Disneyland 2014 Part 2

Let's start day one's blog with this... so we (meaning me) didn't plan our Magic Hours that well.  For some reason I just assumed both parks would be open that extra hour to hotel guests.  When really they have set days they are each open and I just didn't realize it.  That being said, I had planned out our days at each park, and even went so far as to plan the kids outfits.  I wanted the girls to wear their princess dresses the first day (Monday) at Disneyland, personalized t-shirts at California Adventure the second day (Tuesday), and then their birthday dresses (Cinderella and Minnie) the last day (Wednesday) at Disneyland.  Come to find out the Magic Hour on Monday was at California Adventure!  And in all our exhaustion we didn't really discuss switching our days around until we were already in California Adventure that morning.  So the girls were in their princess dresses and I'm so type A/OCD = CRAZY that I really really wanted Lydia in her Queen Elsa dress when she went to meet Elsa and Anna.  So yeah, we totally messed up in that regard but we really made the most of it and still managed to get some things in during Magic Hours each day.

Monday morning we were all up bright and early.  Quinton made sure we were all up by 6:30am/7:00am every day, what alarm clock?  ha ha ha.  It worked out well because even though we were so exhausted each day we were up and out the door in time to take advantage of our magic hours.  I had brought yogurt, cheese, protein bars and apple sauce for us to eat in the mornings to try and save a little money and not need to buy breakfast every day.

On a suggestion from a friend who frequents Disneyland with kiddos, we took pictures of the girls each morning before we left.  That way if we lost them we could show anybody a very current picture of them making it hopefully easier to find them.  We also wrote my cell number on their belly in permanent marker ha ha ha.  We told them to find another mommy and show her their belly and ask to call their mommy if they were lost.  Thankfully neither plan was ever needed but I'm a helicopter mom and I needed to know we did everything we could.  ha ha ha

We went into California Adventure and Charlie rode the Mater's Junkyard Jamboree with the girls first.

 Then walked over to Radiator Springs Racers, Lydia was just an inch too short for it so Charlie and Natalia got in line for it.  Usually that one has a really long wait or you have to be tricky and get a fast pass first thing in the morning but there was only a 25 min wait it said. (another instance when Charlie not having a phone sucked!  He couldn't take pictures of him and the girls on rides unless I handed off my cell phone, and I didn't think to do so for this particular ride) So Lydia came with Quinton and I over to Disneyland because I needed to get in the Elsa/Anna meet and greet pass line.  They start handing them out as soon as the park opens and once they are out they are out.  The passes have a return time on them so you aren't waiting in line forever once you return. I've heard it used to get as bad as 3-4 hours!  YIKES.  I did start to panic as the line started to move and Natalia and Charlie hadn't shown up yet, I needed their park tickets to get passes for all of us.  And of course Charlie didn't have his phone on him so I couldn't' call him to be sure he knew where to find us.  Thankfully he asked around and came just in time!  I waited in line probably just over an hour?  But I was chatting away with a nice lady in front of us from Canada so the time seemed to go by much faster.  While I waited out the last ten minutes or so of the line Charlie took the girls on King Arthur's Carousel.

When he wasn't sleeping in the Ergo he got a big kick out of hanging out in the stroller and just people watching.  He seriously did soo great during our long days in the parks! 

Then  I got to ride the Dumbo ride with the girls.  Afterwards I saw a mom go on it with a baby in her Ergo and wished we had tried so that Charlie could have ridden too.  But, we did manage to take him on plenty of rides in the end.  =)

Then it was off to the Mad hatter to pick out mouse ears for everyone.  I picked out some hot pink ones, Natalia got the "bride" white ones, but they were still super cute.  Lydia got one that lit up and she called it her "glow bow" which they have on one episode of her favorite show ;)  We got Quinton traditional ears.  Charlie didn't find anything he loved there though.  We had seen some Star Wars ones around so we wanted to wait until we got over to Tomorrow Land to see if we could find him some.  We had Quinton's name embroidered on his and it was SO STINKING CUTE.

After that I opted out of going on the Mad Tea Party ha ha ha.  So Charlie took the girls on that one.

Quinton and I just hung out watching them. 

Afterwards we were trying to decide what to do with our time.  Natalia and Lydia noticed the little Rabbit's door leading to his house outside the Tea Party ride and they went to test it.  It was so stinking cute to see them checking the door.  Everyone walking by stopped and commented on how adorable they were.

We hit up the Royal Hall next to see if we could meet some princesses.  Quinton fell asleep in my Ergo while in line and had on his mouse ears.  I about melted on how adorable it was.  We definitely heard a lot of "Awwwws"  =)  

We got to meet Snow White, Ariel, and Jasmine.  Natalia was super cute and gave each of them the pictures she had drawn for them.  They were all very sweet and complimented her on her pictures.  

Ariel tried super hard to get Lydia to talk to her and say something, but she wouldn't say much.  

As we were leaving Lydia asked if we could go meet more princesses, it was really cute.  I told her we would go see Elsa and Anna soon and she got super excited about that.  

