Y'all this day was PACKED with all sorts of goodness!! If ever there was a day to meet a ton of characters this was the day we did it. Just looking back at the pictures from this day I have no idea how we fit it all in! Check out day 1 here and day 2 here.
We started out our morning bright and early in Disneyland for the Magic Hour. We made sure to get our coffee at Starbucks, although apparently they are no longer allowed to write down character names?? So our coffees were for Ashley and Thomas. Then we made our way towards Fantasyland (probably my favorite). There was practically no one there so the photo-op in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle was optimal. We were waiting in line for one of the photogs that was set up front and center when another photog asked if we wanted to come over to the side and a bit closer...sure why not!! She was fantastic at getting the girls attention and I have to say that this might be one of my favorite pictures yet!! (she did get an exceptional one on her big camera but we're cheap so cell phone pic it is!) I mean get a load of the Christmas Decor on the Castle!!! eek
We took advantage of all the people in line for Peter Pan during the Magic Hour to get in all our favorite Fantasyland rides as walk ons. First up was Alice and Wonderland, we seriously walked right onto this ride - that never happens. When we got off it was already a 15 minute wait!! Talk about lucky. We then made our way over to the Mad Tea Party tea cups ride and once again were able to walk right on, you have no idea how awesome that is.
After we went on all the Wonderland rides we walked over to see if the Fantasy Faire Princesses was open yet, there was one group in front of us y'all. I can't believe it. The best part was that we were planning on doing the princesses this day so we purposefully dressed Finnley in her Snow White dress. As luck would have it our first princess was Snow White...precious. I really went out of my comfort zone (ie, I'm a huge germaphobe) but for the sake of pictures I set Finnley down on the floor to get her photos with the princesses without me in the pictures. Girlfriend hammed it up and I see many great photo opportunities in the future with her. After Snow White we got to see my favorite princess, Ariel. She was as perfect as ever and Ellie in true form was so shy with her, just like she has been every other time we've met her. The third princess was empty and Ellie almost lost it because "Where is Belle??" So we pretended she got to meet Snow White again and took pictures with her sister ;)
Walking out of the Fantasy Faire we made a stop in the bathroom (Ellie was doing fantastic by the way with her potty training) looked around in the little shop they have right there and then started walking towards Tomorrowland. On the way I spotted the Evil Queen and we had to get in line. She was right by Snow White's wishing well and hands down this was THE BEST Character Meet and Greet I have ever experienced...even better than when Mickey and Minnie took Ellie on a tour of Main Street. The Evil Queen was so engaging, hilarious and her attitude was on point. She adored Ellie and thought that Ellie was very bright because she agreed that the Evil Queen was the fairest of them all...then the Evil Queen spotted Finnley in her Snow White dress and it was over!! She got so disgusted with Finnley, asked Ellie if she was her dwarf? was she being punished and that's why she was wearing primary colors? and she just kept going...if only I had known I would have been filming instead of shooting!!!!! it was hilarious and now I want to see her every time we go and make sure that one of the girls is in a Snow White dress ;)
It was all too mauch...or maybe she put a sleeping spell on Finnley because not much longer and then this happened...haha!
We made our way to Tomorrowland for our Space Mountain FastPasses and then I took Ellie on Autopia because it was a 5 minute wait...unheard of!! Ellie wanted to drive so I let her take the wheel and after our first turn and her running into the guard barrier she gave up and told me I could drive ;) Thanks babe. From Autopia, Ellie and I then went to Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and were able to get right onto a boat!! Now that Ellie has watched Finding Nemo nearly 100 times she absolutely adored this ride. She was totally into the whole thing. While Ellie and I were having a blast on our Mama/Ellie rides Thomas hung out with a sleeping Finnley in the stroller...why do babies sleep so well at Disneyland?!!!!???
Once we were off our rides Thomas had a FastPass for Star Tours so I got Ellie a snack and then Finnley woke up and needed a bottle. We were still waiting for Thomas so we got in line for the Astro Orbitor ride...which always takes forever. I think this is the ride that I am willing to wait in line for longer than 15 minutes for. Right before it was our turn to get on Thomas showed up so he jumped the line and took Ellie while I rode with Finnley.
