magicpointeshoe
12-14-2004, 09:47 AM
Day one
Those traveling to Disneyland:
Me – newly pregnant
Dh – my lovely husband
Juliet – 2 and a half
Polly – my best friend
We were scheduled to leave from Sacramento around 7 am sometime, Dh arranged for my mil to come pick us up at 4:30 that morning. We didn’t get to bed that night until 1 am, and I didn’t sleep until 2:30. I woke at 4 when the alarm went off, while Dh and Juliet woke at 4:30 when mil showed up. Juliet was in real good spirits despite only getting four hours of sleep. At 5 we left to pick up Polly, and then stopped to drop off an air mattress at my parents’ house near the airport. We arrived at the airport and checked our luggage, then carted our stroller, car seat, carry on luggage, and coats up to security. That gave me such a panic attack, I don’t know how anyone manages that alone with kids let alone with me having two other adults to help. Sacramento’s airport security point has this rush as fast as you can feel to it and that sucked. Take our shoes off, take our coats off, take all cell phones and computers out of their containers, put everything into bins, car seat face down, squash the stroller, walk through the metal detector, watch other people rummaging near your belongings while I rush to catch up, put shoes back on, toddler into the sling, electronics put back away, locate boarding passes again…. All at “MOVE MOVE MOVE” speed. =oP
Once through, our gate was the one right next to the children’s play area. I grabbed some petrified breakfast from Burger King and bought Juliet some magnetic “paper” dolls of Snow White and Prince Charming. Juliet scooted about the children’s play area waiting for the gate call. Once we got called for pre-boarding, we forgot to latch the stroller closed and parts were practically falling off when we got it back. Dh couldn’t get the car seat latched in because he was pulling the strap the wrong way, and so I set Juliet down. Juliet decided she didn’t want to be on the plane anymore and then became the screaming baby that everyone groaned about. It took about a minute for me to get her seat right, her in it and nursing to calm down. She was silent for the rest of the trip. During take off she held both of my hands, and I said “maybe you should take a nap” and she instantly closed her eyes to sleep. Juliet slept for most of the flight, she did wake up for a few moments at our highest point to look out the window, then fell back asleep for landing. The biggest concern was that the car seat ate the airplane. The latch for the seat belt didn’t have enough room to pop open! The flight attendant had to tinker with it for a bit before the car seat gave up and let go of the airplane. (For those keeping score, the car seat has now eaten my engagement ring, multiple snacks, the car belt, and now an airplane) (This is LAX btw)
At the gate we collected the stroller, to which I slapped plastic pieces back on. Juliet walked most of the way to the elevator down to baggage. It wasn’t crowded at all, and our bags came out right as we walked up. We then had to walk a bit to go catch the shuttle to the car rental (Alamo) and I was correct, there wasn’t a deposit held, just the original charge. Juliet wasn’t big on the shuttle either; she’s never really had an opportunity to ride one before this, and the little sleep probably didn’t help either.
We waited outside with the luggage while Dh went in to get the car. I rented a compact and well, after much fussing with how it would all fit, amazingly we fit into the clown car. We got a little lost on our way out because Yahoo maps sucks. But did manage to find our way fairly quickly after we realized the mistake. After a decent drive (I didn’t have a watch to pay attention to time) we arrived at the Candy Cane Inn. This hotel was awesome! We arrived early and our room was already ready. While I’ve read about how the rooms seem small even with the bigger rooms, this was more than enough room! After putting our belongings into the room, we walked to Disneyland instead of taking the shuttle. Juliet was just chattering in my ear about “go to Disneyland”
Our tickets were held via will call where I could pick them up from any ticket window. Those lines for the ticket window was very Shrek like with no one standing in line and me wandering back and forth way too many times, lol. While at the window, the cashier gave Juliet an honorary citizen sticker. Once we walked through the tunnel into Disneyland, Juliet told me instantly everything she wanted to do. “eat treats” “see castle” “ride trolly” We walked up Main Street towards the castle and walked on into Fantasyland. Juliet instantly wanted to ride the carousel. She then wanted to ride Dumbo but the line was way too long. We headed to Small World and Juliet watched with her jaw dropped at the kids singing and dancing away. We took pictures of the last time she rode it of the expression on her face. By then she was getting a bit overstimulated, so we stopped for a moment for her to eat some little mickey mouse snack pretzels. For most of the trip, two or three rides in a row were her limit, then we would stop on the side of the way for her to relax back down. We had lunch at Riverbelle terrace and I totally forgot how most meals can feed two, so Polly and I kicked ourselves for not just sharing a turkey sandwich. (Yummy)
We then went to Peter Pan and Juliet was totally ready to ride it until she heard the ship clunking or just making it’s usual noise, so she spent the rest of the line whispering for me to skip it. She said it was a little scary afterwards (referring to the ship) but was begging to go on it again the next day. For the most part, Juliet was skittish of the vehicles of every type at the beginning of our trip but by the end she wasn’t hesitating at all.
For the most part that first day was just wandering around letting Juliet see all the different things. Oh! And it turns out Juliet has bathroom habits like her mother. She didn’t go until we got back to the hotel at around 7 pm. We didn’t stay for the parade nor the fireworks that night because we were all worn out.
