Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Disneyland with a one-year old

The grand finale of our CA vacation was a day at Disneyland. Grandma and Grandpa C really wanted to take Anthony. I was the party pooper and thought it was crazy to spend all that money to take a 1 year old to Disneyland. First of all he for sure wont remember the trip, and second of all, would he even have fun? What little information I could find on the internet regarding taking babies to Disney wasn't that encouraging either. Most people took their older kids and also brought their baby along, but I couldn't find anything about going just for the baby. Well, turns out I was wrong, you can go to Disneyland just for a one year old and have lots of fun. There were plenty of rides that he could go on, in fact we were there from 10am until 5pm and we didn't even get to ride and see everything we could have. We did not do one thing at Disney that wasn't all about Anthony. Mainly because I can't ride the rides myself being pregnant, and Todd's parents didn't want to ride roller coasters, and so poor Todd would have had to ride alone, and he decided it just wasn't worth it. Probably the hardest part was waiting in line for the rides, at 14 months he just didn't have the patience to wait in line. We figured out that bringing snacks and juice with us from the stash in the stroller was a great distraction. Once we got on the ride he was all smiles and loved every minute of it, until it was over that is. He cried every time we took him off a ride. He would grab whatever he could hold onto to prevent us from taking him off the ride.
After a few hours, he finally reached his limit and desperately needed a nap, so we put him in the stroller, reclined him, gave him his favorite blanket and he quickly fell asleep. We used his nap time to get lunch for ourselves, and do a little souvenir shopping. After an hour and a half nap he was awake and ready to go, so back to the rides we went.

Now for the pictures...

Pinocchio Wall Mural

Tea Cup Ride

Meeting Mickey!
(We went to his house, and he was filming in the back yard, and stopped to take pictures with guests. It was a long wait, and by the time we got to Mickey, Anthony was ticked off and wanted out of that house. He actually slapped Mickey in the face he was so mad. Thankfully Mickey was a good sport about it.)

Playing with Mickey's phone

We took a tour of the Chip and Dale tree house

Outside the Chip and Dale's Tree House

Toontown

Driving Mickey's car

On the It's a Small World ride

It's a Small World

waiting in line...

The StoryBook boat ride

Normally Anthony wont keep sunglasses on, but it was so bright he left them on.


Here he is crying because the ride is over.

The Carousel

We let Grandma have first dibs on riding with Anthony since Disney was her idea and her treat.
I'm not really sure which one of them had the most fun.


Picking out the next ride with Grandpa Russ

Entrance to Disneyland.
Dumbo Ride

18 comments:

Shanna said...

How fun! We are dying to get to Disneyworld with the boys. I am hoping we can this fall.

You look great by the way! Can you believe how fast time is going?

Elle J said...

Your photos make me want to go back! I am glad you had fun and that Anthony was able to get photos of himself in Disneyland, even though he is so little. My parents never took me; I had to wait for my husband to take me (insert sad face here). Glad to see you had all sunshine while you were at the park too!

PrincessGreen17 said...

Look at all those smiles! He did have a blast! :)

Tina in CT said...

Looks like all of you had such a good day. You got some great pictures to prove it.

Francie said...

Great pictures Lori! He looks so happy! I haven't been there since I was a freshman in high school, oh, so many years ago, but still looks (and sounds) really fun!!!

Rachael said...

He looks like a little boy having a great time!

Jack went to Disney World when he was one, and I remember being pleasantly surprised how much he could do, too.

Mandy Lou said...

I love the photos - it looks like you guys had a great time (and wasn't it great to wear short sleeves :-) Small World wasn't open when we were there and I was so bummed!

The problem we're having with the basement is the river keeps flooding due to ice jams in the river, nothing much we can do about it :-(

BabyMakes4 said...

it looks like you had such a great trip!! i can't even imagine Sarah Kate holding up for anything like that. I hope your next baby is just as easy going!

Amy said...

I love that you actually captured him grabbing onto the ride to stay on after it was over! Those are some great pictures! I am glad you guys had a good time.

Natalie said...

i thought he was maxed out on cute. guess not, cause he's still getting cuter. looks like he loved it!

Kristin said...

oh it looks so fun!!!

Kristin said...

by the way, rumors at work were flying, are you okay?!

Paula said...

Wow, he sure looks like he had a great time. I'm glad to hear it because we may be going later on this year. Love all the pics!

Jamie said...

I was so happy to find your post after searching the internet about taking young children to Disneyland! My husband and I are planning a Disneyland trip with our 10 month old, who will be 12 mos. when we go in May. I too, am pregnant (only about 8 weeks along), so we will take it slow. Thanks for the encouraging blog post! I guess we're not crazy for taking a 1 year old to the happiest place on Earth! :) Looks like you and your family had a blast, and I know we will too!

Helga Marie Bee said...

thank you so much for posting such thorough information, we leave Sunday to take our son to disneyland for his 1st birthday and this is exactly the kind of information I was looking for.

Anonymous said...

Just popping in to say nice site.

Leah said...

We are going to Disneyland in May with our 4 year old daughter and our son who will be 12 months at the time. Thanks for posting, you've given me hope that it won't be a colossal waste of time and he might actually get "something" out of it!! :)

Adorable pictures!!!

Kathleen C said...

I'll be bringing my 11 month old to Disneyland this March 2012. Spring Break time.
We'll also be bringing our 15 yr old nieces. I was a little skeptical and thought it would be a waste of money bringing a 11m old to disneyland.
But seeing your pictures and the fun Anthony had, I want those moments too.