This is Jane and Audrey Monday night, the night before DISNEYLAND! They were incredibly excited.
This is the girls at breakfast, all ready to go into the park.
Jane and Audrey were really good in the line waiting to go in. I think it was really fun for them to see all the other kids excited too.
The whole family enjoying the "happiest place on earth."
We decided that Small World would be the best choice to get the kids ready for what Disneyland was all about. As you can see, Audrey was very excited.
She didn't say much during the ride, she was in complete awe. Jane too. We'd taught Audrey the song before we got there so she'd be more excited when she heard it. She was. And she loved to wave at all the Disney character dolls.
We went next to Alice in Wonderland to see how she'd do on a little bit "darker" ride. I don't think she liked that one as much.
The Tea Cups were a big hit with everyone except me . . . I got really sick. Oh well.
Waiting in line for Dumbo.
Jane throwing a fit in line for Dumbo.
Jane was so cute when we got on the Dumbo ride. She was saying hi to everyone.
Obviously we all had lots of fun. :)
Dave snapped some pictures from the Dumbo ride.
Audrey didn't want to ride the carousel horses, she just sat on the bench with me (on the ride). Jane surprised me by wanting to ride, she normally doesn't like the up and down part of carousel rides.
We went over to California Adventure after we did some Fantasyland stuff. Audrey was sad because she was too short to go on the Grizzly River Run. Soarin' Over California was really more amazing than I'd imagined. Very cool.
Back at Disneyland after California Adventure closed at 6:00 (which doesn't make sense to me by-the-way, Disney). Once the sun starts to set, and it cools down, Disneyland gets REALLY fun.
The next morning we met Mickey. 
Jane was very interested in his nose.After she honked it, he gave her a kiss.
Visiting Minnie's house.
In Goofy's backyard, Jane found her favorite ride . . .
Seriously, she went up and down the slide 20 times.
I think she liked it mostly because she could do it all by herself.
We saw Pluto and Chip and Dale (I guess I didn't take pictures of her with Chip and Dale).
We got in early to Toon Town, but it was a big joke because it was super crowded and too dang hot . . . and the lines to see the characters were way longer than they would be just out on Main Street.This brings me to my next point. We did have lots of fun, but we also noticed that you just can't do Disneyland without a few disappointments.
Freud said something about the main source of our unhappiness being "unmet expectations." This point is driven home hard at Disneyland. Disneyland is undoubtedly a happy place, but marketing it as "the happiest place on earth" is sure to lead to some unmet expectations.
A lot of kids cry and throw fits at Disneyland. A lot of parents are impatient and frustrated at Disneyland. Most teenagers are basically bored and disappointed at Disneyland. Why?
I think most of this "sadness" results from everyone being so excited because Disneyland gets your hopes up: "I'm going to have the most magical time." "My kids are going to love this the whole time." "There are going to be tons of cool rides." "We're going to find some great souvenirs at reasonable prices." And then the magic carpet crashes into the bushes and the "magical" experience becomes just a normal, expensive day in the heat.
For example(s):
1) when you buy a pass for 3 days or more, it comes with a free "magic morning"--advertised as a chance to "enter the park an hour early!" This is really exciting, until you do it and realize that early entry means nothing because most of the park is still closed. Only part of Fantasyland is open (not even Small World). Lame.
It's fine to keep most of the park closed during magic morning, just ADVERTISE magic morning as a chance to "enter Fantasyland an hour" early instead of "the park"--Fantasyland is only 1/6 of the entire park. If everyone gets a free "Magic Morning" with a 3 day pass then you can probably assume that about 1/3 of the normal crowd on any given day will show up an hour early. Do the math: 1/3 of the crowds in 1/6 of the park means the lines are twice as long as normal. And you can't even use that time to get fastpasses to any of the better rides because, of course, those areas are closed.
2) "Early entry to Toon Town" was the same story--everyone gets it, so it's not special, and even if there WERE no lines, the good stuff doesn't open early anyway.
3) Maybe the best example of shattering expectations was the line for the "Aladdin" Musical Theater Production. Disney puts on a 45 minute Broadway-like production of Aladdin in a giant theater in California Adventure Land. We were VERY excited for this because 1) we are into that kind of thing; and 2) our tickets came with vouchers for "preferred seating." Our expectations were high.
