Originally Posted By markedward Day Two had a lot to do with getting to attractions we'd been looking forward to. Our 7 yo had been asking about the Jungle Cruise. Our 4 yo had been asking for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. I'd wanted to take our 7 yo on Splash Mountain. And David had wanted to take him on Indiana Jones. So as we entered the park at 8 on our second day, we headed into Adventureland. I've always liked Adventureland/New Orleans Square, so I was pleased to head that way, though, of course, I knew the experience would be a lot different with small children. I think the plan was to go on the Jungle Cruise first, but .... It's hard to ignore the early morning lack of a line at an E ticket attraction, so David took our 7 yo on Indiana Jones while I took the younger two to visit Tarzan's Treehouse. Our 4 yo was a little intimidated by the height, and walked through it without much interaction. Needless to say, our 2 yo was put off by the leopard and that was that. But they really enjoyed the ground level part of the attraction, especially making music by banging on pots and pans. Since we had plenty of time, we walked over to the Rivers of America, where the two really enjoyed watching the ducks. There were even quite a few ducklings. Those little things that don't show up in the guide books are such an awesome part of Disneyland. Our digital camera does video, rather poor quality video. But I now have this great video of ducklings swimming with upbeat banjo music in the background. The jerkiness of the bad video really adds to the turn of the century effect. While waiting for the others, I tried to get a couple of Indie fastpasses. I finally managed to get one fastpass, but throughout our visit, I found that most fastpass kiosks wouldn't accept our plastic tickets. When we met back up with the others, I learned that our 7 yo had kept his eyes shut through most of Indie. We should have known. We're not exactly slow learners, but we just don't think of Indie as scary. As we were leaving the next day, I suggested he'd be ready for Big Thunder Mountain next year. He agreed, but made it clear he would be ready for Indie again when he was 12! We all went on the Jungle Cruise. The line was starting to grow, but it was quite doable. Our 7 yo loved it. Our 4 yo liked it. Our 2 yo watched the first few animals then buried his face in David's shoulder for the rest of the trip. He's really into animals and will like it in a year or two, I'm guessing. Our 4 yo interpreted the pirannahs as racing the boat, and was excited to tell about racing the fish. The 7 yo is very into animals and jungles, and later reported that the Jungle Cruise was one of his favorite rides. We then headed to Tarzan's Treehouse. Our 7 yo went through the attraction while the rest of us went in through the exit and did just the ground level part. All of the boys enjoyed hanging out, making music, climbing around, and swinging on the ropes. As much as us adults want "real" attractions, the younger folk sure do enjoy the interactive playgrounds. I thought the Treehouse is a great example of an attraction that also includes playground elements. We then ate breakfast at the River Belle Terrace. The boys enjoyed their Mickey Mouse pancakes - to tell the truth, they enjoy pancakes a lot, and the Mickey Mouse-ness of them quickly disappeared as they dove in. I'd enjoy going back to the restaurant on a quieter day. As it was, it seemed too hectic for what it was meant to be. I've read that this was Walt Disney's favorite place to have breakfast, and I wondered what he would think of it today. At some point our 7 yo asked "Is Disneyland always full?" It was a holiday week during the 50th, so it was pretty mobbed by eleven each day. After breakfast, we headed toward Critter Country. We made a point of watching Splash Mountain while letting our 7 yo decide if he wanted to ride it. Explaining the ride really helped with this one. I told him there would be other smaller drops, but that the one we could see would be the only big drop. I explained that it was the story of Brer Rabbit, which is in an anthology of children's stories we have. So he grew more enthusiastic for it. I picked up two Fastpasses for it. I forget what the little ones were doing. I think another potty break and some more duck watching. We then all went on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The 7 yo and 4 yo both enjoyed the ride a lot. The 2 yo was scared by it. David took him for a walk around while I took the other two back on Winnie the Pooh. I was really disappointed by Winnie the Pooh. SPOILER COMING! If you haven't been on, there are three scenes: the storm from the blustery day, the Heffalumps and Woozles nightmare, and Pooh's birthday. So, a ride that is based on most toddlers' and preschoolers' favorite Disney story consists mainly of a storm and a nightmare. I understand that Walt Disney considered fear to be one of the powerful emotions that was necessary for great story telling. But I was surprised and displeased that a recent attraction, one that appeals to Disneyland's youngest guests, would be so frightening. There are so many scenes from Pooh stories that they could have used, skipping or minimizing the scary ones. People can think that toddlers just need a few playgrounds here and there. But our 2 yo absolutely loved It's a Small World, and I'd have really appreciated other rides that don't scare the little ones. The 7 yo and I rode Splash Mountain. He really, REALLY enjoyed it. The scenes and music were fun. The log flume aspects were a lot of fun. With a fastpass, we got on pretty much without any delay. We headed straight for Fastpass distribution, but that line was quite long, so we didn't do it. He never got to go on it again, which was a shame. At one point I asked him what his four favorite things to do again were, and his first answer was "Splash Mountain. Splash Mountain. Splash Mountain. And Splash Mountain." By the way, his second answer was Splash Mountain, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Jungle Cruise, and (I think) Star Tours. After some refreshments, we headed over to Tom Sawyer Island. Does anyone know why the fort has been locked up? I'm guessing that a fifty year old log fort doesn't pass sysmic code, but I don't know. The boys ran through most everything on the island, and did the floating bridge two or three times. But it was the cave area that was a big hit. The three boys climbed and wiggled their way into every crevice. And it was shady and cool, which was great by that point. With the heat and crowds building, we were all ready to head back to the hotel. One quick detour for the 7 yo, 4 yo, and me to Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters with Fastpasses