Disneyland November 28

 Early morning arrival at Disneyland

Mickey and the girls.

This picture was actually taken by a Disneyland employee with our camera, which is something new since the last time we had been there. Of course, they had other employees taking their own pictures and then they would give us a card to check out the pictures online and order what we wanted, but why would we order their over priced photos when they kindly took the exact same shots with our own camera?

Our little princess was super excited to be at Sleeping Beauty's castle, even though she's making a weird face because of the sun in her eyes :)

Mom and Dad totally saved the day by helping me with the girls while the boys, Jon, uncles and Brittany went on all the big kid rides. The big kids were much happier not having to go on the little rides or dealing with slow girls and the little girls were much happier with plenty of attention from adults. I wouldn't have been able to do all the fun things with the girls that we did if I was on my own with them. I'm not a big fan of fast rides because heights and motion make me nauseated, so I was completely happy to have a reason to avoid those rides. Jon and the boys love them and with the Fast Pass they were able to do Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Thunder Mt. Railroad, Splash Mt., and Indiana Jones multiple times. Since we split up for most of the day, I had our camera to take pictures of the girls and Frankie was using his camera to takes pictures of the bigger kids. I haven't been able to get his pictures yet so that's why there are so many of the girls in this post.

Waiting in line for Peter Pan.

Somehow my parents had NEVER been on that ride! Crazy! They took Sally in one boat and I took Sophie. Sally and my parents found the ride thrilling and would have done it again right away if it were not for the long line. Sophie found her first Disneyland ride absolutely terrifying and screamed the whole ride- there was no consoling her until it was over.

Mickey's ToonTown

Sally was all about having her picture taken with these characters- such a change from just 6 months ago. It must be a girl thing because most of the lines weren't too bad to have pictures taken with characters that were not girls; Minnie and the princesses were another story. We didn't even have to wait in any line for this pic with Donald; we caught him going to the photo op spot and he took Sally's hand and let us get a quick photo. Nice :)

This was about an hour wait. Fortunately, Mom and Dad were able to distract the girls at other fun ToonTown playgrounds while I waited in line. Sally was so cute and shy with Minnie and she LOVED playing in her house.

Impromptu tea party in Minnie's kitchen.

Uncle Jesse met up with us because he wanted to experience some of the fresh eyed joy that the girls were having. It was a little difficult convincing him to go at first because he's all into being disgusted with the evils of large corporations and feels like Disneyland embodies all that's bad with that world, but by the end of the day he finally let down his guard and I think he had just as much fun as everyone else.

 

These princess photos are priceless to me. Sally was so absolutely over the moon to talk with these princesses, she didn't even mind that she didn't get to see her favorite one- Sleeping Beauty. I had to wait in line for about two hours and then Jon came and relieved me of my standing in line duty for about another 30-40 minutes until it was finally her turn. Again, thankfully, my parents were there to help us out with this one and they took care of the girls while I stood in line so that the girls wouldn't have to stand in line so long. I'm amazed at how well behaved some of those other kids were waiting for such a long time. It was really sweet how the princesses took time to chat with Sally and make her feel special, it made me feel better about the long wait. The only bummer was that Sophie had fallen asleep in my dad's arms so she didn't get to meet them or be in any pictures. Next time :)

The last time we were at Disneyland was about 5 years ago and while the boys went on roller coasters in California Adventure I stood in an extremely similar line with Brittany to let her see the princesses and have her picture taken. This time there was a big wall so you couldn't see the princesses until it was your turn to meet them but when I took Brittany five years ago we could see the princesses the whole time as we inched along the winding line. Then, just as it was about to be her turn to meet Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Cinderella they gave the princesses their lunch breaks and switched them out with Ariel, Belle, and Mulan and, while Brittany was happy to have her turn, she was heartbroken to have missed her favorite (also Sleeping Beauty). At least this time Sally didn't know if she had missed anything.

Dancing with Belle

It was around 2pm by the time Sally was finished with her princess visits and we all met up to get some lunch. We left Disneyland and had lunch at the Denny's across the street. I've never had such good food at a Denny's. They had totally remodeled it since Jon and I ate there on our honeymoon twelve years ago and they must have remodeled their menu as well because it was fantastic. We were all super exhausted by that point and flirted with the idea of going back to the hotel to rest and get a nap but by that time both girls had already napped in someone's arms or the stroller so we knew they wouldn't be accommodating, and the boys were both ready to go on more rides after getting some good food in them and resting their feet for a while. So we all went back over, except for my parents; they did go and take a nap and met back up with us about an hour later after we'd gone on the Submarine ride.It was great having a hotel just a couple blocks from the entrance; and we totally took advantage of being able to easily go back and forth between the two places.

 

In line for Finding Nemo's Submarine while the big kids went on some other rides. Jesse and Sally were the most impressed with that ride. By the time it was over, it was getting dark so our whole group got together and went on the Safari boat ride and then went to the Haunted Mansion. 

Even though it was getting chilly, Jon couldn't pass up the Dole Pineapple whip- or stop raving about it ;)

I had never been to Disneyland during the holidays and totally enjoyed the festive decorations and the way they changed up the Haunted Mansion to be in the style of the Nightmare Before Christmas. Sally was thrilled to be able to meet the newest princess in the New Orleans Square and we were thrilled for a very short line. We split up again after the Haunted Mansion and Jon and I took the little girls back to Fantasyland and went on the Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, and Snow White rides while the others went on Pirates of the Caribbean and some other rides I thought the girls wouldn't like. This time Jon held Sophie while I rode with Sally, which turned out to be the winning combination- Sophie must have felt much more safe in her daddy's arms because she didn't get upset at all and I totally enjoyed Sally's excitement.

Shazer met up with us for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

I was disappointed that the girls didn't get to see the fireworks, but again, my parents saved the day and took them back to the hotel to put them to sleep so Jon and I could stay with the boys and enjoy Disneyland baby-free a little longer. My mom was feeling really cold and exhausted so it worked out for everyone.

We had a lot of fun just hanging out with the boys like old times and although It's A Small World wasn't really on my list of "have to do at Disneyland" it was actually really fun with all the extra holiday additions, it was also nice and warm, and restful after being on our feet all day. 

We enjoyed the fabulous fireworks display with some nice hot chocolate and then made our way to the exits with fake snow blowing on us. The park was still open for a few hours but we were exhausted and felt totally happy and content with all that we had done. It was a great day!