Disneyland 2013

We just got back from a fun weekend at Disneyland with my parents.  When a friend offered us two free 2-day park hopper passes through a sibling who works at Disney, we couldn't refuse, and when my parents heard that we were going they jumped at the chance to see us (but mostly Clara) at the happiest place on earth.     

 

 

Paul was able to work a half-day on Thursday and then it was a quick 5 1/2 hour drive down to Anaheim where we met my mom and dad.  Clara didn't go to bed before 9:30 p.m. any of the three nights we were there and she woke up earlier than usual, so she was pretty tired a lot of the time but whenever she got sleepy she just asked to "snooze?" and we would lay her down in the stroller with her blankie and her pacifier (she had an overdose of pacifier this weekend and we are paying the price now since this is the week we decided to take it away for good and she is miserable without it) and she would settle right down and nap there in the park while my parents and Paul and I took turns riding grown up rides like Splash Mountain or Soarin' Over California.  Clara woke up in the middle of the night one night while we were there and kept hearing someone (I won't name names) snoring.  She was convinced the sound was not snoring and kept saying "toot! toot!" over and over with each snore.  I was shaking so badly trying to control my laughter as I stroked her hair to help her fall back asleep.

 

Clara LOVES Minnie Mouse.  But somehow she has decided that Daisy is her favorite (her underpants have both Minnie and Daisy on them and Clara always points out Daisy first - that's how I know).  We never saw Daisy though, but we saw Donald a couple of times and that was exciting for Clara too.

Clara has only seen two Disney movies - Cinderella and Peter Pan.  So it was fun when we met Cinderella right at the entrance of the park on Day 1.  Clara was worried about what was happening and wouldn't smile, but she did manage to say "'Rella" and give her a hug.

You can tell by her face that she was already starting to lag here in line for the Peter Pan ride and we had practically just started our day.  She melted down on the Dumbo ride right after this and promptly took her first nap of the day after that while the rest of us rode Matterhorn and Space Mountain.

We spent a little time in Toontown and Clara really enjoyed playing in Minnie's house.  In fact, now I wish we had spent more time in there just letting Clara wander and enjoy herself.  She particularly liked playing in Minnie's kitchen - maybe because it was so cute and had so many fun things to look at, but also we play pretend kitchen together a lot so she knows what she is doing in there. 

This is Blake - Clara's little friend whose mom is the one who hooked us up with the free Disney passes via her sister.  His birthday was on St. Patrick's Day so he is 2 months and 2 days older than Clara and they had fun playing with Minnie's dishwasher together.

Paul and Clara had exited Minnie's house before me and were taking photos together when I came out of the house.  Clara took this picture (with Paul's help but Clara is the one who had her eye to the viewfinder) of me taking a picture of her on my phone. 

Clara clung pretty tight when meeting Mickey but she did give him a kiss on his nose.

Easily Clara's favorite ride in the park was "It's a Small World".  We went on it both days and she loved it each time.  She would point at different dolls in different lands and ooh and ahh over the different scenes we passed.

Clara did NOT like the Jungle Cruise this time around, which was a bummer.  Really she was just overly tired when we went on it.

 

Paul and I LOVE rollercoasters and California Screamin' is a great one.  Does anybody actually buy these pictures?  Because everybody we saw was doing the same thing we did which was to just snap a picture of the picture using their phones.

 

 

The park was a lot more crowded on Day 2 (Saturday) but we still got a lot in.  Clara was funny about wearing her mouse ears that we got for her on our first trip to Disneyland with her last July. 

 

We hung out by this waterfall feature in California Adventure while my parents waited in line for Fast Passes for the Radiator Springs ride in Carsland.  I don't have a picture from that ride but I liked it a lot more this time than last year. 

My parents are so cute. 

Clara met the height requirement for the Autopia ride!  Too bad she hated it.  Seriously, she cried the entire time.  She was smiling for this photo in front of the height marker though.

"It's a Small World" - Round 2.

One last highlight for Clara was the parade on Saturday afternoon.  She danced to the music and was fascinated by the characters and the dancers. 

 

It was such a nice weekend and so much fun to get away and just spend time together.  And Disneyland is always a good idea.