I can't believe we waited so long to take Emma to the most magical place on earth. My sister had asked if we would like to go with her family while they were out visiting and we just couldn't resist the invitation. Emma hasn't seen much Disney since we don't really let her watch TV yet. Dr Neglia (Emma's Doctor) has told me time and time again when I ever I ask about TV watching, that children learn more from doing then watching. Always read and play with your child and limit TV as much as possible. So a few times when I was really sick, Emma got to watch Winni the Pooh and Wall-e. She loved both, but that's all she has ever seen. That didn't stop her from having the most amazing time. She had no idea what we were talking about when we told her we are going to Disneyland, but she sure knows now!
The park opened at 8 and we entered the gates at 8:30. Emma was amazed and super excited the moment we got there. It truly is made for children of all ages. And for Donald and I it was so great to be there with Emma for the first time! We took over 400 photos that day so bear with this blog post as it may be the longest one yet :)
We headed straight down main street to Fantasy Land. I knew that we could get in a few rides before my sister and her family showed up. I was so excited that Donald told me I needed to take a few deep breaths and relax otherwise I was going to wear myself out before noon.
I got so excited when we saw the castle, and Emma getting to see it for the first time. She was over the moon!I love this photo below of Donald and Emma in front of the Castle. What a dreamy photo of my two loves.
Our first ride was on Dumbo. Emma saw it as just ridding on flying elephants and she thought that was the coolest thing ever, an elephant that could fly!
All three of us squeezed into the ride together. Donald asked if I wanted great photos or a great time together. I really wanted a great time together and thought we should enjoy as much as we could ridding together, the pictures would happen magically and I was right.
At the end Emma really didn't want to get off, so we had to remind her how important it was to share with the other kids waiting their turn. Then she said she didn't want to go home, I had to laugh thinking this was going to be the longest happiest day for her to date and she still had no clue.
We then headed to King Arther's Carousel. Emma walked right on and happily so. Since it was so early still, the lines were not long at all or in some cases non existent. But that didn't last long at all. I was grateful that Donald was willing to ride with Emma and I could take photos from the side.
Then we headed off to It's A Small World. I know that this was the one ride that would get out of control later in the day so we should take advantage of the short line while we could.
Below is just a sample of how quickly Emma made friends in every line we stood in. She instantly became friends with these two little girls while we were waiting to board our boat.
It's A Small World has to be my most favorite ride of all time. I always wanted to be able to take one of the magical dolls home with me and of course I could sing the song for hours.
Once on board the boat Emma started dancing to the music. She got so excited and kept saying "the dolls are singing to me!" She loved it and started singing over and over again with the dolls.
I videoed the ride and Donald was sure to take a few important photos, like the Scottish piper!
And my favorite the little dutch children.
It's A Small World became Emma's favorite ride in the end and still sings the song to us! She truly is my little girl!After all that excitement, my sister Linette, her two girls, husband and good friend Daniel showed up and it was now time to enjoy some fun rides with them too. Linette had the idea that we all wear the same color shirts so we could find each other easier. Tori and Sarah picked out white and it worked really great. Donald was hoping that we could do orange, but in the end gave up and agreed on the white.
First up was the Winnie the Pooh ride. Sarah has been one of the biggest Pooh fans ever so everyone was up for a Winnie the Pooh adventure in Adventure Land.
The ride should have only held about 6 people, but we crammed in 8. With lots of laughs and the need of a shoe horn at the end it was a great ride for Emma and another highlight of the morning.
The ride like most was super cute. And Emma loved every minute waving excitedly to all the characters she knew.
At the end we exited and headed straight for the closest gift shop so I could get Emma a Winnie the Pooh all her own. Of course she picked out the larger than life $100 Pooh, and I just couldn't imagine carrying it around the rest of the day so we down sized to a much more manageable lovable Pooh.
We asked everyone what ride was next. I was completely satisfied with the rides we had gone on so everything from here on out was just bonus! Sarah and Tori wanted to go on Pirates of the Caribbean. I knew it would be a horrible wait in line but I would do it for the girls. I was right it was about a 2 hour wait, but we got to sneak in through the back and load with in 5 minutes! Linette had major surgery in the last year and is still recovering. The only way she was going to make it through a day at Disneyland was in a wheelchair so we got to cut in on all the lines! It felt like cheating in a way, but with Emma I was grateful for not having to wait through hours to ride a short ride.
