Lia and I snapping a picture before our plane left Seatac Sunday morning. Although I definitely missed Ella and Logan all week long, it was absolutely amazing to travel without strollers and not have to worry about nap times, diapers, and tantrums!
After arriving at the hotel and eating the lunch I had packed, we checked our luggage in behind the front desk and spent a wonderful two hours playing in the pool until my friend, Andrea, and her family arrived. The weather was amazing. I just couldn't get over how it was still totally summer in Southern California! Here is my big girl swimming around in the big pool.
Mommy and daughter enjoying the beautiful, Disneyland Hotel pool. We normally do not stay in hotels with pools this fancy--so it definitely was a treat for us!
And a close-up.
There was a very fun children's area in the pool and Lia had fun going down the water slides. One of them even started inside the faux monorail pictured above!
Lia basking in the children's pool.
Lia trying out the baby slide first before...
heading down the big ones!
Now that is one happy girl!
After meeting Andrea's family in our hotel room, Lia and I headed out to Downtown Disney for the afternoon. We ran into Goofy in our hotel lobby on our way out--one of the many perks of staying in a Disneyland hotel is that you have character sightings in your own lobby.
Lia posing with Goofy after getting the first of many signatures in her jumbo-sized autograph book that we bought that day.
Lia and I marvelled at the several Disney-themed statues standing outside of the Lego store. Here she is standing next to Belle and the Beast.
We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant in Downtown Disney after walking around in 90 degree weather for awhile. We had a well needed break from the heat. A balloon twister came and visited our table during dinner and made Lia a Nemo balloon.
Lia showing off her Nemo balloon after it was finished.
Lia and I enjoyed spending quite a bit of time wandering the seemingly endless aisles of the gigantic Disney Store in Downtown Disney. Here she is trying on a pair of Ariel-themed, Mickey ears.
Lia and I had fun checking out the new, Anna and Elsa Boutique in Downtown Disney.
After getting up super early Sunday morning and enduring the intense heat for several hours, Lia and I decided to return to our hotel room around 6 p.m. to spend a relaxing evening in an air-conditioned room. The rest and the early bedtime was well needed before the next four days that were super long and busy! Here is the beautiful entrance to the backside of our hotel coming from the direction of Downtown Disney. It was such a treat to stay so close to the park.
Since I was required to buy a special ticket for the Halloween Party to be in Disneyland Monday afternoon and evening, I decided not to buy a 3-day pass as I had originally planned (because I didn't want to pay two times to be in the park on Monday). As a result, we unfortunately were not able to head off to the park first thing Monday morning with Andrea and her daughter, Lauren. Lia and I stayed behind and spent another warm morning swimming at our hotel's pool. After getting ready for the day and eating lunch in our hotel room, we set out at 12:30 on a very HOT day. After stopping at the Disney Store in Downtown Disney, I made the bold move of showing up to the entrance of the park at 1 o'clock--exactly two hours before our Halloween Party tickets allowed us in. After pleading our case to THREE different park employees, we were blessed to talk to a very nice worker who took pity on our story (of Lia wanting to meet every single princess in the park and needing as much time as possible to do this) and let us in early! We were so grateful! And I was so relieved as I knew that Lia would have been heartbroken if we had been turned away from the entrance with absolutely nothing to do for two entire hours. We immediately got inside the park and found Belle greeting guests inside the entrance. We were lucky to be the second to last person she met with. Lia was able to hand out her first pumpkingram and officially begin working on her big project of finding and meeting every princess. As silly as this seems, this really was our #1 priority of this trip as I told her this was her one and only trip to Disneyland when I would help her accomplish this goal!
After learning this trip from Andrea, I decided to try it out and it worked! Since Lia happened to be the second to last person in Belle's line, we waited around for her to be done meeting her last little girl and then asked Belle if Lia could walk with her. Belle said, "Yes," and off Lia went with her! A dream come true! I was just amazed that we had been in the park less than ten minutes and already Lia had met a princess and walked with her! After this first encounter, Lia and I spent the next two and a half hours running around the park like mad ladies hunting down characters to take their pictures, get their autographs, and give them their pumpkingrams. Although we did not hit a single ride, I was simply amazed at how many characters we were able to find. All we had left for the next day was to findTiana, Peter, and Tinkerbell and her friend. These extra two hours we were given in Disneyland really made it possible for us to just relax and enjoy going on rides and watching parades and shows our second day in Disneyland!
