Ford-ology: Fall Trip: Part II

After an awesome few days at Super Shelley & Papa's house, the children and I loaded up the rental and headed South. We were thrilled to be reunited with our daddy and wasted no time getting right to the magic. Disneyland in October is magical. Each year we fall more and more in love with the spirit of the Holidays there. The weather was perfect. The decorations put us in the Halloween mood, and this year we were so lucky to have Super Shelley join us for a day! Hunter had grown tall enough to be able to ride some of the big kid rides, Hayden could run around and give her favorite princesses big hugs and both children soaked up that magic of Disney more than ever. It's truly one of my favorite traditions to take our family to Disneyland, and this year was no exception.

Disney Day 1.

Disneyland is definitely a TWO day minimum required trip. We kinda feel like Disneyland experts now that we've gone 5 years in a row and each year we figure out how to do EVERYTHING we want to do with little to no stress. No stress at Disneyland is key to our MAGICAL time, especially with two littles. One of my first tips for a successful Disney trip with Toddlers is patience! There are 19830503463 million things to do and see at Disneyland and based on the time you will spend in the park, you have to tell yourself, I can't see it all. Going in to your trip with a real expectation what you'll be able to do will leave little room for disappointment for the rides you don't get to ride, or characters you don't get to see. The second best way to make the most of your time is download the Disney Map and list of all the parades, shows etc that you want to see. Take the time, BEFORE your trip to prioritize what rides you want to ride and shows you want to see. Lines take time whether for rides or meeting characters so be sure to include those and know you can be waiting for 5 minutes to 45 minutes. I also suggest to start on one side of the park and make your way around. With little kids it can be a lot of extra work to be walking back and forth across the park 10 times in one day. It adds to their tiredness and impatience. It's also good to know what rides may be closed during the time you are there. It's a Small World has been closed when we are there the last two years but we knew before we went this year so I wasn't that mom shedding a tear when we walked passed and saw it closed! (last year I definitely was that mom though) There are so many great ways to make the most of your time at Disneyland and these are just a few of our tips. Once we've done everything we want to do, we find there is ALWAYS extra time to go back for second time around rides or to spend a little longer waiting to meet a character or to sit waiting for the fireworks an half hour, which you have to do sometimes for a good seat in font of the castle).
Day 2.

Hunter was the captain of the boat!

How we occupy our time waiting in line for Peter Pan (45 minute wait).

I hope this post was helpful and gave you a few new ideas to how you can manage your time and make your trip with your littles the most magical vacation yet.
We sure LOVE Disneyland. It's held a special place in my heart since I was a little girl and I love the opportunity we have to go often as our children grow.
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And the photo of this trip goes to Hunter & Super Shelley.
Waiting in line for Peter Pan, one of Grandmas favorite rides, I captured this sweet moment.
We were so lucky to have my mom with us for a day. We sure love her and we're so glad we got to make some Disney memories with her.