Disneyland!

Here are a few pics. The video montage was great, but most images were blurry...

We had a blast (of course). We arrived on Monday and left on Friday, which gave us 3 full days in the parks. At one point before the trip I actually wondered if that would be too much time - crazy me. We saw all of Disney, but only a tiny bit of California Adventures. We arrived at opening each day, took a nap in the afternoon, and closed the park down each night. It was constant activity - but soooo much fun. (we stayed at the Howard Johnsons - wonderful hotel, a short 12 minute walk to the park).

The shoes were a success. It would have been a completely different trip without them. We rode Splash Mountain 6 times, Thunder Mountain 4 times, Soarin' 6 times, Space Mountain, Star Tours 2x, Tower or Terror -all those cool rides that he would not have made it on without the shoes. They measured him everytime as we got in line at the ride and most times as we boarded the ride.

Declan says his favorite rides were Soarin' Over California, Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain (he says something different each time, although I just asked him again what his favorite ride was and he said Tower or Terror). I actually had to bribe him to ride Soarin' the first time (I know, I'm one of THOSE Moms) He was excited until be went into the room and I think the set up on the seating configuration freaked him out - unlike anything he had seen in the previous rides) I said "If you try it, we can get ice cream afterwards" 15 seconds into the ride he starts shouting "I love it! I love this ride! I love this ride!" It was pretty cute, and people all around us were laughing. He continued to do that the next two times. Chatting up everyone in line telling him it was his favorite ride.

The pool at the hotel was just awesome. he had a little water park, and a kiddie pool that was only 15 inches deep, so he could play while I sat around and took pictures...it was nice not to HAVE to get into the pool the whole time with him.

I should definitely mention that we chose a GREAT time of year to go. The longest lines were actually for the kiddy rides - Mike and Sully and Peter Pan. Other than that, the longest we waited was 15 minutes. We also took full advantage of the FastPass system, loading up on them in the morning and using them when we went back to the park in the evening until the lines died down again at parade time.

You'll notice there are no photos of my son with the Characters - wasn't interested. The parades didn't interest him much either. He was all about getting to that next ride (he is his mothers son).

I should mention on one trip into the park, we were getting our bags checked and I hear this blood curdling screaming coming from behind us in line. I was thinking that some kid must have been seriously hurt. I turn and look and see a kid just freaking out with his Mom, he was seriously autistic - a guess -he just wasn't visually focusing and was flinging his body around. It was so sad, I continued to hear him scream while we walked to the park entrance. At that moment I felt very blessed to have my son, I said a quick prayer of thanks. Declan is ALWAYS the wildest boy in the room jumping, rolling, kicking, etc...but I am thankful I don't have that kind of challenge, and my heart goes out to all the parents that do.

Wonderful trip...I'm already wondering when I can schedule another one!