Then we figured out where to go for lunch and stopped at Stage Door Cafe.  The girls ate a few bites of their chicken and apples but it was really a struggle to get them to eat much all week.  Next it was  Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, which the girls didn't recognize but still enjoyed.  We went on Snow White’s Scary Adventure, but I think it freaked them out a little.  (No pictures from these rides)

We then had about 20 more minutes to kill before our return time for Elsa and Anna.  The girls asked to go back on the Carousel so I got to go on with them this time (Quinton in the Ergo).

Then we got to walk through the Sleeping Beauty Castle.  It's just a quick few minute walk through with some scenes from the movie.  The girls liked it though.

FINALLY, it was time to go get in line to meet Elsa and Anna.  This line actually only took maybe 10 minutes or less.  And guess what?  Maybe I'm crazy (ok I am) but seriously this was soooo worth my time that morning.  Elsa and Anna took their time with the girls and talked with them so much.  They adored the pictures Natalia drew and talked it up big time about hanging them in their castle in Arendelle.  Elsa was holding Lydia's hand so gently the entire time and it was seriously so very sweet.  I LOVED it so much and I know the girls did too.  Definitely a highlight of the trip for me.  

Then we headed over to Tomorrow Land and found Charlie some mouse ears.  He wasn't loving any of them at first, but I asked him to go for the R2D2 ones anyway because they were so stinking cute and I wanted Quinton to be able to have them some day.  (I've actually put them away in his closet because I don't want the girls or cousins playing with them in the mean time and ruining them before he gets old enough to enjoy them)  Lydia saw Charlie's mouse ears and loved them, so much so that she asked him to trade.  It was pretty stinking cute, and he couldn't refuse so he did.  All together now.... AHHHHH.  

In line for the Monorail

The girls loved seeing the Monorail sail by all day so we took them on it just for fun.  We just did the full loop around Disneyland through Downtown Disney.

We stopped for an ice cream snack and watched the Jedi Training show after the Monorail.  It was hilarious, the guy that is the "host" or main Jedi or whatever you want to call him always entertains no matter what kiddos are there.  He didn't disappoint this time when this little cutie couldn't get his light saber to work.  All I could think about though was coming back when Quinton was old enough to participate and getting him on that stage!  ha ha ha.  The girls could too if they wanted, but they are both pretty timid I don't see them ever volunteering to go up, I hope he isn't!

The Buzz Lightyear ride was next on our list.  Charlie took Natalia and I took Lydia, with Quinton sleeping.  (again this kiddo did amazing and just slept in the Ergo when he was tired, sleeping through half the rides, awesome sauce)  These are the pictures they took while on the ride and then you can email them to yourself.  

You can't even see Lydia!  I had to help her point and shoot the gun because she didn't quite grasp the concept of aim ha ha ha ha, and you can see Quinton's little head shape there in my Ergo.  =) 

We all started to get pretty wiped out at this point and had decided to just call it a night and go back to the hotel for dinner. But we walked by the Astro Orbitor and the girls wanted to go on it, so charlie took them.  Quinton was zonked out so I just hung out with him on a bench and rested my legs.  (by day three my whole body was an achy exhausted mess carrying around the additional 20+ pounds everyday!  but I'm so glad he liked it in there) Charlie was exhausted because each time we got in line or they got in a line he was required to carry one or both girls because they were so wiped out.  =)

We  kept walking by the Storyteller’s Cafe in our hotel and so I thought it looked so cozy and perfect for dinner after our horrible experience the night before.  So we went back to our room dropped off our stroller and went downstairs for dinner.  It was a buffet style and it was delicious!  The girls still didn't eat much but, we got them to eat enough so they weren't melting down, and they got some ice cream which they loved.  Charlie and I stuffed our faces like crazy (I joked that it felt like I hadn't eaten in two days I was so hungry!)

We were all in bed and sound asleep by 9:30pm that night.  Quinton again had multiple wake ups and so I didn't sleep much... oh well!  Off to another fun day!

**I had downloaded the Mousewait app to my phone and it really helped us out a lot to determine where we wanted to go next based on wait times.  It was also fairly busy in Disneyland that day because Veteran's Day was the next day so a lot of people take Monday off so they can enjoy a four day weekend.  When I went to book this trip I didn't realize I had booked it over Veteran's Day so I was pretty bummed because I had thought we would be hitting it at a slow time being that it was November.  It didn't seem like we did enough at first but once we wrote it all down it all the sudden felt like we got a lot done in our short time there. If we had pushed the trip out another week we would have hit the horrible weather trying to leave and who knows what would have happened then.  At least this way we only hit it Friday night (and it was so horrible, but more stories about that later).  Anyway, all in all I'm happy with our trip and what we were able to accomplish.

Ok, so there's our first day.  Insert sigh of relief here.  I'm trying to get it all down, but I just don't feel like I'm remembering everything.  SO. MUCH. FUN.