I have to first give a warning that this is a long post. However, I felt it was important to document as much as I can from Oliver's very first visit to Disneyland. We have been looking forward to taking him from the first time his little eyes lit up watching his first Disney DVD's and although our expectations were high I think this trip exceeded them in every way possible. There is something magical about Disneyland, it's hard to deny that, but as you get older the magic fades with the crazy long lines and ridiculous amounts of people and you start to wonder if its worth all the work. It's still fun, of course, but it's not the same. But this trip wasn't about us. It was all about Oliver and seeing him experience it all for the first time, watching him marvel at all the rides and the characters, and knowing that he really does believe it's all real Disneyland regained every ounce of magic it held for me as a child.
We packed a lot into a day and half. We rode It's a Small World, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, the Teacups, and Dumbo. We braved Pirates of the Carribean (hoping it wouldn't scare him) and he LOVED it. In fact, it was the only ride we rode twice. We rode Roger Rabit and greeted Mickey and Goofy. We took in two Jedi Training School performances and he made his own lightsaber. We visited California Adventure land and stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel. We ate popcorn, ice cream, corn dogs, and everything in between. It was a great trip and it was, without a doubt, worth all the work:)
Oliver and Mommy flying to Disneyland.
In the lobby of Paradise Pier. He was so excited to see Goofy in the lobby when we first arrived.
Oliver's first ride at Disneyland. It's a Small World.
Riding in a car at Toon Town.
On the Merry-go-round
Greeting Goffy
Waiting in the line to see Mickey (in Mickey's house)
Oliver giving Mickey hugs. He then proceeded to ask him where the potty was. Hilarious. 
Michael doing the classic I'm throwing a fit at Disneyland face.
He did not want to go in his stroller at all.
WE had to take these pictures right outside the park. Its a Fay Family classic. And my non-taking photographs parents might even have one of me in this same spot:)
Is that not the cutest face you have ever seen? We had to buy the mickey mouse hat- it's a classic.
Some more characters we ran into.
Mommy and Oliver on the teacups. We had a hard time getting him to smile and open his eyes at the same time.
One of the highlights for Oliver was the Jedi Training School. This is a 20 minute or so show where a Jedi master chooses about 20 or so kids from the audience and then teaches them in the "ways of the force." Then some storm troopers, darth vader, and darth maul enter and the young paduans get a chance to showcase their moves ad battle the evil sith lords. Oliver was too young to participate but got to the show early and got to sit in the front row. Darth Maul was probably about five feet from us and so in between battles he would give the crowd the best evil eye he had. Oliver raised his hand and "used the force" which of course Darth Maul played right into. He kept coming back over and over and Oliver continue to use the force to push him back. When Oliver stopped using the force we asked him why and he said with a healthy dose of attitude, "I already did it like five times." I might have peed my paints I laughed so hard. 
Oliver attempting to pull the sword out with the Castle in the background.
Oliver with Handy Mandy.
California Adventure Land has a whole bunch of splash pads for kids to play in. So before nap time on our second day we let Oliver run around. They made us keep his shirt and shoes on (unfortunately he was wearing his nike runners at the time). But he didn't seem to care. I love these pictures that Michael took of him.
There is a story in the Fay family that I have heard once or twice about Bill and Marsha taking the kids to Disneyland and Stephanie, when spotting the evil queen that peeks out of the castle window, grabbing on with all of her might to Bill (holding her at the time) and latching on so hard that he swears he had nail marks on the back of his shoulder. It's an understatement to say that she was horrified. Well with our son it was a little bit different. He calls the evil queen the "funny lady." And he thought she was just that. He loved watching her peak out of the window so much that on our second day, when waking from a nap and asked, "You ready to go back to Disneyland?" said, "I want to go and see the funny lady, go and see her at the window, and I want to take a picture of her." Go figure. But you don't dare not tell a 2 and a half year old at Disneyland "no" so we took a picture as requested.
We has some time to kill before the fireworks so we ended up hanging out at this dance floor (below) while a live band played. I am pretty sure the band was a group was made up of college "all star" band members so they were really good. Then there were what seemed to be a group of talented dancers who would dance amongst some others who were brave enough to get out there with an audience of 75 around people. Amongst those brave enough was Oliver who had a merry old time out there on the floor showcasing his moves.
We stayed out on the last night to watch the fireworks. Oliver thought they were really cool but I have to say I was super impressed by the whole thing too. They had a real person playing Tinkerbell and swinging on this huge wire across the sky from one side of the castle to the other. It was pretty magical.
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