A Surprise Trip to Disneyland!

A few months ago, we got a wonderful surprise from one of the attorney’s at Dennis’s firm.  I eluded to it in this post, but never came back to tell you what the fun surprise was…

We were given 4 tickets to Disneyland!

Disneyland is one of our favorite places!  Even before we had kids, Dennis took me there 4 times in our first year of dating. I remember how excited he was the first time we went together. Hanging out with him there, I was tickled by how much he loved it.

We did annual passes to celebrate Dennis’s 50th birthday and went a bunch!  The kids had a blast and have been asking to go to Disneyland regularly ever since the passes expired, about two years ago now.  We kept telling them that it was expensive and we’d save up money to go in a few years.

So, these free tickets were very exciting!  We decided to surprise the kids and not tell them we were going to Disneyland until we woke them up Saturday morning.  Teo came into our bed around 6:00 a.m. (per his usual routine), so we told him first.  He was so excited and ran into Sienna’s room to tell her!  I quickly chased after him and just caught a glimpse of Sienna’s reaction.  She jumped up in her bed out of a deep sleep… “What? Disneyland?!?”  It was priceless.

Our day was wonderful!  It was early June and wasn’t too hot yet.  We know the park so well that it was easy to navigate and hit the rides we wanted to do without terrible wait times. The parade at the end was amazing, as was the new fireworks display.

The kids are both finally big enough to ride the rollercoasters!  We all went on Thunder Mountain Railroad together, which had been under construction for much of our “Year of Disney”.  I rode with Teo; Sienna rode with daddy. It’s such a great ride, but Teo was freaked out by the bats in the caves.  Poor kid.  After that he refused to ride anymore rollercoasters.

When it was time for Space Mountain, we had 4 Fast Passes and only three interested riders.  Sienna and Dennis went first while Teo and I looked around the Tomorrowland shops. When they came off the ride, I asked her how it was.  She looked a little shaken up as she told me it was fun.  I asked if she wanted to ride again with me.  She hesitated, and then said, “Okay, yes!  Let’s go!”  I explained that she was feeling exhilarated.  It can feel a little like fear, but it’s just because you’re so excited!

The outing turned out to be a milestone in that we didn’t bring a stroller!  The kids walked (almost all day).  We ended up carrying Teo at the end, but Sienna hoofed it from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.  We brought the kid’s pajamas along and they promptly fell asleep on the drive home.

For weeks after our visit, the kids kept asking when we could go to Disneyland again.

I explained, “Not for a long time, we need to save our money.”  Sienna shrewdly replied, “That’s what you said before, but then we went.”

Ah, touché.