Team D: When You Wish Upon A Star...

The Dodson Girls are Here!

All minnied Up

Pixie Hollow

Danica C

Getting their game faces on for Toy Story

Andrew gallantly offered to be in this picture

Teacups!

Magical

First ones here! Way to go Clark!

Their mother's favorite ride as a girl

Dude, DLand Rocks. Don't make me get on this plane!

I am an unabashed "Disney Basher." I truly think they are trying to slow the progress of women and turn the most promising of little girls into looks obsessed, money obsessed 'princesses.' So why did I take my girls to Disneyland? Because I remember loving Disneyland as a kid, and I remember it wasn't all about princesses, finding a prince, and getting me to give Disney every last dime. I didn't want to miss out on the time when they "still believed," and I think 5 may be the perfect age to go. So we went, thinking that it was probably going to be a big hassle.

But as I pushed C and D (we didn't take Lila, and Andrew came a few hours later from NY) down Main Street, I started to cry. Because it was like walking into a memory. Main Street looks just like it did when I was a kid, and I could practically see the 5 year old me in the Penny Arcade, and the 8 year old me having breakfast underneath a pink and white striped umbrella or picking out a crystal unicorn as my big treat (I swear I still have it). And I was with my family; I was with my Dad. Even as I write this, there are tears running down my face. We didn't take a lot of vacations as a kid, but I very distinctly remember going to D-land when I was about 5 and about 8. From then on, I checked cynicism at the door, and I let the pixie dust in.

And we had a blast. We had so much fun I still laugh with surprise when I think about it. C and D could NOT have behaved better. From the moment we did our first ride--Buzz Lightyear--which turned out to be one of their favorites--to our final (and second hit) of "Soaring Over California" they were smiling, happy, grateful, sweet, troopers. Memories to note:

We did Buzz 4 times in D Land and Toy Story 2 times in California Adventure. On the last buzz D miraculously got 75,400 points. This is about what Andrew gets, and way more than I could swing. She was thrilled.
Right after Buzz on the first afternoon, we hit Small World. They sang their little hearts out because they knew the song from PreK graduation. We left the ride and ran right into the 3pm parade. At first I was going to bail--too princessy--but it wasn't that bad and the girls loved seeing Ariel in her flippers (Ariel was actually the first person we saw when we arrived--miraculously--but she was in her "people clothes" and they weren't down with that.) The parade was actually pretty sweet and ended with mary Poppins, and I still can't get Supercali-you-know-what out of my head (and I'm OK with that---scary).
About an hour in D says, almost to herself, in amazement, "I think I like the rides more than the treats." I realized that they really didn't know what to expect of DLand, and the beauty of DLand is that it actually over delivers to a 5 year old who hasn't seen much in the way of movies, bells and whistles, etc.
We were, however, outfitted an hour in with minnie hats to protect them from the sun. And we definitely got some little treats. C only asked once for a costume and didn't even seem to care when I said no. She got a music box, a cheap Ariel watch, and an ariel water bottle, and D got a minnie mouse pencil case, a captain hook light up hook, and a little ariel necklace.
I was pleasantly surprised by how kind the employees are...maybe they are beaten into submission, but whatever it is, they could not have been nicer.
It was packed, but 3 of the 4 have Dodson blood, so both mornings we made it there before opening (at 6:45 and 7:45am). The first few hours both mornings were awesome and then we managed (thanks to Clark) to not have to wait too long anywhere. Besides, waiting in line in DLand is sort of a rite of passage.
D went on Big Thunder Mountain with A, and they all went on Splash Mountain. In the Splash Mountain picture, D is huddled down so far behind A that you literally cannot see her. We got off and asked "Did you have fun?" "Yes!" Do you want to go on it again? "NO!"
They were a little scared of Pirates and Haunted House, and I was probably a little dumb to take them on them. And they even did Star Wars once.
They liked all the rides that allowed them to do something---shoot something (Toy Story/Buzz), steer (Dumbo--their all time favorite ride), or the astro gliders, the Redwood Forest area in C Adventure, and the autopia. They loved getting a license at the Autopia.
Some rides were lost on them because we haven't seen the movies--Nemo, bug's life, the other characters in the fairytales--cinderella's fairy godmother, snow white's witch, etc.
I did draw the line somewhere. We avoided the princess faire and the bibbidy boppity--let's turn you into Jon Benet Ramsey boutique. That part was seriously disturbing. And we didn't wait the 2 hours in line to meet Rapunzel (C was a little sad but opted to do other rides instead--she hasn't seen tangled so probably not as big of a deal anyway). We did go see Tinkerbell at 8 in the am, and she was sweet. She asked the girls "Are you fairies" "No." "Are you princesses?" "No." Finally D kind of throws up her little hand and says, "We're little girls." Yes, yes you are.
Dressing them alike was a GOOD call--easier to spot and people were really nice to them.
The new Ariel ride is a sad sign of the direction Disney is going. The last half of the ride is all about her getting her man. Even C, who is obsessed, didn't want to go on the ride more than once, and said "I liked it until it got all 'wedding-ee.'
It was, admittedly, annoying to see how much they sell you at every turn. Pirates didn't have Johnny Depp in it when I was a kid, and Storybookland had the 3 little pigs, not Ariel's Grotto. When I said this to C she said, "Mom, Ariel wasn't in Storybookland when you were growing up because she was growing up too. She's 38 and a half, you know." Before I could enjoy the idea that C sees us as the same age, A pops in, "Man, Ariel is OLD!"
We did have lunch with the princesses. They were the only girls not in (tarty) costumes. They liked seeing everyone but they got less attention than many girls because they just didn't gush enough. Their father took care of all the gushing. Apparently, Belle was hot.
We saw one show but it started to scare them so we headed home. But thankfully we stopped at the end of Main Street and watched the Fireworks. Tink and Dumbo flew over head. The girls were enthralled.
Andrew and I had visions of us relaxing at night after coming home--hah!---it was exhausting. But it was awesome. Halfway through the trip C looks at me and says "Mom I think dreams really DO come true in Disneyland." D Land reminded me what awesome little girls I have and how lucky I am to share these memories with them. So yes, she is probably right.