After meeting Belle, we called Andrea and learned that she and Lauren were with Alice and the Mad Hatter at the end of Main Street. We quickly met Andrea there and Lia was able to give them their pumpkingrams. They were so funny with Lia and loved their gifts as you can see by Alice's reaction in this picture!
Lia and this dynamic duo!
After meeting Alice and the Mad Hatter, we quickly dashed across Main Street to meet with Mary Poppins and Bert.
We then got in line at the wishing well to meet Lia's all-time favorite princess, Ariel. Little did I know that this would be the first of three encounters that Lia would have with Ariel this day. And I must say that I absolutely loved the woman that played Ariel this day. She was so nice and cute and funny with Lia and really gave her lots of extra attention--thanks to her darling pumpkingram!
Lia and Ariel.
Andrea had the good idea of waiting around until Ariel was done with her shift so that the girls could walk all the way from the wishing well to the princess' secret entrance/exit. Ariel agreed to this and took these girls on this long walk with her and even suggested that they stop in front of the castle for another picture. This photo is worth its weight in gold in the eyes of Lia! I mean, when do you get to pose in front of the castle with your all-time favorite princess?!
Thanks to the pumpkingrams, we got permission from the royal page to stop Aurora on her way out of the secret exit. Lia was able to get her picture and autograph without waiting in any line which is normally something the princesses do not do when they are heading to their line.
We were also able to avoid Rapunzel's long line by giving her the pumpkingram, too. It was awesome as Lia was able to walk with her to the front of the line and get a quick picture!
We then waited in a short, ten-minute line to meet the princesses inside the Royal Hall. First Lia met Snow White and then Belle (whose picture I didn't include because Lia already met her earlier).
The third princess Lia met inside the Royal Hall was Cinderella.
Lia and Lauren then got to talk to Cinderella together and even dance with her!
While we were waiting to hunt down Merida, Andrea spotted the Fairy Godmother heading to the castle. Lia and I quickly chased her down and were only the second ones in line. Since this was our first time meeting her, I was surprised at how funny she was!
We then headed back to the secret entrance and caught Merida as she was heading out for her shift! Like last time, she was an absolute riot and I wished that Lia could have spent more time with her.
But at least Lia was able to give Merida her pumpkingram and skip to the front of the line again for a picture. I just loved how well this tip of Andrea's worked.
Since Jasmine was the one and only princess that Lia had never met between our two previous trips to Disneyland, I promised her that we would find her. Luckily, there was still time to find them in the afternoon before character meet and greets ended for the day. We were the third ones in line to meet them and were so surprised when Jaffar came out from behind the curtain while Lia was meeting Aladdin, Jasmine, and the Genie. She got to spend several minutes with all four of them--it was awesome. The funniest part was the tantrum that Genie threw when he learned that Lia didn't make a pumpkingram for him. To try to make him feel better, Aladdin gave Lia a penny to blow on before giving it to Genie to throw into the water below them.
Lia and the entire gang!
After requesting that Lia have a picture alone with Jasmine, Genie decided to photobomb it!
After meeting up with Andrea and Lauren again, we managed to snag Aurora as she was leaving the wishing well so that the girls could walk with her, too!
We then got back in line for Ariel again so that the girls could make wishes with her in the wishing well (which was another idea of Andrea's). Here are Lia and I next to the castle while waiting to meet Ariel.
Lia and Ariel making their wishes.
And watching their pennies fall down the wall! What a cute picture and fun memory for Lia.
Lia and Lauren then took a break while sitting on the royal thrones found inside the little, air-conditioned room inside the castle.
After a very crazy afternoon of princess-hunting, Lia and I separated from Andrea and Lauren for our first of many mommy-daughter time at Disneyland. I took Lia to the French Market, my favorite restaurant in all of Disneyland, in the New Orleans area for dinner. We spent a pleasant hour eating dinner in the shade of the awning while listening to the live band play.
Here is my cute girl enjoying her dinner!
