Disneyland

I wrote earlier how we gave Max Batman rain boots as a present for an upcoming surprise. Well, we decided to surprise Max with a couple days at Disneyland and he knew nothing about it. The rain boots were because there was a lot of rain expected in Southern California while we were there. Max was so excited about the Batman rain boots that he didn't even ask why he needed them since it never rains here. He was just excited to have them.

We picked Max up earlier from Ms. Marie's house last week on Wednesday. We surprised him with the early pick up and informed him that we are hitting the road for Disneyland. He was super excited to hear this news. It's a 5.5 hour car drive away, but with a three year old in the car it took closer to 6.5 hours since we had to stop three times. Ugh! Even though we stopped three times Max was an excellent car traveler. He did way better than I did.

We arrived at the hotel right at bed time, but of course Max is ready to rock instead of going to bed. He ended up staying up late that night which made for a pretty crabby kid the next day. That was poor planning on our part.

Max loved the rides and here are some photos from our first day at Disneyland.

Max lit up like a Xmas tree when he saw Minnie Mouse.

We met Mickey Mouse and Max was so excited to meet him, but then got extremely shy when it was our turn for a photo. After that I was not interested in standing in another line to meet another character so Max can hide. We just saw them from a distance.

We started off day two with rain and breakfast at Goofy's Cafe. This was fun for Max because he got to see all the characters from a distance. When they would come up to him of course he was shy and curled up, but not as bad as in the park. He did giggle hysterically when Dale was tickling his neck.

We then headed to Cars Land in the rain. Since we never see rain it didn't bother us at all. Plus we were all decked out in head to toe rain gear. Cars Land was Max's favorite part of the park. This was pretty cool as it was completely set up just like the movie and the Cars ride was so much fun.

By early afternoon there was a torrential downpour. It rained so hard that rides were shut down and both parks were planning on closing early. It was crazy rain. We tried to wait it out as long as we could, but decided to have dinner and head back to the hotel especially since the weather was so crazy with the down pour. I think we were all just done at this point.

On Saturday morning we headed to the beach so Max could see the ocean. The original plan was to hang out on the beach for a while so Max could play in the sand, but the rain ruined that plan. We just hung out, had breakfast, watched the ocean and walked on the pier for a bit. After an hour we got in the car to head home.

I was hoping Max would take a nap for a big chunk of the ride home, but he didn't. It took us 5 hours and 45 minutes to get home. We were five hours and 35 minutes into the trip (10 minutes from home) and Max finally passes out. We were both shocked saying WTF!

What a great family vacation to Disneyland. I needed this few days of family fun time more than anything. I look forward to going back to Disney with Max next year.