David and I weren't 100% sure what to expect out of Disneyland for our family. It had been over 20 years since either of us had been and we'd both only been once. (David, age 8; Shantel, age 15) Even though it's known as the "happiest place on earth" - we knew we'd need to manage expectations and handle big emotions/meltdowns. Would we be able to navigate all the areas of the park and go on all the rides that we wanted to? Would we need to come home in the middle of the day for kids to rest? Would we make core family memories of happiness? (ha)
SO many unknowns. But we needn't have worried! Disneyland was everything we hoped it would be and MORE. We had a busy day full of all of best that Disneland had to offer.
Our hotel was only a few minutes from the Toy Story parking lot so each morning we walked to the shuttle and went through security there. Then, once we got to the actual park we got to skip the long security line and head right to the entrance in preparation for the "Rope Drop".
Here are our official notes from the day (nerds much? Yes.)
Total Rides - 19
Total Steps - 17,304
A few notes from this day:
-We loved Star Wars land and are so glad we had Lydia and Austin watch Star Wars before we came.
-We weren't sure where to watch the parade from and got off "It's a Small World" right before the parade started. One of the cast members saw us walking along the packed street looking for somewhere to sit and she told us she had a spot saved for us if we wanted it. It was incredible! We had front row (almost) seats in actual chairs and the whole thing was just magical. I was so grateful for that cast member spotting us in the crowd and letting us have such a great experience.
-Because of how sensitive Lucy's skin is to the sun, several people told us we should apply for a DAS pass so she wouldn't have to stand outside so long. (I was also concerned about flashing lights in the queue lines because some people on an albinism page had mentioned that.) Before we came, I met with a cast member online and explained her condition and our concerns. I expressed that we'd never been to Disneyland before and we weren't sure exactly what to expect but we didn't want to take advantage of the system. He was so kind and fantastic to work with and said "It's not taking advantage of the system, it's taking advantage of the tools you have for your daughter." Having this DAS pass meant that we didn't have to wait in line for the longer rides, we could enter a virtual queue and wait in the shade, or go on other rides that didn't require standing outside to wait. It enabled us to go on SO many more rides that we would have been able to otherwise and was such a blessing to our family.
Notes from David:
-We had such a great first day. Of course I'm going to think the way we did things is the very best - but I'm pretty sure it was perfect for us. We decided to start the day in kids land because our kids had never been to Disneyland and Lucy has never been on rides like this at all. We wanted to start with those smaller rides that were perfect for Lucy and then build up to some of the bigger rides. One of the best things about going right now is that Lucy just reached 40 inches tall with shoes and that means she could ride almost every single ride. But we thought that if we started with some of the bigger rides - she might not be ready for that. It worked out so great, she loved Fantasyland and we hit so many rides there. Then we was so great to ride everything else throughout the day. My favorite ride of the day was Rise of the Resistance, I loved that and the whole Star Wars world was so cool. One of my memories from going to Disneyland when I was eight was going on Space Mountain and I loved being able to do that with my kids.
-One of the biggest wins for all three days was the kids fanny packs and snacks in general. Each kid had their own fanny pack full of snacks and they could choose to eat a snack any time. Each night Shantel and I spent quite a bit of time filling up fanny packs and it was totally worth it. The kids always felt like they had a snack when they wanted it so they were not constantly asking for a snack. We didn't have to constantly stop to pull something out and the kids could also eat something in line. We tried to have a good mix of different things in the fanny pack and that worked really really well.
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