Disneyland

As I mentioned before, this past week was a girls trip to Disneyland. Lilian, my mother and myself. We decided on a 4 day adventure completely planning to make it a Lilian guided, Lilian paced trip. 4 days in the park meant that when Lilian wanted to go on the Little Mermaid ride 3 times (in a row!) we could. It meant that we weren't worried about spending 45 minutes at the splash pad (while Lilian got SOAKED). We could go back to the hotel in the middle of the day and swim for a few hours without worrying that we weren't going to be able to fit everything in. 4 times in through Sleeping Beauty's castle and more than your average time spent at Goofy's playhouse and Tom Sawyers tree house? No problem. Which also meant that although Disneyland isn't usually a hugely relaxing type of vacation....we didn't feel overly rushed which was nice.

At the Salt Lake airport waiting to board the plane. And although Lilian was very excited about flying in an airplane, she was less than thrilled with all the waiting around that comes with travel.

Entrance to Disneyland

Cotton candy at Paradise Pier in California Adventure and a Mickey Mouse shaped sucker at New Orleans Square in Disneyland. We fell prey to the sidewalk vendors probably more often than we should've. The popcorn and Mickey shaped creamsicles were especially yummy....

Paradise Pier

Waiting to meet Minnie Mouse.
Getting surprised by a jet of water at the splash pad.
And riding the carousel.

Yes, that is a Mad Hatters hat on my head. What is it about Fantasy Land that makes grown men and women decide to wear the silliest things on their heads? I justified my purchase by telling myself that I would wear it for Halloween as well....

Jungle Cruise
After we got off this ride we discovered the Bengal BBQ. Amazing meat and vegetable kabobs. We highly recommend it the next time you find yourself in Adventure Land....

Waiting for and then riding on the Disneyland Railroad.

On Tuesday night we watched the World of Color at California Adventure. It's Disney's big fountain and lights show over Paradise Pier. A half hour worth of oohing and awwwing, jaw dropping, amazingness. (How's that for a description??) It was AWESOME! But it was standing room only. So I held Lilian so she could see. For 20 minutes before the show started and then 30 minutes of the actual show. Then she fell asleep....just as my long walk back to the hotel began. It was like carrying the dead weight of a sack of potatoes. Paradise Pier is in the very back of the park. And the going was slow seeing as there were hordes of people all trying to leave at the same time. Once out of the park we walked all the way through Downtown Disney. And then a few more blocks to our hotel. All told I think I carried Lilian in my arms for close to 2 hours. Oh my aching back...and arms...and legs...and feet! Needless to say, I was on ibuprofen the next day...

Fantasy Land
It just IS Disney to me. My favorite part of the whole park. Even if it is also the most crowded....

We took a raft over to Tom Sawyers Island and let Lilian run around for awhile. She loved the tree house. My mom and I loved the fact that we were able to sit on a bench and rest our weary feet while Lilian played.

Toon Town