Alexander is Counting

X is identifying #s 1-5. I'll hold up fingers on one hand, and he'll identify how many there are. As long as the fingers are contiguous, he gets it right most of the time (and some of the time if there are gaps...not sure if it's random chance or counting skills). So his A-Gong (grandfather) decided to test him out.
A-Gong: (holding up 2) "How many?"
X: "Two."
A-Gong: (holding up 3) "How many?"
X: "Three."
A-Gong: (holding up 6 fingers on 2 hands) "How many?"
X: (no hesitation) "One Five".

Disneyland - a Primer

We had fun at Disneyland. We were there on a Wednesday in mid-June, from around 10am to around 10pm. That's a long day for a 2- and a 5-year-old, but we all had fun. We knew that we were only going to be here for a day, and that we'll likely be back several times over the next several years (AC's parents bought a place less than an hour from Disneyland, and they plan to divide their time between there and Massachusetts). We managed to do the following without it feeling overwhelming:

• character signature from Mickey, shake hands with Goofy
• see singers on Main Street trolley
• poke around in a few stores on Main Street
• buy and fill our water spritzer
• take pix in front of the castle
• have lunch in air conditioning
• see Billy Hill and the Hillbillies
• wander around while Alexander took a nap in the stroller. While he was sleeping, we were able to:
• see the mardi gras band, get some beads tossed to the kids
• poke around in the New Orleans-oriented shops
• send K & Alana through Tarzan's treehouse (twice)
• get some sorbet
• poke around in the shops under the castle
• Then, after he woke up, we had time to:
• go to Tomorrowland...ride the rockets
• got FastPass tix for Buzz Lightyear's AstroBlaster ride
• Snack on some snacks we'd brought
• K/A went on "StarTours" while AC/X went on "Honey, I shrunk the audience!"
  (note: if a ride says "May scare small children", you should take them at their word)
• Buzz Lightyear's AstroBlaster
• Nemo's Submarine adventure
• dinner
• ice cream, cotton candy
• fireworks show (Alexander said, "It's aMAZing!")
• pick up first-time visitor pins
• shop at the Disney World Emporium

Here are my tips, given our experience:

