The Happiest Place on Earth

Nick, Allison and I flew out to San Diego for a vacation in early July.  We met some dear friends there and had a fabulous time.  The trip will be covered in several different posts.  We had lots of fun experiences!  On our first full day in California, we drove 90 minutes north to Disneyland.  We were so excited to see Allison's face when she finally saw "the castle" in person.  She loves princesses and all things "royal" so we knew she would find it "magical."  Nick nor I had ever been to Disneyland so we were excited too. My parents took me to Disney World for my 7th birthday and to this day it is one of my happiest childhood memories. We arrived and saw some wonderful sites like these...

Our first stop was "the castle."  Allison was so excited!  She could barely stand it!

Then she heard Snow White's voice coming from outside.  We had to check it out.  Allison found Snow White's wishing well and her dwarfs!

After spending some time with Snow White, we went to ride Dumbo.  Allison was a champ.  We waited in line for over 45 minutes, but her reaction to the fun ride was  well worth it.  She LOVED it!

Our next ride was "It's a Small World!"  This was a winner in her book too!

 It was bright when we came out.  She needed her shades.

Then the moments that made this day all worth it...the princess moments.  We found a place where we could wait and meet several princesses at once.  Here are Allison and her friend Ryn waiting to meet the lovely ladies!

Ariel was the first princess she was able to meet.  She was truly star struck.  They were the "real thing" to her!

We then moved on to Tiana.  Allison was mesmerized!

 She was blowing her a kiss!

The Belle.  Next to Snow White, Belle is Allison's favorite.  She adores her and can't believe she got to meet her!

Then she met Cinderella.  

 She and Ryn posed with her.

 Two little princesses taking it all in!

Seeing Allison's face light up during the "princess moments" made the whole day worth it. I am not going to lie.  There were moments where I felt I had enough "magic" to last a lifetime, but honestly this made it so special.

We stopped off in Mickey's Toon Town for lunch.  Allison wanted to ride in this crazy car!

To finish the day, we park hopped to California Adventure.  California Adventure is a new park for Disney. It's only about two years old and it was FABULOUS! It was a lot less crowded. We were able to do a lot there.  We rode a Monsters, Inc. ride, The Little Mermaid ride and Nick was even able to take in a crazy plane ride.  Allison loved Ariel's carousel.  It was beautiful.  She is a girl after my own heart and picked a sea lion to ride on!

We finished off the day with "It's Tough Being a Bug" 4D movie experience.  I always say Allison has no fear, but even she was a bit scared of that movie!  It was a full day.  Our 2 1/2 year old went non stop from 10:00 am- 6:30 pm.  She fell asleep in the car on the way back to San Diego around 7:00.  She slept through us stopping to pick up dinner (and even carrying her into the restaurant with us), putting her back into the car, driving to our condo and carrying her up to the condo.  She slept until bright and early the next morning. It was a magical day that I hope we can repeat when she is a bit older and baby #2 is along for the ride as well.  I am so thankful for the opportunity we had to take her to Disneyland. It truly was magical!