Those traveling to Disneyland:
Me – newly pregnant
Dh – my lovely husband
Juliet – 2 and a half
Polly – my best friend
We were scheduled to leave from Sacramento around 7 am sometime, Dh arranged for my mil to come pick us up at 4:30 that morning. We didn’t get to bed that night until 1 am, and I didn’t sleep until 2:30. I woke at 4 when the alarm went off, while Dh and Juliet woke at 4:30 when mil showed up. Juliet was in real good spirits despite only getting four hours of sleep. At 5 we left to pick up Polly, and then stopped to drop off an air mattress at my parents’ house near the airport. We arrived at the airport and checked our luggage, then carted our stroller, car seat, carry on luggage, and coats up to security. That gave me such a panic attack, I don’t know how anyone manages that alone with kids let alone with me having two other adults to help. Sacramento’s airport security point has this rush as fast as you can feel to it and that sucked. Take our shoes off, take our coats off, take all cell phones and computers out of their containers, put everything into bins, car seat face down, squash the stroller, walk through the metal detector, watch other people rummaging near your belongings while I rush to catch up, put shoes back on, toddler into the sling, electronics put back away, locate boarding passes again…. All at “MOVE MOVE MOVE” speed. =oP
Once through, our gate was the one right next to the children’s play area. I grabbed some petrified breakfast from Burger King and bought Juliet some magnetic “paper” dolls of Snow White and Prince Charming. Juliet scooted about the children’s play area waiting for the gate call. Once we got called for pre-boarding, we forgot to latch the stroller closed and parts were practically falling off when we got it back. Dh couldn’t get the car seat latched in because he was pulling the strap the wrong way, and so I set Juliet down. Juliet decided she didn’t want to be on the plane anymore and then became the screaming baby that everyone groaned about. It took about a minute for me to get her seat right, her in it and nursing to calm down. She was silent for the rest of the trip. During take off she held both of my hands, and I said “maybe you should take a nap” and she instantly closed her eyes to sleep. Juliet slept for most of the flight, she did wake up for a few moments at our highest point to look out the window, then fell back asleep for landing. The biggest concern was that the car seat ate the airplane. The latch for the seat belt didn’t have enough room to pop open! The flight attendant had to tinker with it for a bit before the car seat gave up and let go of the airplane. (For those keeping score, the car seat has now eaten my engagement ring, multiple snacks, the car belt, and now an airplane) (This is LAX btw)
At the gate we collected the stroller, to which I slapped plastic pieces back on. Juliet walked most of the way to the elevator down to baggage. It wasn’t crowded at all, and our bags came out right as we walked up. We then had to walk a bit to go catch the shuttle to the car rental (Alamo) and I was correct, there wasn’t a deposit held, just the original charge. Juliet wasn’t big on the shuttle either; she’s never really had an opportunity to ride one before this, and the little sleep probably didn’t help either.
We waited outside with the luggage while Dh went in to get the car. I rented a compact and well, after much fussing with how it would all fit, amazingly we fit into the clown car. We got a little lost on our way out because Yahoo maps sucks. But did manage to find our way fairly quickly after we realized the mistake. After a decent drive (I didn’t have a watch to pay attention to time) we arrived at the Candy Cane Inn. This hotel was awesome! We arrived early and our room was already ready. While I’ve read about how the rooms seem small even with the bigger rooms, this was more than enough room! After putting our belongings into the room, we walked to Disneyland instead of taking the shuttle. Juliet was just chattering in my ear about “go to Disneyland”
Our tickets were held via will call where I could pick them up from any ticket window. Those lines for the ticket window was very Shrek like with no one standing in line and me wandering back and forth way too many times, lol. While at the window, the cashier gave Juliet an honorary citizen sticker. Once we walked through the tunnel into Disneyland, Juliet told me instantly everything she wanted to do. “eat treats” “see castle” “ride trolly” We walked up Main Street towards the castle and walked on into Fantasyland. Juliet instantly wanted to ride the carousel. She then wanted to ride Dumbo but the line was way too long. We headed to Small World and Juliet watched with her jaw dropped at the kids singing and dancing away. We took pictures of the last time she rode it of the expression on her face. By then she was getting a bit overstimulated, so we stopped for a moment for her to eat some little mickey mouse snack pretzels. For most of the trip, two or three rides in a row were her limit, then we would stop on the side of the way for her to relax back down. We had lunch at Riverbelle terrace and I totally forgot how most meals can feed two, so Polly and I kicked ourselves for not just sharing a turkey sandwich. (Yummy)
We then went to Peter Pan and Juliet was totally ready to ride it until she heard the ship clunking or just making it’s usual noise, so she spent the rest of the line whispering for me to skip it. She said it was a little scary afterwards (referring to the ship) but was begging to go on it again the next day. For the most part, Juliet was skittish of the vehicles of every type at the beginning of our trip but by the end she wasn’t hesitating at all.
For the most part that first day was just wandering around letting Juliet see all the different things. Oh! And it turns out Juliet has bathroom habits like her mother. She didn’t go until we got back to the hotel at around 7 pm. We didn’t stay for the parade nor the fireworks that night because we were all worn out.