• Adopt a loose strategy for each day you're there. Our strategy was basically to pick a couple of performances spread throughout the day, and then wander around and do what caught our fancy in between. For us, this is better than mapping out the whole park and trying to do everything...for one thing, it's impossible to know how long you'll wait in some lines, and that will require any fixed plan to need changes. For another, we know that if we exhaust or overheat the kids (or ourselves) too early, we'll all stop having fun--and we wanted this to be a happy memory from the trip. So when we arrived, we decided that we wanted to see one musical performance, one of the character parades, and the fireworks at night. We also knew we'd need lunch and dinner, so these were the 5 fixed events around which we based our visit. In between fixed events, we knew that we wanted to buy some souvenirs, take some rides, and find a couple of characters so the kids could get pictures and signatures. The specific events we picked determined which sections of the park we needed to be in, so it gave a light focus to our meandering ("We need to be in Frontierland in 2 hours for the musical performance, so let's head in that direction and grab lunch where it looks good en route.")
• Mark your parking ticket with where you parked, just-in-case you don't remember. You *must* keep it if you plan to be in-and-out of the park with your car.
• Keep your entrance tickets--you'll need them for FastPasses if the opportunity arises (see more below).
• Pace yourself, based on your tolerance for heat and the attention-span of your kids. It was in the 90's while we were at the park, and alternating indoor activities with outdoor activities helped to keep the heat down.
• Wear sunscreen and hats (we did, and were glad), and keep an eye out for shade. AC doesn't sweat, so this was particularly important for us to remember. Our spritzer and an occasional water or sorbet purchase also helped a lot.
• Bring jackets or overshirts for evening, when it cools down (we did, and were glad we had them).
• Bring comfortable walking shoes, or a change of shoes if you're not sure. We brought extra shoes for the kids, and it was a good thing--Alana's shoes were rubbing blisters by mid-afternoon, so we changed her and averted misery. Stick a band-aid or 2 in your wallet or purse as emergency padding for emerging blisters. It may prevent them or at least stave them off long enough that you enjoy the day.
• You can rent lockers and strollers at the park (Disneyland only rents single strollers...Disneyworld has singles or doubles). We brought our own stroller and stashed everything underneath it so we didn't need to, but renting is a good option if you need it. We several times left the stroller in one of the copious stroller parking areas with all our bags left underneath. Nothing was taken...this is no guarantee for you, but who wants your diapers and faded hoodies? We took wallets/purses with us everywhere, of course.
• The restrooms have changing tables and many even have emergency diaper kits for purchase. There are a few family restrooms, if you look around for them. Ladies' rooms have feminine supplies for purchase.
• We brought small umbrellas for sun protection. Worked great.
• Set expectations appropriately with your kids. Tell them enough of what to expect from rides that they aren't scared (if this might be an issue), but not so much that the magic is gone. Let them know the rules up front.
  e.g. we let Xander know that he'd need to take a nap in the stroller in the afternoon if we were going to stay until the fireworks at night...we let the kids know when we bought the spritzer fan (a spray bottle with a foam fan on the front to evaporate the misted water and cool you down) for them to share that 1.) they'd need to take turns, and 2.) Spritz yourself as much as you like, and others ONLY if they've asked you to...or lose the spritzer. We only had 1 near-loss of the spritzer all day.)
• If you can find a spritzer bottle at Target or Walmart to bring with you, do so. It'll likely save you $15 or more, and will be no less shoddily made. The batteries fell out of our spritzer at least 3 times over the course of the day.
• Long lines are fine times for eating ice cream/sorbet and planning other stops. We sat in Nemo's Submarine Adventure line for 45 mins, but we had a chance to figure out what was next, change shoes (Alana's sandals were starting to rub blisters), etc. This was the longest wait we had, but we were there mid-week.
• Plan restroom stops as needed. When we got into the Nemo line, the kids were fine. When we got to the front of the line 40 mins later, Alana needed to go. AC stayed at the front of the line and let people go around her while I took the kids to the restroom. It was a good thing we did--that particular ride is quite long (the longest we took all day...probably 15-20 mins altogether).
• Bring snacks and water if you're so inclined. The park doesn't mind if you bring your own outside food. I'd strongly recommend things that won't spoil. I saw folks buying water and adding their own powdered drink mixes into the bottles from baggies. Not a bad idea...
• If you want to see a show, arrive early to get decent seats. We planned our lunch for noon-ish at the Golden Nugget, where Billy Hill and the Hillbillies were performing at 1pm. It was perfect--they'd just done an 11:30am performance, so the place emptied out as we arrived. The food line was fairly long, so AC placed our orders while the kids and I staked out a table near the stage. We finished eating more-or-less as the performance started, and so spent from noon to 1:30pm in air conditioning, with entertainment.
• We bought our spritzer right away upon entering the Park, but otherwise told the kids to look in the stores before buying anything, so we could all decide on what we really wanted. Surprisingly, they more-or-less accepted this. In mid-afternoon, Alexander found the souvenir that he HAD to have (a spinny-light-up-Nemo thing), and Alana had found several things that she wanted. By dinnertime she settled on a spinny-light-up-Tinkerbell thing so she wouldn't feel bad when Alexander played with his and she didn't have one. These proved helpful for connecting in the evening when AC went to grab ice cream and take some evening photos...Main Street was filling up for the fireworks display, but we were able to signal to her.
• Fireworks: stake out a place on Main Street (facing the castle) where you can see the fireworks. When you're facing the castle down Main St, you'll have better picture opps from the right side of the street (many of the fireworks are placed above and to the left of the castle, and there are a few nice trees on the left that get in the way of your shots). It's a good fireworks show--$1 million a night in fireworks, or so I was told by a local friend. I'd believe it.
• For parades, if you can't find a tree to stand underneath, find a vendor's cart that has an umbrella. In our experience, they were happy to share the shade with us, as long as we weren't in their way when they needed to serve customers. I can't fathom how the characters manage the dancing in the parade in those costumes without passing out. It's easy to see why they're so thin--it must be impossible for them to put on any water-weight!
• Get FastPass tix for rides where it makes sense. A FastPass is a ticket that you get in lieu of waiting in line. It will allow you to come back to the ride anytime within an hour block later in the day (usually 1-3 hours later, depending on the time of day and how busy the ride is), and walk right onto the ride. They are dispensed from automated kiosks. Insert your entrance ticket, and it spits out a FastPass. We got FastPasses for Buzz Lightyear's AstroBlaster, and rather than waiting in line in the sun for 20+ mins, we had time for a few snacks from the stroller, went onto other rides with short indoor lines (less than 10 mins), then returned and walked right into the ride an hour after getting our FastPass. Not every ride has a FastPass option, and depending on Park traffic, they limit the frequency with which you can get additional FastPasses.
• We met several other folks who were staying near the Park for several days, and who would go home for a nap in the afternoon then come back later in the day. Seems very wise to me...you could also go eat away from the park if you want some healthier food or other options (though all vendors have "healthy" options for kids). When you park for the day, you can leave and come back in with your parking ticket, and the trams to/from the parking lot are running continuously.
• Food - most food onsite is bland and basic (pizza, pastas, salads, burgers, chicken fingers, etc.) There's a place with pot roast. You can find slightly healthier kids' meals (for instance, in Tomorrowland, the kids' pizza or spag dinner came with carrotsticks and apple slices, and you can get milk, water, or juice). In New Orleans you can get slightly less bland food.
• If it's your first visit, stop at customer relations and ask them for recommendations, first-visit buttons, etc. We stopped on the way out of the park for the night and were able to get each of the kids a first-visit button.
• Don't hesitate to ask a cast member for advice. They are generally very well-trained and really seem to want you to have a good experience. We got directions to water fountains (to fill our spritzer) and family restrooms. In a visit to DisneyWorld, some members of the DreamTeam asked AC how she was enjoying her visit, and after hearing about some minor disappointments (they'd gotten into several lines for character signatures only to have the characters need to leave for other events), the Dream Team folks arranged a private 5-min audience for Alana with Cinderella, which was the absolute highlight of her trip (over a year later she *still* talks about it).

