Last year my parents started a tradition with their grandkids to take them to Disneyland the year they turn 8. So for a good year Ella has been anticipating her trip. Because she had never been to Disneyland I wanted to be there with her so I convinced my parents I needed to go too. :) We started planning and decided October 2-6 would be a good time because she had no school on Thursday and Friday that week.
We contained our excitement just a little as we dropped the girls off at my brother and sister in laws house where they would stay Wednesday-Thursday night and Dustin would have them Thursday night to Sunday. Once we dropped them off we got a bit giddy and Ella started to get a little nervous and super anxious to get out the door. We drove to Salt Lake where she got to go on her very first jet plane.
She got lucky and got a window seat so she got to admire all the beautiful clouds and swimming pools in the back yards as we got into California.
Then she admired the warm weather, palm trees and unique flowers.
She is pretending to kiss the Bird of Paradise as we walked to
Downtown Disney on Wednesday night. That night we figured out that we could catch a free bus from Disneyland that would take us to a parking lot that was not far from our motel so we could walk the rest of the way.
When we got back to our motel room there was a plethora of goodies from MICKEY! Juice, candy, water, a purse, tiny mini doll, stationary kit and probably the most exciting was the signed post card. I think it may have made it a little hard to go to sleep that night. :) At least that's what I hear from grandma and grandpa cause I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow. That is one thing I am pretty good at. ;)
Thursday we headed to Disneyland for Day 2 of fun and adventure. It was fun to see all the festive decorations. The weather was PERFECT. Mid to high 70s all day.
When we got into Disneyland there were many main characters all over the place with short lines so we snapped a few pictures and got a few autographs real quick.
The first ride we went to was Splash Mountain. I can't decide if that was a good idea or not cause Ella was pretty petrified most of the ride. When we finished she yelled, "That was awesome!"
So I thought we were in the clear however... this was her face as we headed into Winnie the Pooh, the 2nd ride. A little unsure to say the least.
Good thing Grandpa is laughing. ha!
We went to Indiana Jones next which we had a fast pass to and before we could enter the building she turned around and took off running out of line. Mom followed her and we went on Indiana Jones. Probably a good thing she didn't go on that one or we may not have got her on another ride that trip. Mom took her on Tiki Room which is a little more her style.
We saw Aladdin, Jazmine and Genie as she was coming out of Tiki Room. She wasn't too interested in autographs at that point though.
It was time to head to Fantasyland so Ella could calm down a little. We hit Casey Jr. Train ride
and Dumbo.
Teacups - 2 times.
Walked through Sleeping Beauty's castle.
Rode It's a Small World which became Ella's favorite at Disneyland.
It's also one of my favorites.
Then headed to Toontown.
We rode Roger Rabbit and walked through Mickey's House where Ella got to meet Mickey again at the end of the tour of his house.
We headed to Pixie Hollow where Ella was hoping to see Tinkerbell and her friends, but they had already left for the night so we just walked through the huge leaves and sat on the big flowers like we were fairies.
We ended the day by watching the Disney Soundsational Parade. We lucked out and some nice people let Ella and I sit right on the curb side. We both LOVED it!
The line for the bus was HUGE so we decided we could walk faster than we could wait for the bus so we headed out and after what seemed like a long time (to me) we ate at P.F. Changs. Ella fell asleep in the seat and had a struggle getting back to the motel, but we made it. Oh, thank goodness for a bed to sleep in cause we were beat!
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