Infant Trip Planning Part 2: Character Meet and Greets

Cars Land Postcard

Finally I'm bringing my second in my series for infant trip planning, character meet and greets. As an adult male I will say I've never really done meet and greets but for my daughter we made it a point to do them. Now with her at 3 months I will say she didn't really respond to the non human characters. Now at 5 months, she actually responds a little more to the non human characters. I suppose it's because they are just big plush to her. She loves to try to eat Donald's bill. It's awesome. 

There are a few locations to find specific characters and I'll list them for you. 

Goofy in Main Street

Main Street 

Fab five

Mary poplins and Bert

Cruella de vil

Random princess: jasmine, Tiana

Alice and mad hatter

Fantasyland

Princess fairy tale hall: Ariel, Cinderella, aurora

Flynn and rapunzel

Merida

Elsa and Anna

Tomorrowland

Pixie hollow

Storm troopers

Darth vader

Darth maul

Thor

Captain America

Buzz

Frontierland

Long lost friends

Woody

Jessie

Adventureland

Aladdin

Genie

New Orleans Square

Tiana 

Naveen

Louis

Critter country

Pooh, eeyore, tigger

Toon Town

Donald

Mickey

Minnie

Goofy

DCA

Buena vista

Fab five

Streetmosphere

Hollywoodland

Disney junior

Mike and sulley

Frozone

Mr incredible

Elastigirl

Redwood creek

Dug and Russell

CarsLand

Mater

Red

Lightning

Dj

Bugs land 

Flick and atta (not sure how often if even they appear)

Paradise pier

Mickey

Toy story

Duffy

Condor flats

Minnie

Pooh Corner with Tigger

Now when it comes to the many places you can find certain characters you have to remember that they wear different outfits in locations. Specifically mickey, Minnie, Donald, goofy, chip and dale, Pluto wear different outfits where in DCA locations. If you want to be a completist, it's imperative to get each one. 

Another great note is to get an autograph book. You can pick them up in just about every store at Disneyland resort but you can also pick them up at stores around Disneyland for cheaper. If you're into Pinterest you can make your own; I've seen some awesome ones. My fav is the adventure book from up. 

Ellie was not a fan of Merida's overzealous voice during a nap

One of the best tips I would give you is find a location that you want to take a photo at. If you visit often or even visit occasionally this is a great keepsake from your trip. There are a few locations that are very popular. Partners, castle, Matterhorn, storytellers and the CarsLand postcard. Some other key spots are places like the White Rabbit's door and the Sword in the Stone.
One of my favorite things are the attraction vehicles. There are Mr. Toad's automobile and a Dumbo in Fantasyland and other vehicles in Mickey's Toontown.

crazy baby drivers

Another great spot to visit is the Disney Visa picture spot in DCA. It is over by the Mad T Party Mad Arcade. You have to have a Disney Visa card from Chase. You get a free 3x5 from Disney Photopass. Now the characters here vary so you have to check and they also only run it for a few hours.
Well, I hope you found this very informative and that it will help you out on your next trip out to the Disneyland resort.
As always feel free to tweet me or email me with anything you want to add or comment on at giodisney113@gmail.com.
Thanks,
-Josh (gioDisney)

the White Rabbit's door

Trip Planning for an Infant Part 1: Attractions!

the Giordano and Garcia clans meet up to celebrate Ellie's first trip

I recently made a couple of trips to the Disneyland Resort (DLR) to enjoy my 3 month old's first trips to my favorite destination in the world and second home, Disneyland. One thing I love to do is plan for trips. I will say that I am still open to suggestions and will alter around it, but for the most part I know what I will be doing on a trip. Now planning this trip was a whole new experience. This was completely different from any other trip I've taken. I thought I would share with you some of my experiences and hopefully help you out too. Now this post was taking up so much time and was so lengthy I have decided to split it up, so I hope you enjoy!

Some of us were not so amused by Ellie's driving skills

Attractions- I love attractions. I hate to admit it, but yeah I will tend to go commando and just ride everything. Naturally, the biggest change was the fact that I could not do this. I thought there were far less attractions that were good for all ages, however, most attractions in Disneyland are for all ages. Of course, Disney California Adventure has fewer attractions. I must warn you though, between the bathroom breaks and feedings, you will not do probably half of this list. Here are the attractions suitable for all ages:

Obligatory Partners shot and no, I am not asleep

Disneyland

Main Street

• Disneyland Railroad
• Main Street Vehicles
• Horseless Carriage

Fantasyland

• Peter Pan's Flight
• Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
• Snow White's Scary Adventure
• Pinocchio's Daring Journey
• King Arthur Carousel
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Casey Jr.
• Storybook Land Canal Boats
• Mad Tea Party
• Alice In Wonderland
• "it's a small world"

Tomorrowland

• Astro Orbiter
• Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters
• Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage*
• Monorail

Adventureland

• The Enchanted Tiki Room
• Jungle Cruise
• Tarzan's Treehouse

New Orlean's Square

• Pirates of the Caribbean
• The Haunted Mansion

Critter Country

• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Frontierland

• Mark Twain Riverboat
• Sailing Ship Columbia

Mickey's Toontown

• Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin

A new favorite spot, Storytellers

Disney California Adventure

Buena Vista Street

• Red Car Trolley

Hollywoodland

• Monsters Inc. Mike and Sulley to the Rescue

a bug's land

• Flik's Flyers
• Heimlich's Chew-Chew Train
• Francis' Ladybug Boogie

Paradise Pier

• Golden Zephyr
• King Triton's Carousel
• Mickey's Fun Wheel
• Toy Story Midway Mania

My one caveat would be that Toy Story Midway Mania, though an all heights attraction, you should not do. I say this from experience. I took my daughter on there at three months and instead of enjoying the attraction, I spent it preventing her from the whiplash-esque turns. It was definitely way too intense.

Cars Land postcard sign

I would also like to take this time to tell you to use the Child Switch pass to your advantage. I had never done this before this trip but it definitely helped out a lot. The way it works is that both parents cannot ride an attraction together when they have no one to watch the baby. Instead of having to bypass the attraction, the Child Switch pass is given to the family member sitting off and the rest stand in line and ride the attraction. When the family member sitting off gets to go, Disney doesn't expect them to suffer riding the attraction by themselves. Instead they can bring 2 others with them to the FastPass line and ride the attraction. Another tip on that would be, you can use it on FastPass. This means that the general group heads on using their FastPass and the person sitting off gets the Child Switch "FastPass" to head back on with 2 others. It definitely made it possible to do such must sees as Radiator Springs Racers!

Ellie was quite excited in the mornings!

Remember though, you are not doing this for the enjoyment of attractions but for the memories that you will cherish for years to come and reminisce fondly on later.I know I will always remember how she slept through half of the "it's a small world holiday" then woke up halfway to confusement of what was happening. Or when we rode The Little Mermaid attraction and she would get excited when hearing Part of your World and Under the Sea because we sing them to her all the time. These are some of the reasons why I have been touring Disney Parks all my life and why I could not wait to bring my own daughter and make some memories of our own.

Getting in that quick nap before "small world"

Hopefully this list and tips will help you out on planning your trip with your infant and please feel free to comment or chat with me on twitter. Also expect to see more posts as this will be a 4 part series, next is Character Meet and Greets! Thanks!

Ellie and I try our hardest to pull this weight!