Xander's Take on Getting Shrunk

AC and Alexander went into the "Honey, I shrunk the audience!" film, which has some 3-D effects that scared him out of his skin (when the placard says "may not be appropriate for small children", at Disneyland--maybe the most child-friendly place in the world--DON'T listen to your husband when he says "Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine.")

Afterwards:
K - "Xander, did you like the rocketship?"
X - "Yes."
K - "Did you like meeting Mickey?"
X - "Yes."
K - "Did you like the music at lunchtime?"
X - "Yes."
K - "Did you like getting shrunk?"
X - (instantly, no hesitation, very matter-of-fact) "No."

Alana's Favorite at Disneyland

K - "What was your favorite part of Disneyland?"
A - "The parade...the princesses remembered me from DisneyWorld and waved to me!"

It's Not Heavy, It's My Water

While at Disneyland, we bought a water spritzer with fan for the kids to share. We filled it at a water bubbler, and Xander wanted to carry it. So we warned him, "It might be too heavy", and handed it to him. He took it, picked it up, and said, definitively, "It's not too heavy".

He carried it about 10 or 12 feet, looked at us, set it down, and said "NOW it's too heavy!"

Perceptive Kid

At Disneyland, I took Alana on the Star Tours ride (it's one of those sit-in-a-dark-room-and-get-bounced-around-while-you-watch-a-movie rides). While waiting to board our 'starship', there was a safety video, showing Chewbacca and other aliens boarding, chatting with customers, stowing their bags and putting on seatbelts, etc.
A- "Are there going to be monsters on this flight? I don't want to fly with monsters."
K - "Those aren't monsters, they're aliens. And that's Chewbacca. He's a good guy. There might be aliens on our flight--we're going into space, after all!"
(Maddie, little girl behind us in line) "I don't want to get killed by aliens!"
(her mother) "Maddie! Hush! You might scare the little girl!"
K - "I don't want to get killed by aliens either, but that won't happen on this flight. They have good security and friendly aliens."
A - "What's the flight like?"
K - "Like skiing, except you're strapped in. Actually, remember when you rode on Uncle Rob's lap in the pickup truck?" (on a farmstead in NY, through fields and down a road named 'Punctured Lung Lane')
A - "Mm-hm."
K - "It'll be like that, except with something to hold onto."
A - "That's good. I didn't have anything to hold onto in the truck."

...so we take the ride, and she's fine the whole time...then the ride ends and we disembark.

A - "Hey, we were right here the whole time! It was just a movie!"

Perceptive kid...