Epic Vacation Day 1: Disneyland

Anticipation was high as we headed to the park- the girls still felt like they were waking up in a dream! We brought Sydney's birthday cards which she gleefully opened first thing. 

Sydney: opening birthday cards *gasp* I got more money!
Liesel: What the crap?

No one knew we were going to Disneyland- we didn't really tell anyone in case it was cancelled again and so the girls were envious seeing Sydney had some extra moolah to spend in the park if she wanted. We headed to the gates for rope drop.

 

I knew the girls would be excited but it was Brent's reaction to being back in the parks that surprised me. He was somewhere between militant preparation (that backpack took a beating throughout the trip as he kept it stocked with Hydroflasks of ice water and snacks) and utter boyish glee.

Over the course of our trip, I came to realize how much Brent needed this. I mean we all needed it, but Brent's silent stoicism through years of lean had worn him down more than I thought they had. I was very adept at indicating I needed a break, something to give, a win, etc. Brent somewhat expressed the same feelings, but not to the same depth and I erroneously assumed they weren't there. Just a day in Disneyland and I realized that, he too, had needed the break and for years had never gotten one.

When this playful side of Brent reappeared as we headed down Main Street towards rope drop, I realized how long it had been since I'd seen it. We all needed this, but Brent needed this.

 For the girl's first ride we wanted a classic, so we went with Brent's favorite- Space Mountain. We'd been there bright and early at rope drop until we could at last enter the Happiest Place on Earth. Racing up the queue to Space Mountain I was blown away at the massive crowd that came right on our heels.

Just before we walked right onto the ride, a kind woman took our photo.

I love that Liesel and Gita braved the front and held hands the whole time. Afterwards, Gita tells me she thought to herself, "Oh this is going to be the best vacation of my ENTIRE LIFE!"

With their first ride under them, we decided to go for something a little milder and headed to Astro Blasters. Brent and I yelled at the girls to let them know the joystick in the middle of the dashboard makes the car spin and after that they were off to the races. Brent and I were intent on getting our high scores again and once the girls saw how it all worked they noted that one to go back and try again.  

With wait times slowly climbing, we headed to another thrill ride- the Matterhorn. Everyone looked so cute in that bobsled!

Brigitta was thrilled by the swan topiary outside the ride. She lit up when she saw that thing.

Now it was my turn to get in my favorite classic ride- Indiana Jones. The line was surprisingly long but it moved quickly

We'd received compliments on our t-shirts and how they are the kind of thing a person would actually wear on an archaeological dig.

I wish I'd known about this! But I didn't discover it until afterwards. Not only is the Indiana Jones ride the only one with fire, but it has one of the best queues. I don't mind waiting in line because I feel like I'm in the belly of ancient ruins. But there are these cryptic messages everywhere and I was trying to figure them out. Turns out they used to hand out cards like this so you could decode them.

No matter, we had fun all the same. They kept the queue mostly outside so once we were inside, it really flew. We didn't have tons of time to decode anything but next time, I'm going to have that card handy!

We'd been crisscrossing the park up until now and with lunch reservations and boarding groups looming over us, Brent and I felt it prudent to stay closer to one area so New Orleans Square it was. We jumped on the Jungle Cruise and got to see the famed "back side of water."

Then we headed to Pirates of the Caribbean. It was fun to do two rides back to back with movies behind them. I didn't remember all the changes that have been made to Pirates like the absence of the wench auction. I think I read about it, I just didn't remember it had happened, so when they were selling chickens with a provocative voice, I noticed. Before I get into what happened next, let's just pause for a second and look at how happy these two are here. I mean those are genuine smiles! Love this photo.

A few things happened on that first day in the parks that forever changed the way we scheduled things. First- we had a reservation at Café Orleans for a sit-down meal that included birthday cake for Sydney. Second- Brent had scored us Rise of the Resistance tickets and our boarding group was going to be up right when we were supposed to eat. Third- we were insanely hungry. At first, Brent spoke to a cast member at Café Orleans to see if we could move our reservation. Instead, he suggested we go to the Rise queue, show them our lunch reservation and ask to be let in early. Then we could make our lunch reservation right on time. Easy peasy, right?

The first cast member at Rise was not so accommodating even though by then our boarding queue had come up, he insisted it hadn't and we were on the verge of going back to Café Orleans to eat when another cast member checked and said we were good to go. Now dangling delicious food in front of famished people is not the best idea when you are about to go on the ride of your life. Honestly, we were all pretty ticked and surly and just sure this stupid ride with it's stupid boarding queue wasn't going to be worth it. After the cast member scanned our boarding passes, he said, "This is the way" and well, I kind of forgot about all that. Sure I was hungry and tired, but like Indiana Jones, Rise has an incredible queue with lots of places to sit and we waited it out. It's funny writing it out now and thinking what an imposition it felt like because the ride was so phenomenal- just mind blowing- it really is all that and a bag of chips. If you can do nothing but Rise at Disneyland in a day, it is a day well spent. 

