Friday, September 24, 2010

the longest Disneyland post there ever was.


Disneyland.
it just gets better and better every time we go.
as a kid i remember being in awe of the place.
as a teenager, i remember going for family trips and high school trips and feeling like, "i wonder why i don't feel too old for this kiddie place? i can't get enough!"
as a newlywed, i remember going a few times and thinking, "this is just the most romantic place on earth."
but as a parent-
nothing can compare.
it's like you get to re-discover it all over again.
and do things that you felt like a dork doing before you had kids.
like meeting characters.
waiting for-ev-er on a curb just so you have the best seats for a silly musical parade.
buying souveniers like balloons and stuffed animals.
etc, etc, etc.
and because we loved it so much, and Ellie was so angelic and adorable, and because 2 days just wasn't enough...we bought annual passes.
yes, i can now be considered a Disneyland Fanatic.
welcome to the club, self.

of course i have like a gazillion pictures that just can't go without being shared...so, hold on to your hats, and get scrollin'- & enjoy some of our favorite Disneyland moments.

anticipating the day on the train from the parking garage- Ellie was squealing out of excitement. literally.

arriving at the park- we all could NOT wipe these silly grins off of our faces:



Ellie kept referring to the castle as her temple. who's going to wanna burst that bubble? not me, folks. not me.


the first thing Ellie wanted to do was ride "sea world"-- i could not for the life of me understand what she meant. then after her talking about "the boat" and the "kids singing" i figured out she was talking about "it's a small world." so, off to the creepy children musical ride we went. (yes, i think this was her fave).


this was pretty much her expression the whole time:


and so we rode it multiple times in those two days, in different styles. kissy face style:


daring, put-your-hands-in-the-air style:


and sing a long the whole dang time style (since after riding it once, it's impossible to not know every single last word of that dang song).


much to my excitement, we enjoyed many rides this time around. Ellie was never a huge fan of rides before this trip-- but this time we had some classic ride moments.
like on Dumbo (multiple times):

 
 several different carousel rides:


 
even by my mom:


riding the teacups till i thought my belly was going to fall off:


 

driving cars on Autopia (Ellie felt like a champ doing this):


oh and did i say It's A Small World was Ellie's favorite ride? i take that back. Winnie the Pooh's ride was BY FAR her favorite ride. how random? i think it was especially because she rode on it so many times with Gammy:


 
we also did quirky attractions like the Toy Story ride (though we were very disappointed the new Toy Story ride was closed for rennovations. lame.)- and while Ellie is pretty obsessed with Toy Story (especially Toy Story 2) she was a little freaked out by the three-eyed aliens and Zurg and his evilness.



and then my mom insisted that we go to the Tiki Room. which i think i had done once long long ago-- and which i won't do again for a long long time. what a bizarre, weird experience. i especially like the sound of the machine-birds' beaks snapping back and forth. classy. luckily, Ellie is easily amused. and thought it was pretty awesome to see birds singing and talking. i, on the other hand, wanted to run for the door the minute it started. now, i have never personally been to Hawaii, but that is NOT what i imagine it to be like. AT ALL. still, it was funny. especially since my mom was cracking up the whole time at it's weirdness/awkwardness. and it's one redeeming quality was the delicious pineapple ice-cream we got to devour while we waited for the weird Tiki Gods to talk to us. (please tell me i haven't offended one of you because the Tiki Room is your fave...?)


are you bored yet? because i'm not even half way done. feel free to stop here :) (but if you do, be aware that you are going to miss out on the cutest little Ellie Snow White you ever saw...yes, that statement is a little biased. because this post is written by her mama. but i hope you've gotten used to my biases by now).

the best part to me was when we dressed Ellie up in her Snow White dress to meet the princess. oh my gosh. she looked A-DORABLE...

  

and she actually did pretty well waiting in line....but i was grateful to have M there to take her away to do some rides while i braved the hour wait to finally see what princess we'd get to meet (isn't that weird? they don't tell you who you're waiting in line for...it could be anywhere from 1-3 princesses...and you have no idea who...i kept crossing my fingers Snow White would be there- since that is obviously Ellie's favorite): 


when it was finally our turn, we were so excited to see Tiana first. Ellie LOVES the Princess and the Frog- especially how Naveen and Tiana kiss- so naturally, she planted a wet one right on Tiana's cheek (i wonder if it grosses these ladies out to have little grubby kids' lips and hands all over them all day?)