We were cutting it pretty close with our time because one thing we really wanted to do was the Royal Theatre with Belle. It has been on our list since September 2015 but we just haven't made it. So we booked it over to the Theatre to get in line, once we were all seated we waited about 10 minutes and then they announced that unfortunately the Show was Cancelled. Ellie just about lost it once again because this was the second time that Belle slighted her. She was so upset and kept asking "Why doesn't Belle want to see me?" it was heartbreaking for her so we did our best to help her get over it and I told her that Belle couldn't come because the Beast locked her up in the Tower because she didn't wand to come down for breakfast...(that was over a month ago and she still asks me why the Beast did that)...it seemed to work and she got over Belle's absence rather quickly - thankfully Disneyland is full of lots of distractions ;)
We made our way over to Frontierland and New Orleans Square because Ellie was asking for Popcorn. They had the Mark Twain Riverboat out for people to walk on and explore, it's just docked while they are building Star Wars Land, and they had Dr. Facilier (The Shadow Man) from Princess and the Frog. He was so fun and kind of scary so Ellie totally ate it all up.
Then Ellie and Thomas found a nice little spot for a Popcorn Picnic while Finnley and I checked out the boat. On my way back downstairs I spotted Tiana and text Thomas to bring Ellie over. Ellie told her the story all about Belle and the Beast and how she didn't get to come out that day because he locked her up in the tower...and Tiana was so nice and just smiled with the most confused look on her face because Ellie is a bit hard to understand - especially when she talks excitedly. Meanwhile Finnley was all about meeting the princesses and was hamming it up for the pictures.
Afterwards Thomas and I took turns riding Thunder Mountain and then we split up. I went to Main Street with Finnely to check out The Disneyland Story presenting Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln since I have never seen it and Thomas took Ellie to ToonTown to ride the roller coaster again.
When I was done with Mr. Lincoln it was almost time for the A Christmas Fanstasy Parade, Thomas had already snatched up a place on the curb with Ellie. He had a FastPass for Indian Jones Adventure so I kept our spot while he ran to Adventureland for his ride. A few people down were these kids and they had this super cool bubble machine that Ellie was completely taken with. She kept running down and playing with the bubbles...meanwhile Finnley had fun working on her standing skills. All the energy waiting for the parade was so much fun and while I am not usually a parade person I know that Ellie loves them so we sit on the ground and enjoy. It was a fantastic parade and I love that it is a seasonal one. We loved seeing all the characters and waving and calling to them...most of them waved in our direction but when some of them didn't Ellie got a little upset. And then we got slighted by Belle AGAIN! haha...not really just she was on the opposite side of the float so we didn't get a good view of her ;)
After the parade we made our way to DCA and Ellie needed to try on some hats. I love the Pluto one. Finnley had a blast just taking everything in. Then we went to the kids section of the store and Ellie pulled out all the members of The Lion Guard, lined them up and proceeded to play with them for about 10 minutes.
We had read about Belle's Library somewhere and thought it was in Hollywood Land then we happened upon Anna & Elsa's Royal Welcome, we were just 5th in line and figured why not. While we were waiting Finnley fell asleep #blessher so Thomas was able to sit on a bench while Ellie and I waited in line. It was so fun having the chance to meet up with the sisters, Ellie had lots to tell them and while they couldn't understand her they were very into her stories!
After we met Anna & Elsa we walked to Cars Land and Finnley woke up just in time to meet Mater!! I love how he is so festive with his Santa hat!! A walk through Radiator Springs and then we went on The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventure and made our way to Paradise Pier. They were having their Food Festival and we passed by a truck that was selling Sticky Toffee Pudding and a Gingerbread Cake...oh my word they were delicious!! I was head over heels about trying the Sticky Toffee Pudding but then Gingerbread holds a special place in my heart. The Gingerbread was so so so good...I am still thinking about it! Once our bellies were so happy we asked Ellie if she wanted to go on the Golden Zephyr, it was perfect because we walked right on the ride. Ellie sat with me and Finnley sat with Thomas, I snapped a picture of me and Ellie and you'll laugh at what I caught her doing. Ellie loved the ride so much that she went on it about 5 times in a row with no waiting because there wasn't a line!
We finished off the night with watching the World of Color - Season of Light another item to check off our list. We didn't have the best of spots to watch the show but were able to see enough and it was pretty spectacular. Ellie really enjoyed it because they played a bunch of holiday songs. It was a great end to the night...we walked back to our hotel and rather quickly fell asleep.
How fun! Looks like your kids had a blast!
ReplyDelete