California Adventure (Day 5 continued)

As you will notice, our girls were all decked out in their favorite Princess outfits.  We were under the false notion that we could see the Princesses at Ariels Grotto in Cali Adv. Come to find out, the other way you see THOSE Princesses is if you do a character dining there.  Oh. Great.  The place you see the Princesses is actually in Disneyland! UGH! Thankfully Tianna and Adelia took the news that they had to wait one more day to see their beloved Princesses.

"Look Tianna, see in there, yeah, THAT place.  Yes the Princesses are in there.  NO, no, we do not get to see them. See, it's a cruel, yet tantalizing sales tactic isn't it"  -Adelia 

I really was impressed with how well the girls' handled the disappointment.  What champs!
We made up for it by having a fantastic day though! While on the Paradise Pier we rode the California Screamer (and our stomachs regretted every second of it) , Toy Story Mania, The gigantic Ferris Wheel, and Ariels Under Sea Adventure.

Toy Story Mania was way more fun that I thought it would be! 

Grandpa Neil stood in line with these chicks to see Woody while the rest of us conquered The SCREAMER

 Next we headed off to Bugs Life land.  That "It's Tough to Be a Bug" show is timeless. And so are those glasses!

We grabbed us a TURKEY leg for lunch and chilled out in "Hollywood" so we could be on time for the Aladdin show.  But that darn turkey leg was just so good we missed the show by mere minutes. Oops. Good thing they have multiple showtimes through out the whole day.

We warned Tianna that the Tower of Terror ride would be scary.... but she wanted to come along!

BEFORE: Practicing her scared face:

 DURING: the REAL terrified face

AFTER: the survival face.  She enjoyed it but later swore she would NEVER go on that ride again. 

 Adelia andI went and checked out some other sights while the rest of the crew SOARED OVER CALIFORNIA.   Tianna liked that ride a whole lot more than Tower of Terror.

Meanwhile, we found Mater and Lightning! 

 And pretty waterfalls! 

 And a sign that made us feel like we were at home. (on years when it actually SNOWS!)

We literally RAN to see the Aladdin show and made it just in time for a great show! I felt bad my parent's were still "Soaring" and missed it though.  I think they enjoyed a minute to rest though... we kept running all day long.

Last, but certainly not least we grabbed some pizza for din-din and hurried off to wait. And wait. AND WAIT for the WORLD OF COLOR.  Good thing it was totally worth every agonizing second of standing around waiting for it.

 Gotta love the Pizza Faces they are sporting! 

 This show really was AMAZING!  Tianna wanted to go back the next night.  If you didn't have to just stand for over an hour waiting for the half hour long show which you also stand up for, we just might have... it was THAT GOOD!

Magic Morning (Day 5)

Jan 10th
Although Tuesday was designated as our California Adventure land day, we spent the morning  in Disneyland using our Magic Morning (when you spend enough days there you qualify for early entrance to the park for select rides on certain days)

 Good old Walt! 

 The Castle: Still dressed up in it's Christmas attire

 This was such a pretty little spot.  

 Snow Whites well.  Listen carefully and you can hear her singing.  It was pretty neat

 Com'on Neil--PULL!!!

 Waiting for a WILD RIDE with MR. TOAD

 It was a great way to fit in most of the rides in Fantasyland which usually have really long lines.  We went on Mr. Toads Wild Ride, Pinocchio, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, the Teacups and more.

 Notice my Birthday Button?  I didn't get mine until the end of the night on my actual birthday so I wore it all the next day.  Luke thought I was ridiculous.... Oh well! ;) I enjoyed it fully!

Check out those sparkles!  I DID NOT Photoshop anything! Cool huh!?

 Luke conceded to take the girls on the Tea Cups. I wasn't as willing 

 The last thing we did at Disneyland on this day was ride the Storybook boat ride. I had very low expectations for this ride but actually loved it! You get to see doll house-sized replicas of the villages of your favorite stories.

City of Agraba (from Aladdin)

 Geppetto's workshop

 Prince Eric's Castle

The little villages were just so cool! I just heard a tidbit the other day that all of the doors actually open so they can change the light bulbs.  So cool! 

Well... Magic Morning was officially over.... 

Next stop: California Adventure! 

January 9th continued

Right after the character breakfast we wanted to go through the famous SLEEPING BEAUTY CASTLE! but was not to be.... yet. Just as we got there they stopped us because Mickey Mouse and the band were on their way to that very spot!

 

 Pluto came up to Adelia to say hi! 

 Then Alice invite the girls up to dance with her for the "unbirthday party" song.  It was just the fuel Adelia needed.......

 As soon as the girls were back with us, I put my camera away. BUT THEN Adelia shot out of her stroller and ran across straight through the characters to Mickey Mouse.  The crowd loved it! He casually took her hand and skipped her back to us.  My only regret is that we ALL had just put our cameras away.

Once the band and Mickey were finished we went through Aurora's Castle and checked our her attractions:

Then off to the Peter Pan ride-- Tianna and Adelia's very first Disneyland ride

Followed by the Dumbo ride

Oh, did I mention, these were also my MOMMY's first Disneyland rides!

My dad's only memory from his first D-land trip was going on the Jungle Cruise.  Now he went on it a second time.

Tianna was fully convinced the animals were real.. Good job Disney! 

*gasp* and who was outside of the Jungle Cruise?  ALADIN AND JASMINE!

For some reason Tianna went all shy on us. Now I am documenting it for PROOF later on in life.  She wanted me to delete this picture.I refused! muhahhah. She did promise to not be shy with any of the characters again... or we would NOT waste our time waiting in line to see them.

That day we also went on Pirates of the Caribbean (some of us more than once), checked out Tarzan's tree house, the Tiki Tiki Room, and Indiana Jones ride (which had really long waits even with fast passes by the way) The Nemo Submarines, Star Tours and more!

Oh no! Warning signs! Ahhhhhhhhhh

"It's a jolly holiday with Mary...."  -Mary Poppins

 And just before the park closed we checked out It's a Small World. I LOVED that it was decorated with Christmas lights still.  I think if we were even a week later we would have missed the Christmas version of this ride.

We walked our TAILS off that first day at Disneyland.  The girls loved every single second of it..... and so did their mommy. It was the most perfect birthday! 

Oh yeah, my birthday.... we snuck in some cake and ice cream that night in the hotel room.  Even with his aching feet, my sweet Luke went out to the store just to pick me up some birthday dessert.  

 I love this picture because Adelia has her fingers stuck in the ice cream! She's such a nut!

 Thanks for all the birthday calls, texts, face book messages, and thoughts.  I had the best day ever and thank you for thinking of me.......  How luck was I to spend my 27th birthday in the Happiest Place on Earth with some of the Happiest Little Girls in the whole wide world!