Disneyland '17- Day 1

It was last summer that we started thinking about going to Disneyland in January.  I mentioned it to my parents because if they came with us we could buy "military salute" tickets (because of my dad's service in the Navy) for half the price of regular tickets. Then we invited Nick who in turn invited his friend Dan.

Dan and Nick were staying at a different hotel than us, so we didn't get our picture with them when we arrived on Thursday morning.  They were already in the park. 

Not bad!

Our first stop was to City Hall to get Elliott a "first trip" badge.  He refused to wear it. 

Then we immediately saw Goofy. 

We had reservations at the Plaza Inn (in the park) that morning for a character dining breakfast.  We got our food from the buffet and sat down and Elliott immediately had some sort of huge problem with his eye.  It was absolutely ridiculous.  And it just got worse and worse.  At one point he actually started screaming and was completely hysterical and I had to get all up in his face and seriously threaten him to get him to calm the eff down.  It was in the top 10 of all time worst parenting experiences ever. And then, just as randomly as his eye pain started, it just ended.  I'm definitely calling it a psychological problem. 

So, please excuse all of the pictures of Elliott. 

Oh seriously?  It's just all better now?  After you eat some food and drink some chocolate milk and realize this is actually fun and not torture (and incredibly expensive)?  

Group picture of our hand stamps.  Nick didn't notice my dad's hand was kind of missing. 

Our first ride was Pirates of the Caribbean.  Michael was right next to a guy wearing the exact same shirt.  And then there was another guy later in the day in the same shirt and he took a selfie with Michael.  If anybody tracks it down on instagram, send it to me, K?

Elliott's first ride.  He didn't love it. He didn't hate it. 

Winnie the Pooh

The only total group picture we got on any of the three days.  Huge fail. 

Indiana Jones

Thunder Mountain Railroad, which we called Thunder Canyon Brewery the whole time we were there (it's a restaurant in Tucson). 

My dad's favorite, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Elliott was so excited to drive the car.

Nick and Spencer on Dumbo.  Nick took Spencer on Dumbo at Disney World in 2013.  I'll have to do a side by side comparison. But not tonight.

Tomorrowland 

The storm troopers were hilarious. 

Hyperspace Mountain.  Spencer was sitting next to my mom.  He just didn't make the picture. 

There was a whole Star Wars exhibit in the old Innoventions building.

Boba Fett was there.

Nick put his hands up and asked if he could take a picture like that.  He was rather harshly warned (by the "handlers") that Boba Fett was not arresting anyone today and he needed to put his arms down immediately. 

We went to Carnation Cafe for dinner and were able to watch a lot of the electric light parade from our table.  After dinner Elliott just lost it and was too tired to carry on.  Michael and my parents left to take him back and the four remaining people went on a few more rides. 

We went on Pirates again, right before we left. 

It was a lot of fun,

until the ride broke down and we got stuck here (like 15 seconds from the end) for close to 30 minutes. 

The castle at the end of the night. 

We were staying really close to the park.  It was such a nice walk there and back.  I'd totally stay here again. 

Days 2 and 3 up next!