Owen's First Birthday: Disneyland!

 To start this post, I just want to say that I have THE BEST friends ever. It's one thing to have family go with you to Disneyland... They're blood-related, so there's a hint of obligation to do anything you want for a birthday. It's another thing to have 6 friends spend a whole Sunday with you and your family at Disneyland. Especially when all of those people were celebrating almost all day with you the day before. And I warned them that we would probably be lame and just ride the rides in Fantasyland and wait in character lines. They stayed with us the whole time! (And we weren't that lame. We didn't ride a single Fantasyland ride!)

Anyways. I love my family, too! And I'm so thankful that Mike (Grampa) and Aunt Robyn were able to join us out in sunny So Cal too! (You were missed, Gramma!!!!!)

Also, this is a very long post... I'm hoping it's a bit helpful for anyone planning a trip to the parks with a baby! Of course, every baby is different, duh, but maybe our experience will help you prepare for your trip!

And now I fully understand how a family can spend 3 days and still not do everything! We had park hopper tickets, so we were able to go back and forth between the two parks (Disneyland and California Adventure). CA Adventure has changed a ton since I was last there, almost two years ago! There are about 50% more rides and cute shops... You could spend just a day over there. Plus we found out that the Disney Junior characters, like Jake and Doc McStuffins, hang out over there. Next time!

I had set up breakfast at the Plaza Inn so that we could kick off our day with some character time! Owen absolutely loved them and their noses! The characters were super friendly, went around to almost all the tables, and were great at interacting with kids... And putting up with babies hitting their noses and grabbing the autograph book when they were signing.

And we met our favorite gal, Minnie! Along with Rafiki, Chip and Dale (our new favorites), Fairy Godmother, Tigger, Eeyore, and Max. The only one we missed was Captain Hook, since he came by and probably thought he saw us since there were a lot of people sat in our area. And one of the Cinderella mice had just started her rounds when we were leaving, too. All in all, totally worth it to get some good food and see Owen with the characters! And to thank everyone for coming out with us!

My brother has an app (I'll have to ask which one) that tells the wait times for the most popular rides. After brunch, he pulled that up and Space Mountain (one my favorites) was just a 20 minute wait! Now, the app was a little off, and was for almost every ride, but it was still a helpful reference around both parks.

During the day, we were able to use the Baby Pass, which is like the Switch Rider pass. They're offered on the popular rides and can be used in conjunction with Fast Passes. Basically your whole group goes and waits in either the Fast Pass line (if they have them) or the regular line for the ride like usual. Then they ask one of the cast members working the ride for the Baby Pass. The cast member has to see the stroller and then gives your group a lanyard with a card saying that you can get the Baby Pass. Your group continues through the line and then they exchange the lanyard for the actual Baby Pass with the last cast member for the ride. You know, the one that asks how many people are in your party. They ride the ride, trade you your Baby Pass for the baby, and you get to go through the exit! You basically walk right on the ride! And it's so nice because the other two people waiting with the baby can do other things like shop or get Fast Passes for the other rides!

We were able to ride Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear (Owen friendly), Indiana Jones (twice, since it broke down with us on it!), Pirates of the Caribbean (Owen fell asleep on this one!), Woody's Round Up (Owen friendly, but I forgot how much it jerks you around), California Screaming, Soaring over California, and Tower of Terror.

While in line, we met Mr. and Mrs. B from The Bees Times Three. I guess Mrs. B noticed our t-shirts (kinda hard to miss when there are 15 of us wearing the same thing!) and Mr. B asked for a picture on her behalf. So cute and definitely something Andrew would do for me, too! Let me know if you need any help, Mrs. B! :)

Owen did take a nap during our lunch time for about an hour and a half or so. I couldn't believe he lasted that long without napping... He woke up at 6:30am so we could leave, didn't sleep in the car, and was going until he passed out around 1/1:30pm. He didn't nap again until we were in the shopping phase, around 10:15pm. 

We ate over by Soaring over California, since Pizza Port was oddly closed when we tried to get lunch over there). After our time in California Adventure, we hiked back over to Disneyland to try and get into Toon Town before it closed (due to fireworks preparation). Luckily we had an hour there and more than enough time to meet Mickey! Robyn was also excited to go and explore Toon Town, so I'm glad we got there for her sake too!

By the time we worked our way back to the front of the park, the fireworks show was in full swing. We went ahead and exited with everyone and everyone went their separate ways back home around 9:30pm. My mom and I had talked about them or Mike and Robyn taking Owen back to our house so that he could get to bed and we could be kids and ride rides longer. Since we hadn't shopped yet and Andrew and I really wanted to take Owen shopping, we decided to be those parents and keep their baby out late. He loved the store, claimed a Chip and Dale stuffed animal set as soon as we walked in, and met got to meet Mickey & Minnie again!

We didn't get home until about 1:00am... But Owen was sleeping for about 2 and a half hours by that point! It was such a great trip and Owen was a champ through it all! Granted, it did take about a week to adjust after a weekend of so much fun and so little naps :)