Ryder Goes To Disneyland (Day One)

Well, I survived a two day Disneyland trip, just me and the kids.  It actually wasn't as bad as it could have been... truth be told, it wasn't all that difficult.  My friend Karen came and met us for half the day on Monday (so I guess I wasn't solo the whole trip).  Monday went especially smooth, probably because I had Karen there to take Savannah to ride the big kid rides.  Plus, she's a Disneyland expert... she hooked us up with some behind the scenes knowledge and tips.  It pays to be an annual pass holder for Disneyland (so totally jealous).  We've already decided that when she gets married and has kids that Eric is just going to have to give in and move us to Cali so we can raise our kids in total Disney bliss together.  A girl can dream, right.  Anyhow, the trip was a blast.  The kids were good.  Savannah got to do a few new things.  Ryder was crazy into everything.  He recognized a lot of the characters (Disney brainwashing payed off).  I LOVED getting to take him to Disneyland for the first time!  

So at Disneyland you can go to city hall on main street and they will give you (for free) buttons for whatever you are there celebrating.... and if it's your first visit, they will give you one for that too.  So we were getting his first visit button and the lady asked how old he was and I said almost a year, so they went ahead and gave us a Happy Birthday button too.  You get the royal treatment at Disneyland if you have a birthday button.  Characters in the parade come talk and dance with you, cast members (park employees) wish you a happy birthday and give you special surprises... there really is nothing like it.  Plus you get in free on your birthday!  Ryder is already free, so we didn't benefit from that this time, still pretty cool though.

One of the rides/areas we tried out for the first time was Russell's Wilderness Adventure Camp (from the movie UP).  In true Disney fashion, SO COOL!  They have six stations that you have to complete in order to earn you wilderness explorer badge (just like Russell had to do in the movie).  A few of them were easy, some were hard, and one or two were pretty tricky.  The funniest and in my opinion the most dangerous was the bravery task.  Savannah had to zip line on a rope swing by herself.  I figured she would chicken out, so I decided to video the whole thing.  Good thing I did, because let me tell you... words can not express how badly she could have been hurt.  Good thing she held on tight... it so could have been an unhappy ending.  Now it's just funny.  She for sure earned her bravery badge!