Ellie was so AMAZED to see Ariel there. she loves the Little Mermaid, too.


and i think she felt the need to show Ariel her stuff- so she started pretending to fly. silly Ellie. Ariel was very nice and looked convincingly amazed:




Ellie seemed most starry-eyed over meeting Belle. i dont' know why? she was all shy and nervous- but then talked about her and her "yellow dress" for the rest of the day.



so at the time, i was way excited because we got to meet some really adorable princesses- but i was also sliggghtly disappointed- because i reaaallly wanted Ellie to get to meet Snow White.
well, not too much later, we were walking by "Ellie's Temple" again....and guess who we spotted!? 
You guessed it! SNOW WHITE! and guess who was with her? Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella! i told Ellie we could meet them, but we had to wait in line (which was only like 5 or 6 people long!) she kept saying to me, "Where is them?"

 

and then finally it was our turn. oh man, our little Ellie was so twitterpated, it's not even funny.

Snow White was so cute and nice to her- she just kept talking to Ellie, and admiring her dress-- i wanted to run up and squeeze her to death for making the encounter so memorable for Ellie.:


 and the rest of the princesses were equally adorable, too. Cinderella kept commenting on Ellie's red sparkly shoes (which Ellie was definitely proud of), and i think Ellie truly felt like one of them. it made me wish i could dress up like a princess for a day and make some little 2-year-old's life complete :)

afterward, Ellie could talk about nothing else. she was so happy and jittery! so, her Prince Charming came and swept her away:


and we went to the wishing well, where Ellie continued to be "Ellie Snow White" and she sang and sang and sang "I'm Wishing, I'm Wishing" over and over again.





 oh gosh it was cute.

while there, we definitely met other characters too- who made Ellie equally starry-eyed.

there was Mickey:

  

and Minnie:




 and Donald:

and Pluto:

 
and Goofy (who she was mysteriously a little creeped out by?)
but i think her very most favorite person of all to meet was "Poppins" (Mary Poppins). you see, we waited in line to meet her- even though we knew she had to leave to get ready for a parade she was in...i just wanted Ellie to be able to give her a hug (what a persistent annoying mom, i know). well, Mary Poppins was so sweet, she asked Ellie (in her most british accent) if she would "care to go for a stroll." Ellie seriously still talks about how she went on a walk with Poppins.





even the parts where we stopped to take breaks were a blast.
Ellie was just so happy.
whether we were at a fountain looking at the water:


stopping at random cars to take a pretend spin:



taking a random photo-op in front of Ellie's favorite letter, O:


huggin' and kissin her favorite Aunt Mimi, who came and partied with us each night:

trying to get swords out of stones:

dancin' her little booty off wherever there was music (which means, wherever we went):

giggling all day long with Gammy (who came both days to play with us and go on rides, and even buy us yummy treats sometimes!)




and getting to spend all day, every day with daddy- which hasn't happened for a long, long time.



it was a lovely, enjoyable, tantrum free (seriously) 2 days...ones that slipped away from us all-too quickly. it was wonderful to be there with my little family, my mama, my sista-- and with the magicalness that lurks around every corner.

and of course, i have to leave you with this:
(except for the fact that Ellie asks to go back to Disneyland, every day, multiple times a day. and i'm not even joking....quite frankly, i wish i could go back every day, multiple times a day too!)

now, believe it or not, that's like only 1/2 of the pictures i took. but i'm all sweaty after doing this post (what with holding my hot lap-top on my lap, and my personal little heater that is my basketball belly these days). AND, because i couldn't figure out the new blogger picture uploader too well (i blame it on my lame-pregnancy-brain...which will turn into my Lame-Post-pregnancy brain soon) it has taken me Ellie's entire nap time (a good 2 hours), so i'm going to call it quits here. if you made it this far, congratulations. you can come to my house to pick up a gold star Mon- Fri 9 am - 5 am.

xoxo

18 comments:

Tia said...

