Disneyland Trip: Day 3

It was a little more difficult to get out of bed and out the door on our third day of Disneyland fun, but we managed to get to the park and wait in line for the doors to open.  

Gabriela and I were the first ones in the entire park to ride Alice in Wonderland. She thought it was so fun that all four of us went again right away.  

We hoped to catch It's A Small World that morning, but it was closed. However, on our way there, we spotted the meet the princess walk through, which I actually knew nothing about.  Gabriela was very pleased to see the princesses; we were pleased that it was only a 10 minute wait.

 Just look at that excitement!

 First, she met Aurora, her favorite princess!  Aurora was surprised to learn that Gabriela lived in the Kingdom of Alameda.

 And then it was off to meet Snow White. She asked Gabriela if she brought her dwarf with her, referring to Easton.  Snow White said Easton looked like Trouble!

 When Gabriela saw Cinderella, Cinderella exclaimed that they must have the same fairy godmother since they were wearing the same dress!

 Gabriela decided to use her spending money to buy a set of 5 mini princesses. I wanted to get them at the end of the day, but it was a good idea to get them when we did, because they kept her Gabriela busy during some of our down time that day.

We headed off to Tomorrow Land where we all rode the Finding Nemo Submarines. Easton loved it at first. He kept leaning towards the window and repeatedly doing the fish sign.  But then it got scary. This ride isn't really for kids. It's pitch black and they pretend that bombs are going off, that we got eaten by a whale, there's a shark attack, and they pretend the submarine stopped working.  Gabriela made it through, but said she was scared several times.

 She and Lane went on Autopia next and we decided to skip the other Tomorrow Land rides since she has shown us that she is scared of rides in the dark and rides where it seems like she is flying.

So off to ToonTown we went, where Gabriela and Pluto were reunited.

 Gabriela and Daddy enjoyed Gadget's Go Coaster, although Gabriela said it was a short ride.

 And then we toured through Minnie's house.  Gabriela stopped for a rest on Minnie's bed, peeked in her fridge for a snack, and ran the dishwasher.

 Minnie!!!

And then it was off to Mickey's house. Gabriela raced through it and didn't even want to wait in the line to meet him.  Oh well, it was fine with us!

 Gabriela, her family and her princesses posing in front of the cool Dia de los Muertos decorations.

 Easton made us go on the carousel again. 

 Before leaving Disneyland, we got some cute souvenirs.  The kids each posed to have their silhouettes cut and framed.  I can't wait to put them up. I also got a Christmas ornament, because I get one whenever we go anywhere.

We got stuck in line behind a family getting SEVEN silhouettes done.  The family felt bad and gave us some tickets for priority seating. This turned out to work quite well in our favor.

We went to California Adventure and saw a performance of Aladdin. This was one of Lane's favorite parts of our whole visit.  With our priority seating, we were some of the first to enter the theater, and got great seats. The production was amazing - the sets, the costumes, the props, the actors. It was like a mini hour long Broadway show of Aladdin, very similar to the movie.  Easton was so entertained by it. He totally paid attention. Gabriela did too, but she was getting tired toward the end. 

We met up with Chaney and Beau for one last ride on Pirates.  Gabriela fell asleep after this and Lane got a chance to ride the new Star Tours. 

Then it was time to head back to California Adventure for our trip's grand finale.  The only problem was that Gabriela was still fast asleep and it was really hard to wake her up.  So, feeling kind of guilty about it, we just brought a very sleepy Gabriela onto her favorite ride one last time.  This turned out to do the trick. She woke right up.

 Thank goodness, because it was time to have dinner at Ariel's Grotto, where we would get the chance to meet the princesses again, while we enjoyed a fancy dinner.

 Easton enjoyed his dinner as well.

 Gabriela and Cinderella.

 Gabriela thought of a question to ask Snow White all on her own: Which dwarf is her favorite.  It turns out, Snow White can't pick a favorite and that she likes them all for different reasons.

 Easton thought Snow White was a total babe.

But he also had his eye on Belle.

 And then we met Aurora again. Gabriela's question for her was my favorite: Why are you the only princess who gets a castle?  Aurora explained that Cinderella has a castle at Walt Disney World, so she's not the only one.

 And Gabriela was thrilled to get this plate of tantalizing treats!

 Check out the chocolate seashell! So fancy!

 I didn't get really great photos of the last part of our visit, but after dinner we got some good viewing spots to see the World of Color show.  Gabriela was very friendly to every one waiting around us. In fact, she couldn't stop talking.  I asked her to talk to us instead, but she insisted on talking to all the "new people".  By the second half of the show, she was drifting off to sleep in Lane's arms. 

 On our way out of the park, we stopped to admire the Disneyland fireworks show, a perfect ending to our wonderful trip, and believe it or not, our first family vacation.

Gabriela rated Disneyland a 14 on a scale of 1 to 10 and proclaimed that she wanted to live at Disneyland. I think it's safe to say she had the time of her life.