Trip Report

Where shall I start?

We definitely have a Disneyland lover on our hands, though what kid doesn't like Disneyland?

She was a champ on the plane. We were a little leery of flying since Dessa doesn't like loud noises and can really freak out if things get loud. I could just imagine a terrified girl screaming for the whole flight. But we got her settled in her seat and she was totally interested in everything. As we got up to speed she just looked out the window and demanded to know when we would be in the clouds. And then we took off and she was calm as anything. I'd brought some movies on my video iPod and tricked her out with headphones and she watched "101 Dalmatians" and ate airplane cookies for much of the flight. A real angel.

She loved meeting the characters. We'd shown her pictures and Travel Channel shows where kids were meeting the characters so she knew they were going to be big. She went right up to most of them and hugged and hugged. The first day we made a beeline for the Winnie the Pooh ride because it's gentle - we thought that'd be a good introduction. It definitely was, and then we got to meet Pooh himself!


A few minutes after that picture was taken, Auntie Mandy got Dess her first pair of ears and she wore them continuously for the next 4 days. She probably would have slept in the darn things if we'd let her. She cracked me up. And I think Minnie was impressed, too.


She met this guy a few times and was pretty tickled with each visit.




Since the park was decorated for Halloween, a lot of the characters had on their holiday garb. Dessa likes Goofy but this particular costume made her a little nervous so Nana went with her to meet The Goof.


Same problem with this rather creepy version of Donald Duck:


The daily parade at Disneyland is a music and dance extravaganza with tons of characters and audience participation. The characters come right up to the kids and interact (Stitch from "Lilo and Stitch" came over to Dessa's stroller and played with her at the beginning of the parade when we saw it the first time but I didn't have my camera ready. I learned to have the darn thing prepped but although we saw the parade twice it didn't happen again). At one point in the parade they invite kids to come out and dance and then later they invite them back out to join in a conga-type line where they hold a rope and go around the floats seeing the characters.

Well, we weren't sure if Dessa would be OK with all that but once she was out of her stroller, she was into it. She danced in the street and when I pulled her back she insisted, "I want to dance with Pluto again!" Then the dancers invited the kids out for the conga line and one of the cast members took Dessa's hand and just led her off to the party. And off she went:


I don't think she quite knew what to make of it but she was wide-eyed and taking it all in. None of us went with her - she just did her own thing. It was about the cutest thing ever.

Dessa was most enamored of the Dumbo ride (how did I know?), It's a Small World, the Monorail, the train and Winnie the Pooh. She liked a lot of other things as well but those were huge hits. She wasn't sure she wasn't to go on some things, but once on, she loved them. Case in point? The rockets, which she rode with me.


She had the same reaction to the various carousels. Wanted to go on them, then fought not to sit down, then loved the ride. She's a weirdo sometimes.


I particularly like this shot of my two honeys in the Happiest Place on Earth.


All in all we had a fantastic trip and I'd go back with her again in a heartbeat. We may have to, and soon, since the minute she woke up on Saturday morning (in her own bed here at home), she informed Dave that we had to "go to the airport and go to Disneyland now!"

Doesn't sound like a bad idea to me, kiddo. Your Mommy is up for it anytime you are.

Posted by GoddessKristin on 10/07/09 at 08:53 PM [link] [No Comments - Be the first!]