Magan and I decided to surprise Maia and Eva with a trip to
Disneyland for spring break this year! We had been thinking about this for
several years but wanted to wait until both girls were old enough to walk on
their own (I wasn't about to carry kids around all day), ride the majority of
the rides, sleep in a regular hotel bed, eat regular food, and take care of
their own business (if you know what I mean). That time has come! We decided to
keep the trip a secret mostly so we didn't have to continuously answer the
"when are we going to Disneyland?" question non-stop for two months.
And I think Magan and we're excited enough for all of us anyway!
Day One:
Wake the girls up at 3:00am to catch a 5:30am flight from
Denver to LAX. When we finally told them about their surprise, Eva covered her
head back up in the blankets and stated, "I need more sleep. I don't want
to go." Kind of a buzz kill.
Neither girl was quite as excited as Magan and I had hoped they would be at an
hour where we would normally have a melt down if they were awake. Weird.
They did eventually wake up enough to get excited, but after
driving to the airport, parking and riding the bus to the terminal, taking the
train to our gate, flying, and catching motor coach to our actual destination 6
hours later...their excitement had faded again. We did eventually make it
inside the Disneyland gates and it was as awesome as we had imagined it being!
Right away we met Cruella de Vil. She called Maia and Eva
retched and told them to sit and stay and they thought she was hilarious!
We took pictures and rode rides and had lunch with all their favorite princesses that afternoon. It was good for our tired feet to sit and eat and let the princesses come to us instead of waiting in lines to meet them.
We stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel there at Disneyland. So it was all Disney all the time this trip. We attempted to go back to the hotel mid day for a rest but that did not happen, so back to the park we went for what turned out to be a 21 hour day. Maia was a champ and wanted to continue to keep going but Eva spent every stop falling asleep on one our laps. Night time at the park ended up being the best part of our trip. The crowds are significantly less, all the lights are amazing, the parade at 10:30pm was the best one we saw, and riding the rides in the dark is just plain fun!
Day Two:
Started the day at breakfast with Mickey and all his friends. Once again, a good way to combine the time it takes to eat a meal and meet several characters that we would have otherwise had to stand in line for. The girls were fully awake and excited now and had high expectations for their second day! Stitch was their favorite character as he was causing trouble with the other characters and spent A LOT of time entertaining the girls.
Back to the park after breakfast for more pictures and rides.
Magan and I surprised the girls that afternoon with a trip to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for their own princess makeover. Eva requested to look like Rapunzel...and well, I'm not sure if that result was achieved but she we VERY happy with the way her hair looked.
(She almost pulled out Excalibur! Look at those muscles!)
More princess meetings. I was very impressed that most of the princesses had remembered meeting Maia and Eva the day before at lunch!
Best picture of the trip! The camera caught the sheer terror in the girls faces at the big drop on Splash Mountain but they came off the ride laughing and asking to go again!
Maia was over tired and over sugared at this point of the night!
Magan and I decided to divide and conquer on night two. Eva was too tired and too short to ride a couple of the rides so she fell asleep on Magan's lap while Maia and I spent a couple of hours running from ride to ride and getting in as many as we could before the park closed at midnight. She was the best little ride buddy and we had one of those nights to remember forever nights! We bonded over roller coasters and high fives! She's definitely a little thrill seeker.
Day Three:
Back at it at 7:00am. Nothing like hitting up Hyperspace Mountain before I've even had my coffee. It doesn't look like we are going very fast in this picture but check out my beard! We were moving!
Best part of the trip for Eva! ALL she wanted to do this trip was meet Rapunzel and we finally did on our last day! I mean, Eva is Rapunzel's #1 fan. This was a moment for her! And Flynn Rider was there too (Rapunzel's prince for those of you who do not know this because you have not watched the movie everyday for the last 700 days in a row...). We later found out that Flynn Rider almost never makes an appearance so it was meant to be. These characters spent a good 5 minutes with Maia and Eva and played the parts exactly like the movie. Rapunzel told everybody that I looked like a ruffian from The Ugly Duckling with my beard and Flynn Rider tried to teach me to smolder (again...movie references for those of you without daughters!). It was an amazing way to end a perfect vacation!
Magan and I finally got a cocktail on our way to the airport. We toasted ourselves to a Disneyland vacation well done!
Hasta...
