Disneyland 2013

What a difference a year makes - we went to Disneyland last week and I was so surprised at how Claire was not interested in the princesses or characters but just wanted to go on the rides. She was go, go, go the whole three days (other than a few tired meltdowns). We did manage to see a few characters but we weren't searching them out like in years past. Miles was tall enough to try a few new rides this year, but not quite the required 42 inches for the big rides that Claire got to go on. He is about 41 inches, I'd guess. Matt counted that we rode at least 25 different rides, and most of those multiple times.  Get ready for picture overload, but it's 3 days of photo-worthy moments so I can't help myself.

We lost Miles once - right here at the bag check before we even made it into the park. I should say he lost us -  we hadn't gotten far when I heard him crying. Very sad - but glad we got it over with in the beginning because he stayed right with us the entire trip - no running off at all, which is progress since last year.

Miles and Papa discovered their mutual love of cotton candy. This is their second round. 

Penelope was an angel baby - so good the whole trip. She even managed to nap for a few hours at a time in the reclined stroller by the second day.  I think the first day was just too much to take in and so loud. There is not a quiet spot in that whole place. And we tried to find one - and then there would be a parade, an announcement on the loudspeaker, or music coming from every ride. But she hung in there and did great!

We had cool weather and a high chance of rain, but we never felt a drop. So we were just bundled up pretty good most of the time, though I was woefully unprepared with cold weather clothes. I just don't like to buy a ton of winter clothes each year to only wear them a few times, but inevitably we need them.

The crowds were light, plus we had Phil's handicap pass to get us onto some of the older rides really quickly. The newer rides are built better for handicap access, but Fantasyland was easy on and off for all of the rides. We hadn't been to Cars Land since it had opened and it was awesome! I will do that in a separate post since we took a ton of pictures in that area. It was just like we were in the movie - so well done.