As you already know, we visited Disneyland in July with Nick's mom and brothers for Isabella's first trip. When we were down there we tried to convince my sister Sarah to bring my niece Mia for a day too. It proved to be too much but we all agreed on a trip after Thanksgiving for Mia. This was that trip. I'm telling you this because I have never had such a princess-centric Disney trip, but this was all about my beautiful little niece and what she loves.
Nick, Bella and I drove down late Saturday night after Thanksgiving number two at my dad's house. Like crazy people we arrived Anaheim sometime around 2:30 a.m. and quickly found a cheap, clean hotel room to grab a few zzz's. Sarah, Alex and Mia flew down to Orange County Sunday morning, and we all convened at the hotel we had booked for our stay. Once we had dropped all our luggage we headed straight over to Disneyland.
Mia didn't know where we were all going so as we approached the park we kept asking her if she had figured out where we were. Finally, once we were in line at the gate, she knew exactly where she was. The house of the mouse of course!
As we strolled down main street Mia was just taking it all in. Christmas at Disneyland is pretty stimulating after all. We quickly found Mary Poppins, and then Ariel! A princess roaming free right in the middle of the park! We stopped for Mia's very first picture and autograph from a princess.
Mia was in princess heaven and we'd barely begun! We then went straight to Fantasyland for some kid friendly rides. We enjoyed the Carousel and Dumbo to start, and then had to get some lunch.
The details from here start to get a little fuzzy for me- where we went and when is a bit jumbled. As you can see from the pictures, Bella was exhausted. She was happy, just really tired. So tired she actually just fell asleep on Nick's shoulder while waiting for the Tiki Room! Mia danced with Mary Poppins, and we found our way on to a couple more rides in the park.
Eventually we worked our way back to the hotel for a nap before dinner. We went to the Big Thunder BBQ for dinner and stuffed ourselves on sausage, chicken, ribs, and all the BBQ fixins. Delicious! After dinner we watched the fireworks and Fantasmic! while indulging in some desserts at the French Market Restaurant. Not to give away our tricks, but if you want a seat, and a decent view for Fantasmic! grab a table at the French Market. You can see the whole show, you have a chair the whole time, and you can get dessert (or dinner) at the same time!
After a late night and a long first day, we headed back to the hotel to rest up for day two! Here's the whole group required castle shot! (Yes, we did put the girls in matching Snow White Shirts for the day.)
The second day was my actual birthday, and we had a very important date to attend. I had scheduled us for the Princess Luncheon at Ariel's Grotto! We started off the morning with fruit and bagels (with a birthday candle for me!) and then headed off to California Adventure. The boys went off to ride the big roller coaster while Sarah and I and the girls went on The Little Mermaid, Undersea Adventure! It was sweet to experience the magic with our little princesses. We stopped for a girls photo op along the way.
We rode some rides (I finally got to ride Toy Story Midway Mania, which is insanely popular and always has a very long line), and eventually worked our way to Ariel's Grotto for our Princess Luncheon. This was the highlight of the trip for me. Mia was in absolute heaven. Ariel greeted us at the door, and then Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cinderella and Belle worked their way around the room one at a time, greeting each little princess personally. Mia became more and more excited with each princess that approached (we were at the end of the circuit so she watched them work the whole room before reaching us), so by the time Belle joined us, Mia was over the top. Belle also happens to be a favorite, so when she arrived, Mia literally tackled her with a hug. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. Bella slept through the entirety of lunch, but I was almost glad because that meant Mia got to have her very special experience all for herself. Bella will get to have her own Princess lunch when she is old enough to appreciate it. Here are some pictures from our fabulous lunch.
After lunch we wanted to hit up a couple more rides (both kid-friendly and adult-friendly) before heading back to the hotel for our daily nap. On our way to A Bug's Land for some fun for the kiddos, we stumbled across Minnie, Mickey and Pluto. We happened to be the last allowed in line to greet them and so lucked out with probably one of the most awesome Disney pictures possible.
We finished up California Adventure with rides for all (big and small) and headed back to the room for a little rest. We had originally planned an earlier dinner with the girls but quickly realized that the park was closing early that night, so we pushed back our reservations for some more Disneyland fun. We went on It's a Small World (always a winner with the kids), the Tiki Room (another favorite of Bella's) and the Haunted Mansion. Once we had shut down the park, we headed over to Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen for a delicious birthday dinner! After a tasty steak dinner, we indulged in a birthday beignet and some banana's foster. Yummy!
Day three was planned to be a partial day since we were all heading home at various points throughout the day. Alex left in the morning (or at least he was supposed to, but due to fog in the bay ended up getting stuck in Anaheim until Sarah and Mia left in the afternoon!), so it was Nick, Sarah, Mia, Bella and I for day three. We planned to visit Pixie Hollow to meet Tinkerbell, and the Princess Faire to meet whichever Princesses were on duty. Done and done! We met Tinkerbell, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine and Belle.
We finally made it on Peter Pan (the best kid friendly ride in all of Disneyland in my opinion), and got a little shopping done. It was truly a wonderful trip. It made me that much more excited to take my kid(s) and experience the magic time and again as they appreciate new and different aspects of the Disney magic. I know it is cheesy, but it really is the happiest place on earth. I think I should do this every year for my birthday! ;)
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