Introducing Darcy To The Wonderful World Of Disney

So we had agreed that we would take Darcy to Disneyland for her third birthday. Michael grew up going to Disney and may have had a small Disney obsession for a few years. Then he went and got himself a new job and we will no longer be in southern California in November, so we decided to take her before we left. That translated into yesterday. And what a day it was!

Yesterday, Disneyland was open from 10 am until 8 pm. Our plan was to get there at opening bell, so to speak, and to stay until Darcy was approaching a walking coma, which we assumed would be around 4 or 5. We walked through the gates at 9:50 (they do a ceremonial opening on Main Street, USA at 10) and walked back out around 7:20 after indulging her request for one more ride on the submarines! Who knew that the wonderful world of Disney would manage to keep Darcy entertained for almost ten hours with no nap and only one very minor meltdown at lunch? Considering that she knows almost none of the Disney characters or the stories behind most of the rides, it was a small miracle.

There were the rides. We were taking our Jungle Cruise by about 10:05, followed by the carousel, the Alice in Wonderland ride (Darcy did NOT like it -- too loud and too many sudden changes), the spinning teacups, and It's A Small World. That one, Darcy liked. A lot. She was singing along with the song by the end of the ride and we ended up riding it twice more later in the day. We took the steam train around most of the park after that, both for a rest and because Darcy loves trains. She loved the Grand Canyon and dinosaurs the train passes, too.

We climbed the tree house and rode with the Pirates of the Caribbean, which she loved even with the steep drops and darkness. Then we went to explore a Winnie-the-Pooh themed ride that was new to Michael. It was mostly Pooh dreaming of rivers of honey and was well-received. And when we got out? There was Tigger! And within a few minutes, Pooh and Eyeore joined him. Darcy got pictures with all three, but was not completely convinced that being near these giant characters was a good thing.

She was very sure -- even while we were trying to take a picture with Pooh -- that Pooh's overflowing collection of honey pots was a very, very good thing. After posing with Tigger, we went around to the back of the honey pile and she got to see it up close and personal. You can see Pooh just behind her, but unfortunately, can't see the personification of the Heffalump which looks like a bee crossed with an elephant. Quite cute!


There were, of course, more rides. The Nemo-themed submarine ride (twice), the rockets, more train rides. We had a nice, quiet interlude petting goats at the ranch. As she did the only other time she's had the opportunity (maybe at the Portland Zoo?), Darcy made sure to pet each and every goat. Very briefly.


We were able to get away without buying anything except food and Michael's indulgence of a silhouette of Darcy. It was pretty impressive watching it made. The woman who cut it just sat and looked at Darcy sitting on Michael's lap and took her folded piece of paper and very small, sharp scissors, and a minute later -- it was done! She told us she'd been cutting the silhouettes at Disney for 35 years! She did a great job with the crazy-curls. Michael is planning on scanning it and (maybe?) actually writing his first post for this blog. Darcy was very restrained in the gift stores. We went in planning to get her something small, but just didn't see anything we wanted for her and nothing she begged to have.

When we got back to the car, we got Darcy into PJs for the ride home, and ten minutes later? She was sound asleep. She slept the whole ride home and even transferred from the car to her bed without waking up, something she has done only a handful of times. All in all, I think we got our money's worth from our day at Disney. We have a happy girl and fond memories.