Originally Posted By LVBelle A little background info first... Last year I missed the meet because I was hugely pregnant at that point and too scared to go far from my doctors. So this year I really wanted to make it! Unfortunately, my husband does not do Disneyland well, he HATES crowds and lines. There was no way I could take Jacob, now almost 11 months, by myself and I don't think I could leave him for five days. So I conned my parents, Mamaw and Grumpa, into adding Disneyland onto their vacation! They hadn't been in at least ten years. My dad always teases my brother and I for going to Disneyland for more than a day. When we were kids, we always did one day and that was it. I think he thought we'd get bored after the first day. But both of my parents were excited about spending lots of time with Jacob since we live in different states and don't get a lot of time together. I was very excited in the days leading up to the trip. I took pictures of Jacob in his ears and emailed them to everyone. I found cool Disneyland videos online and shared them with my parents and my brother, Brian, and his wife, Alison who are also Disney fans. A few days before my trip Brian started teasing me about bragging about my trip and saying how jealous he was. I was totally rubbing it in, but I was excited, I couldn't help it! So our trip began early on the morning of Sunday, July 15th. My alarm was set for 4:45. I woke up at 2:45. Tossed and turned for over an hour then gave up and got up and ready to go. Woke the husband then got Jacob out of bed. He barely fussed, even though I woke him from a deep sleep. We were soon dressed and out the door. We made it to the airport in plenty of time. The only glitch was getting stuff taken away at security. I had a few bottles of water to make formula bottles for Jake and they wouldn't let me keep them. I also forgot that I had packed a brand new bottle of sunblock so we could go straight to the park without digging through suitcases. Darn! Luckily I had a spare bottle packed in my checked luggage. Jacob was wonderful on the flight. He played for the first 20 minutes or so then took a nap. We had kind of a rough landing and he didn't even stir. As soon as we were down, I woke him up, excited to be there 15 minutes early. Unfortunately, we were so early that our gate wasn't ready so we sat on the tarmac for about 25 minutes. Jacob started to get restless but still was not horrible. In fact, as we waited for our stroller, lots of people leaving the plane complimented me on how good he was! This would be a recurring theme throughout the week! Finally, we got down to baggage claim and found Mamaw and Grumpa! While we waited for our bags I presented them with a Jack Sparrow birthday card. Their birthdays are not until August and October but I wanted to give them a special surprise- Fantasmic Riverside Seating! They were excited but they really didn't know anything about Fantasmic and what they were in for. Bags were picked up, car seat was installed and off we went! We checked into Park Place Inn, right at the crosswalk to the Disneyland entrance. Our room was very nice. We had plenty of room for Jake's playpen. The only complaint was that the beds were full size, not queen. My parents had been a little squished the night before but luckily Grumpa had an inflatable mattress that he had used when they were in Oregon visit my aunt at her cabin in the woods. There was plenty of room for him to set it up each evening. Finally, it was off to Disneyland! I There must have been a bunch of dust in the air as we walked through the gates, my eyes got all watery for some reason! ;-) My parents did not know anything about fast pass so we ran over to Space Mountain so I could give my dad a quick lesson on getting fast passes. Next we were off to Pirates! When I visited Disneyland in March 2006, when I was pregnant with Jake, that was our first ride so it seemed fitting that his first ride on the outside would also be Pirates! Jacob fussed a bit during the drops, I think it was more because people were screaming than the actual drops themselves. As soon as we were down with the Pirates, Jacob quieted down and started really watching. He rode with wide, wide eyes, taking in as much as he possibly could. Next we headed over to the Haunted Mansion. I figured we would run into problems with screaming in the stretching room and Jacob would get scared. Not one person screamed and he was absolutely fine, wide eyed all through the ride. By this time, I was starving. I hadn't eaten breakfast and I had been up for quite a while by then so we headed for Hungry Bear for a quick bite to eat. While we were eating, we saw Jack Sparrow across on the island so we took a few pictures then watched him ride one of the