Disneyland - The Characters

I think Allary's very favorite part of her whole Disneyland experience was meeting the characters. We bought her an autograph book to take around and she was so excited. These are also some of my favorite photos because Allary was so thrilled and it's so out-of-character for her to talk to or even look at a stranger, or as you'll see, give big hugs. We waited in lines to see characters much longer than we waited for any of the rides. Every time we'd get done waiting to see someone, we'd walk away and Allary would say, "let's go find someone else!" :) So, I saved these ones for last, enjoy!




Okay, this is kind of a funny story. As I said before, Allary had made it quite clear that she wanted NOTHING to do with the evil queens. I had been talking to her alot about the characters that would be there and she was most excited to see everyone from her favorite movie, Peter Pan. She really wanted to meet Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. We met Tinkerbell, but I have never seen Peter Pan at Disneyland (why is that anyway?). But she also really wanted to meet Captain Hook. Well, one day walking along, we saw Captain Hook. Allary was already leaping out of the stroller and grabbing her autograph book. I saw also though that he was at a character meet and greet location which meant there was a loooong ling and also more than one character. The other two characters there were the Queen of Hearts (not scary because Allary hasn't seen that movie) and oh no.... the evil Queen from Snow White. I explained to Allary that in order to meet Captain Hook she was also going to have to meet the other two. (It would be kind of rude to walk right past them I think). I told Allary she didn't have to talk to them, she could just hand them her autograph book and that was it. She wanted to see Captain Hook bad enough and so she braved it out and even posed for pictures. :)


And... Captain Hook! She was so excited.










Aladdin and Jasmine. Allary really wanted nothing to do with Aladdin, just Jasmine.

This is Silvermist from the Tinkerbell movie.

And another of Allary's favorites.... Tinkerbell!


The line to meet the princesses was also very very long and we even got there a few minutes before the place even opened. It was well worth the wait though. This experience for Allary was priceless.

Allary is showing her that she has Sleeping Beauty on her shirt. :)

Disneyland 5

So many pictures.
This is Allary sitting in the "A" of "California" in front of California Adventure. It was too dark to get far enough away to get the whole letter, but you get the idea.


We were playing with our 3D glasses while we waited in the long line for Toy Story Mania.




This was our last day at Disneyland. We were trying to make sure we took all the classic shots.



And this is Allary after packing in all that fun!

Disneyland 4

... and more pictures.
This is us in front of the Grizzly River Rapids ride in California Adventure. (Allary was distracted by the High School Musical performance going on not too far away.)


She loved the little petting zoo.



Here she is getting drenched at the water fountains in A Bug's Land.


This is waiting in line for the new Toy Story Mania ride. The line was always really long, but it was so much fun.

Allary has seen all of the High School Musical movies and loves them.

Watching the HSM performance.

Oh poor Allary. We made her go on the Tower of Terror, mostly because I really wanted to ride it, but I didn't want to have to ride it by myself. It freaked her out, the drops took her breath away, and she cried when it was over. But, she only cried for a minute and I still think she was so brave to go on it and she forgot about it soon after when we made it up to her with a frozen treat. Check out her expression in this photo just after riding it.

Some more photos from ToonTown...




This is a short video of Allary having a blast at the Playhouse Disney show.

Disneyland 3

Here's some more Disneyland fun...

ToonTown...

We really wanted Allary to be able to go on some of the bigger rides and I knew she'd be brave enough to do so. The height requirement is 40" and Allary, without shoes, is 36" tall. Before we left on our trip, I measured her and measured her and fashioned her some special shoes that gave her those extra needed 4". I just put some folded up socks in the bottom of her tallest boots, and there you have it, 40". She was a great sport to have to keep switching shoes and she did great on most of the rides, not all, but most. Here she is with Jason in front of Thunder Mountain. She liked that one because it was a train and there were no monsters.


Speaking of being brave, this next photo is one of my favorites of all. I warned Allary before we left that it was Halloween Time at Disneyland and that some of the villains would be there. She is terrified of the queen from Snow White and the evil Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. She kept telling me she did NOT want to see them. (more on this later when I post all the many characters we met). So I saw this statue and made them pose by it for a photo. A little mean? Maybe, but you have to admit it's a great photo. It makes me laugh every time I look at it.


The Seven Dwarfs' cottage...

California Adventure...


The Pixar Parade in California Adventure... We actually liked this parade better than the one in Disneyland. Allary was dancing and waving and having a fantastic time.







Heimlich's Chew Chew Train...

Bumper Cars...


Just some silliness...

And more silliness with our bug-eyes while waiting for the Bug's Life movie...

Disneyland 2

This is Jason just outside of the Indiana Jones ride, his favorite. This jeep is actually from the first movie, or so the Disneyland ride worker said. Pretty cool.

These are just cute. :)

This was on Tom Sawyer's Island, or now it's called "Pirate's Lair" or something.



She is saying "Arrrrggggg!" as she sits atop the pirates' loot.
And again, just cute.




The Winnie the Pooh ride. Allary's very favorite ride. I rode this with her 7 times, yep, 7.

More Dumbo.


The castle at night. You can't really capture how cool it looks on camera.
The carousel.

My brave girl on Thunder Mountain..."the wildest ride in the wilderness!"


The Jungle Safari boats...

The parade...

Disneyland 1

The end of October, we decided to splurge and treat ourselves to a much needed just-us family vacation. We went to Disneyland and we had the best time! It seems like 2009 has been a non-stop high-stress period of time for us. House-hunting, buying our house, and moving were all super stressful. And, adoption in general is a stressful and highly emotional thing. So far, our adoption experience has included some heartbreaking situations that have just not worked out. This last situation the past few months was the hardest by far. We were in contact with a birth mom, exchanging emails and info and pictures over the course of a few months, even had a face to face meeting, and in the end (one week before the baby came) she decided to keep her. Needless to say, we were crushed. Everything about it felt so right and so perfect. We were really hit hard by this. Which leads me to our much-needed getaway. It's amazing how just simply lifting yourself out of a situation for a time can ease the pain and allow some healing. And what better place to escape reality than Disneyland, the "happiest place on earth." :)
Enjoy the pictures, we took a TON!

It's our tradition that the first ride we hit is Dumbo. Classic.


Then we hit Peter Pan, one of Allary's favorite rides (and movies).
I love this look on her face on the ride. I'm not sure what this is in reaction to, maybe Captain Hook?

Crazy driver!

My brave girl on the Matterhorn.

It's a Small World...


I think this was waiting in line for Alice in Wonderland.
Those are just the pictures from the first day. That night we switched off saving a front-row spot in front of the castle for the Halloween fireworks. We staked out our spot at 6:00pm! The fireworks didn't start until 9:30pm! You should have seen the enormous masses of people crowding in to see the show. It was a long wait, but the show was amazing! Fireworks, music, flames, light projections, lasers, etc etc. Amazing.

My everything

Whenever I am feeling down, I can just go in and watch my baby girl sleeping for a few minutes to feel like I've got everything.