Disneyland!

This was Kylie's first time and my second time to Disneyland!  I was so excited to go that I did so much research beforehand!  It was a little ridiculous how much research I did.  I had about 4 pages worth of notes.

We left for Disneyland at about 7:40am and got stuck in a little traffic on the way down.  We arrived in Anaheim at 9:30am, parked and took the tram to the park.  The weather was great! It was overcast which made it not too warm, but it didn't get way cold at night either. We got tickets and surprisingly got there the same time as the rest of the Fletcher gang.  We headed into the park in hopes to stop at city hall to get Kylie the 1st visit button.  They had a marching band playing music and some Alice in Wonderland characters dancing to the music.  Scott hopped out there with Kylie and danced a little bit.

So cute in her Rapunzel dress!

We went while it was spring break in California, so it was pretty crowded.  I tried so hard to mentally prepare myself and not get upset or frustrated by how busy it was. I had this plan and I took all this time to research that it just couldn't get messed up!  I just wanted the day to be so perfect that my expectations were a little too high and I got disappointed at the smallest detour from my plans.  I swear, I'm the worst vacationer because of that.  I know that Kylie won't remember this vacation in the slightest, but I wanted it to be fun for her and for me.  Which led to another dilemma.  I wanted to have fun at Disneyland too! I wanted to ride all these rides with Kylie and then other rides without her.  I got so overwhelmed at wanting to make it great for me and her.  Scott pointed out that he could help make a great time for either Kylie or for me, but not us both.  Brita and Kristene both do things at Disneyland for their kids because they're at the age to enjoy and remember Disneyland.  Kylie is not, but it was hard to not feel guilty about leaving her anytime we went to go do something without her. *Sigh* Scott is such a good man to put up with me! :)

Anyway, there was a line for City Hall and I was getting impatient, so we left to head off to Fantasyland where everyone else was.  On the way, we passed Tomorrowland and I decided we should get a fast pass for Space Mountain so we waited in line and got one.  After that we headed to Fantasyland.

Once we got to Fantasyland, we noticed everyone in line for Dumbo so we hopped in! It worked out great because Dumbo was a must ride with Kylie.  I mean, I can't come to Disneyland and not ride the elephant ride! Scott opted out riding it to take pictures.

After Dumbo, the grandparents fed Kylie (while waiting in line for Jocelyn & Brooke to see Elsa and Anna from Frozen) and some of us went to ride the Matterhorn.  The line was a little long, but it was fun.

After the Matterhorn, Lane and Scott ran to get some fast passes for Thunder Mountain Railroad.  When they came back, we rode the Pinocchio ride because the line was short.  Kylie was asleep in the carrier the whole time.  It was like 1:00pm by this point and we were starving! Our fast passes for Space Mountain were at 1:50pm so we needed to eat lunch before going on the ride.  We left Kylie with the grandparents once again and headed off for lunch.  One of my favorite blogs, Picky Palate, has a section about food at Disneyland.  We didn't want a sit down restaurant, but I also didn't want the standard burger and fries.  I remember reading about the corn dog truck so we asked someone where it was and got them.  The corn dog was actually quite delicious as far as corn dogs go!

Brita & Becky through a window in the line for Pinocchio.

Picture from Becky's phone.

Picture from Becky's phone.

Scott and I were able to get onto Space Mountain pretty quickly with the fast passes.  Afterwards we met up with others and Lane gave us some extra fast pass tickets for the ride, so we went right back and rode again!  This was another must ride for me so I was super excited we were able to ride twice.

We then headed over to Innoventions because Andrew wanted to get a picture with Captain America.  I got tired of waiting in line and I really wanted to see Kylie so I hopped out of line and held Kylie while she took a nap until they were done getting the picture.

Mark, Andrew & Captain America!

The Jungle Cruise was next! I was excited to take Kylie on this ride and she loved it! She was squealing and excited the whole time!  On the way to the Jungle Cruise, I had to get the famous Dole Whips! There was a choice between the soft serve or the float and I chose the float and Scott got the soft serve.  I ended up liking the soft serve way better than the float. 

My best attempt at a group picture.

Since we were in the area, Splash Mountain seemed to be the next ride to go on.  I wanted to ride another ride with Kylie, so I took her on Winnie the Pooh along with Nadine, Brita, Brooke and Dylan. After the ride, I got some treats from the Pooh Corner Bakery (another recommendation from Picky Palate).  I got this peanut butter sandwich, which I didn't like as much as the author of Picky Palate did, but I did love this white chocolate chip cookie.  It was so, so good (it had bits of caramel throughout)! I forgot to take a picture of my cookie, but here is one from the website.

source: http://picky-palate.com/disney-eats/review/pooh-corner-bakery/

Since those who were waiting in line for Splash Mountain weren't done yet, Brita convinced me to go through the single rider line.  I got on right away and I'm glad I went on!

Me single riding it!

Splash Mountain took so long that we missed pretty much the whole parade and caught the end of it.  Scott, Kylie and I headed off to ride Pirates of the Caribbean which Kylie loved as well.  She was great on all the rides she went on!  We then headed to Thunder Mountain Railroad where we saw some of the group in line! It was perfect timing and I hopped in line with them while Scott stayed to watch Kylie.  After the ride, it was time for fireworks! Kylie slept through the whole show.  After the show, we walked down main street and I shopped for a keychain and got some pressed pennies.  While getting one pressed penny, there was Mickey Mouse standing there! Of course Scott and David had to rush off and we missed getting a picture with him! :(

We then headed home and went to bed! Despite some of the stress I felt and maybe a breakdown, Disneyland was a lot of fun!! It's hard to coordinate things with a large family, but it is also more enjoyable with them there.  Who knows when we will go again, but it better be during the off-season. ;)