The first problem with this production was that there was no sign saying where to line up for preferred seating; so some people with vouchers lined up in the standby line, and some people without them lined up in the preferred line and waited in that line for 10 minutes until the usher would come over and inform them that they were in the wrong line. They were very upset because they waited so long in the wrong line. PUT UP A SIGN! Duh. how hard can that be?
But THEN, after we had waited for 30 minutes in the preferred seating line, we were told that "preferred seating is full." WHAT? what does that even mean? nobody ever told us that preferred seating could "fill." Turns out that only the first 150 preferred seaters in line get to use the vouchers. They could have easily counted back in the line and put up a ribbon or something after 150 people and told the rest of us that we wouldn't get in before we waited for 1/2 hour in the sun!!
The worst part was that after they disbanded the preferred seating line they said we had to get in the BACK of the standby line. By this time, of course, the standby line was already too long to get into the production at all, so we just skipped that performance and waited for the next one.
In fairness, we DID get wonderful seats for the next performance. But only because we knew how the system worked by then. We did see many unhappy people in line for the next performance as well--on the same learning curve we were on. This "unhappiness" was not from waiting in line, it was from unmet, reasonable expectations. It would be so easy to just put up a few signs about how the lines worked and that would get everyone's expectations in line with reality.
4) California Adventures closes at 6:00.
5) On the off season they open the park later and close it later (compare 8 am - midnight to 10 am - 8 pm.), and there are no fireworks during the week. :( BUT the price is still the same. I suppose they can do this because . . . well . . . people are still going to go to Disneyland.
All of these things didn't ruin our trip. not even close. The trip was a BLAST. SOOO fun. big success. These were just disappointments that Disney could have avoided, easily. #1--Just advertise that only a few rides are open early. #2--Don't bother opening Toon Town early. Just open it the same time you open the rest of the park. the "Early entry" expectations do more harm than good. #3--Count the perferred seaters and tell them that they may not all get in. Have a sign that tells that that line is for preferred seating (there were lots of people waiting in line forever just to find out that they weren't in the right line at all). #4 Just do fireworks anyway or discount the tickets in the off season. There are still tons of people in the park on the off season. And it's open past dark, so the fireworks could still be done. Just a few things that would make everyone much happier. Oh yeah, and stop taking advantage of park-goers by jacking up your prices to kingdom come. Seriously. There should be no such thing as a 17 dollar squirt bottle with a foam fan on the front.
On a happier note, I've never seen my kids have so much fun in their little lives. And although I'm not a theme park person, this was the most fun I've had at a theme park ever.
This was probably Jane's favorite part. We went into Pixie Hollow to meet TinkerBell and one of her friends (Fawn). We met Fawn first.
Audrey was, naturally, thrilled.
But Jane was in awe. When Fawn waved at her, Jane pumped her little legs so hard to get to her.
She went right up and hugged her tight.
And she wouldn't let go.
I think Jane thought she was a giant dolly.
Finally, Jane took her eyes away to turn and we could get a good enough pose.
Audrey was more excited to see TinkerBell.
The fairies were a huge hit.
Later that day, after naptime, we got ready for the moment we'd all been waiting for--the Princess Dinner!
Audrey was all decked out and ready to go. She was a little too excited. She had a major meltdown before we went in to the dinner.
This is her being mad at me.
We splurged on a Princess Dinner so that we made sure that Audrey could see the princesses . . . and we had a nice relaxing dinner to take it all in. Our dinner was at about 4:30, which was probably Audrey's worst time of day (she didn't nap). Later or earlier in the morning would have been ideal. 
Still, she got to see Ariel and all her favorite princesses. Both girls were awed . . . I think mostly by how big their dresses were. :)
After we saw Ariel, they seated us at our table and gave us appetizers. The food was surprisingly fancy and very good. They announced each princess as she came out. A new one came out every 5 minutes or so, then made their way around to every table to talk and take pictures. Audrey watched them the whole time and wouldn't touch her food until they had all come by.
