We made our way into the park towards the Magic Kingdom and Toon Town, and on our way through Main Street, Nolan spotted a fun vintage fire truck that he was amazed by. We snapped some pictures at the castle before heading over to ride Small World, and got some great ones of the Big Brother and new baby's awesome Mouseketeer outfit... staying simple before we knew if it was a little Mickey or Minnie! :)
We were a little early to enter into Toon Town, so we decided to ride It's A Small World before heading over to meet with Mickey. The wait was decently short, and we took advantage of this since the rest of our trip, it was at least a 35+ minute wait to ride! Nolan loved that we got to ride in a boat and loved looking at everything (seriously, so much stuff) inside the ride. The Christmas decorations are above and beyond for this ride, and was definitely my favorite attraction for the week! Pictures just don't do it justice and I wish we could have ridden it a million times more!
After our amazement with Small World, it was time to head to Toon Town and have Mickey reveal if we were having a little baby boy or little girl! Jason waited in line to meet Mickey for about 15 minutes, while I took Nolan to explore Toon Town. He had a blast driving Mickey's car and seeing Donald's boat and Goofy's Playhouse. We went back to meet Daddy, and he was already at the front of the line, which meant it was gender reveal time!
Shortly after our reveal, we snapped some must-needed pictures of the Big Bro and his Little Sister's ears, and I died a little inside on how cute they came out.
We spent some time in Fantasyland, riding a couple rides before we had to make our reservation for breakfast at The Plaza Inn. We checked out Storybook Land Canal boats, and again, Nolan loved that we got to ride in a boat over water. Jason and I had never ridden this ride before, and it was cute and there were some pretty features to look at, but Nolan really just enjoyed watching the water below him and the Casey Jr. Train riding around him. It also put the baby next to us to sleep... so there was that. :)
We headed over to The Plaza Inn to enjoy our breakfast with Minnie and Friends, and right away, Nolan was set on meeting Tigger and Eeyore since they were the first ones he saw. Max from a Goofy Movie was the first character to come greet us, and Nolan had zero desire to interact with him since he was set on meeting Eeyore and Tigger, first (plus, he wasn't really familiar with Max... who knew he was still around!?) He gave him a nice high-five and kiss on the nose to be polite, but really, he was totally focused on the Pooh gang.
Once it was his turn to meet Eeyore, he gave him a big hug, and again, froze up and just wanted to snuggle! Poor Eeyore wasn't really sure what to do with him, so they just hugged it out a lot!
Tigger was next, and he got Nolan moving by hopping around with him and being silly with him!
Chip came around our corner after we had a little break to eat, and Nolan liked petting his soft fur and poking his nose the most.
We were greeted by one of the mice from Cinderella, next... her name is definitely not one I was familiar with! Oops! Nolan had his eyes on his one true love in the distance though... Minnie was on her way over and he knew it!
Finally, Minnie made her way over to our table, and Nolan ran right up to her and gave her the biggest hug. He absolutely loved Minnie the most out of all of our character meets through the week, so luckily he got to meet her on more than one occasion!
We spent a decent amount of time enjoying breakfast and Mickey waffles, and meeting lots of new friends, but we eventually headed out and made our way to ride some more rides! We ventured back to Fantasyland, and hopped on King Arthur Carrousel, which Nolan absolutely adored. He has been on numerous carousels before, but I think he knew this one was special, and loved it more than any other he's ever been on!
After exiting the carousel, Nolan tried his luck at the Sword in the Stone, and gave all his strength and serious faces to get that thing out!
We hit up the Casey Jr. Circus Train and Nolan also loved this one! He thought it was awesome to be riding the "Choo-choo" and didn't want to get off when we were done. I loved the view from riding up over Fantasyland, and the weather was perfect!
Since we finished up most of the rides in Fantasyland, minus the ones we knew Nolan wouldn't enjoy (the spinning teacups were out!) we headed over to Big Thunder Ranch to hang with the sheep and goats! This was one of Nolan's favorite things about Disneyland, and he loved being able to pet and snuggle with the little furries. We spent a decent amount of time here, knowing that it would be our last chance to enjoy BTR since they would be closing it in January to make room for Star Wars Land.
After scrubbing down and saying "Bye" to our goat friends, we headed towards Frontierland and watched the Mark Twain Riverboat take off from the dock. Nolan loved watching the boat, but we knew he would get restless once on it, so we passed on taking the trip over to Tom Sawyer Island. Instead, we decided to hop onto "Jingle" Cruise in Adventureland since there was only about a 20 minute wait. Nolan did decently well waiting in line again, and we were constantly moving through the line, up and down the stairs and through the maze-like waiting area, which was a nice distraction for him. He was again excited to ride on a boat, and loved watching all the animals intently as we passed through. He got excited for the cobra snakes, monkies and the lions, and loved seeing the waterfall!
