Disneyland Tips for Littles

Hi all! Happy Hump day! I recently had a friend of mine ask if I had any tips and ticks for heading into the park with a little seeing as how often we go. After I wrote her an email I thought it might make a great post! So here you go my tips and ticks for braving the parks with littles. We have ben taking C to Disney since she was 10 weeks old, and she's obsessed. We are annual pass holders so when we do go we tend to head in only for a few hours this way C doesn't get too cranky and we can enjoy the park, but we have done full days in the park with her both here and at Disney world. Having an annual pass also gives you discounts int the park too, so something to look into. Now that she's older we can spend more time there plus now she'll nap in the stroller which is a huge plus!

Having a very in depth conversation with Tinkerbell 

Before we head in the first thing we always do it check a crowd tracker site. I use this one, this way we have a better idea what we are getting ourselves into. It also doesn't hurt to belong to some annual pass holders pages on Facebook, people on there are super helpful when it comes to how busy it is. I plan to go as early as possible this way we get the most out of the morning, its always less packed in the morning and cooler and we try to head home before nap. If we are spending the whole day then we plan to have C nap in the stroller so we bring a light blanket, portable noise machine and her lovey.

Parking We like to park in the structure so the car stays nice and cool. We bring a umbrella stroller we have this one and we walk over using this foot path instead of taking the tram. We also take our larger jogging stroller for longer days or when C needs more room we have this one.

Security, I hate that I have to write this part but true. Like any theme park you are not immune to theft , we like to bring a bike lock and lock our wheels together of our stroller. It may not prevent someone from stealing it but it makes it a whole lot harder. You are not allowed to lock your stroller to any structure in the park which is why we lock the wheels together. Ugh, sorry about the downer part but it would stink to have your stroller stolen while you're enjoying yourself.

Get the app! I love the Disneyland app, because it gives you wait times and a map all on your phone. It will also tell you where the characters are, the bathrooms, photo pass spots, parade and show times as well as show you all the restaurants. If you are a pass holder it will tell you if you have a black out day as well, which is great!

Food and drink. If you know me well you know I LOVE Disneyland food so much so I plan to eventually do a post just on all my favorite eats in the park. But just so you know you can bring food and drinks into the park, just no glass containers. This is great for littles so we pack all of Cs snacks then plan on having meals in the park. I like to bring her grapes, raisins, cheddar bunnies, applesauce or a yogurt pouch. I use a insulated sleeve bag  and I always fill our water bottles. They are super sweet and will give you cups of water almost anywhere so you can refill your bottles around the park, so for especially hot days I use more ice in our bottles and refill as we go.

Forget something? Head over to the baby center, which is located next to fist aid on main street on the Disneyland side and in pacific wharf by Ghirardelli on the California adventure side. They have a nursing room, changing stations, feeding area with highchairs, kitchen with microwave plus they sell formula, pacifiers, diapers & wipes should you forget any or run out.

Rider Swap! We love love love love this option, well we did haha for now Steve just gets to go on all the fun rides. Any who rider swap is great for all the rides you want to go on that littles can't when you get on line just ask for a rider swap pass, then when your partner come off you can hop right on without having to wait in the line.

Showing Pluto her shoes 

Now for the fun part! A list of Cs favorite rides!

Disneyland
Tomorrowland

• Finding Nemo
• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• Autopia (note you need to be 32inches to ride this ride)
• Astro Orbitor

Fantasyland This is totally where we get to do the most!

• It's a Small World Cs absolute favorite at the moment
• Alice in Wonderland
• Casey Jr Circus Train
• Dumbo
• King Arthur Carrousel
• Pinocchio Daring Journey
• Snow White Scary Adventure (C is not a huge fan of this one it is a little scary)
• Peter Pans Flight
• Mr. Toads Wild Ride (we get a little scared on this one too)
• Tea Cups!
• Storybook Land Canal Boats

Toontown!

• Roger Rabbit Car Toon Spin
• Goofys Playhouse
• Donalds boat
• Minnies House (Meet Minnie Mouse)
• Mickeys House (Meet Mickey Mouse)
• Chip 'n Dales Tree house

New Orleans Square

• Pirates of the Caribbean (Its dark in there and there is a little drop, but C loves it)

Adventure Land

• Jungle Cruise
• Enchanted Tiki Room

Critter Country

• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

California Adventure

Paradise Pier

• King Triton Carosel
• Little Mermaid
• Toy Story Mania
• Mickeys Fun Wheel
• Golden Zephyr

Cars Land

• Mater Junkyard Jamboree (32 inches)
• Luigi's Rollickin Roadsters (32 inches)

Bugs Land

• Heimlich Chew Chew Train
• Tuck and Roll's Drive 'Em Buggies
• Francis' Ladybug Boogie
• Flick's Flyers
• Princess Dot Puddle Park (bring a change of clothes)
• It's Tough to be a Bug

Hollywood Land

• Red Car Trolley
• Soccers's Workshop
• Turtle Talk with Crush
• Monsters Inc. Ride
• Disney Jr. Live on Stage (A HUGE hit in our house)

And of course for both sides of the park meet the Characters and watch a parade! We love meeting Mickey and Minnie, all the princess and clubhouse characters. Then of course the parades and shows are a fun way to sit for a while and watch your little enjoy the magic of disney. Whatever you choose to do when you are at the park, have fun relax, the magic happens when you're least stressed and just taking in the moments. Any other tips and ticks you guys have let me know! 