Lia and I then went and changed into our Halloween costumes after dinner for the Halloween Party that was starting at 6 p.m. Since the movie, Frozen, is still so popular, I assumed that a ton of people in the park would be dressing up as Elsa--complete with the wig and all like us. However, I was surprised to find that we were the only mommy-daughter, Elsa combination that I saw the entire evening. And although there were a ton of little girls running around in Elsa dresses, no other little girls had the wig on. So, Lia and I were quite the special pair. In fact, while we were putting on our wigs in the bathroom, several people made comments to us. And while we were walking down Main Street to meet Andrea, I couldn't get over all of the stares and reactions we got from of people. Lia and I almost felt like real Disney princesses walking down Main Street! It's something I will never forget. After we met up with Andrea and Lauren at the front of Main Street, we took a few pictures in front of the backdrops put up for villains coming to the Halloween party. Here are Lauren and Lia all dressed up in their Halloween costumes from head to toe!
The girls and their coordinating mothers--Andrea as the Fairy Godmother and me as the "Big Elsa."
Lia and I posing in front of one of the giant, inflatable balloon ghosts that came out for the Halloween party.
Once the party started and the majority of the park exited (it was amazing to watch), we got in line to meet the first trio of villains that came out for the evening. Here is Lia with the evil queen from Snow White.
Mother and daughter with the Evil Queen.
Next in the line-up was the sassy Cruella De Vil. She sure made Lia and me laugh.
The Mommy-daughter Elsa team with Cruella.
Although the evil queen and Cruella De Vil can be found in Disneyland on a daily basis, Maleficent cannot! So, she was the rare treat of the evening! She was just as grumpy and as sassy as the other two villains and it was a fun treat to see her in "person."
Lia and I then broke off from Andrea and her family for the rest of the evening and enjoyed the Halloween party by ourselves. We next spent too much time waiting in a line to have our picture taken in front of the giant Mickey pumpkin head that was all lit up.
A view from Main Street of the giant Mickey heads all lit up and framing the castle in the background. It really was cool to be there for this Halloween party. There were moving, spooky images projected on all of the buildings along Main Street with Halloween-themed music playing all night long.
The most exciting event of the night was learning from a park employee that both Mulan AND Pocahontas would be making appearances inside the Royal Theatre. So after taking our pictures at the front of the park, Lia and I immediately walked to the theatre to get in line to first meet Mulan.
And then Pocahontas! Although Mulan sometimes can be found at Disneyland, Pocahontas only comes out for special occasions. So this was such a rare treat for us! Never did we think that we would meet ALL 13 princesses during this trip!
We then set off to do some trick-or-treating in Disneyland! This was such a fun and memorable experiences for both Lia and me. They had set up designated routes for us to follow around the park with several kiosks along the way where park employees passed out candy. We started in Frontierland and ended up in New Orleans.
Lia getting candy inside the Golden Horseshoe restaurant.
Fog was pumped out onto the water in front of Tom Sawyer Island. It was really cool and spooky looking.
Lia finishing up trick-or-treating at her last stop.
We then headed back to Main Street to catch the new evening parade that started at 8:50 p.m. Although we showed up minutes before it started, we found a great spot between the crowds right on the curb of the sidewalk. Lia and I had so much fun watching this amazing parade where all of the floats and performers are lit up with lights. Here is Tinkerbell at the start of the parade all lit up and "flying" around.
Peter Pat sat on an amazing float right behind Tinkerbell.
After Tink and Peter Pan came Sulley and Mike all lit up with their float of glowing doors.
Mike waving to the crowd.
The princess float was simply incredible. Belle was at the front of it wearing this gigantic, glowing gown!
And the Frozen float had to be the highlight of the parade! Here are Elsa and Anna talking away from inside their balcony.
Lia's favorite, sister combo up close.
Minutes after the parade ended, the firework show started at 9:30. Lia and I made our way through the crowds to get as close to the castle as possible. Even though Lia had just put in a nine hour day at the park, I convinced her to summon any extra energy she could find to last through this thirty minute fireworks show that was created just for the nights that the Halloween Party was being held at the park. It was pretty fun to watch--especially since Lia has never stayed up late enough to see it during all of our previous trips to Disneyland!
We started off Tuesday, October 12th, as early as possible by using our "Magic Morning" entrance to the park an hour before it opened to the public (thanks to our stay at the Disneyland Hotel). Andrea, Lauren, Lia, and I got to the park gates around 7:30 in the morning for the 8 a.m. opening time. Here are Lia and me taking that quintessential picture at the front of the park with the fancy, 60th Anniversary Celebration sign in the background.