The AP's are SOOO worth it! And, at least you have a toddler you can use as your excuse to get all excited to see characters and what have you. I'm 26 years old, and make my 31 year old boyfriend go hunt characters down. And I have no kids to say that I'm doing it for.

Yay for Disney!

The Peterson's said...

So fun! I can't wait to take Cairo someday...and we even live here. I am a slacker parent! She is so cute all dressed up! Yay!

Ashley Myntti said...

Best Disneyland post ever! I am so excited to have you as a fellow Disneyland fanatic! :) And I love how much Ellie loves it.

Alesa said...

I have an annual Pass and I don't even live in Cali. This was such a cute post. Makes me so exited for my trip to Disneyland in 3 weeks.

Megs said...

I guess I get a gold star! Oh wait...you'll have to mail it to me ;)

The pictures of Ellie with the princesses...Heart=melted. So darling. I don't blame you all for not wanting to stay forever. Makes me oh-so-excited for the day that we go as a family!

Jenny said...

i showed kate this tonight and she was drooling.

wafeller said...

What a blast! Your photo's are so sweet. Disneyland is one of my favorite places, we just got back last Sunday. Took the whole fam, 15 of us, and we are a lot older than you, Marci, and it is still magic to us too. Give your mom and dad hugs and kisses from the Feller's, oh and of course you and Mimi too.

Ashley said...

I want to go to Disneyland right. now. You should work for their advertising department. I loved that post! So cute! I'm glad you had such a great time. XOXO.

Anonymous said...

Well Said.
Good post deserve more recognition.
don't forget there are ways where you can get hundreds of subscribers to your blog :)
Walt Bayliss
CEO and Founder
http://www.instantblogsubscribers.com

Adrienne said...

you're making me excited to have my little girl here.

Jylaire said...

What a great trip! We took the kiddos to the DL when I was about as pregnant as you are, so it's bringing back tons of memories! You have a beautiful little family Marci! I swear it was just yesterday that I was babysitting you! You are making me feel very, very old!

Anonymous said...

It looks like you guys had so much fun!! Looking at all these pictures and reading your blog makes me so excited for our trip to disneyland which is coming up here soon lol!!

Tammy said...

OK...and I thought my Disneyland post was long! ;)

Your pictures are absolutely darling!

And I hear ya on the Princesses, Marci!

When my sister and I went to Disneyland last year, we spent at least an hour waiting in line at the Disney Princess Fantasy Faire! So we were a bit bummed that we waited all that time for Mulan, Cinderella and Snow White. [Yes, we saw Ellie's favorite!]
We had already seen Cinderella the day before and I was really hoping for Sleeping Beauty because a few of the girls at my school had been acting out the story and I wanted to get pictures and perhaps a little “shout out” for them.

And yes, there is definitely something even more magical about Disneyland, when you see it through a child's eyes.

Linda said...

Disneyland as a Grandmother.... is MAGIC! Watching my babies, with their babies.... ( except Mim's of course, who is still a baby, so don't get any ideas Mimmers)... makes it all extra, extra sweet for me. You should have seen Marci.... hopping through lines and even roped areas with that tummy! She is unstoppable at Disneyland. I kept thinking what if she goes into labor here? Wait! That would be great.... she would love that! Can't wait for Christmas visit. Just can't wait to have you all, plus, our new little baby girl! Love you Marci, you are a real PRINCESS.

{amy k.} said...

so many adorable pictures!! what a fun adventure!

seeing pictures of your mommy makes me even more sad she doesn't live behind me anymore! :(

miss you all!

Tammy said...

I would like a gold star! I totally agree, the Tiki Room is lame-o... my FIL LOVES it... and we never let him go (we also never let him go on his other favs... the monorail, which we compare to BART, and the train). Gald you had so much fun...

Russell and Mikelle said...

Ellie is darling! I loved seeing her excitment with the princesses! I can't wait to take my daughter to disneyland.

ClaysJenna said...

I am a huge fan of Disneyland and I will be heading there the 19th of this month!! I was already so excited and you just made me even more!! Your family is just beautiful!! Love this post!