Tips - Doing Disney with a baby

As good as Noah was (and seriously... he was amazing...) there are still things we realised that we had to miss due to having a 7 month old at Disney. I'm sure it's the same with a toddler. So I have some advice for those planning a trip to Disney with a young child.

1. Be flexible! Don't expect to be at the park for opening, to get on every ride or to stay until closing. Go with the flow of your child and don't push it. And when you see a character - abandon all plans and get pictures! The moments that stick out in my memory the most are those of Noah interacting with Mickey Mouse, Tinkerbell and Eeyore. He wont remember those moments, but I sure will.

2. Go with grandparents or other family. It's been great to be able to leave Noah with someone else so that we can go on rides too without having to use 'ride swap.' It also makes it a little more enjoyable and exciting to share.

3. Get a 5 day pass. This was my 7th trip to Disney and it has definitely taken more time to cover the park with a young child. You need those extra days if you want to see and do a decent amount of things.

4. Bring your child's comfy stroller that can recline. I know it can be a hassle and takes up lots of room, but without it Noah wouldn't have been able to sleep at the park and that would have meant trouble!

5. If you can - go to Disneyland vs DisneyWorld. I realise most people will probably just go to whatever is closer and that makes sense for them. But after this trip we decided it'll be Disneyland only until our children are much older. We have done both - and Disneyworld is just so big we could never have covered it in a week with a small child. Disneyland is much more condensed and all the hotels and resorts are within a 5 minute drive. There are only two parks which means you can see alot more. And the food is way better in our opinion. Plus, the bonus for us is that it is only a 2.5 hour plane ride from Vancouver. We were actually in the park the same day as getting home. Awesome!

6. Get a hotel room that is a suite and has a kitchen. So much more space for kids and its nice to have a full kitchen so that you don't have to eat out every single meal.

7. Go off season. We didn't this time due to my little brothers spring break timing. But it was pretty crowded so there were some longish lines. Of course we utilised the fast pass system which helped alot.

The last thing to remember is that Disney is all about kids. The staff and characters were beyond wonderful with Noah. There is a baby room at each park and change tables in every single washroom (both men's and woman's.) They even have a system set up so that adults who are travelling with young kids can switch off without waiting in line for rides.

So if you are concerned about taking a young child, I say as long as you are flexible and don't have super high expectations. Go for it. I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Last day of California

Monday was our final day in California. The hot sun was back and was making it even harder to pack up our bags and store them in the luggage room of our hotel before we headed out to the parks. Our flight wasnt until 730 that night so we wanted to utilize all of the day we could.

We first entered Disneyland to do some last minute shopping. The park looked like it was going to be crazy busy that day and I was thankful that we had chosen to attend the week before. That being said, there were Disney characters everywhere. I literally counted 7 of them in front of mainstreet.

We exited that park and walked across the path to California Adventure as that was where we still needed to see a few things. (Thats what I love about Disneyland Resort - the parks are a minute walk from eachother!)

We got a few pictures in the Disney back lot and went to Turtle Talk with Crush. Noah fell asleep so while the others saw Muppets 3D I sat with him in the sunshine and watched Mickey dancing around on a stage across from me. He moved pretty good!

Then it was off to the main event. Aladdin! This is probably the biggest show at the Disneyland Resort with its very own full scale theater. Its a shortened Broadway version of the movie (about 45 minutes long) and it is extremely well done. The Genie is beyond hilarious as he is always up on the latest pop culture cracks.

From there we grabbed a snack and headed back to our hotel to grab our luggage and catch our shuttle. From the highway I could see the top of Matterhorn Mountain and the Grizzly River Run and it made me sad. I just had to remind myself that my family is a little Disney crazy - and we would be back in the not too distant future.

It had been a fantastic week and the memories will be with me forever.

Disney - day 6

Sunday was an awesome Disney day. Probably my favourite of all the days. The weather was sunny but a little on the chilly side, causing all the locals to stay at home and making for very short lines.

First thing we did we get on the Disneyland train and ride it over to ToonTown. It was empty! So empty that the characters were walking around and dancing with small children. Goofy even had time to scare a poor teenage girl by sneaking up behind her while she was getting her picture taken. We walked right on Gadgets Go Coaster and Roger Rabbits Cartoon Spin.

From there we hit up Big Thunder Railroad and once again, walked straight on the ride. Dad and I also did Splash Mountain because there was no line up. We had our own log to ourselves! Did I mention it was Spring Break? People must be really scared of 14 degree weather. But like I said, it was sunny, so we didn't care in the slightest.

We enjoyed watched Billy Hill and the Hillbillies while we ate our lunch and then saw a little comedy routine out front after. My dad got pulled from the audience and was forced to be part of it. It was pretty funny.

