A few weeks before our trip, I had the brilliant idea (if I do say so myself) to invite my niece Brittney Olson to come with us to help play with and take care of the kids. And man, she was a life-saver! There were so many moments, so many, when Mike was busy with a kid or two, I was busy with another, and the fourth needed to go to the bathroom or get cleaned up or played with or whatever. Enter Brilliant Brittney! She was amazing! I know her presence cut down on the amount of fighting and tense moments between all of us significantly. Not only that, but she was gracious and actually enjoyed herself doing all of the things we were doing. Inviting her was the Best. Idea. Ever.
Our first adventure in California (besides driving all night to get there) was at the California Adventure Park! We were completely inept and fumbled our way through the park, yet this still somehow managed to be most people’s favorite day of the whole two weeks.
Right away we got to meet some famous Frozen folks, who were so amazing we were a bit overwhelmed.
Penny is wearing my new Anna Frozen Fever dress, the one Elsa makes her for her birthday, and Evelyn is wearing Elsa’s Frozen Fever Dress.
Anna spent almost 10 minutes just talking to Penny about all sorts of things, including her dress, while Elsa tried and tried to get Evelyn to come out and talk to her. The two ladies also decided my girls were their long lost sisters and used several “tests” to prove it.
I learned a lot today about what was a good idea for Disneyland, and what wasn’t. Having characters sign their title page in a Disney story book was incredible. Not only was it fun for the characters to sign their own pictures, but it’s something the kids will actually read and look at over and over, rather than just an autograph book with signatures.
What didn’t seem worth the money or energy was the princess lunch. I made reservations ahead of time because I heard how amazing it was for girls to meet their favorite princesses while they ate, but in reality, it was a long wait for a crowded restaurant where the princesses squeeze between tables in their huge ball gowns and the pictures you get with them have a less than idyllic backdrop of other families eating. Still, we did get five more princesses and Evelyn really started to enjoy herself.
It was also really neat that, even though Theo was too small to enjoy some of the rides, he got to see some characters and go on other rides that the older kids didn’t. After we had gotten a FastPass and waited in line to ride something we didn’t realize had a height limit, we were given a “golden ticket” that we could use to go to the front of the line of any ride or experience we wanted! I loved having that in my pocket all day, wondering what to use it on.
Mike also had some amazing radar because he saw some characters that I never even noticed! We got to hang out for quite a while with Woody; he was very interactive (albeit silent) with Alex and Theo.
And we had a lot of happy accidents today. While stopping at a park bench to rest, we ended up being in the front row for a parade!
While advancing in the line to see Disney’s Aladdin – A Musical Spectacular, Penny suddenly needed to use the bathroom, so Brittney took her and ran while we waited for them and watched more and more people pass us. When they got back, we tried to use our “golden ticket” to get a good seat but the usher told us to save it for a popular ride, while he personally took us to the VIP section and we got front row seats for the most amazing musical! The parade went right in front of us! I think that show is still Brittney’s favorite part.
We spent most of the afternoon and evening in Radiator Springs, enjoying the new ride, meeting one of Theo’s favorite characters, Lightning McQueen, watching the neon lights come on, eating at Flo’s V8 Café, and dancing in two spontaneous street parties hosted by DJ!
