Disneyland Day 1

The second part of our California trip was devoted to Disneyland. We spent three days between the two parks (Disney California Adventure & Disneyland) starting at California Adventure. This decision was made for us when we made reservations at Ariel's Grotto for character dining. We arrived before the park opened for our 9:40 breakfast full of Princesses. To say Janna was thrilled would be an understatement. We'd been telling her that she'd get to meet some of her favorite princesses and she could not wait! Upon our arrival we were greeted by Ariel and had our first photo moment. Next we were taken to our table and Janna was presented with a princess crown and stickers to adorn her crown. We "snacked" on bagels, pastries, croissants, fruits, and cheeses while awaiting the arrival of the princesses. During the princess entourage we dined on scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, and washed everything down with orange juice and milk. Quite the feast! Each princess entrance to the dining room was accompanied by a musical introduction. Whenever the intro was played Janna's eyes would get big and she'd jump up and down saying, "Who's next!? Who's next!?" Rather adorable. Janna had the pleasure of meeting Ariel, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Snow White, Belle, and her favorite, Cinderella. What a way to start the day!!!

After filling our stomachs, we headed off to check out the rest of the attractions. We started at Mickey's Fun Wheel, which appeared to be a typical ferris wheel. However, we boarded a "swinging car" and received quite the ride. The car swung down a little track as we went around and certainly surprised us.

We journeyed under the sea on Ariel's Undersea Adventure, which was filled with character's and music from the movie. Janna lovingly named it "seashells" (you ride through in little seashell cars) and rode it no less than 10 times in the course of our visit. I think it'd be safe to say it was her favorite. A Bug's Land followed and we rode Flik's Flyers and Heimlich's Chew Chew Train (yes I wrote that right!). We also took in The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, King Triton's Carousel, California Screamin', Toy Story Mania, and of course had our picture taken with Mickey Mouse.

A special thanks to my parents for watching Luke the first day. It was nice to give Janna a little extra attention.

An extra special thanks to my sister for basically acting as tour guide. I'm certain that without her we would not have been able to see or do as much as we did in three days!

More pictures here.