Lia and I then posing in front of the giant, Mickey pumpkin head after entering the park.
Andrea insisted that we go on the Peter Pan ride first as the line is so incredibly long the rest of the day. Here are the girls and me getting close to the front of the line!
We then went on the Alice and Wonderland ride before taking a spin on the teacups. As always, Lia had to pick one of the turquoise cups to ride in!
We then headed over to Pixie Hollow to deliver a few of the remaining pumpkingrams that we didn't pass out the day before. We knew that we could avoid any waiting in lines by showing up right at 9 a.m. when it opened. Since we never know which friend of Tinkerbell's is going to be there, we were thrilled to learn that Silvermist was visiting when we got there! She is one of Lia's favorites. Here is Lia with her favorite water fairy.
Lia and Silvermist.
And, of course, it was so fun to meet Tinkerbell again. She loved Lia's pumpkingram!
Lia and Tinkerbell with the pumpkingram Lia made for her.
We then headed out to find the one princess we didn't have time to hunt down the previous day (which is still amazing to me). We found Tiana at 9:30 in the morning during her first appearance for the day down by the river.
We then headed over to ride the carousal, but saw Peter Pan walk by while we were in line. We quickly got out of line and hunted him down so that we could give him Lia's LAST Disneyland pumpkingram. As luck would have it, the girls were able to walk through the park wit him to his meet-and-greet spot.
Lia and Peter.
Lia, Lauren, and Andrea getting ready to take a spin on the carousal horses after meeting with Peter.
The girls posing for a funny picture outside of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.
We then broke away from Andrea and Lauren to go on one of my favorite rides, The Haunted House, much to Lia's chagrin. Although she still did not enjoy riding it this time around, I was grateful that she humored me. Here she is standing in line with the beautiful mansion in the background--complete with all of the Halloween decorations!
Par Lia's request, we then climbed through Tarzan's tree house.
Lia swinging on one of the ropes hanging from the tree!
We then met back up with Andrea and Lauren at the Royal Theatre to watch the adorable retelling of the movie, Frozen. The girls sat on the carpet circles on the floor and it was just as much fun to watch a second time around.
Elsa with the funny narrators, Mr. Smythe and Mr. Jones.
The royal sisters: Elsa and Anna.
We then immediately ran over to the Coca Cola Refreshment Corner to play musical chairs with Alice and the Mad Hatter. This is something that Andrea had learned about on a previous visit to Disneyland. Apparently, Alice and the Mad Hatter play this game once a day at the same location with a small group of children. We made sure that Lia and Lauren were included in this group of eight kids and it was so much fun! Watching Lia play this game and interact with this hilarious Disney due was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Here is Lia sitting with the other children while the Mad Hatter explained the rules.
Lia did a great job and made it to the final four.
Lia walking around the chairs before the live, piano music stopped.
When ever a child was eliminated from the game, they had the chance to go up on the "stage" and share a joke with the audience. I thought this was a very nice way to make each child feel special before exiting the game. Here is Lia telling her "Stinkerbell" joke to Alice and the Mad Hatter.
After musical chairs, we hunted down the Evil Queen since we were not allowed to get her autograph the night before at the Halloween party. She was absolutely hilarious (in a mean way) to Lia and me. I had no idea that these villains could be so fun. Here is the queen commanding Lia to bow to her. I'm not kidding!
A semi-scared and obedient Lia really bowing to the queen. After I jumped in and had a picture taken with Lia and the queen, she stretched out her arm, pointed her finger, and said,"Now, go!" Lia and I both busted up laughing when she said this. Apparently the queen did not like this and then shouted, "Go!" Lia and I ran away laughing!
Lia and I broke off from Andrea and Lauren again to take a ride on the Jungle Cruise.
And then decided to take a spin around the river on the Mark Twain Riverboat. You can imagine our surprise when we walked on the boat and found Tiana there greeting guests! So, of course, we had to get in line to meet her again. Here is Lia showing off her new parasol.
I even jumped in for a picture with the girls.
Lia and I then wandered up to the top of the boat for a better view.
