aaaand we're back, disneyland!
our summer vacation was a two-parter this year, and part one was two days at the magic kingdom. while i personally feel that "brainwash" is a strong word, i will say that mama the hype machine had violet primed for her return to the park. at 23 months, violet didn't appear to have any recollection of her first trip (at 14 months), but she was excited nonetheless, thanks to our daily readings of her prized "mickey books," a steady rotation of the official album of disneyland's 50th anniversary (kevin and i were in attendance on july 17, 2005, so obviously i needed the double disc), and of course my daily chatter about how the pirate boat would speed down a big hill and go splash! as if disney marketing really needs help from me.
with nana, poppy and auntie courtney joining, i thought it would be fun to do a character meal, so i signed us up for the minnie & friends brunch at the plaza inn on main street. things started off great. violet got a balloon. she was psyched.
i made sure to arrange her high chair so that she had the best view of the room, and soon enough, tigger happily ambled towards our table. "yay! look! tigger!" we enthused. violet's eyes went wide, and her face fell as she dissolved into a frantic mess of utter terror. knowing the drill, tigger executed a dancy 180, but the damage was done. we rearranged violet's chair in hopes that she'd forget about the roaming costumed giants, but for the rest of the meal, it was all we could do to wave them off as violet would wheel around in her seat and scream, "i dohn yike big pooh!" now there's something you want your kid yelling in public. for the rest of the trip, violet repeatedly clarified that she likes the "leetle" characters; the big ones, not so much. as we exited the plaza inn, she pointed at tigger across the room, crucible-style, and shouted, "you go home, tigger! you go home to your own house!"
don't worry, though. we had plenty of success. violet's #1 favorite ride, far and away, was the carousel, and she talks about it practically everyday. she rode it at least three times. her #2 favorite was the horse-drawn trolley. those main street vehicles are so great for the toddler set. she also loved the jungle boat, the teacups, alice in wonderland, casey jr. circus train, winnie the pooh, the tiki room (probably because we lied that the toucan was her beloved señor toucan from dora), and of course the disneyland railroad. she was pretty lukewarm about peter pan and it's a small world, and she hid her face in my chest for the vast majority of the finding nemo submarines, the haunted mansion (shocking, i know), and the pirates of the caribbean (despite her continued insistence that she loves riding the pirate boat that goes splash). man, i've never realized how LOUD the rides are. i think that's really what scares her -- that and the darkness. it's not like a skeleton means anything to her at this point. in fact, she loves this totally age-inappropriate children's book about a ghost who's searching for the leg bone that a dog stole from his grave.
she was also obsessed with dumbo, but kevin and i weren't willing to stand in line for that on day one.
she watched for awhile, so longingly that i brought her back super early the next morning just so that we could ride without the pain of a long wait. also, because she was disappointed in our inability to snag a purple teacup (we had to settle for a measly pink), i managed to get us into a purple one early too. i'll take my number #1 mom pin anytime, v.
other big hits were goofy's house in toontown
princess tiana's jewels in the bibbidi bobbidi boutique
and of course a steady diet of bread and cheese.
the big highlight for the adults -- aside from the joy of witnessing violet's joy, which i say without a trace of snark because it really is truly, truly awesome -- was our stay at the recently renovated disneyland hotel. the detail work is just fantastic. even the sconces aside the bathroom mirrors are held up by mickey's gloves. if left to her own devices, violet probably would have skipped the magic kingdom and spent all day in the three swimming pools, including a really fun splash pool where she could "swim by my own self." either that, or just played in the hotel room's curtains.
i had big plans to keep her up for the fireworks, but she just couldn't make it. she fell asleep in my arms amid hundreds of people, blaring music and explosions, as we made our way up main street. luckily, we had our very own fireworks display to enjoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment