We just got home from Disneyland- the happiest (and stickiest) place on Earth. And let me just say it is not for the faint of heart. We decided a while ago that we would surprise Quinn with this trip. She counted down the days and guessed a million times at where we were taking her. We packed Mini Mouse ears in her suitcase and let her open it the morning of. She was too excited for words and by the time we let her in on the secret, she was just so eager to get there and see and do all the things. Conrad has always been an absolute rodeo of a child, which makes traveling with him hard. He wanted to walk everywhere (heck no) and is an endless pit for snacks.
We got to our hotel in the afternoon and happily let the kids walk off some energy by strolling through Downtown Disney. We grabbed an early dinner and then called it a night. The next morning we ate breakfast and headed straight for the park with every intention of being there well before the gates opened. So naturally, it started pouring rain. We hunkered down in Starbucks waiting for the rain to pass and ended up waiting 45 minutes outside the Disneyland gate just to get into the park. Quinn was a trooper though. Her jaw dropped when she saw Sleeping Beauty’s castle and she insisted on riding the train first thing. We spent the morning strolling through Disneyland with a cotton candy, taking in the sights, and trying to avoid sunburns before taking Conrad back to the hotel for a nap.
In the afternoon, we took Quinn and Conrad to meet Moana, which blew Quinn’s mind! We thought she would be shy or silently starstruck, but she walked right up to her and asked her about the Heart of Tafiti. Moana told us to be on the look out for Heihei because he had gone missing. Quinn thought that was pretty funny and walked around the rest of the day calling for Heihei.
My mom and littlest sister flew in a day later and met us for dinner. Conrad was ready to chill in the room, so my mom took him for the evening so we could get a little one on one time with Quinn. We took her on Space Mountain, which she LOVED, and topped off the night with dole whip and front row seats to the fireworks show! And in that moment, I was so glad we had taken Quinn on this trip. All the emotions hit me. She’s growing up so fast! There is such gravity about childhood and motherhood. It won’t be perfect, but I hope our kids look back on their childhood and remember that it was filled with magic. We all went to bed sticky, with stars in our eyes, and the fullest hearts.
We only bought tickets to the park for two days (and it still cost us a small fortune). Our second day in the park, we did it right. We left Conrad with my mom and made it to the gates of California Adventure well before opening, which meant we could jump on rides with no wait. We grabbed fast passes for a few rides and had done everything in the park worth doing before 10am. Brunch was calling our name, so we took a break from the park and went to a character breakfast. Quinn got to hug all the characters and we all happily stuffed our faces with Mickey pancakes. I could have stayed there all day. In the afternoon, we met my younger sister in the park. She insisted we go on the Guardians of the Galaxy ride (previously known as Tower of Terror). Quinn is the bravest 4-year-old ever. She loved every second of it and asked if we could go on it again.
It turns out the happiest place on earth is also one of the most crowded places on earth. Aside from the fact that Conrad was too young to enjoy the magic and that a few rides were down, Disney was kind of a giant pain in the butt. There is literally a line for everything! If you could somehow manage to go during a super slow time of year, it might be more fun. There were times I found myself wondering why people do this over and over again. They must pick their favorite kid and send that one to college. In the end, we did have fun. Quinn cried when we left because she had such a good time and I hope to never forget the magic of watching her.
