Here's Your Ticket to Magic...
Hello, hello! We have just returned from the happiest place on Earth: Disneyland!!! As you may know, we have wanted to go with Adrian and were planning on going during Thanksgiving break. Discussing our uncertain future, we decided to take an impromptu trip this last Thursday through Sunday (August 14-17 - I started writing this long ago and never got around to completing the post, sorry!). We booked the trip less than two weeks in advance and were able to make the magic happen. Adrian’s Nana, Nanu, Auntie Megan, Uncle James, Mama, and Dada joined him on his first trip to Disneyland. I will be updating the journal during the next week concerning our trip, as it is too much to document, and read for that matter, in one sitting! Let’s start with last Thursday…
Since we booked our flight at the last minute, we didn’t have much of a selection of flight times and were picked up by our shuttle at 4:00 AM for a 6:30 flight! Adrian was woken up just prior to getting on the shuttle and was awake through really the majority of the flight, which landed at 9:20! The flight and airport processes were smooth (thank goodness for Xanax, I love my flight anxiety meds). We checked into our hotel and got a late breakfast/early lunch before heading into Disneyland.
Adrian didn’t really make the connection to the park and Mickey and Friends when we first got there and was probably a little confused as to why we kept telling him Disneyland was where Mickey lives. The first ride we went on was the Jungle Cruise. It was a nice first ride to go on to ease him into the excitement. The next ride we went on was Pirates of the Caribbean, an all-time favorite for this family. Adrian tensed up a little bit when we went down the two waterfalls, but was completely mesmerized by everything and his head looked like he was watching a tennis match. It was really fun watching his reactions to the craziness of the ride. At one point, you go through this wall of smoke that has a video projected on it. Poor Adrian thought he was going through water and was getting a little nervous and gasping for air. It actually pretty funny, as cruel as that sounds! Overall, it was one of his favorite rides and he got Pirate Mickey ears, which are sooooo cute on him!
We also went on the Winnie the Pooh ride, Casey Jr.’s Train, the Merry Go Round, Teacups, and Dumbo. He went on Dumbo with Nana and Nanu and loved controlling the height settings and flying around in big circles. I was sitting in front of them and really got to witness his absolute joy! He did remarkably well for waking up so early and was a good boy all day long. I know Adrian went on a couple other rides that first day, but he did do a lot of sleeping in his stroller. As an aside, we have been searching for a large stroller for months now and we cannot find anything that is tall or wide enough for him. There is nothing out there that fits him suitably, even in the $400-500 range! My parents watched him the majority of the time while the rest of us kids rode the big rides, and then we would switch off. Finally, after a long day, we made an early night of it and were back to our hotel by 9:00. He was out cold before his head ever hit the pillow!
Stay tuned for day two at Disneyland….
P/S/ Adrian has his sleep study follow-up appointment tomorrow! His entire night's sleep has been broken down into 30 second increments, coded, and analyzed. Let's see if they came to any conclusions. We'll keep you posted!
