Vacation, Disney days

Part one. Because yea, we spent 3 days at Disney. Lots to show and tell. :)

There are two parks to Disneyland. There is California Adventure Park and then Disneyland Resort park. I had it scheduled where we would go to Calif Adv Park the first day (Wednesday) because of timing and such. With a 3day Park Hopper Pass, we got early entrance to Magic Morning at Disneyland park, which they only do on Thursdays. So we were to be there on Thursday. We also wanted to be sure to see the Disneyland fireworks, which they only did on weekends, so again, we'd have to be there on Friday. That left Wednesday for Calif Adventure Park, which worked out well because we also wanted to see the World of Color show (at Calif Adv Park), which happened on Wednesday. Whew! I'm telling you...it's a lot of thought and planning to get it all figured out the best times to go where!

So anyway, Wednesday morning we set off in the shuttle (we ended up buying a shuttle pass from our hotel to the park instead of paying for parking each day...it worked out cheaper and easier, plus the morning we needed to get there early for Magic Morning, the parking lot was not open that early. I know...doesn't make sense.). We got to the entrance at 9:20 or so, even though the park didn't open till 10. But lo and behold they started letting people in at 9:30. Huh?! Well, come to find out, they let people in, but attractions, rides, characters, etc come out at 10.

(picture below taken near the entrance, with the monorail above us)

We stopped by and got our First Time Visitor buttons, which was supposed to give us special treatment..but didn't really. They have Happy Birthday ones too, or I'm Celebrating (for anniversaries and such) and I heard several of those people get wished a Happy Birthday and such. But that was about all that was worth.

Our first stop was bee-lining for the Fast Pass to see the World of Color show (that started at 8p). I had read on one of my many blogs that you HAVE to have the Fast Pass to get in to this show and that the Fast Passes go quickly. Typically a Fast Pass is for use with rides - you go by a ride, there's a wait, you get a Fast pass, which tells you the time to come back, you come back at that time and can go right in. But here, in this scenario, basically it was like a ticket to get in. So I thought I was ahead of the game. Getting our ticket for that and being one of the first to get a ticket (they were color coded by seating and first come first serve basis). More on the World of Color later...

Then after we had those Fast Passes secured, we ventured around the park. Our lunch with the princesses (located at Calif Adv Park only!) was at 11:30, so we had a bit of time to take in some stuff. First, we came across Goofy.

Now we weren't real sure how Brenna would react or handle the characters. They are kinda weird, they don't talk, and she doesn't do well with most of these type things. For instance, she was scared to death of Chuckee Cheese. We were pretty sure Brooke would be fine, but not so certain about Brenna.

But as soon as she saw Goofy, she started yelling, "Goofy! It's Goofy Daddy! It's Goofy Mommy!" She ran right up to him (after waiting in line for her turn of course) and gave him a hug, a high five, and started feeling around on his nose, etc).

Here is where I'll say, there is something to the whole 'magic of Disney' thing. I cannot put it into words or describe it very well. But not only do the kids faces light up with excitement, the atmosphere is soooo different. And it started with Goofy.

I will also say here that its kinda cool because everywhere you go within Disney they have these PhotoPass people. They will gladly use your camera to take a picture with the characters or at other photo op spots located around the park. But they also take one (or more) with their camera, scan your PhotoPass card you are assigned and carry with you from the moment of your first picture and load it up on a website for you to view (and order from) later. The cool thing is they add in cute little things, etc... We ended up ordering a CD of all our images (it's only $59 for ALL the images, edited and unedited) after I added in all kinds of borders and other fun things.

Anyway, so from Goofy, Brooke wanted to go ride a ride. So her and Brad, and subsequently Brad and Brenna, rode the first rocket ship ride. Again, Brooke is scared of heights. She doesn't like rides or these types of things. They scare her. But we were at Disney. All that was thrown out the window! She wanted to ride again and again and again. Even Brad said, he was getting a little dizzy/nauseous from the ride. LOL And Brenna loved it just the same!

They also enjoyed riding on the ferris wheel. And let me just say, this was a HUGE ferris wheel. And all the carts swung! Crazy. That's why I'm down below taking pictures. :) But the girls both loved it! (who ARE these children??)...

Also, near that same vicinity we came upon the Army Men from Toy Story doing a little show of their own on the street, getting kids to participate. They had already started when we walked up, so we just watched.

Next we spotted Mickey! Oh my gosh. The excitement over seeing Mickey Mouse for the first time was unbelievable. I mean, he's no Goofy. He's Mickey Mouse! THE Mickey Mouse. We ended up seeing Mickey several times, but the first time, the girls were ecstatic...to say the least. Again, magical..

