After a day and a half at California Adventure, we needed some rest and some time to get ready for our next adventure…Mickey’s Halloween Party! Simon napped, and then we all went swimming together for a few minutes to cool off. Then we packed up and headed off to Disneyland for the party.
Here we are in the Magic Kingdom! Walking down Main Street is always so much fun!
We headed straight for fantasy land because Elias has been talking about riding tea cups and dumbo for months now. Both the boys had a blast riding those two rides.
Then we tried a new ride for our family…the Casey Junior Train! Look at these monkeys:
Then, we decided to try the Thunder Mountain Railroad. I thought Elias might really like it, but it turns out I was wrong. I had forgotten how loud everything is at Disneyland. Elias has always been wary of loud and sudden noises, and even though he was thrilled by the train ride, he was screaming in tears from the whole experience. I felt bad that I had put him through it, but sometimes I think he would never try anything new if it was just up to him. So…I told him he had to try it once and if he didn’t like it I would never make him do it again. He didn’t like it at all. You can seem him here after the ride…his poor little eyes red from crying.
After Thunder Mountain, we realized that it was almost 7 p.m. The party was about to start, and we hadn’t even eaten dinner yet! After a little bit of a struggle finding a place to eat, we sat down to a yummy dinner and then changed the boys into their costumes for the party.
Let me tell you! Disney really knows how to throw a party. The park is closed to everyone except for those who have purchased special admission to the party so it is slightly less crowded. (Although it still seemed pretty crowded to me!) The lights come on and the costumes come out. They had set up many many stations through out the park where you could trick-or-treat. Elias was thrilled about getting some of his favorite…plain M&M’s. Look how wide he is holding open his bag!
After trick-or-treating in a few different places, we decided to go on another ride. Pirates of the Caribbean it was! Elias, entranced by the party and the lights and the beautiful music, decided that he had had enough of rides and wanted to stay outside and trick-or-treat. I told him he could have some M&M’s if he got in line. That did the trick! We all enjoyed the first half of Pirates of the Caribbean together. Elias, though, fell asleep on the ride! To be fair, it was probably almost 9:00 p.m. (two or so hours past his normal bedtime) at the time he fell asleep and he hadn’t had a nap. I wasn’t sure if he was out for the count or if he would wake up to party some more. We put him in the stroller, and he ended up staying asleep in the stroller the entire rest of the party!
Simon stayed awake for awhile longer. He enjoyed this beautiful singing group floating on the water with me.
And we did a little more trick-or-treating. But then we lost Simon too! It is hard to go on rides with two sleeping boys on your hands. I wished so much for my double bob stroller! My parents traded off with Nathan and I, and we got to ride Space Mountain while the boys were asleep. After a bit more party fun, we decided to turn in and get the boys into a real bed, especially since we were going to have another early morning the next day! The party was supposed to go until midnight, and we lasted until almost 11 so I’d say we got our money’s worth.
We got in a family picture while Elias was conked out in the stroller. Poor little guy!
We were exhausted from our day at two different parks and a late Halloween party. The Mickey’s Halloween party was really cool, but I’d say I would recommend it mostly to families with older kids. It was just too hard for the boys when the party didn’t start until their normal bed time. The day was so fun and magical and so tiring at the same time! We still had one day left, which I’ll write about soon in part four!