Disneyland: Day 1

Be prepared for picture OVERLOAD!

The last few months, TJ has been crazy busy with work and was traveling a LOT.
We knew that as soon as the election season was over, we wanted to take a fun vacation…it was a no brainer to head to Disneyland.
Poor Olivia got left behind. It simplified our trip not having to worry about bottles and diapers and naps, plus she hates being in her car seat so a 6+ hour drive would have been miserable.
No worries though, she got to hang out with her super cool aunt and play with some cousins so life was good.

Day 1 of our Disneyland trip was actually completely unplanned.
We left our house around 9am and anticipated arriving at our hotel around 5 or 6 that evening.
Surprisingly, Riker only needed one extra bathroom break and we forgot about the time change, so we actually arrived at 3pm.
We decided to walk to the Downtown Disney area, look at some stores, and get a bite to eat.

Well, our plans quickly changed when TJ said “why don’t we just go to Disneyland right NOW!”

I know TJ and I were more excited than Riker as we walked in…
he had no idea what he was about to experience and we were so excited to see the magic through his eyes!

The first ride we went on was Snow White for 2 reasons:
1. There was no wait.
2. Its one of the scariest rides so we wanted to see how Riker would react.

He LOVED it!
He did say that it was a little scary “but that’s okay, it’s just pretend!”
after that first ride, we was HOOKED!

And he was super thrilled for Dumbo!
mid-ride, he was a little nervous about going up too high, but still loved it!

Pretty much every ride was met with wide eyes…this kid might not act super excited, but he was definitely amazed and wanted to take everything in!

Tea cups were definitely a favorite and Riker went on these 4 times with his dad (his mom doesn’t go on rides that spin around…)

It’s A Small World was another favorite.
He loved all the lights that were up (he was a bit confused the next morning when there were no lights!)

See…pure amazement!

We watched the fireworks and, although Riker said it was too loud, he loved them.

One train ride later and this boy was completely wiped out.

Our hotel was just down the street, but carrying an extra 30 pounds sure made it seem even farther away!

We all crashed as soon as we got into bed that night, already dreaming about the fun rides we’d get to go on the next day!