Our Disneyland Vacation!!! Day 1

Well, we finally made it back from our magical vacation to Disneyland in California last night around 10:30pm. We drove the 15 hour drive there and back with our new pop-up camper attached. Luckily, our kiddos do pretty good in the car. I have to give a shout out to my friend Shelly for the loan of her DVD players for the car. They were definite lifesavers! Thanks Shelly!

We left last saturday morning at 4am. We arrived at the RV park around 9pm that night. It was a long day in the car, but we were able to crash as soon as we got there.

We stayed in a really great RV park called Orangeland. We were pretty much the only family there that wasn't in a luxury RV.....our little pop-up looked so cute between the huge Class A and Class C RV's. We were in good company. The whole park had orange trees all around the sites. There was a little store, a heated pool and laundry room. It was very clean and nice. I would recommend it to anyone going that way.

Our first day (sunday) was to be a pretty full day at Disneyland Park. Disneyland is broken up into two different areas. Disneyland Park and California Adventure Park. They are both right next to each other, but have different entrances. We bought a three-day park hopper pass that allowed us to spend three full days in either park. Our first day we spent in Disneyland Park.

We woke up early and got to the park around 9am. I of course, being the weirdo, organizer, had our days planned out by the hour. I spent the week before our trip reading some books from the library about Disneyland with kids and all the inside secrets to vacationing in Disneyland. It helped me plan out where to go first and what rides and places were the best for my kids ages, etc...I had mapped out where to go and at what time so that we could get the maximum enjoyment for our money. Yes, I do realize I'm a dork, but you would actually be impressed by my research. Our itenerary was AWESOME. If you are looking to go to Disneyland anytime soon, I may let you borrow it for the right price!

Anyway, so we get to Disneyland park and we are greeted by an awesome band playing all the best Disney tunes. We immediately spot Goofy, Mickey and Dale in the front entrance and wait in line to get their autograph and a picture with them. It felt great knowing that the Mickey picture taking experience was over with, and we weren't even in the park for 45 minutes. So far, so good!

The plan was to hit Mickey's Toontown for the first part of the day. Each lunch at Pluto's Doghouse, visit Mickey and Minnie's houses, ride some rides and then move on to Fantasyland. We did it....my plans were perfect! We were out of Toontown by 1pm and then did our scheduled 2 hour shopping spree. We picked up our Mickey ears and got them embroidered for free at the Mad Hatter shop. We went shopping and got the girls some pins for their collection. It was great!

At about 2:30pm we made our way to Mainstreet to find our spot on the curb for the much anticipated Parade of Dreams scheduled for 3:30pm. Again, my books told me the best spot for watching the parade and I had already made note of where all the great snack shops were close by. I know....I'm awesome....you can say it!

So, we all get our snacks and enjoy waiting for the parade. The parade was so great! It was like a Broadway production. The kids loved seeing all the characters and Andy even got to high-five Timon! You should have seen his face!


After the parade, we were off to Fantasyland. We hit all the famous rides like the teacups, the Dumbo ride, etc. For some of the really poplular rides you could get what is called a "fastpass". The fastpass allows you to get a scheduled pass for the ride so that you can come back and not have to wait in the long line. We used this a lot. Also, for parents with small kids there was also a "switch" card that would allow one parent to take one child on a ride and then switch with the other parent and child immediately following so that they don't both have to wait in the long lines.

After dinner, we found our spot on Mainstreet again for the firework show. Again, Disneyland did not disappoint....it was incredible! After the fireworks, it was time to go home. We had a long, fun day and we had to get plenty of rest to do it again the next day.

As you know, I'm not one to slack on pictures so here, as promised.....our first day at Disneyland! (I'll will continue to post the other days of pics as in the next couple of days. So keep checking in.)

Sunday, March 25, 2007