We all got in a picture with Mickey. Brenna was still learning about the no talking thing. The characters were very good at expressing themselves though in other ways - hand gestures, movements, etc. Its amazing how good they are with kids, without ever talking. I kept commenting on what the training for that must be like.

From there, we went to have lunch. We had reservations at 11:30 at Ariel's Grotto.

They really know how to do things, keep things going, moving, etc. There was not really a wait. We quickly were escorted down the stairs to where our first Princess was waiting. Ariel (Little Mermaid) herself was there taking pictures, signing autographs etc. I should also mention that another great tip I got from a website ahead of time. Instead of buying an autograph book, which ends up on a shelf or closet somewhere...buy a picture frame matte ahead of time for all the characters to sign. Then later, you put a picture in it and voila! Instant souvenir that you see regularly. So, we did that. And then after 2 of our picture frames were filled, or as we ran into characters a 3rd time (I did a frame for each girl), we pulled out my old school Disney books for the characters to sign. I think, on top of the frames, we got 4-5 Disney books signed by various Princesses. Also, another neat fun idea. Especially since our books were literally as old as me (we have the Disney board books from when *I* was a kid).

So after seeing and visiting Ariel, we got shown to our table. We were told to let the girls sit on the outside edge of our U-shaped booth, as the Princesses were going to be coming around to visit soon. Every table got a tower of appetizers, complete with salad, fruit, ham, and more.

Then we got to choose our entree. Brenna (3 and under) was free (that was nice!!!) and still got to choose. She got a macaroni and cheese with ham type thing...for free. Brooke got to order off the kids menu and Brad and I each had a choice of 4 things. We both agreed the food was very good! Then afterwards, they brought out a dessert tray as well, filled with samplings of different desserts.

Here is Brooke with a seashell made of white chocolate. Yum!

Anyway, so several of the princesses did stop by and as they each were announced, Brenna was sooooo excited. She could hardly eat! She was standing up, trying to see the whole time.

As each Princess came by the table, they chatted for a brief moment. Both girls were too awe stricken to actually speak to them most of the time. Brooke was especially shy. She did talk, but you could just tell...it was fascinating to her. Then they signed our frame(s) and posed for a picture.

It was a great lunch overall. Definitely expensive (close to $100) but also a must-do in my opinion for a first time visitor with girls. ;) A lot of little girls dressed in their favorite princess dress up dress for this lunch (and all over the parks). We took dresses...they thought they wanted to do it. But when it came time, they both chose to just stay in their play clothes.

After lunch, we walked around some more, finding this...

Its new Toy Story toys in packages! Haha!

Brenna took a quick nap in the stroller.

While Brenna napped, we came across this Photo Op place where Brad and I posed for a picture (since we would've been short one child, we took a couple picture instead of a family picture).

Through the PhotoPass site, they later added this into the picture. Cool, huh?

We also came up to the end of a show starring Cinderella, Mickey, Woody from Toy Story and more. Afterwards they were all posing for pictures and signing autographs. Brenna was still sleeping but we decided to wake her up for Woody. Her all time favorite! It was a shame, though, she was a bit too groggy/grumpy/sleepy to appreciate it. So here is Brooke with Woody.

Then we came to Pluto! The girls continuously loved every Pluto we came across. He was always funny and silly. Brooke still likes to tell the story that Pluto put our picture frame on his nose. :)

We walked around some more, finding a rest spot.

From there we went to the Pier side of the park (called Paradise Pier) where they had lots of shops and games and more.

Several of the 'bigger kid' rides were here. Roller coasters and such. And Brooke wanted to ride that too! Crazy girl. She didn't meet the height requirements though. ;) In the picture below you can see just how huge that ferris wheel is...

We found a nice little shop with tons of Mickey Mouse ears, that I had to get for the girls. Even better, they embroidered their name (or whatever else you wanted) onto them!

They each got to pick out which ones they wanted and this is what we ended up with...

(Brenna's is a princess one, Brooke's is a Minnie Mouse one)

Next stop, the Pixar parade. We had to find a place to sit ahead of time (you have to get there about an hour before the parade starts I had read..and that was very true). So we found a nice little bench on the side of the street and relaxed while we waited for the parade. Several places along the way, or while we were waiting in line, we would find random strangers to talk and visit with. It's amazing to me how nice not only the employees of Disney are, but also all the visitors! I found I could strike up a conversation with anyone there and it be enjoyable. Everyone was so nice!

Now, the parade is when the REAL magic/excitement started. Up until this point, I had only thought I had seen the girls excited.

Now this was the Pixar Parade, so these characters were all based on Pixar movies. First up, was Monsters Inc. Now, Brooke has never seen this movie, but she thought this was THE most hilarious thing ever! It was so funny to watch her! And even to this day, when she looks at this picture, she laughs hysterically!

