For William’s actual 4th birthday (you know, December 8th?), our friend who works for Disney let us into the park as her birthday present to William. Let me just say here for the record: BEST PRESENT EVER!
William had SO MUCH FUN. He got to see BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!! He got to see Donna the Dog Lady, Lightning and Mater and Flik. Santa, of course. And OLAF! But did I mention Buzz??? William was so excited to see Buzz that he was, literally, quivering! And Olaf, oh my goodness, it was so funny — William told him that he liked carrots, and when Olaf ran away, he started laughing so hard! He “ice skated” around the frozen fountain and even built a tiny snowman on the side of it.
We rode Racers ride, rode in Mater’s Junkyard, did some bumper car ride in Bug Land, did the Toy Story ride (THREE TIMES), and played in the snow in Olaf’s Winter wonderland. In Disneyland, we made it over there around 5 PM and had dinner and then rode on the Dumbo ride and the Buzz Lightyear ride (TWO TIMES) and It’s a Small World.
More than all that, though, he conquered his fear of tunnels! Ever since last year’s debacle when we got stuck on the Racers ride inside the tunnel, he has been terrified of rides with tunnels. But he did it! And now he says he’s not scared anymore!
The cast members were so nice to us … from our friend who let us in (forever grateful), to cast member Eileen who told William the Toy Story ride wasn’t scary and walked us to the front of the line (no 45 minute wait in line) for the first ride — which was a blessing and a curse, because he had such a blast and was laughing so hard in the ride, that he became obsessed with it. HA! To the lady who we ordered our lunch from at Flo’s Cafe, when she found it was his birthday gifted him a mud pie. Little touches like that really made his birthday so special for him!
Then, late afternoon, he wanted to ride the Toy Story ride yet again, but decided he wanted to nurse while Tony did the line waiting. And… my boy, my 4 year old who doesn’t nap, fell asleep on me….under a rollercoaster, next to a loud, dinging dart game, on a bench, fell asleep on me. So, he gave me a BIRTH day gift of letting me hold him for his 30 minute power nap. Which gave him just the boost he needed to be able to stay for the fireworks in Disneyland, which were scheduled later this year (9:30 PM) than they were last year.
On the drive home, he kept saying, “I’m up way past my bedtime. I’m up way past my bedtime.” Yeah, well, you only go to Disneyland once a year. So an 11:15 PM bedtime is warranted for such an occasion.
Jammie J's Quest 