What an amazing trip! Sarah and I spent four days at Disneyland, and it was truly a magical experience. We met lots of characters, rode tons of fun rides, and even got to spend some time with my Aunt Anita. It was exhausting and expensive, but I'd do it all again!
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Thursday, December 3 - Day 1
This morning, Sarah and I woke up early and were ready for PaPa to take us to the airport for our 7:00 flight to Orange County! It was Sarah's first time on a plane, and she did great.
We flew over the Grand Canyon on our way to Los Angeles, so I guess we can cross that off our list of things to do, too!
We landed, collected our luggage...
...and were at Buena Vista Street in California Adventure by 10:00.
Mickey ears!
Everything was decorated for Christmas, too!
Mickey ears!
We were lucky enough to be able to visit Disneyland during their 60th Anniversary Celebration, so there were lots of diamond-themed items around the parks.
We grabbed our fast passes for Radiator Springs Racers and then headed to meet Anna and Elsa!
Anna and Elsa were located in the Animation Academy, so we got to watch clips of Disney movies while we waited. It made the line time go much faster! Sarah only told me to stop singing about 18 times during our wait, but I wasn't too offended.
Before we knew it, though, we were being ushered into the halls of Arendelle Castle! Sarah recognized the clock from Frozen right away...
Sarah got the girls' autographs and posed for some photos before we said good bye to Arendelle.
After another short wait, the doors opened and Elsa and Anna were right in front of us! Sarah talked to them about her elephant and Anna asked if Ellie could fly like Dumbo. Then Anna decided that maybe Kristoff would like a flying reindeer for Christmas and Elsa made Sarah pinky promise that she wouldn't tell Kristoff what his gift was going to be!
Sarah got the girls' autographs and posed for some photos before we said good bye to Arendelle.
We grabbed some lunch and then headed into Olaf's Snow Fest to play in the snow. That's right. SNOW. Honest to goodness snow inside a re-created Arendelle castle courtyard. How Disney is that?!
See the snow falling here? SNOW!!!
Sarah decided she didn't want to stand in line to meet Olaf, so we just waved to him on the way to go sledding!
When we left Snow Fest, we discovered that we were just in time for a showing of "For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along" at the Crown Jewel Theater. I'm so glad we stopped in! It was fun to sing along to the songs from Frozen, and the effects during the show were phenomenal. During "Let It Go," the lighting made it look like ice was climbing the walls of the theater. Then, at the end of the show, we got to sing "Let It Go" again and snow actually fell from the ceiling. I decided then and there that the ticket prices were totally understandable!
SNOW. Inside. Snow...
See the snow falling here? SNOW!!!
Sarah decided she didn't want to stand in line to meet Olaf, so we just waved to him on the way to go sledding!
Sledding! In the snow!! INSIDE!!!
SNOW. Inside. Snow...
After Frozen, we wandered over to the center of California Adventure and caught one of the many random street shows that seem to pop up throughout any day at Disney (I know they're all carefully rehearsed and synchronized but it really does feel like you just happened across a little show!). Sarah was excited to see Goofy - prior to our trip she had decided that Goofy was the only character she really wanted to meet! Strangely enough, this was the closest she ever wanted to get to him...
As it happened, the ride that turned out to be Sarah's favorite - Grizzly River Run - was also located there!
After getting soaked on Grizzly River Run, we walked over to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. Sarah got a map that allowed her to scratch off Wilderness Explorer "badges" as she earned them by completing activities along the trail. "Up" is my very favorite Disney movie, so I was in heaven!
Here she is earning her badge for Tracking by finding Kevin's footprints:
From the Grizzly Peak area, we wandered over to Flik's Fun Fair at A Bug's Land.
Sarah even got to meet Flik!
Then we rode Francis' Ladybug Boogie. Also a hit!
But that was nothing compared to the giggles when she got to act like she was catching me in a net!
As the sun started to go down, we headed over to Cars Land. Because I needed to be more wowed, right? Disney has recreated the entire town of Radiator Springs from the movie "Cars," and it is spectacular! It was all decorated for Christmas, too, which was a lot of fun.
We stopped into the Cozy Cone Motel to meet Tow Mater.
Around 4:45, we finally made it to the front of the line for the ride we'd been waiting for all day - Radiator Springs Racers!