At long last, we made it back to busy New Orleans Square for our reservation- a mere 15 min late.

Monte Cristo: YES! This lives up to the hype but before I get into my opinion on the taste I need to stress Sharing Meals: NO! One Disneyland hack Brent and I found over and over is that the portion sizes are so huge, meals can easily be split to save money. Maybe this is true for someone who just waltzes into the park, takes in just a ride or two and has no anxiety navigating massive crowds. We foolishly thought our girls are featherweights and we'd be good to go splitting these up but we were so hungry running around a hot, crowded park all morning not to mention lunchtime at Disneyland is a late, late lunch in Chicago. We ended up ordering 7 adult sized meals and polishing every one of them off, no problem and then the cake on top of that. Our sweet waitress was so kind as we kept ordering more food when we realized what we had just wasn't going to cut it.

We don't allow our kids to be food fussies and so they have a relatively well-rounded palate. They are adventurous when trying new foods so they were happy to eat their Monte Cristos with the dipping sauces. The jelly gave a sweet, berry flavor while the other one was a cajun-spiced remoulade. Maybe that was meant just for the fries but it made for good dipping sauce for the sandwich as well.

Oh my gosh, we downed those suckers, barely coming up for air. Everyone's irritation slowly melted away as we fueled up and rested a bit.

Mint Julep: YES! Again, bless our sweet waitress- she kept circling our table and filling our mint juleps as quickly as we drained them. We absolutely could have just stuck with water to save money, but this was a lovely treat. Even though we were in a crowded theme park, a special drink definitely made it feel like we were taking a moment away from the chaos to relax a bit.

When Liesel was just a toddler we went to Disneyland and ate at the Blue Bayou. She loved the gumbo so that was the 7th meal we ordered and everyone tried it. Liesel still likes it!

Any anxiety about navigating the park dissipated as we sat back and just enjoyed being together as a family for a moment.

Micky Mouse Cake: YES! Before we could leave, they brought out the cake we ordered for Sydney's birthday and it was just as adorable as I hoped it would be. We could do white chocolate or dark chocolate and none of us really like that bitter taste so we went for the white chocolate. Sydney loved the edible ears and the cake itself was really moist without being too heavy. We almost finished the whole thing but we were able to take the leftovers right back to the hotel. 

One huge takeaway I gleaned from our time at the park is to avoid New Orleans Square around lunch at all costs. Traffic converges there in a big scooter/stroller mess. We could feel the park was getting much more congested. With days of Disneyland still ahead of us, we headed back to the hotel to get away from the crowds and relax a bit. Sydney was confident she'd picked out her ears so we grabbed those and then we ran into Minnie! I sent this photo to the owner of the Etsy shop where I bought the girls t-shirts and she responded, "You have made my day. I have *never* cried from a photo a customer has shared, but I did today. Seeing four sisters together at Disney for the first time making those memories together at the most PERFECT age... absolutely priceless. Thank you for allowing me to make your girls those shirts. :)" They received lots of compliments- even a single older guy commented on them and I was of course thrilled with how they all looked!

The girls lingered at shop windows and fountains on Main Street and Downtown Disney. We'd rushed them past on our way to rope drop and now we had all the time in the world to just take it all in. I cannot stress enough how nice it was to just stay in the Disney bubble from start to finish!

Here is Sydney about to throw a coin in that fountain for a little birthday wish. 

The girls were literally dancing and spinning their way around- just so incredibly happy to be at Disney!

Matching Outfits: YES! I admit I spent a pretty penny on outfits for our trip. I researched, read reviews, watched sales, and even reordered when the pandemic threw a wrench in the wheels. I didn't just stop at t-shirts either. The girls were kitted out with pajamas, shoes, tiaras, etc. By far my favorite were the red swimsuits from Hanna Andersson. I love their quality and I'm a total sucker for the little skirts- such a sweet feminine touch. There were items I purchased (like the pjs and knit Minnie hats) that are still available, years after I initially purchased them. The swimsuits disappeared and I was worried Liesel's would be too small. Fortunately they fit and oh my goodness they looked freaking adorable at the pool! The red stood out so we could spot the girls wherever they were and received compliments left and right. I think this photo is my favorite photo of the whole, entire trip. 

They were going to jump in together for that first time but impetuous Gita was already in the water so the other 3 took the plunge simultaneously. You wouldn't think you need a major water attraction on top of a major theme park but really, it just added to the fun but in a different way.

There are actually several pools and a couple of hot tubs so throw in some water slides and we didn't always see much of each other. I told Brent I was looking forward to soaking in a hot tub with him and he got a pained look on his face and said, "I'm actually more of a water slide kind of guy." Made me laugh. He got in time with the girls on those slides and I was able to soak away some stress. 

