Disneyland: The Scariest Place on Earth

As indicated by the title of this post, Susannah's first Disney experience was a mix of magic and complete terror.  ;)    Overall, we had a terrific time full of fun family memories, but Susannah's cautious attitude toward the characters and rides definitely added some extra "flavor" to the experience.   

Upon arrival to the hotel, Susannah spotted Goofy across the lobby and declared, "I want to go home Dada!" while climbing Peter like a tree.   Given that her request was coming before we had even checked in or unpacked a bag, we knew that we were probably in for a "fun" 3 days.   

The good news was that Susannah LOVED our hotel room, which ended up being an upgrade because our room wasn't available.   So we ended up with a corner balcony room with fireworks views.  Since the fireworks went off 2 hours after Susannah's bedtime, this meant Peter and I were able to see the show in the comfort of our pajamas.   Score!!  

We arrived in the afternoon and after taking a dip in the pool, we headed to downtown disney to grab some dinner.   We opted for the RainForest Cafe against our better judgement.   Susannah loved it at first.

She loved the aquarium and all was going great until the gorilla next to our table came to life and started roaring.   Let's just say that the rest of dinner was a little less calm and enjoyable. 

The next morning we used our "magic hour pass" and headed to the park bright and early.  

Susannah liked the castle and was excited to ride the storybook boat where she saw the houses from one of her favorite books, "The Three Little Pigs."

Since she was terrified during our carosel ride, we decided that the rest of the lines weren't at all worth it.   But Peter and Susannah did snag a photo op in the practice teacup.

Love their faces in this picture.

Susannah was thrilled to see a mama duck and her babies.   If only she had loved Mickey this much.

After a total fear-fest at toontown where we had to "escape" from Minnie, Mickey, and Donald, these Minnie Ears cheered the mood significantly.

And then we made our way to FrontierLand where the day made a huge turn for the better.   Susannah LOVED the petting zoo.

Each goat had a nametag and Susannah loved "reading" their names.  

She also really enjoyed the Mark Twain Riverboat ride.   We figured this was a less scary version of the jungle cruise that everybody loves so much.

Same view with no loud noises or lines.   Score!

After our boat ride, we took a raft to Tom Sawyer's Island for a picnic lunch.  

We snagged a great table with a fun view of the river.

Afterward we explored the island which we all really enjoyed.

Susannah really loved the caves.  

I opted out but Peter said Susannah kept saying, "Dada, this is so neat!"

After a nap and some pool time, we were ready to head back to the park for a little while.   Here are Peter and Susannah posing in front of our Hotel Tower's sign.



I had to try on Susannah's new ears.



The walk from the Disneyland Hotel to the Park takes you through Downtown Disney, where they have the neatest Lego store.   Susannah loved it.

Our main goal for this evening trip to the park was to snag one of the balloons Susannah had spotted that morning.   Despite searching all morning, we never saw a vendor and found out that they only sale them in the evenings. 

Being the crazy parents that we are, we waited in a 20 person line, sprinted to an ATM after finding out they only took cash, and spent $8 all for this balloon.   But it was all worth it when Susannah got the very last pink one.

She was so happy and Peter and I felt like we had accomplished some major feat.

Posing while we wait in line for the monerail back to the hotel.

This is our only picture of the character breakfast.   Susannah reluctantly agreed to pose with Alladin.   But she was so scared of Goofy and Chip and Dale, that she didn't eat any of her mickey shaped pancakes.  

We spent our second day at California Adventures.   Here we are waiting on Peter to ride a "big kid" ride.

This part of the park was so neat.   It is designed like an old school boardwalk.   Peter rode that big roller coaster while Susannah and I rode a Little Mermaid ride.

This face shows how she felt about the Little Mermaid ride.

Dada found us at the Rocket Ship, which was a nice and easy ride in the sunshine.

We ran into Donald Duck at Paradise Pier, Mommy was the only brave enough to get close to him.

Susannah is in Daddy's arm off camera.  She said " I just want to wave and say hi."

Cars Land was definitely the place to be.  We fought our way through the crowd to see those crazy Cars characters.

Here's Flash McQueen. 

After all the hot crowds at Cars Land, we headed to the splash park at Bug's Land. 

Definitely the highlight of Susannah's day.

She would have stayed all day if we had let her.

LOVED IT.

Peter and I found a spot in the shade and watched the fun.

Everything in Bug's Land is designed to make you feel like the size of a bug.   Really cute.

We rode the catepiller ride that featured huge animal crackers and candy.

Posing with the backdrop at Hollywood Land.

Susannah's favorite part of the trip was definitely our hotel.   This was the headboard.

It sang and lit up at the touch of a button.   It was a hit with Susannah.

This was Susannah's first "big girl bed" experience and she did really well.   We brought inflatable travel bumpers and they worked perfectly.

The biggest hit of the trip was the hotel pool area.   Susannah loved the "hot pool."

And the kiddie splash park area.

So fun.

The hotel provides these life jackets which was super helpful.

Going through the waterfall with Dada.

The big waterslides were fun too.

Susannah went down these but I never snagged a photo.

Peter would schedule a wake-up call from Mickey everyday and we let Susannah answer the phone.   She thought this was so cool.

One night we headed back to the park after dinner to see the parade on Main Street USA.

Susannah loved it because she could wave to the characters but they were still "far away."      The highlight was when Ariel blew her a kiss.   Ariel is officially her favorite princess now.

We had to go back to Susannah's favorite attraction one last time before we headed home so here we are at the goats.

This was the entrance to our hotel.   We would use Mickey's hat as our landmark for when Susannah could get out of her stroller and walk.  

We are so glad that we seized the opportunity to go to Disneyland since we live so close, but Peter and I have decided that this will be our last trip for the next 10 years or so.