Our Trip to Disneyland! (October 2012)

We took Sophia to Disneyland this week and it was such a blast! It was fun and magical and everything the commercials make it out to be, BUT it is not a relaxing, sit on the beach with a frosty drink kind of vacation, which we are pretty partial to. But it was worth every bit of effort though because Sophia had the most amazing time!

Aunt Chelsea came with us the watch baby Brother at the hotel while we were gone.  Carsten (5 months old) is still pretty much sleeping all day so she got to relax and watch tv while we were gone.  I took my handy dandy pump with me since I was going to miss one feeding each day.  Luckily he was down with taking a bottle once a day :-)  I was so excited to find that Disneyland has really nice, private rooms for nursing/pumping.  So great!
When we told Sophia about our trip to Disneyland she immediately made a chart to count down the forty-six 'night nights' until we left for our trip. She was beyond excited! She also made drawings and wrote notes to ALL the princesses and let us know she intended on delivering the art/note to every. single. one. of. them. Oh yes.

This little cutie just ate and slept and hung out with Aunt Chel-Che.  It was hard to leave him, but since he basically has 1 hour (maybe 1.5 hours) of awake time between the hours of 8am-5pm he didn't miss me too much :-)  I'm sure the next time we come to Disney he will be just as into it as Sister!

DISNEYLAND DAY 1!!!

Waiting on the shuttle...

Showing me her 'pose'

Picking flowers of course :-)

My sweet girl...

Here we go.....

She was so excited to see everything!

The first morning we had reservations for Breakfast with the Princesses. It was the best thing ever! It definitely started the trip on a high note.  And as a bonus we got to hang out with Ariel while we waited to be seated. S loved it! It was SOOO nice to not have to wait in those ridiculously long lines to meet them. One princess at a time came out and made the rounds to each table and to chat, take pictures and sign autographs.  It was great to knock out five princesses that first day since S had so many deliveries that had to be made.  Haha!

It was sooooo sweet to watch Sophia every time a new princess came out. She was completely enamored and start struck. It was so magical to see it though the eyes of a four year old :-) Totally priceless! When they arrived at our table S gave them their 'gift' and watched in awe as they opened their notes/art work. They were all super sweet about it and totally played along. She got their autograph and took lots of pictures with them. This was definitely the perfect age to bring her.

Our first stop during Breakfast with the Princesses :-)

Then we were seated and the rest of the Princesses came around to each table...

Next up was Aurora...

Her hand is cute off :-( but she was holding it like Aurora.  Hysterical!

and then Cinderella...

Each drawing had a special 'theme'...

She kissed her hand :-)  That white glove was probably not germy at all. Haha!

Then there was Snow White...

I told her she should be Snow White for Halloween :-) Interestingly enough she thinks she looks like her favorite princess, Tiana. Haha!

and then Belle...

She forgot to write her name on Belle's card and she didn't want her to forget who it was from :-)

We loved seeing how excited and happy she was meeting each princess!

Then it was on to the carousel...

which is ALWAYS a hit with our girl! :-)

Sweet kisses :-)

The Ariel's Undersea Adventure was a huuuuge hit with S.  We rode it probably 10 times!  Which wasn't so bad since it was air conditioned :-)

In awe every time!

Into the cave for a the show It's Tough To Be a Bug...

Haha! :-)

She did a little singing/dancing combo to entertain everyone before we were seated for the show.  Pretty typical of our girl :-)

Taking a break enjoying her first frozen lemonade :-)

Love her so...

DISNEYLAND DAY 2!

The next day we started the day with the Bippity Boppity Boutique. That was so much fun as well! Sophia got to pick out what princess she wanted to be transformed into and then her 'Fairy Godmother' transformed her :-)  She picked Rupunzel (which is shocking because her absolute favorite princess is Tiana). She looooved getting all dolled up and being made into a 'real princess'. The next couple hours we rode several rides and got some lunch.

Ready for day 2!!!

I adore this girl :-)

Love them so much!

First stop... Bippity Boppity Boutique!  Picking out what Princess she was going to be transformed into...

Doing a spell with the Fairy Godmother...

She was so in awe of everything in her changing room :-)

So excited!

So was Dad :-)

Side note... with the amount of gel and hair spray they put in her hair I'm fairly certain her hair was flammable.  It was sooooo stiff!

So funny!

She was loving every second of the princess pampering...

She could hardly contain her excitement!

I love how she was sitting and love that she had her crocs on.  Too funny!

Choosing just the right tiara :-)

The big reveal in the mirror...

So precious how she held her hands up to her face when she saw herself in the mirror.  Sooo sweet!

Love this little princess!

Then the did 'professional' pictures in a special room with props.  I took these, but we were suckers and bought some as well.  When at Disney... :-)

When she smiles her genuine smile, her dimples show and I. just. melt.

Of course we had to buy the cheesy pictures that they sell/print there.  Do you really think this girl would have left without them?! Haha!

When he helped her out of the carriage she gave him a little curtsy :-)

Then we were off to ride the tea cups!

What you can't see in these pictures is that Sophia laughed (and I mean HYSTERICALLY laughed) during the entire tea cup ride.  It was so funny that I started laughing and then I couldn't stop laughing either.  I'm not sure if she was laughing because she was nervous or delirious or what, but it was hysterical!  It's funny because she did the same thing last winter when we rode a spinning ride at the FW Stock Show.  Too funny :-)

After the tea cup ride we spotted Merida, Rupunzel and Belle and decided to get in line to meet them (since Merida was not at the breakfast).  S was super excited because she had been so worried about how she was going to get her 'gift' to Merida and Tiana since they weren't at the breakfast.  By 'so worried' I mean slightly obsessed with getting it to them.  So, we thought we were in luck.  Well, apparently they do the meet and greet's in shifts and their shift was over :-/  We were two people back (and had been in line almost an hour mind you) when the three princesses started to exit stage left.  Oh. My. Word. Sophia started loosing her mind like a crazy person.  She started yelling, "Wait! Wait! You didn't get your present! Waaaaiiiiiiitttt!".   Seriously... like hyperventilating and the ugly cry all rolled into one. Well, Merida didn't hear her as they were being ushered off and Sophia broke down with the biggest, saddest tears I have ever seen.  I seriously think her heart was broken.  As I was hugging her and trying to console her, up walk the replacements, Ariel, Belle and Tiana.  I'm fairly certain a light from heaven was shining down on Tiana's head as she was walking up. Hallelujah!!!!  Can I get an Amen?!

