Well, we did it. We surprised Caydence with Disneyland.

When I say surprised, I really mean that we had to over-explain the concept of an amusement park with all of her favorite Disney characters once we checked into our hotel in Anaheim, CA. I mean...she's six. She has had no exposure to Disneyland up to this point in her life.

She was excited though. So, parenting win.

But, in typical Caydence fashion, she dragged us to the depths of uncomfortable human interactions almost immediately upon our arrival. We took an Uber from the airport to our hotel, and of course, Caydence wanted to talk to the Uber driver.

If you've been with us for a while, you may already know that my daughter has a knack for talking to strangers and making me feel extremely uncomfortable. It's like she lives to see the whites of my eyes expand as I start mouthing, "NOOO" while she simultaneously asks the Walgreen's cashier for a hug.

Welcome to Cringe-Fest-2017. Both Colton and I side-eyed Caydence and harshly whispered, "NO. STOP." as she started to ask meaningless questions to the Uber driver, like; "Why is the sky so cloudy?"

But, you know, Caydence just spent 2 hours on an airplane where her only interactions were with me, Colton, and the iPad. So naturally, she was so severely deprived of the outer world that she desperately needed to replenish her curiosity.

Next Caydence said the worst thing she probably could; "It's HOT in here." And then the Uber driver rolled down all of the windows while we were driving 80 miles an hour down the freeway. It was....refreshing.

We finally got her to stop engaging this poor soul that was randomly selected to drive our asses to the hotel. That's until we arrived at our destination. She exasperated, "Oh my gosh! WE'RE HERE!". Colton and I started thanking the driver and getting out of the car, when Caydence leaned forward and started hugging the guy while simultaneously expressing her gratitude.

We are slightly horrified. "No. STOP. NO." Luckily, the driver was a good sport, and just gave an uncomfortable laugh and we went on our merry way.

Jesus. Like ok....it's kind of sweet. Caydence is literally a pixie-stick-coated-candy-apple-dipped-in-cereal. She is very sweet and kindhearted. But.....we don't know this fucking guy! We don't know anything about him! I mean, STRANGER DANGER. And it really doesn't matter how many times we tell her, it's like she just can't control herself.

Anyway. Taking your kid to Disneyland is probably more fun than actually going yourself - especially the first time. It's so much fun to see and experience all of the excitement with them. The first thing we experienced was "Sleeping Beauties Castle", and it was a little too dark for Caydence. We almost ran through the entire exhibit because Caydence could not get out of there fast enough, tears running down her cheeks and all. I don't blame her though. I hated Sleeping Beauty as a kid, because it's fucking scary. Malificent and her green glowing eyes rocked my soul, and apparently Caydence's too.



We hit up Peter Pan's flight next, because it's right there, and across from it is Snow White's Castle. In the window the Evil Queen opens the curtains and looks out every few minutes. This was also too much for Caydence after we had just ran for our lives from Malificent.

As soon as she realized the Evil Queen was "watching" us, she was not about to lose site of that evil bitch.

"THERE SHE IS. SHE'S IN THE WINDOW AGAIN."
"MOM! SHE'S THERE!"
"SHE KEEPS ON WATCHING US!!!"

So, Disneyland took a little getting used to for Caydence. It was all just a little too real. After a few rides she settled down and started to enjoy herself. That's until we went on Indiana Jones.



She screamed through the entire ride, and not because it was fun. We got off the ride, and she sobbed, "Why was that man trying to kill us!?!?!". The man she was referring to is Indiana Jones. She was so terrified by the experience that she thought Indiana Jones was also a villain along with the crazy-snake-hair-lady.



After that we had to over-explain that everything was fake, so that we didn't traumatize Caydence with Disneyland.


Despite the fact that my kid was half-traumatized, we had a really good time. She loved Splash Mountain and getting to see all of the characters.




We'll definitely be returning. Maybe with less incidents next time.

-Stef