.

And that's a wrap folks!  We went back to our trailer to eat dinner and go swimming.  Everyone was asleep before 9pm, including the older kids.  Now that was a first!  And we will be back for day 2 tomorrow.

~Nicole~