She always tried to do exactly what they did (see her hand?).
Aurora was a bit strange. And had a large nose . . .
Cinderella was our favorite. She showed Audrey how to hold her hands like a princess.
She talked to us the longest and was very sweet with Audrey.
The whole time the princesses came by, Jane was stuffing her face. :) She was interested in the princesses, but much more interested in her food.
Audrey only had eyes for the royalty.
We had some princess placemats, one for each of the girls, and the princesses signed them for us (there's a better picture at the end of this post).
Jane had been eating half a grape then setting it down. We didn't notice her little mess until the princesses had passed.
The second Belle left (she was the last princess) Audrey got down to business. She passed her meatballs to Jane (who had already devoured her own and promptly ate Audrey's) and politely ate her spaghetti.
Dave and I ordered some great things. Mine was some sort of spinach and roccotta stuffed ravioli with a mushroom sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, and asparagus. Dave had some sausage pasta. I didn't pay much attention since the sausage made me a little sick. But it was very rich and very good.
And our dessert was WAY good. That seashell is chocolate. And those raspberry things in the middle were heaven. The Ariel is chocolate too, and Audrey had a ball eating it.
I think the girls had a fantastic time.
A is for Audrey!
Getting ready for the big parade. Jane and Audrey were on our shoulders for it, and let me tell ya, it was hard work to hold them up there while they were dancing and wiggling excitedly.
The next morning we met Minnie.
Jane was not as excited about Minnie as she was about Mickey.
Audrey told us later about seeing the "Mickey in the dress." We had to explain to her who Minnie was and that she was Mickey's girlfriend. :)
Goofy was huge.
Jane was NOT excited about him at all.
But Pocahontas was another story.
She talked to the girls longer than any other princess (we saw her on the street outside Aladdin).
She noticed their tags on their backs (I'd put them there with our family name and phone number in case they got lost) and said that her tribe loved to hunt and that we Hunts should go hunting with them sometime. Ever since then, Audrey has been telling people her name is Audrey Hunt instead of just Audrey. :)
And she was very beautiful. I think she was my favorite. Jane just sat right down and took a little break.
We finally got to see Aladdin. These are our awesome seats! Front and center. Audrey was captivated. Jane fell asleep. It was a great show.
David and Jane and Maryjo went and did the Animation Academy while Audrey and I weathered one of her fits in the main lobby where they show all the movie clips. It was nice. This is Dave's piglet picture. Jane drew one too . . . it looked more like the briar patch from Splash Mountain.
That reminds me. Audrey surprised us all by her choice in favorites. She was tall enough to go on most everything. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Peter Pan's Flight were her favorite rides. She rode them over and over, threw her hands up in the air and giggled with delight the whole time (on the fast parts), and after each one was done, she'd yell "let's do it again!!" It was great. I think that was my favorite part, going on the rides with her that she loved most. I've never seen her having so much fun. Her least favorite ride: Winnie the Pooh. She totally freaked out the second time we went on it and huddled down in the bottom the whole ride.
Jane's favorite ride was Winnie the Pooh. We went on it for the first time at the end of our first day. She hadn't really responded to anything all day, but the second she saw Winnie the Pooh in that ride she pointed and yelled "Pooh Bear!!" And loved it every time she went on it. She also really like the Tiki Room where the birds sang. She'd dance and clap and point the whole time.
Jane's least favorite ride: Pirates of the Caribbean. Which was sad since we all rode it so many times for Audrey. But she survived. I think she just didn't like the "slides" in it, which was the part that made Audrey love it most. Although, Audrey did sing the "yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me" song all the time after she went on it the first time, so maybe she liked the theme and ambiance too.
My favorite ride was definately Indiana Jones. :) But Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was super fun too (especially with Audrey). And Soarin' Over California was amazing.
My least favorite rides were the Tea Cups and Star Tours because both made me SO SICK. :(
All-in-all, it was an awesome vacation. The crowds were small, the lines were short, the kids had fun, and the adults did too. It was the perfect length of time and the hotel was nice, clean, close by (right across the street from the entrance to the park). The drive there and back went well. It was fantastic. One of the best vacations we'd ever been on!
