Disneyland Day 1 -
Before you go to Disneyland there are a few things I find to be necessary. First you MUST have either a cute hair style, cute bows in your hair, or you have to wear Mickey ears. For our first day Hailey wanted to wear her Minnie Ears. I decided a cute addition to those Minnie Ears would be a bow made with Hailey's own hair! I watched a video on YouTube on how to do it and it was TO easy not to do. I loved it, Hailey loved it, and it sure brought some attention to us!
Trying to find suitable rides for Hailey can be tricky. Since we've been before we knew the majority of the rides Hailey could go on and we know that most of those rides are at Disney California Adventure. Since there is literally only a handful of rides Hailey can enjoy we also plan our day around the shows they offer.
One of the rides that Hailey really enjoyed was Luigi's Flying Tires. It's a mellow ride which you control the movement of. It's like your a puck on a giant air hockey table. This was her first time on the ride and she was worried at first, but after she figured out you don't really have to go anywhere and if you do you aren't going fast she started enjoying it. The first time she went with Josh, the other 3 or 4 times we went all together.
Another highlight for Hailey is seeing all the characters. You can even ask the photographer to have the CARS turn down their sounds for sensitive kids. Mater, McQueen and Red like to rev their engines and honk their horns in excitement to see you and you can have them turn that off, which we did. They will even wait until you are far enough away to turn back on for the next guest.
I was so happy when I took this picture below and looked at it in the camera. She looks like a healthy "regular" little girl. She wasn't ataxic, she was standing on her own, you can't see her feeding tube, she's out of her wheelchair. Yes I got teary eyed and I still do when I look at it. I imagine for a short moment how different our lives could be. This picture gives me a glimpse into that world and I get sad wanting to be living in that world with a healthy daughter. It's only for a moment. I know that's not our life, but I'm happy I saw it, if just a for a few short seconds. It's almost a mirage.
Jasmine, Aladin, and Genie are kind of hidden. You can find them over next to the Jungle cruise in their own little area. I love how Hailey feels that these characters are there JUST FOR HER. She takes their hand and knows the drill. Autograph, Smile, Photo, Go.
Another boat ride Hailey was weary about was the Storybook ride. When she saw that all these people pile into a boat and go into a Whale's mouth she panicked! She literally saw the people go in to Monstro's mouth and she covers her mouth with her hand and screams, "NO!!!!" So we had to make sure that she saw that the same people made it safely back to shore and that the whale didn't in fact eat all those people. We took her on it and she was fine until she got closer to the Whales mouth, then she freaked, then calmed right down once we were out and the story houses were around us.
It's a Small World hasn't been open the 3 times we've taken Hailey to Disneyland. Isn't that super odd?
We thought since Hailey had been liking boat rides she might like Pirates of the Caribbean. Well..she did until you go down the water slide in the dark. I didn't remember it being as big as it was. I didn't blame her for not liking that one. Sorry my child, my bad...
Hailey was pretty wiped out and the sun hadn't even began to set. We decided to pack it on up and we'd watch the fireworks from the balcony by the pool. When we got to the room Hailey's eye's lit up as she saw her bed. The housekeeping staff went above and beyond putting Hailey's toys on the bed and adding balloon animals, chocolates, rubber duckies, and crayons and coloring pages. That was very fun to see and Hailey LOVED it!
Tomorrow would be day 2 and we have a big surprise in store for our girl and I can't wait to tell you about some GREAT people we met!!!!
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