Just when I thought Tiana had saved the day the funniest thing happen.  Sophia got confused and thought Ariel was actually Merida.  Let's just say she was beyond THRILLED that 'Merida' had come back.  I can totally see how she got the two confused… first of all she has never seen the movie The Little Mermaid, AND the first time S had actually even laid eyes on Ariel was the day before at breakfast.  Fast forward to today, and she is in the greenish dress again like Merida's (not Ariel's mermaid costume that S kept expecting) and they both have long, red hair.  I can definitely see how it would be easy to confuse the two.  Well, we were all SOOOO thankful that "Merida" came back and even more excited that Tiana was there as well.  So S gave them their presents and got to talk to them for several minutes.  When Ariel saw that her envelope said Merida and S was saying how happy she was that she came back, Ariel totally got it and played along.  Thank goodness! Sophia told Tiana that she was her favorite princess in the whole world and I think it took her a little by surprise.  I'm sure she's not typically the favorite of four year old girls that have the same skin tone to Snow White.  Either way she was super sweet and spent a little extra time talking to Sophia. It was pretty cute :-)

Sophia watching 'Merida' like a hawk making sure she doesn't get away again! Ha! :-)

So concerned...

Finally the wait to is over!!! :-)

Ahhhhh... and finally on to her FAVORITE princess ever!

I love how she just sat down and made herself comfy.  She was NOT going anywhere too soon :-)

She drew Tiana her 'castle' and then wrote her a sweet note...

She looooved that she got to tell all the Princesses a secret!

And then on to 'Merida' (also known as Ariel)...

*Sidenote... On the flight home she was looking through her autograph book and couldn't find Merida's signature anywhere, BUT she found Ariel's twice. She so upset because she thought Merida's page fell out.  I'm pretty sure I may have to forge Merida's signature on a blank sheet of paper when she's not looking :-/

Then we went to get a sweet treat and watch for Princesses! Dan found this awesome shady spot with a bench where we could sit and enjoy our frozen lemonade and cotton candy.  The big perk was that it was on the same path the princesses take when they are switching off.  So we got to see several of them on their way back to their 'castle' :-)

Waiting on the 'surprise'...

Of course Sophia sprinted toward Tiana when she saw her :-)

I think she thinks they are BFF's...  sooooo sweet!

When the other princesses walked by S just waved and said their names :-)

Since Carsten is still nursing I had to go pump in the Mothers area every couple hours. One of my trips in they decided to come join me.  I mean... who can pass up air condition and reading books?! :-)

Of course we had to get a souvenir balloon :-)

DISNEYLAND DAY 3!!!

First up was Breakfast with the Characters...

We weren't positive who he was (maybe Alvin?), but she sure liked him!

We are those mean parents that reserve chocolate milk for Birthdays and Disneyland :-) Haha!

She was soooo concerned that she didn't do letters or drawings for the characters so she had to improvise...

Fun with Tigger!

And the Rabbit of course!

 S and Daddy did the space ship ride... so fun!

I'm sure she technically wasn't supposed to climb up on this statue thing, but at least she saw Peter Pan running by while she was up there :-)

Silly girl :-)

She gave Peter Pan the 'thumbs up' as he sprinted by :-)

Speaking of Peter Pan, another on of the rides she really enjoyed (and we like because of the short line and air conditioning) was Peter Pan's Flight...

Captain Hook was kind of scary :-/

Making wishes at the wishing well...

Or maybe trying to climb in?! Haha!

This was one of my favorite parts of the trip... We happened upon Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter standing still.  If you've ever been to Disneyland/world you know that the characters do NOT stand still when they are in the park (*unless they are there for Meet & Greet and then you get in line to see them).  They are constantly moving which makes it easy for many, many people to see them, hug them, etc.  If they were standing still large groups would gather around them and then most people would basically never see them up close.  Well, I'm not sure if these two were on a break or maybe since their not the 'hot' characters they aren't anticipating large groups gathering? Either way Sophia thought it was AMAZING that she could talk to them and hang out for a while! 

She asked about fifty questions (mainly about the princesses since she has never seen the movie Alice in Wonderland). The answered the questions with lots of funny anecdotes about the princesses ;-)

The Mad Hatter told some silly jokes and they all laughed deliriously.

They danced around like crazy people for a few mintues. 

Probably longer than Alice would have liked, but she was a trooper!

I tried to get some posed pictures, but then the Mad Hatter started a 'tickle war' and S was hysterical :-)

This lasted about 15 mintues, which I'm sure in Disneyland character time is equivalent to about 5 hours.  The funny thing was people were steadily waking by and looking, but no one stopped to join the fun.  And it was SO fun!  Can't you tell?! :-)

Such a fun memory!

It was fun to go in October and see all the pumpkins.  I think next time we will go around Christmas and see all the holiday decor :-)

It was such a fun trip especially for Sophia!  Dan and I loved seeing it all though her eyes… it really was magical!  We were also so glad to get home and rest though.  I have no idea how people do this for a solid week.  Three days completely wore us out!  Maybe next trip :-)