Along the Same Lines

About a month ago, probably the last weekend we were all not sick, Laura and Jeff treated us to a stay at the Disneyland Hotel and brunch at Goofy's Kitchen. Marco had so much fun this trip. On Friday, we got to the hotel early, dropped our bag and spent a few hours at the park.

We headed back to the hotel in the afternoon to meet Laura, Jeff & Liz. We attempted to get Marco to nap, but that was a lost cause. After a little relaxing, we decided to head down to the pool. They had a slide for little kids and Marco became obsessed with this. He would slide down, dunk under the water, come up for a breath and ask for more. I would lift him to the side of the pool, dad helped him onto the slide and repeat. He soon was good enough to get on the slide himself.

That evening, we headed back to the park and to Toon Town. Marco went on his first roller coaster - Gadget's Go Go Coaster. He was a little nervous, but it is such a short ride, he wasn't too scared. We let him run around the various play areas in Toon Town before meeting Laura, Jeff, Liz, Vickie & Mark for dinner. After dinner, Alessandro and I decided to watch Fantasmic and meet the gang later. We found a decent place to watch Fantasmic and alternated holding Marco up on our shoulders so he could get a good view. At this point, he was so tired, he was drooling. I am pretty sure Alessandro's head got wet despite my best efforts to wipe Marco's mouth dry. Tired as he was, he enjoyed Fantasmic. A few minutes after Fantasmic, the fireworks started. Marco was excited standing and pointing, then he decided to sit in my lap and about halfway through the fireworks, he curled up on my lap and went to sleep. And he was out! That just allowed his parents to hang out a little longer while he slept in the stroller.

On Saturday, we headed to Goofy's Kitchen. The first character he saw was Baloo. He ran up to him and Baloo bent down to his level and then Marco got a little nervous. He wasn't so sure about this huge bear who had focused all his attention on Marco!

While we were eating, Goofy came to say hi! Marco was still a little unsure, but starting to get the hang of it.

Dad was thrilled to see his favorite character. (That is tongue-in-cheek, for those of you who are not aware. I did warn Laura, Jeff, and Liz that I was not responsible for Alessandro's potential actions at Goofy's Kitchen given his previous behaviour at Euro Disney.)

After this personal visit by Goofy, Marco decided that these guys were a-ok. He found Chip, took his hand, and brought him to our table.

He ran through the restaurant after Goofy and gave him a big hug... and wouldn't let go.

He then stalked Baloo everywhere he went in the restaurant. Alessandro said he thinks Marco was in at least of half of the other families' pictures with Baloo.

After brunch, we spent another hour in the pool and then headed home. I think it took about 10 minutes for Marco to fall asleep in the car. It had been a busy and fun trip.