Disneyland 2017

For Spring Break, we had planned to go to a cabin, but then were invited to Disneyland instead. We realized this was actually a good opportunity to go, not too crowded, not too hot, and to get to go before Tyler was too old to enjoy it. Especially since a new hotel had opened, with family friendly suites at a good price, walking distance from the park. We tracked down those elusive UofA discounts, along with some USAA discounts, packed the car, and off we went.

The drive was the longest road trip Tyrien has been on yet, about 8 hours. Tyler alternated between playing Minecraft on the tablet and suddenly stopping, closing his eyes, and breathing deeply until falling asleep. Tyrien spent most of the time asleep. 

The arrival at the hotel was fantastic. The woman who checked us in made it fun and seemed genuinely interested in our family having a good experience, asking Tyler questions, etc. Tyrien saw a Mickey Mouse display in the lobby, and shouted, "MICK-e-MOUSE!" and ran to see. We had no idea he even knew who Mickey Mouse was, so to see him so excited validated the trip.

Upon arrival in the room, the boys were so excited, happily jumping on the bed, looking out the window, and then playing together on the bed. 

I had done some research and found you can bring food and water into the park. This significantly impacted the affordability of the trip. We brought up bacon and sausage from the breakfast buffet, confirmed that their eggs tasted awful, so cooked the eggs we'd brought with us. We ate a large breakfast, packed peanut butter sandwiches, crackers, water, and a couple bottles of soda.

The fastpass option plus rideswap was awesome. Tyson would retrieve the fastpasses, then he and Tyler would ride first, while I hung with Tyrien.  When they were done, Tyler would get to go on the ride a second time with me - we'd get to go through the fastpass line so the wait was short. 

During one of our waits, I noticed Tyrien seemed terrified.

Stormtroopers!

One of the stormtroopers approached Tyrien. When he saw that Tyrien's reaction was unfavorable, he announced, "These are not the ones we're looking for. Go about your business." 

Tyrien was miserable the rest of the day, until finally I called his doctor and requested a prescription for ear drops, explaining that we were in Disneyland and he was absolutely miserable. His doctor's office was awesome, and we were able to pick up the eardrops on the way back to the hotel. With the tubes in his ears, the drops work really quickly. Added in Tylenol and ibuprofen, and by morning, he was visibly more comfortable.

We spent Day 2 in California Adventureland. Tyrien had more opportunities to ride on rides, starting with Tow-Mater's towing. He had a blast! 

Our friends arrived in California Adventureland a bit later, and we had fun spending time with them for parts of the day, then going off on our own at other times. California Adventureland felt smaller than Disneyland - streets were narrower, and so crowded. But we walked alot more there. Tyson tracked his steps, he walked over 27,000 steps that day, compared to 13,000 at Disneyland. 

Tyler enjoyed rock climbing, practicing multiple times before I could coax him away.

Towards the end of the day, Tyson and Tyler went off on their own and Tyrien and I had some alone time together. He LOVED the carousel and insisted on riding it  over and over.  Where other rides inspired giggles and laughter, he was very quiet and serious on the carousel, looking up frequently to try to figure out the mechanics.

While Tyson and Tyler were waiting in line for a Lightning McQueen ride, we returned to Tow-Mater's ride. Tyrien was thrilled. We rode this ride multiple times as well.

With a dead phone and poor night vision, I was nervously waiting for Tyson at the "gas station", which had loud music and alternating flashing lights on the floor. Tyrien broke into dance. No worries about Tyson finding us in the dark anymore - with Tyrien rocking out like this, I knew Tyson would find us.

We returned to Disneyland the third day. We had passes for Space Mountain earlier in the day, and that resumed it's standing as my favorite ride. Tyler says Thunder Mountain was his favorite. We got to meet Chewbacca in person. Tyrien may be afraid of Storm Troopers, but he was happy to give Chewbacca a high five.

Towards the end of our time in Disneyland, we finally made it to Toon Town. Should have gone earlier. Seeing Tyrien's reaction to Goofy's playhouse was priceless. He was immediately confident, ran into the area, and immediately climbed up the play structure to wait his turn to go down the slide. He was in his element.

Then he spotted Tyson approaching from a distance, carrying oversized ice cream cones. He immediately shouted, "Ahce Keme!" and dashed out to meet him.

We enjoyed Mediterranean food that night, then left the next morning to return home. When we saw evidence of a traffic jam just before we got to Phoenix, we stopped to eat. We got back on the interstate after the traffic jam was over. But that's when we learned, Tyler cannot play videogames in a moving vehicle on a full stomach. I write that here so that we will remember. Do not let Tyler play videogames in a moving vehicle on a full stomach!!!

All in all, this was a great trip and I am so glad that we went!