We followed the advice of the book quite closely and made sure we got up and made our way to the entrance of Disneyland by 8.15am to queue up. The book is so precise that it even advised us to queue at row 13 or 21 coz that's where the queues are typically the shortest and I must say on both days, we found the advice to be very accurate. Come any later than 8.15am and you can see the long, long queue behind you. We were there during off peak season and already we were mobbed by the crowd. Can't imagine what it'll be like if it's the peak season.
See the long queue behind us!
Waiting around till 9am when the gates open
After spending 2 days at Disneyland, we concluded that Caleb is a little too young to enjoy ALL the rides there. He'll probably be able to enjoy all the rides if he's about 5 or 6 years old. At barely 2 years old, he was terrified of all rides that required us going into enclosed strutures. We tried rides like Winnie the Pooh's House, Peter Pan's Flight which involved us getting into a boat or ship and we'll go into a dark tunnel and move at moderate speed to enjoy the sound, light and visual effects. None of these appealed to Caleb but got him quite agitated after a while. He kept telling us he wanted to go out and get out of the boat. Ya, after a while, he refused to get on any boats. I think it was too much stimulation for him and the sound effects were really loud.
The rides that appealed to Caleb were rides that were outdoors. Like Dumbo the flying Elephant, Astro Obiter which is a flying rocket, The spinning Teacup, The Carousel. I think he enjoyed Dumbo the Flying Elephant and the Carousel most. These are the rides that he still remembers going on till today.
There's also Mickey's Toontown which is catered for toddlers his age. They basically have got life size homes built for the Disney characters like Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck etc. Toddlers can roam and explore the Disney characters' homes.
Caleb on his kiddy rides and exploring Mickey's Toontown
The one thing that really amazes me and Daddy is the attraction of Mickey Mouse. Caleb's hardly been exposed to Mickey Mouse before going to Disneyland. Grandma had bought him a Mickey Mouse stuff toy before but he wasn't really interested in it, until we arrived in Disneyland. All of a sudden, Mickey became his best friend whom he wanted to see. When we were in Mickey's Toontown, there was a short queue for photo taking with Minnie Mouse and we decided to join the queue. You won't be able to guess how EXCITED Caleb was. When it was his turn, he abandoned me and Daddy and RAN up to Minnie Mouse and gave her a big hug. We had a hard time trying to get him to leave her. And since he was so enthusiastic, we went to join a much longer queue at Mickey's house to take a photo with him. And throughout the trip after that, Caleb kept asking us where Mickey Mouse was. Ya, I liked Mickey Mouse a lot as a child and actually he's still my favourite Disney character, but if you ask me why... I can't really say what is it about him that I like. Maybe it's coz he's cute and has a likable face. I never did wonder about his attraction until I saw Caleb's reaction. Whatever it is, Walt Disney definitely chose the right character to be his mascot.
Caleb running to hug Minnie
Family photo with Mickey Mouse
Leaving Mickey's house with a souvenir
We ended our Disneyland visit by watching the evening parade. Unfortunately there were no fireworks scheduled for the days that we were there but the parade was nice with lots of colour, action and music.
Daddy and I did manage to take turns to go on some of the more exciting rides like Indiana Jones Adventure(which was really good!) and Space Mountain whilst Caleb was in between naps so we did get to experience some of the thrills at Disneyland before leaving. But we concluded that the excitement factor for us is no longer as before. I thnk we must be aging coz we only enjoyed the rides when Caleb enjoyed himself. The rides didn't seem as fun whenever he didn't like them.
An exhausted Caleb at the end of each day
