How many words does it take to relate the tale of a week in Disneyland?  3,584.  I always feel guilty if I write a post that breaks through 1,000 words, and Katie’s gone and tripled it.  She won’t let me watch any more television until I get the post up with the photos, and that leaves me with two options – I can either write a short one myself, or edit hers.  I’ll do both, I think…

So yes, Disneyland – that happened.  We’ve been excited for months to get ready.  We’ve used it as our incentive all year.  ”Come on, guys, let’s go on a walk to get ready for Disneyland!”  They’ve thrown that back at us more than once, “No, Daddy, I don’t want to be done with our bike ride, I want to get ready for Disneyland!”  But they wouldn’t be redheaded hellions if they weren’t making us work for it.  We had fond memories of our trip last year, as exhausting as it was, and tried to scale it up this year.  We initially bandied about options to work in more of Los Angeles, or Lego Land and the San Diego Zoo, but ended up deciding that a week to go at a leisurely pace at Disneyland would be the least stressful.  Best intentions, and all that…

We also talked Carter and Marilyn into coming along.  I was a little worried initially, knowing I’d already have to push the boys around in a stroller and being a little worried about having to push Carter around as well, but the Disneyland trip turned out to be good incentive for him to exercise as well.  We also found a great way to get the best of both worlds.  We stayed at a Best Western on the edge of the park, which was cheap but quiet and convenient and was pretty spacious; while Carter, Marilyn, and Uncle Too Tall stayed at the Disneyland Hotel.  That got them convenient access to the park via monorail, while we could come over to visit them, see the Lego store (can you believe that I’d actually forgotten it was there???) and visit the awesome pool.  The pool turned out to be a great incentive, as each time I checked the forecast the temperature kept rising.  We were expecting 80′s – and we got 96 on one day.  Figures.  At least packing for summer weather takes less space, and I swear we packed less than last year.

All told, it was an absolutely exhausting trip.  We melted in the heat, melted down in the mornings, and by Tuesday we were all threatening to go home.  But at the same time we had a fantastic time.  Autopia wasn’t quite as manic and crazy as it was a year ago, but the boys both lit up with pure joy while they drove.  Very sadly the Casey Junior Train was closed (funny – I never rode that before the boys, but now when we found out it was going to be closed a few weeks before our trip, I almost wanted to reschedule our trip), but there was still plenty to do.  We loved Dumbo, and the Jungle River Cruise, and the bumper cars at California Adventure.  The boys still loved running all over Tom Sawyer’s island.  We also caught the Golden Horseshoe show, with two robbers yelling, “Throw up your check books, Throw up your money, throw up your breakfasts!”  The boys have been yelling that all week.  They also loved the Buzz Lightyear ride, and have been blasting the evil emperor Zerg regularly.  Cars land was pretty awesome, as were the lines.  It’s amazing – Disneyland could be nearly empty, and the Radiator Racers would have a line all the way to LAX.

They were also still too scared to go any indoor rides.  We couldn’t talk them into Peter Pan, or Pooh.  Before the trip we watched videos of rides, trying to get them to be less scared.  It *almost* worked.  We got Dexter onto Pirates of the Caribbean!!!  His brother melted down in line, and to be honest Dex was asking to get out of line too, but I pleased inability to hear and abandoned parental responsibility for the “throw him in the deep end and watch him swim” approach – and it worked!  He loved it.  We learned from last year and bought collapsible ear muffs, which you’ll see in a bunch of the pictures.  It helped.  Nic rode Splash Mountain, though you can’t see it from the picture (he’s back between Marilyn and Katie, in case you don’t see a flash of boy-leg).  And it was kind of adorable to watch the boys debate who they’d ride the next ride with.  ”I’ll ride this time with Grandma.  Then you, Daddy.  We’ll ride twice.”

We also spent some time in the pool, though by Thursday some cooler weather had moved in.  Fortunately Katie forgot her swimming suite on Wednesday, so Ryan and I went in on the hot day, and she got stuck with Thursday (Ryan took pity on her and jumped in too).  Well, somebody had to take pictures, didn’t they?  The LEGO store was the sleeper hit of the vacation, in Downtown Disney.  I swear, Dexter could have spent his whole week there.  That kid has a problem.  I am so damned proud.  We didn’t bring any legos with us, so as not to lose small pieces.  By Monday morning Dexter was asking to go home, “because I know how much you love LEGOs and want to go home to play with them, Daddy.”

By Friday we were exhausted, and ready to be done.  Nic’s been saying he’s ready to go back in 6 weeks.  Katie and I were thinking more like 6 years.  I’m sure we’ll go back a little sooner than that, but not until the boys are old enough not need a siesta or stroller, until they can go to the bathroom by themselves, and aren’t afraid of Winnie the Pooh upside down in a pot of honey.  It was a little hard on Katie, going for so long without being able to ride many adult rides.  Might have been nice if we’d had an Au Pair along, I suppose.

Oops – now I’m at 1,076 words (thanks to Katie’s editing).  Guess that means I have to call it.  I hope you enjoy the photos.  I’ll work on Katie’s tome next, and publish it once I make it through to the end.  Happy Hurricane Day!

-Joel

Disney 2012