DISNEYLAND!!!

One day during our vacation, we took advantage of Disney's Give a Day-Get a Day program they were offering this spring (I think it's over now...) and headed off to Disneyland! With 4 VERY excited kids in tow (we left Sammy home with Grandma and Papa), we made the 1 hr. 40 min. drive from Palm Springs and walked in to the park bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. So much to do, so little time! We spent all day there and had a ball! Here are just a few pictures to show some of our day...

Entering the park with a pep in our step, excited to start our day at Disney!

First stop...a picture in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle, of course!

Arm in arm, they were off!

Next stop..."New Orleans" and Princess Tiana's show. Jazz time!

The girls even got to play in the band! 

(No surprise, Ellie opted out of this opportunity! :O)

Pluto!

Sweet little Ellie got pooped out and made us all jealous 

as we watched her take a little snooze mid-day!

And now for the reason we were at Disney...to meet the princesses! As you approach the line to see the princesses, a "cast member" greets you and gives you an estimated wait time.  When we arrived, the time we were given was 1 1/2 hours! Yes, that's right...wait 1 1/2 hours to see 3 princesses for less than 5 minutes. Hmmm, what to do, what to do? WAIT, of course!! It truly was the #1 thing on our list to do that day, so we really had no choice. AND, thankfully that kind "cast member" had no clue what he was talking about, because our wait time was only 30 min. Whew! 

Princess Tiana

On to Princess Belle...just look at the expressions on Ellie and Taylor's faces. Priceless!!! 

They were in awe and frankly, so was I! The princesses were absolutely beautiful! :O)

Getting Belle's autograph.

And last, but not least, Hannah's favorite princess...Ariel! 

After meeting the 3 princesses, we found out that there was going to be a "shift change" and 3 new princesses were going to come out. And, while we couldn't get pictures with them since we were already out of line, we could stand and wait for them to come out of the special door! The girls were thrilled to get a glimpse of more royalty!

And there they are! Princess Aurora, Cinderella and Snow White! 

Minnie Mouse! 

Inside Minnie's house...I loved that! Everything was so big and bright! Adorable!

This was taken as we were waiting in line for a cute little roller coaster in Toon Town. This was Ellie's first coaster ride and I had the pleasure of sitting with her. I SO wish that I had the camera with me, because the look on her face was priceless...I think she both loved and hated every second! :O) 

Now, with the pep gone and the bright eyes closing, we called it a day. And while we had our ups and downs that day (a few rides broke down on us after waiting in line, etc.), our day at Disney gave us so many special memories that I know we'll never forget. And, of course, because Sammy didn't get to enjoy this visit, I'm sure we'll be back in a few years when he can join in the fun!