While we were in Los Angeles, we thought that we might could tackle Disneyland just for a day as a less chaotic introduction to the world of Disney. Really, if all we saw was Fantasyland, we could consider it a success. We hoped that would hold us over from jumping into Disneyworld in the near future, so we spent a lot of time preparing Helen Grace for seeing characters dressed up and how much fun it would be to see the *real* princesses and Aurora’s castle. Considering that HG ONLY sang “Once Upon a Dream” from Sleeping Beauty the ENTIRE time we were in California, I think you could say she was pretty excited. (While John was out of town that week and we were home preparing to leave, she’d ask me, “Is Daddy waiting on me in California with the princesses?”)
Despite all my planning, it still took us what felt like hours to get to Anaheim Saturday morning. I have never seen the likes of the park’s parking garage, but once we finally landed on the tram and were on our way to brunch, I started breathing again. We ran straight to the Plaza Inn for breakfast with the characters. On our way, we saw Chip and Dale, and she was fine. Almost as soon as we walked into brunch though, we saw either Minnie or Pinocchio, and poor HG immediately plastered herself on me and started panicking. Full on meltdown. John talked the hostess into giving us a booth back in the corner of the room, and HG attached herself to the floor under the table as John and I tried to shoo away characters as they came over to see us. I thought that the Fairy Godmother might be a welcome visitor since she was a person, but even she was a no go. Finally, we threw in the towel and gobbled down our food as quickly as we could. I saw Minnie nearby and asked if I could take a picture with her, so we’d at least have something to look back at from our breakfast. For some reason, as I posed with her, HG popped her head out from under the table and decided that she wanted to sit on my hip on the opposite side of Minnie. It was a Disney miracle! She even kind of talked with her, but we hurriedly ran out of there and headed to the castle to try to calm HG down.
We toured Aurora’s castle (until the dang Hall of Ghouls spooked her) and then hit the rides- Storybook Land (loved the boats), Dumbo (LOVED to fly Dumbo but the wait was ‘boring’), It’s a Small World (it’s really a ‘little world’ that she gasped and pointed at the whole time- I think my stomach is still sore from getting punched repeatedly), Peter Pan’s Flight (it ‘scared her to death’ but she liked it), and Jungle Cruise (too loud). HG caught a quick nap in Tomorrowland, and we also played around and enjoyed some cotton candy in Mickey’s Toontown. (For the record, I think the whole park heard HG scream bloody murder in the potty in Toontown when an automatic toilet flushed too soon. DRAMA!)
We noticed the park employees setting up for something late afternoon, and we were pleased to find out that they were getting ready for a parade at 4:00. What a fun surprise! (I thought it wasn’t until 7:00, but they had one at 4:00 and again at 6:30.) One of the cast members recommended that we watch it along the path between Alice in Wonderful and the Matterhorn Bobsleds, next to the restrooms. At that point, parade watchers can only sit on the one side of the path (there’s a fence on the other side), so the characters only have to entertain one side of the parade route. We loved it because each character looked right at Helen Grace and made her feel so special. I really got caught up in the Disney magic as my little princess sat in my lap grinning from ear to ear as all her favorites smiled at her, blew her kisses, and said hello just to her. I will never forget it and the way they made her glow and giggle.
Afterward, we called it a day and headed for a quick souvenir stop on the way to the car. She picked out a Baby ‘Punzel doll and a spinning Sleeping Beauty light up toy. We practically had to drag her out of there, and we had to have a special goodbye moment with the Disneyland stroller we borrowed, thanks to such a short nap for the day. We stopped at Panera on the way back to the hotel and then collapsed.
The flight home on Sunday was pretty uneventful, and the LA TSA agents treated us like celebrities- escorting us to our own, empty line, helping me put all my stuff in bins, and being so nice to HG. HG slept most of the flight again, so I’m sure we’ve used up all good flight luck we’ll ever have. John and I both mentioned what an easy traveler Helen Grace was on this trip. Even though she wasn’t feeling 100%, she really hung in there and didn’t fuss much or require a lot of maintenance. She was honestly a piece of cake- and a LOT of FUN!! Loving this independent and interactive age. Here’s to a *mostly* fabulous Disney ‘first’ experience!
Ready to go see the princesses! (with Sallie Key, of course)
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