Disneyland

I figured I should write a post about our little mini vacation to Disneyland earlier this week. Dan took Monday off and while we were planning on going to Disneyland on Monday, we woke up Sunday morning and decided to be spontaneous and get a hotel for that night so we could go down there that day too!

We left late Sunday afternoon and had a great time going on a few rides. We had dinner at The Golden Horseshoe. I think I've only eaten there once before and it was neat! I took Bella on the Gadget Go Coaster in Toon Town, she loves it! She is too short to go on any of the big rides but she really wants to! We measure her every time! Haha. She's got about two inches to go! The height limits didn't used to be so high. A few years ago they remolded a lot of the rides and update the high limit. Bummer!

We stayed at a Holiday Inn about a mile away. While it was further away, it was a nice Hotel, not some cheap Motel like all the others.We got back to the hotel pretty late, and the girls slept good, but woke up at the crack of dawn. -_-
I heard Bella jump out of bed and say "Olivia, wake up! It's morning time! We need to go to Disneyland!"

The park didn't open till 10AM that day, which was a bummer because we wanted to have breakfast there. But we settled for Denny's nearby...

            Here's the girls at Denny's after breakfast, very ready to go to Disneyland!
The EXCITEMENT! Haha

   

The double stroller

                                                                      

We got there shortly after opening and it was already pretty busy, but not terrible. We went on the Haunted Mansion Holiday and Pirates and some other rides.

We went over to CA Adventure to go on The Little Mermaid ride, one of Bella's favorites.
We usually don't spend much time in CA Adventure at all. We decided to try lunch there for once. We ate at the food court on the Fisherman's Wharf. The Mexican place has some vegan options just like the Mexican restaurant next to Big Thunder in Disneyland. Dan got that, but I decided to try the Rice Bowls at the Chinese place. They give you a big take out box of rice, veggies and sauce, they even had tofu as a meat option! It was really good! It's rare I find a healthy, filling meal at Disneyland. As a vegan, I usually end up eating French Fries or Pasta almost everywhere.

Anyway, after a while we went back to Disneyland and Bella got to meet her favorite princess, Ariel!

    
This ride is so beautiful. I love the sound of it, listening to the echos of the bobsleds going in and out of the mountain. I haven't been on this ride in probably 6 years between  pregnancies and it being closed down for updates. Unfortunately, it was having a lot of issues as always, and after I waited in the single rider line for a few minutes, they shut it down!! I guess it will be a while before we get on this ride again!

        Isabella and I on It's a Small World. This is one of her favorite rides
We went on it 3 times! She sings the entire time.

 

           The carousel! I think this was Bella and Olivia's first time.

       We don't usually go on the little things like this.

We had dinner that night at Cafe Orleans. This is a sit down restaurant that usually requires reservations, but it wasn't too busy so we walked right in! Dan loves the Monte Cristo Sandwich here. I would love to eat at the Blue Bayou, it's been years! But we never get reservations ahead of time. I'm not too found of the menu and it's crazy expensive. But I'm hoping we can do a big family trip this Christmas and have dinner there.

              Jungle Cruise was our last ride. It was hot and humid....feeling a little bit like DisneyWorld!

 We stayed late to watch the Parade since the girls have never seen a parade or show or anything like that. They LOVED it! We had a really good spot and it was so fun. Reminded me of all the parades I watched there as a kid.

We took the monorail back to Downtown Disney and walked to the parking garage. It was a loooong two days! Especially with Bella trying to dictate the itinerary. She is in that fabulous three year old phase of

"I want a pretzel! I want to go on that ride! Let's go here!" So it was frustrating always having to say no to her and explain why we were doing what we were doing. It was so much fun though. We have annual passes but usually only spend a few hours there. There was our first full day/multi day trip in a long time. I think we'll be going again in a few weeks :) I look forward to going with other family members too.

---Natalie