After awhile, we got bored and decided to walk back down to the second level of the boat. We were shocked to find Tiana standing all alone against the railing. Apparently, she had talked to everyone on the boat that wanted to meet her and had nothing to do. So, I convinced Lia to get the courage to go and talk to her again which she did and before I knew it, these two ladies were talking one-on-one for several minutes. Talk about a Disney princess experience of a lifetime!
At the end of the boat ride, I asked Tiana if Lia could walk off the boat with her and she agreed. After waiting for everyone to get off, the two girls descended the stairs and out onto the dock where hundreds of people were waiting and watching! It was so amazing.
After Lia's amazing experience with Tiana, we met Minnie...
and finally got a picture taken of us in front of the castle all decked out in its 60th Anniversary banners before...
meeting up with Lauren, Andrea, and Matt to watch Mickey's Soundsational Parade in the late afternoon. Here are the girls waiting for the parade to start.
The girls playing with Lauren's bubble gun before the parade began.
Aladdin on his float.
Snow White, Aurora, and Rapunzel wave from the beautiful, princess float.
After the parade, all five of us walked over to the Plaza Inn Restaurant for dinner.
I then waited in line for a long time for Pirates of the Caribbean while Lia ventured off with Lauren, Andrea, and Matt to Tarzan's tree house. They caught up with me right as I was about to get on the boat. It was unbelievable timing! Here we are cruising through the pirate's grotto.
Lia and I separated from Lauren and her parents for the rest of the evening. Lia and I enjoyed going on a few more rides like Dumbo and...
Lia's favorite, It's a Small World, before watching the nighttime, electrical parade one more time. It was the perfect ending to another successful and wonderful day at Disneyland!
We began Wednesday, October 13th, much the same as the day before by taking advantage of our early,"Magic Morning" entrance into California Adventure. Here we are posing by the trolley car inside the main entrance.
Our first order of business was to, of course, meet Elsa and Anna! Since we got there a little after Magic Morning had started, but before the park opened to the public, there was absolutely NO line to meet them! I couldn't believe my eyes when we were able to just walk right into their private room. Here is Lia talking with the sisters while wearing her Elsa dress.
Lia posing with the girls of Arendelle.
Andrea and I joined in for the group picture with Lia and Lauren.
We then quickly walked across the street to meet Olaf just as he was waddling out for his morning shift. Lia and Lauren were the first ones to meet him for the day. Lia even got a "warm hug" from him at the end!
Just by luck, we also caught Sulley when he first came out. Since people used to say that Lia looked like Boo when she was younger, it was fun for her to meet him for the first time. She even called him, "Kitty," and made a bunch of the Disney cast members laugh!
We also got a quick picture with Doc McStuffins as we headed back out to the center of the park.
We had to take a mommy-daughter picture from my favorite spot in Adventure with the giant Ferris wheel in the background.
Lia and Lauren walking hand in hand to their first ride of the day. Just precious.
Mater's junkyard jamboree was our first ride. Here are the girls waiting for the craziness to begin.
We then walked down the main drag of Radiator Springs on our way to our next ride. Here are the girls posing in front of the statue of Stanley in front of the town's courthouse.
Our next ride was the super fast, Radiator Springs Racers. We were able to convince Lia to go on it this time and she had a great time. Lia and I are in the second row, but Andrea's hand is covering most of my face. :-)
We then had to go on Lia's favorite ride in Adventure--The Little Mermaid. Here are the girls with Matt inside their giant clam shell.
Next, we went to see the Aladdin musical in the Hyperion Theater and managed to grab front row seats thanks to Andrea's expertise. Here we are with our girls in front of the stage before the show started.
Due to our front row seats, we had a fabulous view of the of the show! Here is Jasmine with her father.
Jasmine and Aladdin with the Genie.
Jasmine and Aladdin singing, "A Whole New World."
We took a break for lunch and met with Minnie again.
Lia kidding Minnie's nose. What an adorable photo!
The girls also met Daisy Duck.
At Andrea's suggestion, we took a break from the heat and attended a drawing session at the Animation Academy. We were taught how to draw Piglet from Winne the Pooh by a Disney animator. Here are Lia, Lauren, and Andrea at the end of our class.
A shot of the Piglet I sketched!
