Why Our First Visit Was Our Worst Visit - Taking a 3 Month Old to Disneyland

We decided to head to Disneyland on the second to last day before the Passholder summer blackout. I knew it would be crowded, but we haven't used our passes because I was too pregnant and then had a newborn. We needed to go to Disneyland with our baby before we missed out. What do you do with a baby at Disneyland? Nothing! Ok, she can watch you eat. Maybe it's not that bad, but I guess it really depends on how busy the park is on that special day...

The baby is 3 months old, she is vaccinated, she was as ready for a first visit. I had grand illusions. We'll get the 1st Visit button. We'll go on Ariel's Ride, just like we took your brother. His 1st Visit was legendary. He has been visiting every few months ever since. We even spent his birthday there this year on an epic 2 night Paradise Pier stay.

Baby D was enthusiastic about her 1st Visit! We haven't committed to a double stroller, yet. I double stacked the kids on my Bumbleride jogger to get into the park. The baby LOVEs this - something I learned in Florida. She is becoming very interested in what her brother is doing.

She couldn't wait to get inside!

But Ariel's ride had a WAY too long of a line. We didn't get very far before we started eating. The little guy was hungry for lunch. Fried cheese on a stick from the Corn Dog stand is his choice!

Fried cheese dipped in corn dog batter. 

This place was crowded and the other solid foot eaters were hungry for lunch, too, now.

This kid.

They have a tofu, zucchini, onion skewer with pitas, rice, cucumbers, and dresssings. One of the dressings is tzakiki which is made from yogurt. I'm pretty sure the rest is vegan.

Vegan food at Disney's California Adenture Park

Right across the way, you can get the most reasonably priced beer in all of Disneyland. There was a very long line there. People were buying two each. Hubby and I bought three and downed one. Ferris wheel? Now way! Waaaaay too long of a line there, too.

After this we stash our beer in our cupholders and "gamble" at the Midway Games to win a few prizes. The fishing game is one that everyone wins. If you have a whiner/crier/sore loser, then start here. They will feel like a winner and forget to cry/whine/pout because they think they won.

Then, if you play verse your kid, and nobody else plays, you are guaranteed to win a plush Toy Story horse or Timothy Mouse from Dumbo. It's up to you whether or not you let your kid win... My guy wanted to lose in a cutthroat game to a savvy seven year old. See Daddy's hand sneaking in there? Even that couldn't save him from this little shark.

Of course, there is really nothing to do for this 1st Visitor here, either.

The family notices the corn on the cob being sold at the hot dog stand for our first time. We don't eat hot dogs, well at least not ones made out of pigs or turkeys or anything like that, but corn on the cob?? Chili Lime or Buttered, succulent, vegan/vegetarian and juicy.

Later on the family will eat the corn on the cob at a stand in Fantasyland, and the baby will not give a sh*t. Pardon my French, but the baby will be very tired of watching her family eat ALL day long. This is what you do when you're a passholder and it's too crowded. It just wasn't supposed to be what you do for your 1st Visit.

So on their way through the crowded California Adventure Park, skipping Carsland or Bugsland because they are most definitely going to be (a) too crowded (b) nothing baby and or the little kid could do. So we stopped at Ghiardelli and got a sundae for the little kid.

MMMMMmmmm... what baby?

Down here! The baby! Hey what about me? Where's mine?

Don't look away for one second around this family when you have ice cream.

Hello? Hellooooo!

Remember me? The baby?!

After the boys shoveled ice cream in a race against time we caught the Play Parade, my favorite parade of all time, where the baby fell asleep.

We headed over to the LEGO store at Downtown Disney. I know it is a little bit of a walk but we always try to stop there and get a looksie and a set or two. Can't help it. It is also a nice, less crowded than the parks area to breastfeed the baby, especially when her brother is enjoying a new LEGO set. I think this was the baby's favorite part of her day! It was most likely her brother's, as usual.

We should have just cut our losses. It is EASY to exploit the baby's 1st Visit naivete. Get your pictures. Get out of there. She'll never know the difference.

Fantasyland was a mob scene where it just wasn't worth trying to put the baby on a ride. Everyone was lining up for the parade and the crowd was 7 people deep in some places! On crowded days people line up for the parade for HOURS. I think they sleep there! And move so you can get a double stroller through. LOL. This is why we are double stacking the kids in a stroller. We would have been jammed between parade goers for hours in a Double B.O.B.

The overcrowding looked like a measles outbreak waiting to happen. Forget it! Babies are vaccinated at one year. Until then they can probably just get measles by looking at the parade crowd. Ok, maybe not, but we are still a little shaken from last years outbreak here in Southern California.

We decided to try for Buzz Lightyear per big brother request and hoping it will be less crowded but it was worse! We decided to stand in line for a ride we usually walk right onto. The ride was shut down immediately upon us entering the line. That may have been the second best thing that happened that day. Standing in line sounded horrible.

There was a lot of ground covered, a lot of food stands visited, and it was getting dark. The baby was getting tired and cranky at this point in time and what does this family do? Eat more! This is the point where they eat corn and Baby D let's them know exactly what she is thinking in roaring screams. Not the happy kind.

Daddy said he would try to help the baby fall asleep. Little Buddy and I decided to jump on the Teacups together (for HIS fist time!) because the line is short. I think the line is short on busy days on the Teacups because people are afraid they are going to barf.

As long as this little boy doesn't figure out how to really make this spin to make us barf (it's too hard for a 3 year old).

You won't barf. Well Hubby would probably barf. He doesn't do spin. Tower of Terror? Yes. California Screamin' = barf.

Crowdbuster:

Short lines on Teacup Ride due to Generally unfounded fear of nausea and vomiting. 

This little boy loved it!

The little girl did not. Fantasyland was too noisy and too crowded on this last hurrah day. We ended up wrapping this day up pre-fireworks and saw them pop off behind us in the car like one final "don't let the fireworks hit you on the way out." 

We won't be going this summer because it is TOO hot and too crowded (it has nothing to do with the fact that we buy the cheap season pass). Once the busy season is over, they let us back in the park with our pass, and we have enough points on our credit card to stay 2 nights at a hotel. We can get our Disney on the way we like and get on some rides with the baby girl. I'm pretty sure her 1st Visit was her worst visit but it only gets better from here! 

Princess - your in the club, now.