Back in January we decided to participate in the "Give and day, Get and day" promotion that gives you a day at Disneyland if you give a day of service. We decided that it would be fun for us to go together with some friends and serve at a local rehabilitation hospital. Pumbaa joined us and was a hit with all the residents. Jordyn was a close second and Donovan and Roxy tied for third in popularity. We had a nice time and the center was very nice and made our experience unforgettable. Anyway, months have passed and we were starting to wonder if we were ever going to be able to use our tickets before they expired. Aaron came up with brilliant idea...Shaver! So we decided that we wouldn't tell the kids that we were going to visit the happiest place on Earth. We set our alarms for 5:00am Friday morning and once we got the kids up and dressed, we told them that we were heading out for an early breakfast and that was good enough for them. We parked in the endless Pinocchio car lot and it was Donovan who figured it out first. He looked at Daddy and said "Disneyland?" Aaron looked at me and said "Donovan figured it out! How did you figure it out?" Roxy didn't hear him because she was trying to figure it out herself. She finally looked one of the trashcans lining the walkway and they all said "Disneyland" on them. "We are at Disneyland!!!!! I love this place!" She was so excited and once she knew where we were she started rattling off all the rides she wanted to go on (which was every ride in the park)
. We arrived at 7:50 and had to trade in our certificates for an actual hard ticket. They gave us "Honorary VoluntEars" buttons and we were on our way to a day at Disney. As we were walking down Main Street, Donovan was silent and absorbed all the scenery. We decided to walk to Splash Mountain first and see if Donovan can actually ride on it. The cast member took Donovan to the measuring post and told him that he was fine and to have fun! Donovan smiled and blindly followed Roxy into the barn and down the cave into the fiberglass log. Once the log moved, Donovan panicked and wanted to get off right away. Daddy reassured him that he was fine and once we exited the log he said that he had fun and wanted to do it again. We went on the Haunted Mansion, Thunder Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean in the first 3 hours. We walked on to all of those rides but it wasn't that way for long, Indiana Jones shutdown so there was a really long line to get on it. We decided that this would be our first fastpass so we grabbed the fastpasses and headed toward Tomorrowland. We decided to go on Aaron's favorite ride Buzz Lightyear A
stro Blasters first and of course he got the highest score. Roxann loves that ride as well because she likes being able to do it all by herself. Next, the line for Autopia wasn't that bad so we waited in line for that and Donovan was my driver. He really enjoyed driving the car but didn't understand that once he let go of the wheel that the car started smashing into the side of the track. After we exited Autopia, we went over to Space Mountain but the wait was over an hour long so we went to go see Captain EO. I have not seen that movie since the early 90's so it was fun to watch it again after almost 20 years. Aaron has never seen it before so it was fun to see his reaction. Space Mountain was still too long so we decided just to skip it and move on the Indiana Jones. Roxy and Aaron used the fastpasses while Donovan and I went on The Jungle Cruise. He loved looking at all the animals and seeing them pop out of the water. We got off of Jungle Cruise right before Aaron and Roxy got off of Indiana Jones so Aaron and I traded places and I was able to go on Indiana Jones with Roxy. We then headed to Pirates of the Caribbean which terrified Donovan. He kept his hands over his ears the whole time until we reached the surface then he said he had fun and liked the Pirates. We decided it was time for one mor
e ride before lunch so we went to Donovan's favorite...It's a Small World. He had a blast on the ride so we thought it was a good time to go eat some lunch when Donovan wasn't so cranky. By the time we walked to IHOP Donovan was asleep so we were able to lie him down in the booth while we ate our lunch. He woke up as we were walking back to the park so he chose popcorn as his souvenir. Fantasyland was our next stop and then we went on the Matterhorn and Buzz Lightyear again! Roxy told us that she wanted to go on Splash Mountain one more time so we asked Donovan if he would be willing to go on Splash Mountain again and he actually agreed to do it! Donovan was much better this time and held on to his popcorn bucket like it was a security blanket. He was so d
arn cute! We went on Thunder Mountain again and then we decided that it was time to leave so we headed back toward Main Street and did a little bit of shopping. We left around 8:45 and were able to leave the park without much trouble. The kids were asleep before we hit the 57 freeway so they were very very tired. Aaron and I had a great time with the kids and seeing Donovan experience these things for the first time. Next time we will get to see Jordyn react to these rides and that is something I am really looking forward to!