Directly after Jingle Cruise, we decided to head up to Critter Country to ride Winnie the Pooh, but Nolan was starting to fall asleep in his stroller, so we ended up at The Haunted Mansion and turned right back around to return to the hotel for naps. We all took a two hour nap, which was a great refresher, woke back up, got changed and started our evening back in Disney!
When we returned, the sun was just starting to set and the Christmas lights weren't quite yet on, but still made for some great pictures, especially in front of the giant Christmas Tree on Main Street. We had the Photopass member take our pictures, which came out perfect for our Christmas card.... except the employee must not have had the correct setting on because the color was SO off! Boo! Luckily we also had her take pictures with our camera, and they still came out good, just not as great as the others.
We had just missed the Christmas parade as we returned to the park, but we hurried over to Critter Country to pick up where we left off, and this time, planned on meeting Santa Claus before it got too crowded. On our way over, we picked up some fast passes for The Haunted Mansion, and planned on coming back right after. We were in luck when we got to Critter Country, and there were only two people in front of us in line! While we waited, Nolan visited with snow Pooh and his friends. We were sad to discover that Pooh was in hibernation this time of the year, since Santa took over Pooh's Thoughtful Spot to set up his meet and greets, so the snow Pooh would have to do!
It was our turn to meet Santa, and Nolan walked right up to him with no worries or care in the world. He sat right on his lap and they got right to hugging it out and talking about what Nolan would like for Christmas... in which he replied with nothing and just touched his beard, instead. He took some pictures with Santa, and gave us the most awkward looking face that his hilarious, because he was saying, "Cheese!" but with all seriousness since meeting Santa was apparently, strictly business! We said our Goodbyes to Santa and Nolan tried to go back twice towards him, and then was coaxed out with a Candy Cane from a Disney Cast Member. It worked out perfectly and knocked out having to take photos with Santa at the mall, this year! I love that in the background of their photo, there are lots of Pooh and friends pictures that make this year's Santa photo extra special!
We rode Winnie the Pooh right after, and Nolan absolutely adored this ride, also. He laughed throughout it and waved to all of his Pooh friends. When we exited, we had to take a quick stop into Pooh's Corner Bakery and drooled over all the amazing goodies. We passed this time around, and actually went to grab some dinner at Jolly Holiday, but not before stopping back at Haunted Mansion and riding with our Fast Passes, first.
At dinner, I engulfed my grilled cheese and tomato soup special (an absolute must-have when you visit here), and seriously considered ordering another one, especially since this has been my major pregnancy craving this time around! Instead, we devoured a signature Mickey cookie, although if I were to go back and do it all again, I'd probably order two grilled cheese specials, the Mickey cookie, and the Raspberry Rose Mickey Macaroon.... why we didn't order this, still baffles me! Gah.
After we were done eating, we contemplated grabbing a spot for the Paint the Night parade, but knew Nolan wouldn't last waiting for an hour, so we took our chances at losing an up-close spot and decided to check out Tomorrowland. We ended up back at Small World, and I really wanted to ride it again at night... but once we saw that it was a 75 minute wait... we decided that was a negative, for sure. Small World is definitely the prettiest part of Disneyland at Christmastime in my opinion... gorgeous! And, all those people still make me a little anxious... Yikes!
With all those said "crowds", we discovered the park was at it's max and they were actually ushering people out of the park to be able to have room for the parade. I was devastated as I really wanted to see the Paint the Night parade, and knew Nolan would love watching all of his favorite characters, so we desperately walked around for about 35 minutes trying to find a decent spot. We ended up squished in the back of a crowd on Main Street, but were able to see the parade decently, so at least we got to see it! I wasn't able to snap any pictures because we were literally shoulder to shoulder with people... it was insane!
The parade was amazing, and we made our way out of the park intending to watch the fireworks from Downtown Disney. With the first few "BOOMs", Nolan was a little hesitant, and with more and more fireworks going off, he was totally not a fan and started screaming. We had to dodge into World of Disney again, to avoid the loud bangs, so I got some shopping done while Nolan continued to be "over it" and was ready to go back to the hotel and crash. I quickly grabbed what we needed while avoiding the fireworks show outside, and as soon as it was over, we headed back to the hotel to get some rest!
Stayed tuned for our last day in Disney!
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