rides | If By Yes

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disneyland, parenting, rides, toddlers, travel, two year olds

Well, the Karmic Realignment hit Perfect Husband’s gastrointestinal system shortly after midnight. He spent the night vomiting violently and the day groaning in bed while I carted Owl around Disneyland by myself.

It could have been worse.

As much as it sucked to leave poor PH in the dark of our hotel room and play single parent at the happiest place on Earth, and as challenging as it was for me to find food and potties in a timely manner without my Map Man, Owl and I still had a really good day.

(As a side note, possibly due to sleep deprivation I recurrently misread signs announcing that “The Happiest Place on Earth Just Got Happier” as saying “The Happiest Place On Earth Just Got Herpes.”)

Ready to start another day

He hugged a bunch of dressed up characters (insisting in getting in line for a second dose of Goofy hugs).

We did Peter Pan’s Flight which was too dark and jerky and he bumped his chin on the stop at the end.

I took him on a carousel as consolation, and then he fell in love with the Finding Nemo Submarine (which WAS frigging awesome – they have underwater holograms of the Nemo characters so it’s like they actual animated characters are swimming right out your window in 3D).

Even though the ride has a faux explosion and a scary lanternfish, the young set loved it. The 18 month old next to me surprised her parents (who I previously had heard arguing over whether she was old enough to appreciate anything, ever) by absolutely adoring the bubbles and fish.

That was the first ride which wasn’t a carousel that Owl demanded to go on repeatedly. I think we went on it three or four times.

In the late afternoon, PH managed to stagger out of the room long enough to find us in line for yet another round of Finding Nemo, and come with us to the evening parade.

On the last day PH was still feeling sick, but was at least able to walk around. We took Owl to Goofy’s Kitchen for breakfast which blew his little mind. SO MANY CHARACTERS TO HUG. Pluto led him by his hand to our seats and we were visited by Chip, Dale (who liked to jump up behind people), Goofy, Belle, and Rafiki of all people.

Owl was in extrovert heaven. I have very cute videos of him demanding that Rafiki “Come hi me.”

Then we did Pirates of the Caribbean (which Owl weathered surprisingly well), and the Monsters, Inc ride which Owl insisted on repeating four times in a row and featured a holographic Randall who appears out of thin air and then disappears again.

If you go to Disneyland, go in February. Look at the line for the Monsters, Inc ride.

That is a 0 minute wait, right there.

We did those 4 repetitions within a half an hour. The longest line we had to wait in was probably 20 minutes for Finding Nemo.

Then we went to A Bug’s Land and that was where Owl found his Mecca – Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train which features (get this): A hungry caterpillar train that goes around eating GIANT PIECES OF FOOD.

OWL HEAVEN!

Heimlich munches his way through a giant apple, a giant watermelon (which smells like watermelon) and a giant box of cookies (which smells like COOKIE). My food obsessed toddler spent forty minutes going on this ride again and again AND AGAIN.

“Caterpillar EATED DE WATERMELON, MOMMY!”

Finally, PH took Owl back to Carsland to say goodbye to McQueen and Mater while I went on Soaring Over California, which was awesome and not at all scary, as promised by the coworker who recommended it.

And then we grabbed a bite of sub-par food (which is just called “food” at Disneyland and costs about three times as much as it is worth), finally found a stuffed Nemo (Owl insisted in picking up Dory while we were at it), and it was time to say goodbye to Disneyland.