Back in January we decided to participate in the "Give and day, Get and day" promotion that gives you a day at Disneyland if you give a day of service. We decided that it would be fun for us to go together with some friends and serve at a local rehabilitation hospital. Pumbaa joined us and was a hit with all the residents. Jordyn was a close second and Donovan and Roxy tied for third in popularity. We had a nice time and the center was very nice and made our experience unforgettable. Anyway, months have passed and we were starting to wonder if we were ever going to be able to use our tickets before they expired. Aaron came up with brilliant idea...Shaver! So we decided that we wouldn't tell the kids that we were going to visit the happiest place on Earth. We set our alarms for 5:00am Friday morning and once we got the kids up and dressed, we told them that we were heading out for an early breakfast and that was good enough for them. We parked in the endless Pinocchio car lot and it was Donovan who figured it out first. He looked at Daddy and said "Disneyland?" Aaron looked at me and said "Donovan figured it out! How did you figure it out?" Roxy didn't hear him because she was trying to figure it out herself. She finally looked one of the trashcans lining the walkway and they all said "Disneyland" on them. "We are at Disneyland!!!!! I love this place!" She was so excited and once she knew where we were she started rattling off all the rides she wanted to go on (which was every ride in the park)
. We arrived at 7:50 and had to trade in our certificates for an actual hard ticket. They gave us "Honorary VoluntEars" buttons and we were on our way to a day at Disney. As we were walking down Main Street, Donovan was silent and absorbed all the scenery. We decided to walk to Splash Mountain first and see if Donovan can actually ride on it. The cast member took Donovan to the measuring post and told him that he was fine and to have fun! Donovan smiled and blindly followed Roxy into the barn and down the cave into the fiberglass log. Once the log moved, Donovan panicked and wanted to get off right away. Daddy reassured him that he was fine and once we exited the log he said that he had fun and wanted to do it again. We went on the Haunted Mansion, Thunder Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean in the first 3 hours. We walked on to all of those rides but it wasn't that way for long, Indiana Jones shutdown so there was a really long line to get on it. We decided that this would be our first fastpass so we grabbed the fastpasses and headed toward Tomorrowland. We decided to go on Aaron's favorite ride Buzz Lightyear A
stro Blasters first and of course he got the highest score. Roxann loves that ride as well because she likes being able to do it all by herself. Next, the line for Autopia wasn't that bad so we waited in line for that and Donovan was my driver. He really enjoyed driving the car but didn't understand that once he let go of the wheel that the car started smashing into the side of the track. After we exited Autopia, we went over to Space Mountain but the wait was over an hour long so we went to go see Captain EO. I have not seen that movie since the early 90's so it was fun to watch it again after almost 20 years. Aaron has never seen it before so it was fun to see his reaction. Space Mountain was still too long so we decided just to skip it and move on the Indiana Jones. Roxy and Aaron used the fastpasses while Donovan and I went on The Jungle Cruise. He loved looking at all the animals and seeing them pop out of the water. We got off of Jungle Cruise right before Aaron and Roxy got off of Indiana Jones so Aaron and I traded places and I was able to go on Indiana Jones with Roxy. We then headed to Pirates of the Caribbean which terrified Donovan. He kept his hands over his ears the whole time until we reached the surface then he said he had fun and liked the Pirates. We decided it was time for one mor
e ride before lunch so we went to Donovan's favorite...It's a Small World. He had a blast on the ride so we thought it was a good time to go eat some lunch when Donovan wasn't so cranky. By the time we walked to IHOP Donovan was asleep so we were able to lie him down in the booth while we ate our lunch. He woke up as we were walking back to the park so he chose popcorn as his souvenir. Fantasyland was our next stop and then we went on the Matterhorn and Buzz Lightyear again! Roxy told us that she wanted to go on Splash Mountain one more time so we asked Donovan if he would be willing to go on Splash Mountain again and he actually agreed to do it! Donovan was much better this time and held on to his popcorn bucket like it was a security blanket. He was so d
arn cute! We went on Thunder Mountain again and then we decided that it was time to leave so we headed back toward Main Street and did a little bit of shopping. We left around 8:45 and were able to leave the park without much trouble. The kids were asleep before we hit the 57 freeway so they were very very tired. Aaron and I had a great time with the kids and seeing Donovan experience these things for the first time. Next time we will get to see Jordyn react to these rides and that is something I am really looking forward to!
1 comment:
Cool music & pictures of your trip Shannon! It's great being connected to your blog! I didn't know you had gone to girls camp.
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