in hand. As we came out, David found us and told us Mickey was climbing the Matterhorn. That was enjoyable. Then we took the Omnibus which was fun for all of us, and was less hassle for strollers than the other vehicles. I think we ate at McDonald's. While the younger two napped in the hotel room, David took the 7 yo to DCA. Again, the line for Soarin was too long and his interest in it was too shaky. So they rode the Monsters Inc ride. 45 minute line, the longest line any of us stood in the whole trip. They got back to the room about the time the naps ended. The 7 yo and 4 yo had a quick swim in the pool. As we got back to Disneyland, ropes were being set up for the parade. So we decided to put of our trip to Buzz and Autopia. We got a surprisingly good spot right on the curb near the fire station. While the others settled in, I hustled across Tomorrland and got fastpasses for Autopia. On the way back, I stopped at Refreshment Corner for hot dogs. The bargain (relatively speaking) was to get footlong hot dogs and divide them. And they came with chips. We already had some bottles of Sprite from earlier in the day. I got back and passed out dinner just before the parade. Though the parade seemed shorter than what I remember from a few years ago, it was pretty entertaining. Lot's of dancing and stunts. The Alice in Wonderland float parked in front of us. Not exactly anyone's favorite Disney story, but it was a lot of fun. The boys get a big kick out of seeing characters, and I liked seeing the impressive floats, especially the Lion King float. After the parade, the 4 yo announced he was feeling sick. So after a lot of second guessing what to do, I took him to a nearby bathroom while David took the others to the Main Street Cinema. The 7 yo enjoyed the cartoons while the 2 yo semi-watched them while having fun running around. I took the 4 yo to the cinema, but we decided he wasn't up for more than that. So, despite his ardent protests, David took the 2 yo and 4 yo back to the room. With 4 fastpasses in my pocket, the 7 yo and I headed to Autopia. Even with fastpasses, the wait was pretty long, at least fifteen or twenty minutes. But, man, was it worth it! He absolutely loved it. Though he could barely reach the gas pedal, it was really hard to push, so I did the gas pedal. He loved driving. Even with the long wait, he immediately wanted to use the other fastpasses and get back in line. So we did. The second ride wasn't nearly as good, as there seemed to be a lot more cars stopping on the track. It was fine, but a lot less fun. As we were leaving, we stood on the exit ramp from Autopia to watch the fireworks. Of course we stood out of the flow of traffic, against the rail. Then we headed home. Main Street was absolutely a sea of humanity. But it moved along faster than I'd have guessed. Once we were out of the crowd, an exhausting but much needed piggie back ride got us back to our hotel at 10.
Originally Posted By nevadarebel Wow, thank you so much for your great reports! Even though your little one was scared, what great memories the older ones will have to tell him about it. I hope you took lots of pictures as I know that when we took ours the first time (6,4,2) the litte one didn't remember but after going back when he was a little older, he loved looking at pictures of his "1st" trip.
Originally Posted By markedward Even though our 2 yo was scared by many of the official "attractions", there was so much that he really enjoyed. He petted at least two horses on Main Street. He was high-fived and tickled by Pluto - a little scary but worth it; it's the thing he most talks about. He watched ducks swimming in the Rivers of America. He enjoyed watching the logs go down the flume into the Briar Patch at Splash Mountain, and then reappearing on the Rivers side of the walkway. He rode Astro Orbiters once - on day two; I think I left it out of the report - and enjoyed telling about riding "airplanes". He loved driving stationary vehicles - the fire truck at Town Square and the various vehicles in Toon Town. Though almost every report of attractions includes or could include "the 2 yo was scared", he really had a great time during the 90% of the time that wasn't on a ride. He enjoyed the parades. Even on the rides, he really liked Dumbo, the Caroussel, Astro Orbiters, the Main Street vehicles, Main Street Cinema, and especially It's a Small World. He really liked IASW!
Originally Posted By nevadarebel Sounds like a wonderful trip for them and I can just picture him watching the ducks, I too love to do that!
Originally Posted By markedward <I can just picture him watching the ducks> I've posted a couple of pictures of the boys watching the ducks on our photo site: <a href="http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/markndavid" target="_blank">http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ markndavid</a>@sbcglobal.net/my_photos I hope the link works. If not, you may need to copy it and paste it into your browser.
Originally Posted By nevadarebel the pictures are great, thanks for sharing! I have almost the same exact pictures of my 2 boys standing against the railing and it is one of my favorites. The first time we went, I took all 2 of my kids with that as the back drop.
Originally Posted By nevadarebel I hit the send button too soon, I forgot to say how cute your kids are and they look so happy with those big grins.
Originally Posted By sweetpea70 Thanks for reminding me about all those little things that make DL so special.
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 I'm loving reading about your boys reactions to everything. We have a 2 year old grandson and your "the 2 year old was scared" descriptions are just cracking me up as I can just picture it. The upside is when they are scared you get lots of nice head hidden in your chest cuddles
Originally Posted By CindyH I'm betting that since the 7 yo. liked Jungle Cruise and Splash Mountain, he would have loved POTC. My DS6 loves that ride, and was really disappointed that it was closed (okay, actually DH was the really bummed out one). Did you ride the Monorail? I'm guessing that your 2 yo. would have enjoyed that. And, like you, our DS4 enjoyed IASW (winnie the pooh wasn't scary to him) and the Main Street vehicles. I made sure that during our 3 days, we rode the MS vehicles (bus, horse buggy, car) as many times as possible, since that gives him so much enjoyment. Did your 4 yo. turn out to be really sick? Since you didn't comment on it, I'm guessing it was a false alarm?
Originally Posted By markedward <Did your 4 yo. turn out to be really sick? Since you didn't comment on it, I'm guessing it was a false alarm?> We think he was just worn out. He was fine back at the hotel room and the next day. Thanks for asking.