XOXO

Our Magical Vacation

Disney World was a truly magical trip! We had the BEST time. We flew into florida for Steve for work then decided to extended our tip to take peanut to Disney after he wrapped up. The only thing I would have changed was the amount of time in florida holy cow we were gone a while.  But seeing her face light up when she saw Cinderella's castle and met talking Mickey well that was one for the books. If you haven't figured out by now we are a Disney family haha, we are at Disneyland quite often since it is about 15 mins form our house and we have annual passes. Growing up on the east coast we went to Disney World, so I have literally been looking forward to taking our kids to the world since Steve and I got married. 

First Castle picture as a family of 3! Soon to be 4 how crazy is that. Incase you can't see my shirt says "Future mouseketeer in the making" hehe Steves says "Beast Mode" and Cs dress was made by my very talented sister in-law Jen. Heres her shop info! 

Dress also made my Jen! She's doing her princess dress pose here. 

This little girl LOVES minnie mouse! 

Since I am pretty much crazy, which is ok. We wore matching family and coordinating outfits for our whole trip! Haha. We were also super lucky that our family was able to join us. My mom flew down from NY while Steve and I attended work stuff then was able to stay for one magical day at Disney followed by a delicious dinner at Cinderella's castle. We were also joined by my in-laws and sister and brother in-laws family for the majority of our Disney trip. Watching the kiddos hang out together and meet characters together was a huge treat. My nieces and nephews love Disney just as much as C and my sister in-law and I love Disney pretty much a much as they do. 

Seeing Anna her favorite, she loves frozen and is a huge Anna fan so sweet.

C was not in the mood for a picture but she sure enjoyed dinner and meeting all the princesses. 

Riding Dumbo with my mom and niece, she is still asking me to "go on a plane, see nanny and do dumbo" so cute! 

We stayed at the Yacht Club resort on Epcot property, it was beautiful and so close to Epcot we got to see the fireworks at night from our balcony. The pool there was the BEST part it was voted the number one pool on Walt Disney World property because of its sand bottom floor and C LOVED it. So did we, I also didn't mind the non alcoholic pina colada either. We were able to walk to both Hollywood studios as well as Epcot which was amazing. It was also a short distance from the boardwalk so we ate breakfast over there one morning on our walk to Epcot. I would totally stay over there again, mainly for the huge convince of the area. 

Lunch at the Crystal Palace, huge pooh bear fan! 

Dancing with the beast in her belle dress Jen made. This moment melted my heart so precious. 

Family photo with talking Mickey seriously so cool! 

We truly had the BEST time ever and to be honest we can't wait to go back. I love love love Disney and I can't begin to tell you how happy it makes me to have a daughter who loves it as much as I do. C is still talking about talking Mickey which is literally the coolest thing ever! She loves telling us about her whole trip and all the characters she saw, it's so cool that she got that much out of it. 

Until next time Disney World, for now we will frequent the land lol 

XOXO

SANTA I know him!

So last year when we took C to see Santa lets just say it was less then impressive. We opted to take this picture instead of the one with us in it, because really this was the perfect photo capturing how she really felt about the whole ordeal. 

So this year when it came time to sit down with the man in red I have to say I was expecting the same reaction. To my surprise she actually had a grand ol' time. She chatted with Santa and talked about Rudolph. Took a picture (still no smile, but hey no tears) and even waived goodbye to him as we left. We took her to Santa inside Disneyland this year so you just treat him as another character (score for mommy) I didn't have to pay $40 for 2 5x7s. I think since we were in her favorite place in the whole wide world, she just went with it and it didn't bother her one bit. So thank you disney, we'll see you again next year. 

Super blurry photo of a  photo but I had to share, C got to walk down the street with minnie. Her little life was complete in that moment and she even tired to walk Pluto after this..

And last but not least the closest to home my kid will ever get snow. She loved it, so I guess we will have to plan a Big Bear trip so we can build a snowman.

XOXO

Cousins Disneyland Trip

With Mama Mondays being my beginning of the week post, I feel like I haven't shared our weekend updates in a while. I guess I'll have to be better about posting on Sunday evenings. 

Any who, this past weekend was so much fun! My sister was here from tuesday-monday and as always I basically cried when she left, I love having her here so much. Then my sweet cousin Ashley and her daughter came down from the desert to spend the weekend with us and take the girls to Disneyland. 

Did I mention we went in matching shirts? It made the day at Disney that much more memorable.

Love these two cousins once removed lol

We had a blast with them on friday. The girls loved meeting the characters and we even did the character dining experience in the Disneyland hotel for dinner. I had a feeling C would love it and oh boy was I right. She had so much fun and now I'm even more excited for our Disney World trip in February!

 Two little peas in a pod 

She was so excited to have dinner with Minnie Mouse! 

Then on saturday we hit the beach and our little beach baby was right at home. This chick would live at Disney, the beach and pool if we let her. She played in the sand built things with daddy, and ate a sand covered fry until mommy grabbed it and explained how that was "yucky"

Sunday we capped off their visit with a yummy brunch and took it easy for the rest of the day. All and all it was a fabulous weekend! 

XOXO