Disneyland Vacation, Days 1 and 2

Ok, sorry it's taken me so long to do this, but I'm finally getting around to posting my pictures and info on our trip to Disneyland last week. We had so much fun. Wednesday morning I got the kids up and we all took a shower and got in the van and drove to Las Vegas to pick Dan up from the airport. I had bought the kids some of those black fuzzy pictures to color and Letty wanted to keep the picture of it partially colored so she could refer back to it when she was coloring hers. When she had finished coloring her picture the way it was done on the example there were still a lot of pieces missing that needed to be colored. She said she didn't know how to do it and I told her to use her imagination. Then she says to me, "Imagination doesn't want to work anymore." It was so funny. I had to write it down because I knew I would forget it and that was just something that I didn't want to forget. We arrived at the Disney Paradise Pier hotel around 3:30 or so, and didn't plan on going to the park that day, so we just enjoyed the hotel. When we checked in they gave us buttons to wear, Dan and I had buttons that said "Happy Anniversary" and the kids each got a button that said "1st Visit." They also gave each of the kids balloons that they absolutely loved.

We went to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and every 30 minutes they have "lightening and thunder" go off and it scared Letty. It was pretty fun though. After dinner we went back to the hotel and found that the maid service had left us a surprise.

That's Jacyn's teddybear that they propped up on the pillows.

The maid service did this every night. Leaving the chocolate coins that the kids promptly ate each evening.

These were rice crispy treats. They were very yummy, not to mention adorable.

The next morning we didn't really need to get up very early since the park didn't open until 10:00 a.m., but of course the kids woke up at 6:30 a.m., so we took our time getting ready. Here's Thomas and Jacyn on the monorail on the way over to the park for their first time.

When we got off the monorail the exit is right by the entrance to the Finding Nemo Submarine ride, so we waited in a the long line to experience that ride as our first one of the trip. It was so much fun. I like how they changed that ride from when I was a kid. Afterward they were putting on a Jedi Knight demonstration that Thomas just had to watch, so while he watched that Letty and I walked around and we ran into Buzz Lightyear. We hadn't bought Letty her autograph book yet, to we didn't get his autograph, but at least we got a picture of him with Letty.

After the kids went on the Star Tours ride with Dan I noticed Alice and the Mad Hatter walking together, so Letty and I chased after them and when I called out to Alice, she turned around and asked Letty if she would like to walk with them. I had to encourage her to hold their hands, but once she did, they walked with her and talked to her while they were on their way to the area they were headed to where they would be greeting other guests. We were so lucky to have run into them when we did. I got the best pictures of them walking with Letty. It was so awesome. They asked her her name and were so funny. Dan was holding Jacyn and we were pushing the stroller behind them and at one point I put the camera on the seat of the stroller and the Mad Hatter turned around and looked at the camera and said "Oh, how cute, I hope it doesn't cry too much." As they were walking along with Letty, other little kids came running up, but they didn't stop, they just kept walking with Letty. After taking some pictures of them with Letty once they got to their destination, we all went on the teacup ride. We then bought Letty her autograph book and were lucky enough that Alice and the Mad Hatter were still there talking to kids and taking pictures, so we ran over to them to get their autograph and they greeted Letty by name and signed her book.

The kids really liked the Storybook ride and we got this fun picture of Thomas being eaten by the Whale.

Then we stood in line for what felt like forever at the Fantasy Faire to meet the princesses. We were so lucky to get to meet Belle, Cinderella, Ariel and Pocahontas. Letty was just beside herself with excitement to meet the princesses. Her face just tells it all in these pictures. She was most excited to meet Cinderella. She had been talking about it for weeks before the trip. I had bought her a little wooden cutout of Cinderella that she colored on the drive down and she was going to give it to her when she met her, but then it ended up getting broke in the van and was so sad, she cried and cried. But she completely forgot about it once she actually saw Cinderella and got her signature and her picture taken with her.

We had fun putting the crowns on Jacyn's head and checking out all the princess stuff they had on sale. We did, however, refrain from buying anything at that point.

We walked through Minnie's house.

Don't you just love the look on Letty's face in this next picture?

Then Mickey's house.

We had lunch and saw Pluto and Goofy come out to greet everyone, but by the time were were done eating, they had gone back inside. We were lucky enough to see Pluto again, not much later and got some great pictures and his autograph.

The final picture from this day is with Jasmine and Aladdin. We were so lucky to have run into so many characters and to get pictures with them.

Now, on to Day 2 at Disneyland, in a separate post.