Another nice thing about the pools is that Disneyland had been a baptism by fire for us in terms of pandemic protocols. It was a major mind-bend to be in such a busy space without physical distancing and everything hosed down with Clorox every two seconds. I had a hard time letting that go and so did the girls. I never thought I would say, "Take your mask off" so many times but when we were outside it would ruin a photo. Spending time in the pool felt like we were able to get sanitized and cleaned up. By the time we showered and headed back, we all felt refreshed. Gita was exhausted and asked to stay behind in the room alone. We grilled her on safety and headed back out to the park.

Sydney was beyond excited to throw on a princess costume and crown for the evening.

A couple of classic shots with that cutie so excited to be going into a life-sized castle!

 

Birthday Button: YES! Cast members really did go out of their way to wish Sydney a happy birthday. One of them was driving the horse-drawn carriage and yelled it to her from the street. My First Visit Button: MEH. I'm glad they have them as a memento, but I don't know that I'd have pinned them on their shirts (which said the exact same thing).

Sydney was really excited to ride the carousel and she ran into this cute girl dressed as Anna. They became fast friends in line.

There are some rides that are just better at night and the Teacups are one of those rides. I can't handle the spinning anymore so Brent was happy to take the girls. Over our time at Disneyland this became a really special thing between just him and the girls because they loved how fast he could spin them. There's a popcorn stand nearby and along with a cold coke that helped my flagging energy. I was happy to just watch and snap photos.

Another fun ride at night is Astro Orbiter because of the views you get of the park and especially the castle as you whiz around. While we waited in line we struck up a conversation in Spanish with a guy and his son. Turns out they were from Guatemala which is where Brent served his mission so they were able to talk about the country. That's one of my favorite things about Disneyland is connecting with others. Without Gita our numbers were off so Ireland and Sydney shared a ride while Liesel ended up with me and Brent. We laughed how squished we were. 

Next up was Star Tours!

Then the girls were eager to try their hand at Astro Blasters again. I've never understood the crazy long lines for Peter Pan but we wanted the girls to experience as much of the park as possible so we decided to just bite the bullet and do it. We had the popcorn and coke to keep up our energy and man alive- let's talk about that popcorn bucket!

Popcorn Bucket- YES!!! This is actually the biggest yes of the entire trip because man- that popcorn bucket was a win. Yet another hack I'd heard about on a podcast, I decided to start looking at the different buckets out there. Turns out Tokyo Disney is really big on their popcorn and they have buckets that are not available here in the States. I ordered this one on Ebay and we received so many compliments and queries about it- not just from fellow park-goers but from cast members. We only brought it at night and the fact it lit up was such a bonus not to mention the design of a Tangled lantern was so perfect. I loved the popcorn bucket! 

When the castle was lit with all the icicles aglow, the entire park oohed and aahed. It was so magical. We had been calling the room now and again to check in on Gita but she had stopped answering. I would try. Then Brent would try. We looked at each other and said she's probably fine but with every phone call our worry deepened. What if she choked on something? What if she hit her head? I wanted to stop by the Jolly Holiday for treats but we were extremely concerned at this point. Once we were off the Peter Pan ride, Brent took off. He made it from the castle to the hotel in 8 minutes, adroitly slipping through the crowd until he was at the our rooms only to find his card didn't work. He pounded on the door and finally had to ask the front desk for help to get into the room. 

The park was actually closing early for something called Merriest Nites which meant the mobile ordering app was completely overwhelmed. Our meager order took ages and everyone was waiting for updates from Brent on whether Gita was ok. Time ticked by slowly and we finally got our treats as well as an update.

Gita had bolted both hotel room doors which is why the card readers weren't working. She'd also fallen asleep with the tv on which is why she didn't hear Brent pounding on the door. They had to get maintenance to get into the room which fortunately didn't take long (they initially said 30 min). Brent told her how worried we all were and she groggily told him she was tired. 

We all breathed a sigh of relief and took in the treats in front of us.  Holiday Chocolate Macaron: YES! Holiday Gingerbread Cookie: MEH. The macaron was simply divine and a fun treat specifically for the holidays. The cookie was good and chewy, it just paled in comparison to the macaron.  

We headed back to the hotel as revelers for Merriest Nites were gathering for a parade and everyone was relieved to see Gita safe and sound again.

Even though Sydney was having the birthday of a lifetime, she begged for a balloon and I relented. I have to say, that sucker lasted the whole time we were at Disney and she actually ended up giving it to a friend she met at the pool when we left. The cast member holding them was very well versed in this photo- hiding behind her for a colorful shot of all those beautiful balloons. I asked about wind and keeping them untangled... turns out he was an engineering student in college and all too happy to discuss how it's actually easier in some ways because of tension and... well let's just say the cast members are truly fantastic!