Then comes Brenna. Who, at first, was a bit fascinated, then put off when she got squirted with water. But then. Came........Toy Story!

Here she is telling Brad so excitedly, "Daddy, I hear Buzz! I hear Buzz! Look Daddy, It's Woody! And Jessie!" She got so expressive it was so fun.

And so fun to see her eyes light up. What parent wouldn't want to see their kids have this look in their eyes?

I only wish I would've have known, I would've made sure to get in a better spot to take the picture. The lighting was horrible! (a lot of shadows) and I had to edit it a lot to get it to show up. But I love love love these two pictures! It is maybe two of my favorites from the whole trip (as bad a picture quality it might be) because it catches the moment. Priceless!

So from there, we went and got a quick bite to eat. Then went to find our seats for World of Color.

Oh my gosh. I have never seen so many people in one place before I swear. Our silly Fast Pass tickets really served no purpose far as I could tell. We were guided to where we thought we would sit, which looked promising. But it was full. Even though they had JUST opened the area (we had to wait in a line for about 15 minutes for them to open up the area...and it was still full, us being there right away) So, ok. I finally determine this is as good as it gets and it'll be fun and I try to stay positive.

Then more people come. They then have to tell everyone they can no longer sit. They have to stand and they have to cram in to each other. Ugh. Its kinda like in church where they tell everyone to scoot to the inside so they can fit more people. So here is little 3+ft Brooke standing pant leg to pant leg to every grown person on the planet. There was no way she was going to be able to see. This was one aspect of our whole Disneyland experience that we felt they needed improvement. We learned it here on our first day, later at the Fireworks show, and at Fantasmic show as well. Something should've been done to accommodate more people or limit the amount of people. Something.

Anyway, so my Mama Bear comes out a little bit. We were crammed in so tight. I finally made the decision to leave my husband and the 2 yr. old (she could sit on his shoulders) and take Brooke to bigger and better places. Or, maybe just taller. I hate separating in such a crowded place (thank heavens for cell phones;), but I didn't want Brooke to miss the show. So, I took her and made her sit on a trashcan, so that put her a little bit taller than me. Notice I said, I "made" her. Yea. 'Cause she was scared of sitting that tall. Are you kidding me?! She just got through riding all these scary tall fast rides, yet she's afraid of sitting on top of a trashcan. Good grief.

Anyway, she finally stayed there. I had to make her. But I told her, if she didn't, she'd lose this seat to someone else and wouldn't see a thing.

Now, first they bring out these big huge light up characters to like 'work the crowd', get them pumped for the World of Color show...they had a little competition and their own little 'show' while you waited for the real show. Supporting characters from the movies. Like, Sebastian the crab from Little Mermaid, or the Candlestick from Beauty and the Beast. Etc, etc etc.. Anyway, they were HUGE. They were operated by a person who basically carried them on a metal brace strapped to their backs, then operating their hands and feet with different things. It was kinda cool, but they were really huge. And they ended up right in front of Brooke and I. She didn't like those so much (and again, we had the fight about her staying on the trashcan).

But it didn't last long. And soon enough, World of Color started. This was, by far, one of THE best shows we saw. It was awesome!Ok, so first, yes...it is just dancing colored water. And it's hard to tell from the pictures, but there is also this huge waterfall thing in the background that spans the entire width of the show, making its own projection screen. So the water itself was a projection screen. Which they then, shot up laser light shows on from different movies - everything from Little Mermaid and all the princess to Dumbo to Pinnochio to Pirates of the Caribbean, everything. The show was about 30 minutes. And because we were close to the water (remember our handy dandy FastPasses?) we even got a little misted during parts of it.The first time Brooke saw an image coming up on that waterfall projection 'screen', her mouth dropped open..."Mommy!!!! HOW DO THEY DO THAT?!?!" Then she followed with, "You have GOT to take pictures of this and show Ms Lydia."

Unfortunately the pictures of course don't do it justice, but of course, I did take pictures. Brooke loved it! It got a little scary during the Pirates of the Caribbean part (they even used fire!!), but it didn't last long and the rest of the 30 minutes, she was in awe.

I can't describe Brenna's reaction since we were separated but Brad said she was the same way. She loved it! In fact, he was kind enough to take video too from our little camera. So maybe you can get some idea of what its like.

the first video is just the dancing water part..

And here's a video where you can see the projection with some of the different movies (this video shows Little Mermaid, etc)...

So, after World of Color, the park was closing (at 8pm..on a Wednesday), so we got shuttled back to our hotel and called it a night. The next day, we were headed to Disneyland Resort - THE Disneyland and it was also Magic Morning, so we got to go early!