Disneyland Part 1

Around Christmas time, Marc and I thought it would be nice to take the kids on a family vacation before Anna starts Kindergarten and we won't have the luxury of just going somewhere any time we want. We figured Disneyland would be the perfect place! Anna is really into princesses and we wanted to make sure she could visit Disneyland before that magic of seeing all the princesses goes away. We weren't sure if Joseph would be old enough or tall enough, but he proved to be more than ready for Disneyland! 

We kept it a secret from the kids and surprised them on Monday morning with the news that we would be flying to California that day. We made Mickey Mouse pancakes and each kid had a letter from Mickey Mouse telling them that they get to come visit him! They were so excited :) 

After Mickey broke the news to them, we packed up our bags and headed to LA. The kids love flying... they may be a little spoiled with all the trips they've been on, but this is the first time it's been just the 4 of us. Usually, we fly with family or meet up with family or friends at our destination. This time, it was just us. Marc and I are exhausted now and could definitely use massages to work out the sore muscles from carrying the kids all over Disneyland all week. Regardless, we had an amazing time and we hope it is something our kids will remember forever. We sure will!!

Warning: There are a TON of pictures. I've narrowed it down as much as I can considering I took 1262 pictures between Monday and Saturday :)

Pancakes

Anna with her letter from Mickey

Joseph with his letter from Mickey

We made it to LA!

Once we made it to the hotel, the kids had a blast running around their room and playing on their bunk bed. Marc found a Hyatt just about a mile from the park that has these cool kids' suites! They even had their own shuttle to take us to and from the park all day and night. The best part is that our window opened up toward the park and we were able to watch fireworks from the bed! More about that later. After we got settled into the hotel, we headed down to Downtown Disney. It's a shopping/eating area just outside the parks. The Lego store had amazing creations of Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story, and much more! 

Playing on the bunk bed

Lego statues

On Tuesday morning, the kids were up and ready to go pretty early. We ate some breakfast at the Starbucks in the hotel and headed to Disneyland! The first thing we saw when we got inside was Alice and the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. I loved watching Anna walk towards the castle. You could just see the sparkle in her eyes and the excitement in her smile!! 

Ready to go!

Mad Hatter and Alice

Can someone plant flowers in the shape of Mickey Mouse at my house?

Getting her first glimpse of the castle

We were all impressed with the statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. It really made me happy to see that and know for sure we were giving our kids some memories to last a lifetime. 

Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse

The Family

We walked through Sleeping Beauty's castle several times each day. The kids really liked it... Marc and I liked it the first time... and maybe the second time. Anyway, this week was about the kids, so whatever they wanted to do, we did. Our first ride was Peter Pan's flight. Both kids loved it and wanted to ride it again. We had to inform them that there are a LOT more rides like that and we should try all of them out rather than sticking to just our first ride of the day. They were on board with trying new rides and we did more than I thought we could in a day! I'm so proud of them for being adventurous. 

At the end of Sleeping Beauty's Castle

At the beginning of Sleeping Beauty's Castle. No, these pictures are not out of order... we did this walk many times!

Waiting for our first ride

Riding King Arthur's Carousel

Carousel

Pinocchio Ride

Anna liked the Pinocchio ride

Marc and Joseph on the Dumbo ride

Riding Casey Jr. (train)

Mark Twain Steamboat

On the boat

On the boat

I wasn't sure how Anna was going to like roller coasters, but we made her try it. This one was the Big Mountain Railroad Train. She wan't hesitant, we just told her this is what we're going on next. Marc and I had to take turns riding with her because Joseph wasn't tall enough to ride. She LOVED it and it turned out to be her favorite ride. On day 4, she and Marc rode it 4 times back to back!

On the roller coaster

Pirates of the Caribbean ride

This parrot was the only part that Anna liked. Joseph liked the whole ride.

We spent a lot of time on the Winnie the Pooh ride

Winnie the Pooh ride

Marc and I wanted to go on It's a Small World partly because it's just something you have to do at Disneyland and partly because it was a little warm outside and this one is air conditioned very nicely! Anna was in a mood before this ride and cried through the whole line. She was saying that this is the longest line ever and that she didn't like this ride (note: she's never been on the ride and the line took no more than 10 minutes). Anyway, once we were on the boat, she was all smiles. She did this little thing where she'd take a picture with her imaginary camera. I think she took more than 100 "pictures" on this ride alone! 

Outside of It's a Small World

Anna's favorite part

Joseph turned around to get another look at Dori and Nemo

Taking "pictures"

After It's a Small World, we spotted the Princess Fantasy Faire. This is where you meet the princesses! We HAD to do this knowing it would make Anna happy. This was probably the longest line we had to stand in. And it wasn't even a ride! It was worth the wait because the kids were in awe of each princess and loved meeting them all. 

Cinderella

Sleeping Beauty

Snow White

Snow White

Mulan

Mulan

We met the first 4 princesses and decided to get the kids' faces painted. Joseph wanted to be a pirate and Anna wanted a flower on her cheek. I'm so impressed with how they both turned out! Anna's flowers even matched her shirt. 

"I'm not Joseph, I'm a pirate!"

Pretty flowers

Getting a look at himself

We got back in line for round 2 of meeting princesses. When we were doing the face painting, we noticed that the princesses swapped out places and we could meet totally new ones! So, back in line we went. This time, we armed the kids with cell phones so that they wouldn't get so restless in line. Anna was on cloud nine because she got to meet her favorite princess, Ariel! We also got to meet Belle, who I'm certain thought Joseph was just the cutest thing to walk her way all day. She was so into him and Joseph soaked it all in. 

Waiting in line for the princesses... again!

Ariel

Tiana

Belle

Belle

We then headed to Toontown where we saw Mickey and Minnie's houses, Goofy's house, rode the Roger Rabbit cars, and rode a roller coaster that Joseph was actually tall enough to ride! Yay! We even got to meet Mickey Mouse!

Lifting weights haha

They had tons of these little cars around Toontown

Joseph trying to take pictures... he didn't quite understand that he needed to get his fingers out of the way

On Minnie Mouse's bed

Minnie's kitchen

Mickey's living room

One Man Band

Mickey signing their books

A hug for Mickey Mouse

Roger Rabbit Cars

We headed to the parade next. We got there a little late and had to stand while holding the kids to be able to see it. It was still a cool parade, but we got much better seats the next night, so stay tuned for better pictures. 

Beginning of the parade

Anna waved to all her favorite characters

After the parade, Anna and I rode the Dumbo ride together. We did a few more of the smaller rides before heading back to the hotel for the night. The kids were troopers on day one! No naps and a 2 hour time change didn't seem to bother them! They had no trouble falling asleep that night :)

Riding Dumbo

Castle at night

Tired little boy

Tired little girl