We were all having a laugh before boarding and we were all super excited to take Emma on such a fun ride. Emma is still in her fearless mode. Nothing frightens her, she is amazing.
Emma insisted on sitting with her cousins and Aunt and Uncle. The ride starts out a bit like a water roller coaster. And Emma was thrilled by the ride!
Emma also enjoyed all the singing and dancing and moving statues. She thought the skeletons were way cool and was excited about all the pirate action and fights.
When we got off the ride, it was potty break for everyone. Emma and I were waiting for Daddy's turn and enjoyed being serenaded by a few pirates and Emma even danced for them.
Then Sarah and Tori wanted to ride some rides Emma couldn't join them on so we opted to go to Tomorrow Land and drive a car or two.
This had to be an absolute dream come true for Emma. Any one who has spent even a small amount of time around Emma knows of her love of cars, trains, planes and all that moves. I rode in front of Donald and Emma in my own car hoping to get a few great shots of them driving. Donald is the best daddy ever and let Emma get in behind the wheel. She was so short that Donald had to raise her hand for me to get her in the first photo.
But the moment we rounded our first major corner I was able to get a shot of Emma and Daddy in their oh so cool car! Emma couldn't have been more thrilled.
The ride ended and we took Emma to get her new drivers license. It's so cute and I already have it with all her memroblia of the day.
We met up with everyone for lunch and then headed out for Emma's first set of mouse ears and on the way who should we bump into but Mini Mouse and Pluto!
What an absolute magical moment for Emma's first time at Disneyland. We knew our mouse ears would have to be Mini Mouse ears for sure! With Emma's first mouse ears on it was time to head over to California Adventure!
We had done a bit of shopping by the time we got to California adventure but it didn't stop us from getting a Mini Mouse while we were there.
California Adventure was really fun! We did the Bugs Life 4D show which Emma loved. She kept her special bug glasses on through the whole show and tried to reach out and touch everyone. She loved getting wet and feeling the bug crawling under her seat. Then she ran through the bug town water parks.
By the time we got to the water parks it was her nap time and you wouldn't even be able to tell by these photos that she was at all tired! She was so excited by everything!
We had such a great time watching her run and play with all the kids. Emma didn't waist anytime jumping into all the action.
We finally decided that it was time to move on and take it easy for a bit and headed for a bug ride. It was the first time we saw Emma start to feel tired.
So it was up on Daddy's shoulders until we got on the ride and the excitment returned in no time!
We caught back up with everyone for more rides and shopping.
But saddly Emma and I had to sit these out, Emma was about 4 inches too short for most rides in Califorina Adventure. My vertigo didn't mind and either did Emma. It gave Emma a chance to play with her new princess toy cars.
As it started getting later Donald and I knew Emma wouldn't last much longer so we headed back to Disneyland to visit Toon Town. I wish we could have spent way more time here. It was a perfect world for someone Emma's age. There was so much to see and do and we just didn't have time on our side.
We still got a chance to visit Donald Ducks boat house and Mickey's house, but opted not to wait through the extreamly long line to get picutres with Micky Mouse.
After a hotdog diner Emma ran off the very last of her energy in Toon Town.
We did get her to sit still long enough to take her picture on the fire truck as she just loves them so much.
But finally we just didn't see it necessairy to push Emma any further. She was tired so we headed for the exit.
Donald and Emma stopped off to make two final purchases. Emma got a really cute Little Mermaid purse to put her princess cars in and a pink pen with a plum just like Fancy Nancy.
Our final ride was the tram to the car and Emma was finally winding down.
It was an amazing day with our special princess. I can't wait to do it again with her. There is so much we didn't do and so much to still see. But it was a perfect day with my two loves and it ment so much to me that we did it with Sarah, Tori, Linette, Gabe, and Daniel.
We hadn't even reached the freeway and she was sound asleep.
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