We then parted ways from Lauren and her family for the rest of the day. Although it was fun being with them, I really enjoyed my one-on-one time with Lia. We first took a spin around the carousel.
We then waited in line to meet with all three characters from Toy Story--Jessie, Woody, and Buzz.
Afterwards, we went to a different theater to participate in the Frozen sing-along. Like last time, this was so much fun and I just loved sitting back and watching Lia sing these beloved songs at the top of her lungs!
Elsa and Anna taking a bow at the end of the show!
After the sing-along, Lia and I decided to walk back to Radiator Springs to ride on Radiator Springs Racers again....and I am so glad we did this because we ran into my mission president and his wife, Brother and Sister Froerer! I haven't seen them since August of 2000 when I attended my last mission reunion before graduating from BYU and leaving Utah for good. It was so amazing to run into them in such a big place with so many people. I loved catching up with them and just seeing their smiles. Unfortunately, Lia started to get impatient, so I had to say goodbye, but what a wonderful memory that I will remember forever!
Lia and I on Radiator Springs Racers again! We are in the same seats on the back row as we were earlier that day.
Lia and I then found a spot last minute on the curb to watch the Pixar Play Parade. As always, this is such a fun parade to watch.
Mr. Incredible up close and personal.
And some of Nemo's friends.
One of the elaborate Toy Story floats.
After a hamburger and fries dinner, Lia and I enjoyed a few more rides in the evening. Here are Lia and me getting ready to take off on the Jumpin' Jellyfish ride.
After finding a fabulous, last minute spot to stand, Lia and I finished off the evening by watching the water show, "World of Color." It had been redone for the 60th Anniversary and I was curious to see the changes. Unfortunately, it broke down half way through the show, but that actually ended up being okay as Lia was getting very tired and was asking to go back to the hotel anyway. Here is a picture I took with an image of Lightening McQueen projected on the water.
And another one with Andy from Toy Story.
Luckily, the water show did not break down until after the Frozen segment of Elsa singing, "Let It Go," which was incredible. And that wrapped up our final day in the Magic Kingdom. The entire three days were so magical and so much fun and I loved being able to share this special time with Lia!
On Thursday, October 14th, we started out our last day in California by saying goodbye to Andrea and her family and catching the 7:30 shuttle outside the Disneyland Hotel. After returning to the airport, we quickly rented our car and set out on our adventure that I had planned just the week before. Lia and I first drove through crazy, rush hour traffic in Los Angeles to visit the American Girl Doll store. This store is one of the three flagship stores in the country and is much bigger than our Seattle store. Since we have also been to the flagship store in Chicago, we were excited to check this one out! Here is Lia trying out the awesome, life-sized, egg chair that goes with Julie's collection.
One of the many cool features of the flagship stores is that they have a display of every single Girl of the Year doll since American Girl started making them in 2001. Here is Lia standing next to her two favorites--Kanani and McKenna from 2011 and 2012.
Lia playing with one of the dolls in the salon chair.
Lia standing outside the store after buying her one souvenir--Grace's suitcase!
Mom and daughter before leaving the store and L.A.
After leaving Los Angeles, we drove straight to Long Beach to show Lia where Ron and I used to live as newlyweds AND to get my all-time favorite burrito from the taqueria that was right around the corner from our apartment. Here I am standing in front of the taqueria with my burrito in hand! Oh, how Ron and I miss this place...
Our last stop of the day before heading to the airport was to Huntington Beach. Since the weather had been in the 90s and high 80s all week long, a trip to the beach seemed totally normal. And thanks to such a warm fall in Southern California, the water temperature was still in the low 70s. Unbelievable! So, Lia and I put our swimsuits back on and walked out to my beloved beach to spend an hour frolicking in the surf and playing in the sand like it was the middle of summer. It was absolutely fabulous!
Lia playing in the sand.
Mommy and daughter with the glorious Pacific in the background.
Lia and the Huntington Beach pier.
Lia dipping her toes in the water.
Another shot of the two of us.
Lia made friends with two sisters and enjoyed playing in the waves until it was time to pack up and head to the airport.
The girls running away from the waves! It was so fun to watch her splashing and laughing in the water. It was so hard to leave to catch our plane--it was like being ripped out of the Garden of Eden, but it was the perfect way to end our perfect trip to Southern California!
No comments:
Post a Comment