{Travel Diaries} Disneyland Fall 2015 - Day 2

I am so excited to be sharing our second day in Disneyland this Fall 2015.  To see Day 1 click here.

After our marathon of a day we got the best rest we could all sharing a bed in our hotel and then it was time to hit the parks again.  We wanted to get there in time for the rope drop so we could take advantage of as much of our morning as possible.  Our first stop was the Starbucks inside the park and then straight to the rope drop area, they dropped the rope just as we were walking up so I would say it was perfect timing.  Everyone and their mom headed straight to Fantasyland to get in line for the Peter Pan ride (for some reason it always has at least a 45 minute queue) and with some miscommunication on my part with Thomas we didn't get into the line... so we made the most of "empty" Fantasyland and hit up a ton of rides.  Ellie was calling for the Tea Cups so we headed that direction and found the Mad Hatter!!

It would have been so amazing if he went on the ride with us...but we weren't so lucky.

After our spin on the Tea Cups we walked right onto Alice in Wonderland (which also tends to have a pretty long queue so that was good) we could have stayed on to ride again but then I saw Peter Pan himself and just needed Ellie to meet the boy! He spent quite a bit of time with her and talked about how they both had Moccs on!! It was so cute and all Ellie wanted to do was play with the string on his shirt...

Then we walked to get in line at the Matterhorn but it was temporarily shut down so Ellie got her wish and to Dumbo we went...but first I was finally able to meet Mary Poppins herself! oh and Bert too!  A dream finally realized in the Happiest Place on Earth.

We hit up a few more rides in Fantasyland like Pinocchio, Mr. Toads Wild Ride, Dumbo, and Snow White then made our way to New Orleans Square to visit the Haunted Mansion all decked out for Halloween from The Nightmare Before Christmas - so cool!  Lots of pumpkins.

Over to Critter Country for a ride on Winnie the Pooh

And I may or may not have taken a couple more rides on Splash Mountain;)

And then the Jungle Cruise

Space Mountain had a super short line of we walked over to Tomorrowland and I had maybe a 15 minute wait and I got Thomas a Rider Switch Pass (seriously the best thing for parents visiting the park with small children).

I love my photo bomber!!!

I'm so happy I knew where the picture was and had planned to take it on my phone searching the galaxy trying to find Thomas!!

Meanwhile Thomas took Ellie on the Astro Orbiter a couple of times and on Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters

I just missed a picture of them in their rocket.

Then it was time to head over to DCA for our lunch reservations at Ariel's Grotto.  We selected the 11:00am timeslot to avoid Ellie having a nap issue and then this happened on the walk over...

Typical, so we moseyed on over and waited until the last possible moment to wake her up. 

But when she saw she got to meet Ariel, she was all over it!!

Y'all this was the most fun!! Because Ellie was under 3 her meal was free!!! And she got a ton of food!!  The meals are all a set price and then you just choose from the options on the menu, you get an appetizer, entrée, and dessert.  It was so so good!!

Ellie got a bunch of stickers, a crown, coloring page...oh my word this is dining with a toddler heaven!! Definitely a MUST DO!!

It was such a cool restaurant and we were one of the first ones seated and it filled up quickly.

For our appetizers we both had the crab chowder, holy yum! And Ellie got some crudités (carrots and celery sticks with ranch)

Then it was our entrées. We got Ellie the spaghetti with marinara on the side (because I wasn't interested in any messes....)

Thomas had the Tri-Tip (and Ellie couldn't keep her fingers off of his plate) so delish.

I had the Pan Roasted Chicken with Couscous - also delish.

Part way through our entrées the princesses were announced and came around the dining room to greet and take pictures. 

First up was Rapunzel: Ellie was a bit unsure at first but then got into the idea!

But was also really distracted with playing with her food and experiencing a great tactile activity.  (Much to my chagrin)

Then it was time for Belle (Ellie's current favorite)

She was so awestruck and nervous!!

Next was Tiana: my favorite part was how she spoke in a southern accent!!

Then we met Cinderella: who shares a similar nickname "Ellie", but for this visit she was probably the least impressive of the bunch.

Then our dessert came. It was a trio of chocolate dipped strawberry, s'mores tiramisu, and a creme brûlée (my favorite).

Ellie also got a dessert trio: chocolate dipped strawberry, jello cup and a cookie!

 Unsure of the chocolate so we took it off and she was much happier. 

On our way out of the park to go back to the hotel for her real nap, we ran into Oswald (Walt's original carton) and were  lucky enough to be the last in line before his break!!

After Ellies "nap" (which she didn't take) we headed back to DCA and of course Ellie fell asleep right at the gate, so I got to have a churro! Oh my word, those are so good. And we walked around trying to be a slow and quiet as possible so she could sleep.

Then we got in line for the Disney Jr show and Ellie had even more fun this time around!! Probably because she knew who the characters were a little better since we have been watching a good amount of Disney Jr since our first Disney trip.

her favorite part both times were when all the gold "coins" dropped from the ceiling during Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

After the Disney Junior show we headed to cars land and got on Maters Junkyard Jamboree. It says that any age can go on this ride but it does whip around a bit so if you have an infant you might want to skip it. But it so fun and Ellie loved it.

Over to a Bug Life so we could ride Heimlich's Chew Chew Train.

And then a ride on Ariels undersea adventure.

The I saw this dad walking around with his daughter and I just knew he dressed her in the morning. I love her shorts and look at the headband, I just cracked up so hard, priceless.

Back over to the bugs life. And we got on the Francis' Ladybug Boogie, it's similar to the teacups but it's much more jerky and you don't actually get to spin it around.

We had our fast pass to Radiator Springs Racers in Carsland

My car won the race!! So far I am 2 for 2 on this ride!!

And that was the end of our day we got Ellie back in her stroller and headed back to our hotel for a well deserved nights sleep!!

♥ Ashley