rafts over to the Hungry Bear. Jacob loved both Pooh and Jungle Cruise, there was so much for him to see and lots of people to watch. After those two rides, our Space Mountain fastpasses were ready. Since we had Jake, we had to use baby swap so everyone could ride. My dad and I used the fastpasses and were on the ride in under ten minutes. We met my mom at the exit then she and I could use the baby swap passt to go through the exit. We were on the ride in about two more minutes! Wow, thanks LP members for teaching me about baby swap! It really came in handy this trip! Next it was off to it's a small world. Again, Jacob loved this! I'll never forget his face as we floated along. He didn't know where to look, there was so much going on! My parents had never been to California Adventure so I decided it was time to head over. Our feet were starting to hurt a little so we thought we'd take the train. Only problem was that you have to fold up the stroller to go and we had so much junk in the stroller basket it was impossible. So Grumpa was kind enough to walk the stroller to the front gate so we could ride. At this point Jake had one of the few big meltdowns we had. He wanted to run around but that was difficult with all of the people. It was hot and we had sent his bottle and snacks with Grumpa and he was NOT happy. Luckily there was a very kind lady in line who shared a package of cheese and cracker with him and he was soon a very happy little man again. We met up with Grumpa and hopped over to DCA, stopping to look at the brick Brian and Alison had gotten hubby and I for a wedding present. As soon as we got to DCA, we got fastpasses for Soarin' and Grizzly River Run. Thanks to Darkbeer, I knew that the GRR fastpass machines aren't linked so we'd be able to get those even though we already had other fastpasses. Jake was ready to get out of the stroller so we headed to the Redwood Creek play area. He LOVED it there, especially the little stream that runs through it. We let him splash around for quite a while and he, of course, ended up sitting in the water. He was soaked but I had extra clothes so I didn't care. I just loved seeing him so happy. It was really heating up and my parents were ready for a break so we headed to the Hearthstone Lounge for drinks. I felt dehydrated so I just got water but I had some sips of my parents' margaritas. It was so nice to just relax in the big, cushy chairs there! Our Soarin' fastpasses were ready so we headed there next. My mom and I went first, requesting the top middle so she could have the best seats for her first ride. She absolutely loved it, it was so much fun to watch her during the ride! Next we switched and dad and I got to go using babyswap. We were seated in the top middle without asking. Of course, Grumpa enjoyed the ride very much! After being in the stroller during our Soarin' rides, Jacob was ready to run. We took him to the Animation building for a few minutes and Grumpa chased him around the courtyard while Mamaw and I rested our feet. I realized during that day that both pairs of tennis shoes I brought were ones that I had gotten before I was pregnant. One thing no one tells you before you get pregnant is that your foot size ends up changing. Oddly enough, only my right foot got larger. So I ended up walking around Disneyland with one shoe that was too small. I ended up with blisters on top of blisters, ouch! Anyway, next we moved on to Monsters, Inc. where Roz told me how cute my little monster was. My parents knew very little about Tower of Terror and I didn't want to tell them anything about it. We picked up a babyswap pass and Mom and I went first. She was taken completely by surprise by the experience and she loved it! Back out to switch with dad and he and I went. Of course, he had a wonderful time as well. At this point, we all needed a break and were getting hungry for dinner. My mom really wanted to eat at the Grand. I had pointed out Whitewater Snacks earlier and she was very anxious to go there. We ordered our food and sat down to relax while we waited. Grumpa picked up his camera and started snapping pictures of Jacob. Suddenly, I heard people popping open beer cans right in my ear. I turned around to see who the jerks were and it was my brother, Brian, and his wife, Alison! I was SOOOOO surprised! They had been planning on joining us for over a month and I had absolutely no idea! At one point the day before the trip, my mom had slipped up and mentioned Brian and Alison going to Disneyland, but she covered it up and I thought absolutely nothing of it. Now I knew why my mom was insisting on eating outside the parks, they didn't have park tickets for the day. After chatting for a while, we headed back into DCA. Our Grizzly fast passes were