Disneyland with a Toddler

We finally took the plunge and brought The Bubb to Disneyland. Being huge Disney fans ourselves I have been patiently waiting until he was tall enough and walkable enough to get him there sans stroller.

We drove down to Anaheim, as The Bubb travels fairly well in the car and it is only 5-6 hours. So we made it mostly down 5, then stopped for lunch, where I gave him a 'present' - a new flip book - which kept him occupied and willing to get back into the car. We stayed across the street from Disneyland and although the hotel was nothing special it worked and compared to the Disneyland hotel prices it was totally worth it and just as close, if not closer to the entrance than some of their hotels. The other reason we decided and planned our trip within about a week is that we had to get there before he turns 3 (as we didn't want to pay for him, yup, kiddos are free under three) and I refuse to go in the summer months as it is crazy crazy crazy, so we had to go now.

I cannot describe the pure joy and happiness that The Bubb expereienced at the parks. He loved it! And granted he went from sugar high to not having a nap low and back and forth and being completely overstimulated, he was fine.

These are all the rides that we took him on:

- Winnie the Pooh x2
- Haunted Mansion (yup he did fine)
- Pirates of the Carribean
- Jungle Cruise
- Carosel
- Dumbo
- Peter Pan (my fav ride)
- Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (yup we got tears exiting this ride from being too scary)
- Small World x3 (loved this one, this is also the first ride we took him on)
- Gadet's Go Coaster (he was giggling the entire time of pure happiness)
- Car Toon Spin

- Train x3 (he loved the train, of course! This is also where we went to wind down sometimes)
- Finding Nemo Submarines (yup this caused tears/screaming once we went into the cave, seriously why do they have to make that ride so dark/scary. And he set off another baby inside the submarine, I felt so bad for all the other people, ha! Luckily there was no line for this ride and we walked on so no time wasted)
- Tea Cups x14 (his FAVORITE ride. Particularly the orange teacup. There wasn't much of a line for this ride most of the time, so he was able to ride it, get off, wait a round and then get back on)

- Alice in Wonderland
- Astro Orbitor x2

- Autopia x4 (loved this one too)
- Astro Blasters

We also made it over to California Adventure, I don't particularly care for this park all that much but they are improving it and it is getting better. But he loves Cars, and they have a whole land dedicated to it. We got to meet Mater, which he LOVED.

These are the rides we took him on:

- Mater's Junkyard x6 (loved this one)

- Luigi's Flying Tires
- Little Mermaid x8 (I really wanted to go on this, and The Bubb was unsure about it but the second day we rode this again and again and again, as there was no line, so we got off and walked back on, hence how we did it so many times. And he wanted to keep going on it, but poor Evan just couldn't take it any more.)
- Parade (while he wasn't so interested in the parade, they shot bubbles out of the light stands - which he pointed out to us - and tried to pop them all)

We wanted to do a night show with him but with no nap it wasn't happening, but it turned out we could see fireworks from our hotel room door, so we stood there with him and watched and he loved it just as much. And since the past couple of times he saw fireworks and completely freaked out from the sound, it was probably just as well if not better.

I think the more interesting thing that I didn't expect was how much eating we did. Seriously I felt like we were always eating. But The Bubb clearly enjoyed himself with all the treats.

We had a really good time and I am so glad that we went. I can't wait until he is tall enough to ride Big Thunder Mountain as I think he is going to love it.