Disneyland

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Now to the Disneyland part of our trip!!! We had so much fun! We spent one full day there. It was plenty of time yet it wasn't enough time (if you know what I mean). We started the morning by riding rides. We arrived at the park at 8:45 and landed ourselves in Fantasyland! Dumbo was our first ride of the day!Elyse getting ready to ride the pink Dumbo!

Daddy and Mady getting ready to ride Dumbo!!!Elyse and Mady on one of the rides sitting together with Mommy and Daddy in the back!
Mady and Daddy on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride!

Dumbo is a MUST (for the little ones that is!) Elyse's favorite ride from all of that was probably Peter Pan. We rode 4 rides in an hour. Which was really good! After each ride she asked if she could ride it again. We told her there was a lot more rides that we needed to ride before we could come back and do them again. After the four rides we went and saw the Disney princesses. That for sure is a MUST for little girls! It was great! We waited an hour in line. After we were through Clay and I looked at each other and asked if it was worth it and both said that it was so worth it because of the look on Elyse's face. I will never forget that happy smile! I loved that they spent time talking with Elyse and trying to talk to Mady. Mady was a little shy of them. I wish I would have gotten it on Video Camera. I was more focused on the pictures. Not sure why? Elyse met Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Mulan. She LOVED Mulan! I think that was the highlight of the trip.Hooten "Princesses" with Sleeping Beauty!

I really liked Snow White with Mady. She was the only
one Madyson would go up to by herself!Elyse with Mulan. I think Clay took some better ones with his camera. At least I will have those for my scrapbook!

After the princesses we made our way to see Mickey and Minney. Here again you can't leave Disney without seeing the ones who made it famous!!! Elyse was really excited to see Mickey. Madyson was scared silly of him so we only got the picture of Elyse with Mickey Mouse.

Elyse happy to be sitting on Mickey's Chair in his house!Elyse playing on Mickey's Crazy Piano!!!

Mady and Daddy waiting to see Mickey. She looks excited...ok not really.
Elyse with Mickey Mouse! She was so excited to see him! Can you tell on this one?!?!Elyse and Minney Mouse!


Hooten Family with Minney Mouse! My favorite photo from our Vacation! Well, this may be the only family photo we have.

Minney was another story. Mady LOVED Minney! She even took a good picture with all of us in it! It was great! I bought a frame that will go perfectly with that picture! Elyse loved Minney's house and would have spent ALL day in there if I would have let her!

After that the girls were starting to get tired so it was off for a snack and to get Fast Pass tickets for Toy Story Mania. By the time we got the Fast Pass tickets Mady had fallen asleep. So it was off to give the girls and us naps!

We came back and weren't sure if we could use the Fast Pass tickets since it was way after the designated time and sure enough we could! Which was good and bad. Because if I would have known this I would have grabbed Fast Passes for all the popular rides because the park was ridiculously crowded by the time we came back.

Then it was off to buy the girls their Mickey Mouse ears of there choice. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of Mady in hers and it got lost between the Disneyland and the hotel that night. :(Elyse's Princess Minney Mouse ears! They even monogrammed her name for free!

Elyse like Toy Story, but not as much as the rides earlier in the day. We rode Autopia next. That was a fun ride! They even gave the kids there own driver's license. Elyse LOVED that!

We also went on...
*The Jungle Cruise (a nice break from the heat!),
*Pirates of the Caribbean (couldn't go to Disney without going on that ride! When the 1st movie came out that was our first date!) They even had Jack Sparrows character from the movie. It looked IDENTICAL to how Johnny Depp looked in the movie. I had to do a double take a few times! It was great!
* The Haunted Mansion (Elyse thought it was scary at first and then at the end she said it wasn't scary. I think it just scared her that at the beginning the lights went out and it was completely black inside.

The wait times weren't too bad for the rides. Clay and I talked about it and they actually have things for you to look at while you are waiting. Disney was a GENIUS! That is all I have to say!

Unfortunately we didn't make it on any of the big rides that I wanted to do. The lines for those were ridiculous! I didn't want to wait an hour and a half with a toddler and a preschooler. TORTURE! Next time they will both be big enough to ride them and that will give them something to look forward too!

We had a great time! When it started to get dark we went and saw the Fantasmic show! AMAMAZING!!! The girls were so tired by this time we put them in the stroller and found a good spot to park and watch the fireworks. They were both SOUND ASLEEP before the fireworks were even over! We went and sat under a pavillion. Earlier in the day Clay went and bought me a T-shirt (that was too small) so I needed to go back to the New Orleans area to return it. Clay stayed with the girls so that we wouldn't have to fight the crowds with the stroller. I brought back some Clam Chowder for me and Gumbo for Clay. We sat peacefully and ate dinner. It was totally a date night at Disneyland! It was great! We both looked at each other and decided we should where the girls out when we want to go out late and bring them with us ASLEEP!!! Granted it was 11pm PST and 1 am Central time. They were exhausted. After our yummy dinner we went shopping in Downtown Disney.

Clay had so much fun for not really wanting to take the girls yet! He spoiled them rotten! But we went to Disney and I guess that happens! It was a great day! I had so much fun with my little family! I love spending time with them! These are moments that the kids may not remember but Daddy and Mommy certainly will!!!