We even got to ride in a red car that looked a lot like Lightning McQueen...
We got pulled over for speeding, but the Hudson Hornet let us head into Radiator Springs to prepare for our big race.
This is the start of the race. Once we sped off, there was no time for pictures!
We won our race and had a blast in the process! I think Sarah had almost as much fun watching the racers as she did riding them, though.
This was our view during dinner.
And this was Radiator Springs at night.
We got to see Lightning McQueen himself and say good night to Cars Land as we walked back to Paradise Pier to see World of Color!
In my mind, I had planned for us to see World of Color on Thursday night, Fantasmic on Friday night, and the Disneyland parade and fireworks on Saturday night. What I hadn't planned on was Sarah crashing hard about a hour before World of Color even began!
On our way out of the park, though, we ran right into the Pixar Parade at Carthay Circle!
The parade started with some of our favorite characters from Monsters, Inc.
Next up were characters from The Incredibles.
Heimlich and his friends from A Bug's Life followed.
Sarah was tired, but she hung in there!
The next group were toys from Toy Story. Disneyland really cranked up the bubbles for this part of the parade!
Finally, Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater cruised past...
From there, we made our way through the Grizzly Peak area of California Adventure. It's designed to look like a National Park, and I was immediately in love with the whole area.
As it happened, the ride that turned out to be Sarah's favorite - Grizzly River Run - was also located there!
After getting soaked on Grizzly River Run, we walked over to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. Sarah got a map that allowed her to scratch off Wilderness Explorer "badges" as she earned them by completing activities along the trail. "Up" is my very favorite Disney movie, so I was in heaven!
Here she is earning her badge for Tracking by finding Kevin's footprints:
She earned a badge for Bravery by riding on a zip line...
...and a badge for Rock Climbing, too!
Disney even piped in the smell of a redwood forest through the entire area. It was amazing!
Sarah even got to meet Flik!
We rode Heimlich's Chew-Chew Train and Tuck and Roll's Drive 'Em Buggies.
We also rode Flik's Fliers. I think Sarah had fun.
Then we rode Francis' Ladybug Boogie. Also a hit!
After spinning in lots of small circles, we wobbled over to the Bugs Land photo opportunity!
Sarah thought it was super fun to "find" me with a magnifying glass.
But that was nothing compared to the giggles when she got to act like she was catching me in a net!
As the sun started to go down, we headed over to Cars Land. Because I needed to be more wowed, right? Disney has recreated the entire town of Radiator Springs from the movie "Cars," and it is spectacular! It was all decorated for Christmas, too, which was a lot of fun.
We stopped into the Cozy Cone Motel to meet Tow Mater.
We even got to ride in a red car that looked a lot like Lightning McQueen...
We sat down, buckled up...
...and then we were off, driving through Ornament Valley!
We got pulled over for speeding, but the Hudson Hornet let us head into Radiator Springs to prepare for our big race.
This is the start of the race. Once we sped off, there was no time for pictures!
We won our race and had a blast in the process! I think Sarah had almost as much fun watching the racers as she did riding them, though.
By the time we headed to Flo's V-8 Diner for dinner, all the lights of Radiator Springs had some on. It was pretty cool!
This was our view during dinner.
And this was Radiator Springs at night.
Sarah thought the tiny tractors were super cute. I thought so, too!
We got to see Lightning McQueen himself and say good night to Cars Land as we walked back to Paradise Pier to see World of Color!
In my mind, I had planned for us to see World of Color on Thursday night, Fantasmic on Friday night, and the Disneyland parade and fireworks on Saturday night. What I hadn't planned on was Sarah crashing hard about a hour before World of Color even began!
So, we took a few pictures at the Pier and then headed back to the hotel for the night instead.
The parade started with some of our favorite characters from Monsters, Inc.
Next up were characters from The Incredibles.
Nemo, Marlin, Dory and Crush came next!
Heimlich and his friends from A Bug's Life followed.
Sarah was tired, but she hung in there!
The next group were toys from Toy Story. Disneyland really cranked up the bubbles for this part of the parade!
Finally, Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater cruised past...
We followed the parade through the park toward the exit, took a few final pictures of California Adventure at night, and walked back to the hotel. It was an amazing first day to our trip, and we were definitely ready for bed!
Good night, California Adventure!
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