Disclaimer-I took a few HUNDRED photos during this trip, I promise to limit the number I include in this post minimal. And by minimal, I mean less than 20.
We decided at the end of last year we were FINALLY ready to tackle Disneyland. Our projected trip would be June 2015. We agreed on an amount for saving each month and opened a separate bank account, naming it "Vacation Fund".
The overtime started picking up and before we knew it, we were able to move our trip up an entire year! It was tight, we were consistent, and it totally paid off. We surprised the kids, they have absolutely NO IDEA where we were going. The car ride there wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. I was armed with a load of dollar store supplies just in case, but we found a scavenger hunt that kept us occupied for a good part of the 7 hour ride.
We arrived just in time for dinner the first night, and explored Downtown Disney. We stayed off site the first night, and ended up at Bubba Gump Shrimp for the our first real meal since we left that morning. The atmosphere was awesome and we truly had a blast. We made it back to our room just in time to see the fireworks from our hotel room window.
We really spared no cost when it came to this trip, and had our days jam packed full of surprised and exciting things to do with the kids. We purchased tickets to BOTH Disneyland and California Adventure. We started our first morning in Disneyland (and met Goofy right away!) and after a few rides, we left around noon to go to "Ariel's Grotto" for lunch. The girls were speechless when they got to meet 5 princesses up close and personal! They were all beautiful, it truly amazing.
We decided to spend the rest of the day in California Adventure, and enjoyed many of the rides. Halfway through the day we stopped to dance with Phineas and Ferb, the kids got a kick out of their street show. We had prime seating for the parade, and since they were the only kids in the area we were sitting in, they got plenty of up close and personal attention!
The kids were plum exhausted by 8pm, so tired, that my son fell asleep in my arms. Believe me, I live for those moments, except when I'm exhausted myself and have 5 miles to walk. We stopped at one last ride and my son slept through the entire thing, including getting on and off the ride! Once we got to the new hotel, we checked in and took the glass elevator to our room. We showered and settled in just in time for the fireworks show.
The next morning the girls were awoken by a personal phone call from Mickey Mouse! They couldn't believe it was him, and he promised to see them later. We spent most of our day at Disneyland and met even more characters. I was just as shocked as Laila when there was no line to meet the princesses, we got there early enough there was no wait. Her dreams came true when she met Jasmine, her favorite princess since she even learned who princesses were. My eyes welled up with tears as she hugged her. We managed to see the last bit of Tangled's show, and Kenadi was also in heaven. We spent the day riding all sorts of rides, eating expensive food, gettingt face paintings and soaking up our time there. We drove cars, rode in spaceships, and tackled roller coasters that even made ME scream. There were only a small handful of attractions we didn't see, and most of them were because the kids were too small to ride them. We made it to the parade in Disneyland and the girls got to see Anna and Elsa of Frozen. It was official, our trip was complete.
Little did they know, we had one more surprise for them! We planned dinner at Goofy's Kitchen, where they met another bunch of characters! The night ended so blissfully, I don't know that it could have gone any better. We discussed the length of our trip before planning it, and decided 2 days at the parks would be about all our kids could handle. With early bedtimes and Laila's unpredictable blood sugar, we didn't want to risk ruining a great thing.
The kids haven't stopped talking about the trip since we were there, and we'd love to go again in the future. Making their dreams come true is worth any cost in my book, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity we had to share that with them.
Until next time, all my love.
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