Antonio Thomas: Disneyland

As you know Albert, Antonio and I went to Dinseyland recently and had so much fun! In fact Antonio is asking when we can go back. We also were joined by his Mom, Eva, Nelly & John, Kiana, Abel & Elise (Antonio's cousin) and then the second day Robert and Cammie! It was fun! I've decided 4 (1/2) was a good age. Atleast Antonio was a good age to go. He was tall enough (43") to ride rides he wanted to (& didn't want to) go on. Turns out 40" is the minimun for rides that require a certain height, some didn't require a height at all, and then 42" was the next step up then 44" and up. We were there 2 days and 2 nights; one night at the Disney Grand Californian and one up the road. The Disney Grand was amazing. If you are going to do it right and have kids it is perfect. It has it's own entrance into California Adventure and another one into Downtown Disney. It was so convenient. We had an awesome view of California Adventure (CA) so we were able to watch the World of Color (or whatever it is called) after were were in our jammies from our balcony. If you have small kids that may need to nap it is evern better. The other Disney hotels are great too, I assume, but the location of the Disney Grand was ideal. In my opinion, if you are going to spend the amount of money for a Disney hotel spend the extra few for the location. We didn't have to carry a crying, overtired 4 year old (happily we never ran in to this problem, yet he was beyond tired at the end of both days) more than a few hundred feet. Also, if you get to the hotel before you can check in they will hold all your luggage (for free) until you come back to check in. If you happen to buy a bunch of things you can go back and add to your luggage at any time. So nice. We didn't check in until we were done at CA (about 8:30pm). The next morning after breakfast we packed up our stuff and checked out before going to Disneyland, again they hold all of your belongings until midnight the night that you check out. We didn't go back for our stuff until about 9:30 that night! It was so nice!

I wish we could have had more time at CA because there was so much we didn't see/do. Some people talk down CA because it is not classic Disney, which is true, however it has all the characters that Antonio knew now. Toy Sory, A Bugs Life, Cars, Monsters Inc and I heard a rumor, but never saw, that it had UP too! Anotonio loved it because it had characters that he was familiar with! He spent most of the time walking around with his head up looking at everything! In my opinion, if going with younger kids CA is a MUST. They have a ride there called Tower of Terror, well you have to be 40" to ride on it (an example of just because you are tall enough doesn't mean you should ride) and I knew I wasn't going and offered to stay back with Antonio. But Albert said he'd take Antonio (with everyone else including Elise) I had anxiety the whole time, it is not a little kid ride. Sure enough, Antonio came out in Albert's arms crying because he was scared. :( To this day, (even before getting into bed tonight) he still talks about how it was a creepy hotel and how it scared him. Poor kiddo.

Disneyland was well, Disneyland (DL). It had all the magic and fun I had remembered. We started DL off with a character breakfast at The Disney Grand hotel, which Antonio had a blast with. It was just another thing that was way over priced but a must! You pay for the fun as well as the food I guess. After checking out we went straight into DL (about a 2 min walk). We first took the train up above DL before actually getting out and checking everything out. Antonio loved that and took convincing there was more to do. After that, he lead the way. We went straight down Main Street to the Castle which if we had only walked in and then out all day he would have been happy! His favorite ride by far was Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. We went on it at least 4 times! There were manny rides he went on and he loved. Sadly, Its a Small World was closed for refurbishment but he went on Dumbo! We wended up having strollers for both kids and I am so glad we did. By about 6 both were starting to break down, Antonio more than Elise. Just when we thought we would be done Antonio decided to stay for the fireworks and I am so glad we did. Antonio thought they were to loud but he's never been a fan of fireworks let alone loud noises. It was by far the best fireworks I've seen! After the fireworks show we were done; it was time to go home (back to a different hotel where everyone else was staying).

Antonio made out with good Disney gear though. He got his Mickey ears from Grandma, a Mickey shirt (from us, it was more of an emotional buy for me), a Bullseye (from toy story) from Grammy & Grandpa (they sent us with some cash for a souvenir) and a Buzz Lightyear hoodie from Uncle and Auntie, which he wears EVERYWHERE! Next time we go we plan on being there 3 days, we easily could have used another day. It was so much fun and Antonio was so good, much better than I expected him to be! He's already talking about the next time!