Disneyland: Day 1

So at the end of our California trip, my parents set up a 2 1/2 day Disneyland trip for all of us.

I was really excited.  Alice LOVES Disney, especially all the princesses.  I knew she would love it.

I honestly was a little nervous that all the excitement would be too much for her and she would just meltdown.  Thankfully she did great and loved it.

We got to LA in the early afternoon and headed into the park around 4pm, just in time to see the parade.

Can you tell she was excited?

She loved waving at the characters.

Her very first Disneyland ride:

She really liked it.  Jane did too.

The next day we were up early and at the monorail to use our passes to get into the park early.

Stephen wore his Lion King shirt that has a picture of Scar and the quote "I'm surrounded by idiots." Which was perfect for him on so many levels.

I decided to have a little fun and do some "Disney Bounding" which is when you wear regular clothes that are similar, usually in color, to a Disney character.

I, of course, couldn't help but do Ariel.  What fun is having long red hair if you can't be Ariel!?

(Purple top like her shells and teal pants like her fins, puka shell necklace and starfish hair clip)

We tried really hard to talk Alice into going on the teacup ride but she was too scared.  I was only able to get her to sit in this cup by promising that it wouldn't move.

We talked her into going on the Alice in Wonderland ride but halfway through the ride broke down and they turned on all the lights and walked us out the back rooms which was kinda interesting but certainly loses the "magic".

She loved the carousel.

Stephen and I had talked a few times before this trip about how Alice would be with the characters.  I thought she would be ok with the princesses but a little shy and that she wouldn't go up to the "non-people" characters.

I was wrong!  This was her first character interaction.

She loved meeting the characters, even if it was a character she didn't really know.

Unfortunately, because it was Halloween season at Disneyland, many of the characters around were the villains.  This was especially confusing to Alice who has been very interested in understanding "bad guys" in movies and has been having a lot of discussions about it.  So it was hard to know what to say when she would see someone like Cruella de Vil and ask "She's nice?"

Jane wasn't too sure about the characters.

My parents asked Alice where she was driving to and she said "The birth center!"  It made my heart melt a little.  She loves coming to my prenatal appointments at the birth center.

We brought a Baby Trend Sit-n-Stand stroller which worked out great.  Jane rode in the front and Alice was able to sit or stand on the back when she got tired and just hop off when she wanted to see something.

Stephen and my dad in a shooting match.  So typical :)

Jane crashed in the stroller in the afternoon.  After having the worst blowout ever!  Thankfully it didn't get on her dress but I ran out of baby wipes and was using paper towels trying to clean it all up!

The Pooh ride was a big hit with Alice of course and then she got to meet the characters.

We had a hard time finding any of the princesses but we did find Belle, though Alice was a little confused since she wasn't wearing her fancy gold dress.

Alice joined Mary Poppins in a little dance, again amazing me at how brave she could be.

The girls loved the parade so much the day before, we decided to watch it again.

You can tell where Jane got her blue eyes from! (Also, I noticed that when my aunts and uncles came to visit that they all have blue eyes too!  Maybe it's the Slovenian in them.)

It was a super fun day.  The weather was great.  The lines were all really short.  I wish Alice would have gone on a few more of the rides but that's ok.  My only real disappointment is that we didn't get to see Alice in Wonderland and get a picture with her.

Next day, California Adventure!