Disneyland!

This year we all spent my dad's birthday at Disneyland.  It was the kids' first trip (well, technically Beatrice has been before but she was too young to remember it) and they had an incredible - and incredibly emotional - time.

Arthur wanted to wear his beloved Princess Anna dress to Disneyland so I told Beatrice she could choose a costume to wear, too.  She chose the Beast from Beauty and the Beast.  (She later took it off during the hottest part of the day, but she put it back on again in the evening.)

Anna and the Beast

Gillian and I went to Disneyland every year when we were kids, so it was especially fun for my parents to go with us again, and with their grandchildren, too.



Dad and Gillian on "Star Tours"



We introduced the kids to some classic rides, including Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, The Tiki Room, Star Tours, Dumbo, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and of course, the Alice in Wonderland spinning teacups.

 



 

 

 

William dozed for much of the time, or rode along on rides without understanding what he was doing, but he loved It's a Small World.

Poor Sam carried either Beatrice or Arthur almost the entire day.

 

 

My dad did some carrying, too.

My father was given a birthday pin, so he got special treatment wherever he went - and the kids all had "First Time Visitor" pins, as well.

 

 

We stayed about twelve hours without any tantrums or meltdowns the entire time - the kids were too immersed in what they were doing to act up.

William with the stuffed squirrel my parents gave him.

And after falling asleep during the parade.

Beatrice and Arthur were 100% convinced that everything they saw was real - real pirates, real princesses, a real haunted house - and so the experience was both totally thrilling and intensely terrifying.  Beatrice, in particular, was completely mesmerized. 

These pirates are not real.

Sam and Dad at Autotopia

Beatrice, Arthur, and I went on the submarine ride, where you sit in a submarine and appear to sink to the bottom of the ocean.  On the ride, you see realistic-looking sea life, but they also project film images from the movie Finding Nemo into the water so the animated characters appear to be swimming around you.  When Beatrice saw this she FREAKED OUT and started shrieking, "Am I in a movie? Are we in a movie right now? Are people watching us? Oh god, what is reality?!"

"Oh god, what is reality?!"

Despite her ontological angst, however, Beatrice loved Disneyland, and she and Arthur are already planning all the things they want to do when they go back again, just like I used to do every year when I was a kid.