Disneyland

So with the new job in site, we planned our first family Disneyland vacation. The vacation was a reward for Nicolae being diaper free during awake times. The last time Marius and I were there was on our honeymoon. This time Marius wanted to go to San Diego to go to the zoo and Sea World. Neither of us had been to San Diego before. The first day we drove to Vegas and stayed the night with Ciprian and Kjersten. The next day (Saturday, May 9th) we drove to San Diego. When we finally arrived in San Diego, we checked into our hotel and drove down to the old town area for dinner. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then did a little souvenir shopping. By that time we were exhausted from traveling and hit the hay. Nicolae slept very well in the queen bed next to us. Hopefully next time we go to Disneyland we won’t need to bring the playpen for Elijah.


The second day we headed straight to the zoo. We were there about 30 min after they opened and headed right up easy street. We spent the whole day at the zoo, 9 hours. It was huge and wonderful. We were so exhausted when we left. We saw just about everything there. At the very end we decided to see if we could still see the gorilla. Right as we got to the Gorilla, the large male was right close to the glass. He was waiting for his food so we were able to watch him for about 5 minutes. The kids really liked the Gorilla.

The next day we went to Sea World. Unfortunately the dolphin show was canceled but we pretty much saw everything else. Shamu was great! We also did a back stage kind of pass to the dolphins. I would not do it again in the future because we spent too much money on it compared to what you can do for much cheaper with the dolphins on the other side of the stingray pool. After Sea World we drove up to Anaheim. The kids were exhausted and were able to have a nap. The drive was very pretty and relaxing with the kids sleeping. After checking into our hotel in Anaheim we headed around the corner to eat. The next three days were Disney packed. We did just about every ride we could take the kids on and squeezed in a few rides of our own. Elijah didn’t cry at all on any ride! Nicolae didn’t like any ride that was dark inside which is most of them because they go through scenes inside. They both really enjoyed it’s a small world after all. We took everyone on Pirates of the Caribbean twice. The first time was the best because we got the front seat in the boat. I had prepped Nicolae for the ride and told him all about it including the drop but he was still scared when it turned pitch blank and dropped. Elijah didn’t cry but just held onto Marius for dear life. The second time was similar but not so dramatic since we were in the middle of the boat.

On the last day Nicolae was being kind of ornery so I asked him if he wanted to go on the rollercoaster. He said yes so I proceeded to tell him all about it on our way to Toon Town. He was excited until we got on the ride. He started panicking going up the rollercoaster. I told him earlier he could laugh or scream but he couldn’t cry. I think he cries when he is scared. Some people scream and some people laugh but in Nicolae’s case, he cries. So he halved screamed and half cried through the whole ride. As we exited he was still crying and I got him off and to the side. I knelt down and said, “Nicolae, Mommy told you it was scary, right?” He says, “yes”. I said, “was it scary”? He said “yes”. “But did you have fun?” He cried, “yes”. LOL!

On the last night of Disneyland we watched the fireworks. The fireworks were amazing! They were much better than I expected. The kids were so tired they refused to stay awake to watch them.

The next day Nicolae asked if we were going to Disneyland again and I said no, we were going home but I asked him what his favorite ride was and he said, “the rollercoaster”. Imagine that!!