Our Magical Trip to Disneyland

For Christmas, we gave Sequoia some Princess/Minnie Mouse/Disney things with a note that said we were going to Disneyland in the spring. The time finally came and away we went!

Since I have so much family who lives in Southern California, we usually just stay with them and hit Disneyland for a day and see other things when we go down.  But Sequoia is at such a fun age and so into Princesses/Minnie/Disney things that I knew I wanted to do more than one day this time (I was thinking two would be plenty.)  Well long story short when it came to booking it I totally got suckered and we ended up going for three days and staying in the Disneyland Hotel.  I don't regret this at all!  The hotel was darling and super convenient, plus we got the extra Magic Morning hour before the park opened each day for being Disney guests.  We seemed to go at the perfect time of year and we were spot on about Sequoia being the perfect age!  She loved every minute of it and so did we!

The first day we were up and at 'em early.  It was so nice spending some quality time as a little family.  We spent most of the first day in California Adventure and checking out the new Cars Land.

Since two of my cousins who live locally have season passes we were lucky enough to have some company the second and third day.  We sure enjoyed it, especially Sequoia!  She loves her So. Cal. cousins who we don't see nearly enough!  Also, my mom happened to be visiting family the same week so she stopped in on the second day too!

 ...the second day with Owen and Audrey, not picture: Holly, Preston and my mom...

 ...the third day with cousin Miley...

We couldn't get over how many characters we saw each day throughout the park.  The past few times we've been I don't remember hardly any and I didn't think Sequoia would be as into them as she was either.  Since it was before spring breaks and the busy summer season there were hardly any lines, even to meet the characters!

I was also surprised at some of the more original characters we met: The Fairy Godmother and Cruella DeVille to name a few!

Sequoia was about an inch and a half too short for most of the big kid rides (yes we tried all the 'tricks' to get her on) but she sure loved the ones she could go on!  Some of her favorites were the roller coaster in Toon Town and the Tea Cups!

To say Sequoia is into princesses right now would be an understatement!  She loves them and loves to dress up as them.  She has a Cinderella and Aurora costume and had fallen in love with the Rapunzel costume at the Disney Store a couple weeks ago.  I had talked her out of getting it by telling her maybe she could get one at Disneyland, semi hoping she would forget.  I should have known better. She reminded me daily until we left.  So we used it as an excuse for good behavior on the trip.  We told her if she was a good girl the whole time and wished really hard, she would get her Rapunzel dress to wear on our last day in Disneyland.  Well she was nothing short of an angel and the second night when we walked into our room, there it was on her bed.  This was maybe the highlight of our trip seeing her face.  She told us she had wished and wished!  I was really looking forward to her meeting all the princesses and having dinner in Arials Grotto the last night. 

The first day, before we had seen any princesses, we happened to be in the right place at the right time when Rapunzel walked out.  I thought Sequoia would just die!  They talked, she let her touch her hair and then we went to grab some lunch.  While we were eating the following conversation ensued:

Sequoia: "You know what guys?"

Dillon: "What's that"

Sequoia: "I don't think that was the real Rapunzel..."

Me:  "Really?  How come?"

Sequoia:  "Her voice was just kinda different and I dunno- I just think it was a nice lady dressed as her."

Dillon and me=  Totally dumbfounded!!!

That little smartie pants!! Can't fool her!  She still enjoyed meeting more (pretend) princesses and having dinner with them the last day.

 It was so nice at the end of each long day to walk literally outside the gate and upstairs to our room and relax.  The whole trip really couldn't have gone better!  I'm so glad we got to take our little princess and see the magic through her eyes.  I told Dillon I have so many great memories of Disneyland with my cousins when I was younger, and now Sequoia does too!