Disneyland

Last week we finally did Disney altogether as a family! For 3 days! It was awesome.

We originally planned to go to Florida and hit Disney World, but then the reality of having 3 kids on an airplane hit and we decided to switch it up to Disneyland. We invited Peter's siblings to join us and we ended up renting a house right by the park and having a total blast! Huge thank you to all our fun cousins for the memorable week!

I have never done so much Disney in my life. Since I grew up close to Anaheim we always did one day trips. So for the first time we did multiple days, and we were literally at the park from (before) open to close. We are hardcore at Disney.

Of course, we met many princesses. Every day. Finding characters was probably the kids' favorite part, especially Ellie. At first they were super nervous, but by the 2nd day they were sitting and chatting with the princesses like old friends. And every time it melted my heart.

Disneyland is amazing and magical always; but with little kids, it's extra special. I think it's how Disney was meant to be.

Day 1:


I was so excited to find the Shadowman! I'm glad they have all the "Princess and the Frog" characters out on the riverboat; that's one of our family's favorites.

Somehow, Peter convinced Jude to ride Big Thunder Mountain because it's a "bullet train." I thought for sure he would wimp out, but he did it! Twice! And he loved it.

Of course, we met the princesses (every day).

Ellie figured out that you can hold their hands, then that was all she wanted to do.



Hugs from princesses were the best part.

Lucy was quite the hit with the princesses. Love her little smile!


Dreams come true!

Okay, I was incredibly surprised at how much Jude liked meeting the characters. He used to be terrified, but he went up and hugged almost every one we met.

Ellie had to make sure Dad wasn't too far away.




Mom insisted we try this shot... didn't work out super great haha.

Watching the parade. I camped out for both parades (I think this is some kind of mom rite of passage) and I'm so glad I did! The parades were so magical for these kiddos! They clapped and cheered and danced and waved until their arms were sore.

Mom's favorite ride.

Yeah we took Lucy on this one... baby scrambler?

The paint the night parade is SO COOL. We camped out again and it was totally worth it.

Eleanor danced and waved the ENTIRE time. I may have started leaking a little it was so magical and adorable. There's nothing quite like seeing how happy these little things make your children.

Day 2:

We missed our magic morning (just got too crowded to get in), so instead we headed to CA Adventure early and immediately met some characters.

Don't mind how terrified Ellie looks in every picture. She was seriously have the best day of her life!

Unfortunately, Ellie started to have a bit of a "too much fun" meltdown already, so I took her to see Elsa and Anna, which was the perfect thing to calm down. She loved watching all the movie clips while we waited in the Animation Studio.


Ellie didn't say much at all to Elsa and Anna, but she just kept hugging them!


Sofia was a must meet for us. Thankfully she was standing right outside the Animation Studio when we came out!

Riding what may be the lamest ride, the Heimlich train.

Spinning with cousins!

They were over-joyed to find Boo's door! Monster's was another fantastic ride for them.

After we did all we wanted to CA Adventure, we park-hopped back over to Disneyland (while everyone else went home; can't stop Disneying!)

We decided to meet the princesses again and it was the best! The kids were chatting with Cinderella like they were best friends, telling her all about their imaginary dogs and asking where Gus Gus was.

Apparently our kids were so cute they actually gave us extra time with Cinderella, and she even walked us over to see Snow White.

We thought they were just waiting for a character change or something, but the cast member told us that extra time is actually a thing they do for especially sweet kids. It was such a magical and special thing for them!

Tea party at Minnie's

They were SO EXCITED to meet Minnie!


When we got to Mickey's house and they took us into the room to meet Mickey, Eleanor had a "SANTA! I KNOW HIM!" moment. I seriously thought she was going to have a heart attack from so much excitement.



Day 3:


I insisted on matching outfits. It's too cute for words!

Right when we walked into Disneyland (super early again), we found Cinderella! So naturally we had to stop and show off our matching outfits.


This picture makes my heart melt all over the place.

We ran into Chip (or is it Dale?) on Main Street and Ellie got a hug and a high five!

So poor Jude ate a little too much cotton candy on day 2 and actually threw up in the middle of the night. I think he was just over-exhausted and had eaten nothing but junk, so he spent most of day 3 just laying in the stroller taking an extra long nap.

While I waited outside with Jude, Aunt Heather was kind enough to take these little princesses in to meet the real thing.


Eleanor was an old pro at this point. At every princess she would sit down and fluff out her gown just like them.




Eating mom's favorite treat: pineapple whip float!

While Dad and Jude watched the Jedi show with the cousins, we ran over to find some more princesses.

Tiana on the riverboat. I think next time I'm going to coach my kids on how to actually smile at the camera hahaha

Ellie LOVED the wishing well. When the song started, she was so excited people actually stopped to watch her.

This is how we made it around Disney. It was like a traveling caravan, but seriously, it was the BEST stroller to have. It carried 3 kids and a ridiculous amount of junk.

Bribed with giant lollipops to take a picture in front of the castle.

Starting to feel better...now that we have more sugar.

We found Jessie by the river, but sadly, the line was closed. The cast member loved Ellie's Pocahontas dress (we did a dress change) and she told us Ellie could walk Jessie back in.

I thought she meant just a few feet, but we walked all the way back to the castle. Peter looked down for a moment, looked up to find us gone; he thought we'd been abducted by a character.

Tarzan's treehouse.

Eleanor did NOT want to meet Aladdin, but as soon as he stepped away she immediately opened up and asked Jasmine where Abu was.

Jude's second wind: riding the monorail! We probably could have done this all day.

After dinner, I ran Jude over to the Finding Nemo ride at his request. I was worried he wasn't having much fun since he'd been feeling sick all day and I wanted to make sure we ended on a positive note. After the ride, we caught the night parade again (while mom and dad took turns riding the matterhorn). Once the parade ended there were 20 more minutes of park time... so Jude and I ran to do the teacups and Dumbo quickly! We are hardcore Disney; can't waste a minute!


Day4:

The last day we just relaxed at the house. They had a pretty awesome pool:



Eleanor had her dreams come true and got to sleep in this castle bed, Elsa-themed room.

Disneyland was magical and wonderful and so much fun! I can't even really put it into words. My kids had so much fun, it's pretty much all they talk about! We play this game at night called "I'm thinking of an animal" and they've recently changed it to "I'm thinking of a princess/disney ride." We relive our adventure pretty much every night at bedtime! Love my family and this amazing experience!