In the afternoon we saw Mickeys Sensational Parade which was awesome! I have seen many Disney parades in my life but this was probably my favourite. It was classic Disney soundtracks with a band twist. Noah watched the whole thing with his mouth hanging open in awe.

From there Matt and I were on our 'Disney date' for the evening. The grandparents took Noah back and we were able to run around the park to our hearts content. We did a few rides, some shopping and had dinner on the deck overlooking the water at the Hungry Bear. It was wonderful to be stroller free for a little while.

California Adventure - day 3

Thursday was another beautiful sunny day and we headed across to the other park, California Adventure. This park is less exciting to me because it was only built in the last 20 years or so and just doesnt feel as 'magical.' But it does have a couple of great rides and shows so its worth seeing.

Our favorite ride in the park is Soarin Over California, so we headed there first. Its fun because you really do feel like you are flying over the state and theyve built it so that you can feel the breeze while you go over the ocean and smell the orange groves while you pass them. Pretty incredible!
Then we checked out the new Little Mermaid ride which Noah loved - as did I. The Little Mermaid has one of my favourite soundtracks so I was perfectly happy singing along even when we got stuck for a minute or two.

Noah fell asleep shortly after and napped for an hour and a half in his stroller. We did some shopping, went on California Screamin and had a yummy Greek lunch.

Can you spot our group?

Greek for lunch! So good!

By afternoon it was getting pretty warm so we decided to go on Grizzly River Rapids. Everyone must have had the same idea so the long up was very long but it was alot of fun. I of course happened to be the one who get soaked but dried off pretty quickly in the sunshine.

Posing by the Grizzly River Run rock

Noah got to meet Lightning McQueen, Mater and Pluto in the afternoon and was all smiles for pictures. The last thing everyone did was go to A Bugs Life which is a fun 4D show.

A very happy Noah with Mater from Cars

In the evening the others returned to the park to watch World Of Colour while we stayed behind with a very tired Noah. We didnt want to mess with his schedule too much since he was already napping in his stroller, so we made sure most nights to be back to our hotel by 730.

Disney Day 2.

Wednesday we returned to Disneyland. We started our journey at the opposite side of the park, which happened to be Tomorrowland.

Noah was asleep shortly after walking through the gate, so my mum and I sat with him while the rest of the crew checked out Star Tours. After he woke up we took him onBuzz Lightyear Astro Blasters which he wasn't a fan of really. Too many loud noises!

We opted for a nice quiet ride on the monorail after that.

We also went on Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain and had lunch at the Hungry Bear. On our way out down main street we did some shopping and Matt bought me a Mickey charm for my pandora bracelet. Our timing wasn't great so we didn't get any pictures with characters that day.

Since we had kept Noah up late the night before we decided to take him back while the others enjoyed the evening fireworks.
In the afternoon we took Noah down to the pool for a swim. He has never been in a pool but loves his bath so we figured he'd probably love it. We were right. The minute his little toes touched the water he was splashing and smiling.

He was out cold by 7pm and stayed in bed for 13 hours. Matt and I slept for about 9 of those hours too!
My mother in law has a step counter and was keeping track of how many miles we've walked each day. We did about 10 miles in the first 2 days! That's alot of exercise without even noticing it! Another wonderful bonus of Disney ;)

Disney Day 1

Day number 1 was a big day. We were up early and headed to the park with a crew of four grandparents, two uncles, mommy and daddy and a 7 month old. Noah couldn't figure out which way to look first there was so much to see.

Ready to go Grandpa!

Within 5 minutes of walking through the gates... We saw him. Mickey Mouse! We quickly ran over and waited patiently for our turn. As soon as Noah saw him he started leaning towards him to get a good look. All fear of Noah turning into a scared crying child in front of characters vanished within seconds of walking over to meet him. Noah put his arms out and reached for his face, planting kisses all over his nose. He was so absorbed with looking at Mickey that it took a while to get Noah to face forward to get a proper picture. I was sooo happy that seeing Mickey made him happy.

Going for the nose...

We also met Tigger,Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore. Noah loved Eeyore aswell and was holding onto his furry face with his chubby little hands. He wasn't impressed when we pulled him away.

Meeting Tigger!

Winnie the Pooh!

Noah loooved Eeyore.

Noah had a 2 hour nap in the middle of the day in his stroller so he didn't get to go on many rides except for Jungle Cruise and Winnie the Pooh. Us 'ride' folks checked out Pirates, Splash Mountain and Indiana Jones.

Poor Papa Bechard in the front...

In the evening we saw the firework show which was beautiful and watched Fantasmic (Noah slept through both by the way...) He did so well and we were very proud of him!

Daddy bought Noah a Mickey Mouse balloon