Disneyland - Day 2

Day 2
{October 25th}

We started off day 2 with breakfast at PCH grill.

I might not have booked a character breakfast if we had known that we would see so many of the charters on day one, but it was still worth it.

We had a 7:30am reservation because we still wanted to make it to the parks when they opened.

It turned out so great because we were basically the first ones there and the place was empty and

we got so much time and attention from the characters.

Brian and I were running a little late so we sent everyone else ahead and then had to run the mile to the park to meet them for breakfast.

We were hot and sweaty and this is the worst picture we could have taken with Mickey but we are all in it, ha!

We only got a photo op and some hugs with Mickey this time but Minnie Mouse spent soo much time with us!

She 'talked' and interacted with Braxton quite a bit and then Everett ate it up when he met her. 

He just kept smiling and trying to bite her nose and then would laugh like crazy...

it was so fun to watch!

 We got to meet Stitch, Minnie, Mickey, Daisy and Goofy in just that hour breakfast.
Minnie took Braxton up to the front to dance for one of their surf songs and held his hand the whole time.  Then he got to 'hot dog' dance with Goofy... probably the highlight of his trip!

After breakfast we headed over to Disneyland first thing, hoping to catch some popular rides before the crowds got bad.
Fantasyland definitely gets busy first thing but again, we were pleasantly surpassed at the lack of people in the morning... even for a Saturday.

We did Pirates of the Carribean, Indiana Jones and a few other random things over in Adventureland.
Then we tried to hit up Fantasyland...  got in Dumbo, the carousal, and tea cups again.  The other rides already had 45+ min lines so we passed those up.
We ate lunch at the Plaza Inn and had the best fried chicken I've ever had in my life!

Everett loved the carousal!

He felt like such a big boy.

We headed back over to California Adventure to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening.
I think we liked California Adventure the best... the layout was really nice and spread out and it never felt very crowded.
We got in more rides before the boys napped in the stroller again.  

Ideally, it would have been nice to go back to the hotel and put them down for a longer nap, but it was such a long walk we just decided to wing it.  

We really did get so lucky that with only an hr nap, Braxton didn't have a single meltdown and did so great all weekend!
We got in Little Mermaid, Golden Zephyr, and did the Challenge Trail.

We also got to meet Woody (probably tied for Braxton's favorite moment)

Love his hand on Woody's knee here too!

While Braxton rode the carousal, Everett kept entertained in the fountains.

Checking out the Pixar Parade...
Braxton seemed to enjoy this one a lot more then the Disneyland parade.
Maybe because it had more of his favorite characters in it (Buzz, Woody, Mater, Lightning, Nemo, Monsters Inc, etc)

We weren't sure what to expect from the Challenge Trail but it ended up being the perfect thing for Braxton... he loved just getting to run around and play and jump on things.

 

We wanted to stay the second night to see the fireworks at 9:30 so we dragged it out and took our time at CA.  We ate dinner, hit up Cars Land one more time at night (so awesome to see it lit up at night!!) and then went to see the fireworks.
It was so late for Braxton after the crazy long day and he was already fading so we decided to skip the crowds in the actual Disneyland park and just sit and watch them between the entrances.
It was probably our one regret of the trip... the fireworks were still good, but we heard it was worth the experience to watch them in the park since they turn off most of the lights and have the music playing and whatnot.  

Its ok... everything else was perfect!

So glad we made this trip!
So glad both grandmas could come with us!
We probably wouldn't have attempted it otherwise.

 It was just really fun for both of them to experience it with the boys and it was so helpful to have extra hands so Brian and I could really take it in with Braxton and ride rides with him and whatnot.

When we booked our trip and started planning, I was pretty shocked at how expensive tickets to the park were.

But I can honestly say it was worth it.

We never saw a single piece of trash on the ground at either park! Not one single piece... They keep it so clean and nice.

Every single employee was also wonderful... Very friendly, polite and patient with questions.

It is definitely a different experience then normal theme parks.

We also decided it's really only a trip to take every few years since it added up to fast. 

We'll be back when Everett is 40 inches!

(You know we can't come when older brother can ride rides but he cant)

Our flight out on was on Sunday afternoon so we swung by and saw my brother Kyle before we left.
We also drove by and let Braxton hit the beach for the first time!
He was so into it and it was probably worse to tease him with 10 minutes vs. not going at all!
Guess we'll have to plan our beach vacation now!