ready. The sun was going down and I was starting to think it wasn't a great idea but my parents were so enthusiastic so off we went. Mom and I went first and it was COLD! I was tempted not to go with dad but he really wanted to so around we went again. I was quite wet by that time. Next we headed back to Disneyland to use the Splash Mountain fastpasses we had gotten earlier in the day. I figured we were already wet, so why not? Mom and I went first again and by the time it was done, I was freezing. Neither of us wanted to go again and dad didn't care so we opted out of using the babyswap pass. I really wanted to see the fireworks from in front of the castle so we headed over and found a bench. There was a tree blocking part of the view but it wasn't too bad. Grumpa was off taking Jacob for a walk when I looked up and saw Poohbear14! She was with SchmittyGoodVibes and we chatted for a few minutes. Grumpa came back and I proudly showed off Jacob before they headed down Main Street to find a spot to watch fireworks. Again, Jacob watched the fireworks with big, wide eyes. He wasn't in the least bit scared by the noise and seemed to enjoy them. After that, we were all exhausted. We had had a wonderful but LONG day and our feet were killing us. We started the walk back to the hotel and Jake was asleep before we even left the hub. He slept all the way to the hotel, then when we got there and took him out of the stroller, he was wide awake! I figured I'd be able to give him a bottle and lay him down and he'd fall asleep right away. Not so. He sat in there and talked for quite a while. My dad fixed me a rum and coke which I happily drank, then snuggled into bed, listening to Jacob happily babble. I'm sure he was telling us all of the exciting things he did that day! I have some of the pictures posted on Jake's website. These are just the ones from my camera, not Grumpa's yet. I'll post more as soon as I can! <a href="http://jakey.aboutmybaby.com/photo/2439928" target="_blank">http://jakey.aboutmybaby.com/p hoto/2439928</a>
Originally Posted By ABBY LVBelle, your trip report kept me smiling. What a wonderful family vacation. How neat that your brother and his wife showed up too! I enjoyed your pictures. Jake is a cutie !
Originally Posted By Tiggirl How fun! I can't wait to read more!! First trips are always the best! ~Beth
Originally Posted By SoThisIsLove Great narrative and darling pictures! (Does Grumpa work for SRP?) What an adventure!
Originally Posted By LVBelle Grumpa does work for SRP! He's been there for over 30 years now. SoThisIsLove, are you from Arizona? I got access to Grumpa's pictures and I'm slowly editing them and getting them onto his webpage. I'm rearranging the albums and doing one for each day. Here's the beginning of the Day 1 album, it has tons more pictures than the link I posted before, including pictures of Brian and Alison surprising me. <a href="http://jakey.aboutmybaby.com/photo/2443319" target="_blank">http://jakey.aboutmybaby.com/p hoto/2443319</a> (Please excuse my hair in the pictures. Bad haircut + humidity = yuck)
Originally Posted By Lisann22 Great report so far LVBelle. How exciting for you! Jacob looks like he was having a ball.
Originally Posted By ilvdland I am telling you, I'm going to kidnap that kid. I don't want to bother having one of my own, can't I just borrow yours LVBelle? He was soooo cute!!! Watching him in the Tiki Room was priceless - glad he survived the loud noises!
Originally Posted By liveforvacations Great trip report and your little guy is absolutely adorable! It's funny, everytime I enter Disneyland, I always get that dust in my eyes that make them water. LOL
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Fantastic trip report, and so great that your bro surprised you too. I can't wait to hear your parent's overall thoughts after 10 years. And taking babies to Dl gives the place new meaning (don't you think). We've been taking our two to the parks since they were 3 months old, and it makes a huge difference. Parking is even more fun now.
Originally Posted By DlandDug Jacob is such a cutie! I took so many photos of him before the Tiki Meet. He seemed quite comfortable with the camera-- now I see why!
Originally Posted By nevadarebel I am loving your reports LVBelle, I am off to read the next installment. I really like the pictures of Jacob playing in the water. He is definately all boy splashing in the puddles.
Originally Posted By TXDISNEYNERD LVBelle - I know this has been a while since you posted this, but I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed reading your trip report. This was the first trip report I read when I was just a lurker. My youngest will be 18 months when we go in March so it was great hearing about Jacob's first trip.
