The Lee Family: Day 1 at Disneyland!

Yesterday was our first full day at Disneyland! Last year when Sofia and I visited Disneyland and California Adventure, the lady at the Disney concierge desk at our hotel convinced us to visit California Adventure on Friday, since Disneyland closes at 6pm on Friday night to prepare for Mickey's Halloween Party, which is a special event so it's actually another ticket to attend until the park closes at midnight. However, this year I decided that I'd prefer to go to Disneyland with Olivia on Friday with the hope that it wouldn't be quiet as busy as it was on Saturday last year. Olivia and I woke up at 6:30/7am and got ready for our day. I had my backpack filled with our water bottles, wallet, sweaters, my camera and just about anything we might need during our day at Disneyland.

We went to the hotel restaurant for their yummy buffet and discovered that they now had an omelette bar! Olivia had Cheerios, orange slices, orange juice and an apple, while I had a delicious veggie omelette which really hit the spot. I love the hotel restaurant and think their food is delicious, but unfortunately their coffee is not the best. Once we were done eating, we bought our tickets for our three days at Disneyland/California Adventure and headed outside to wait for the shuttle to Disneyland. I'd considered taking Olivia to Knott's Berry Farm on Monday but decided instead to visit Disneyland for the third and final day in California. I absolutely love Knott's Berry Farm and I have so many great memories of visiting over the years of my youth, but last year felt like we'd hardly spent any time at Disneyland. I know next time we are in So Cal, we'll have to visit Knott's.

Even though Disneyland wasn't going to open for 20 minutes, there was a huge line of guests waiting for the shuttle! Thankfully, after the first one filled up, the hotel provided a second one which we were able to get on. We arrived at the park just as it opened! The line to get my backpack checked was surprisingly long for how early it was. After bag check, we had to go through a metal detector, which they didn't have last year. After the metal detectors, we made our way to the ticket line and waited once again. Soon we were inside Disneyland and ready to have some fun. Of course, first I had Olivia poise for photos, which she wasn't super excited about. I convinced her that there would be lots of fun photos ahead so she might as well smile so we could keep moving. We took the horse-drawn carriage to the castle, which was so much fun! Of course, I took pictures along the way. Once we arrived at the castle, we walked through it and read the story. It's so simple, yet so sweet. After, we rode King Arthur's Carrousel, then moved to Dumbo the Flying Elephant, rode the Storybook Land Boats, then on to the Tea Cups. After we then rode the Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I'd never been on it before and it completely freaked Olivia out! Poor thing had to bury her head into me to cover her eyes. Finally it was over and we headed to Pinocchio's Daring Journey, which actually made her cry! Poor thing! It's crazy how scary some of the original rides are!

We needed something fun and easy-going, so we headed to the Royal Hall and met several Disney princesses! Olivia was able to meet Snow White, Ariel, and Cinderella. The princesses had one-on-one time with Olivia and yet she was very shy and reserved. They each asked her questions and tried to get her talking, but she was too shy. She was obviously excited to meet each of them, but a cat had her tongue! She would hardly answer them and was very quiet around them. It was sweet. I was able to get some cute pictures of her with each of the princesses though. After meeting the princesses, we stopped next door at the Royal Theater to watch Beauty and the Beast, which was a slapstick 45-minute retelling of the story. It was cute and funny and mainly a good rest to our tired feet. I told Olivia when we set off this morning, that we should take breaks whenever we wanted to because we only have ourselves and no real agenda, so we should just enjoy the day as much as we can. After the show, we walked to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and on the way Olivia enjoyed her first churro. Growing up in California, churros are such a part of my youth. They aren't really easy to find in Texas, which is surprising, so she needed to try it. Of course, she loved it! It is such deep fried goodness! We stood in line and rode the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Olivia enjoyed it, although she was a little scared during parts of the railroad ride. Thankfully, the park has been much less busy then it was last year on a Saturday, so I'm glad we decided to come today.

We headed to one of the many Disney stores and Olivia tried on a variety of mouse ears before she picked a pair! They are all so cute and look so good on our little girl with the missing front teeth! I also bought a Disneyland t-shirt for me to sleep in since I forgot my pjs. After buying her ears (and getting a few pictures), we walked over to the Carnation Cafe, where we had a reservation for lunch. I learned from last year's visit that it is important to make lunch reservation early so we have time to eat a decent meal and sit down and rest. It really did feel great to sit down inside and rest our legs with an iced tea and a good meal. Olivia ordered a pb&j sandwich and I had a chicken salad. They were both delicious! Olivia's legs were tired out and she was ready to call it a day, so I bought a bubble machine which was a complete life-saver! It's a Little Mermaid bubble machine that plays music and blows out bubbles from the top. Whenever she'd get tired, I'd turn it on and she'd run around chasing and trying to catch bubbles. It was perfect!

We headed to Star Tours, which Olivia loved and had a smile on her face the entire time! We drove cars at Utopia and then on to It's a Small World, which is totally corny now but brings back memories of when I was little. We watched the Pixar parade but left early so we could ride Star Wars. We'd gone on it earlier and found that the second time it's a different story! It's such a fun ride and the line wasn't very long, which was great. We returned to the castle, because Olivia really wanted to buy a dress, but they are all too expensive and we have several of the reasonably-priced ones at home already. I convinced her we could continue on without an overpriced Disney dress. We rode on Casey Jr. Circus Train then the Disney Railroad, where we say Mickey Mouse! She was so happy!

By the time we made it back to the station on the Disney Railroad, it was nearly 6pm, so we headed for the exit and I was really proud that we'd literally stayed the entire day. Already there were people in Halloween costumes arriving for the start of the 6pm Mickey's Halloween Party. We took our bus back to the hotel and arrived around 7pm. We ate at the hotel restaurant, which really had good food. Since it's two hours later for us, we were both tired out. We returned to our room, got in bed and were both asleep by 8pm! Olivia decided to sleep in my bed with me, which is always sweet.

Waiting for our shuttle to Disneyland! It was a bit chilly in the morning, but it was later the perfect temperature!