My mom treated us to a pretty amazing vacation with the girls. We stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel at the Disneyland Resort and the weather was beautiful. Matisyn called the hotel our special room, and we all appreciated the little touches like Mickey shaped shampoo and Mickey shaped food. The location was perfect, and it was so nice to be so close to both of the parks. We rode the monorail into the park the first day and as soon as she saw Disneyland below she said, "Oh it is so, so amazing!" The first ride we went on was Buzz Lightyear, Astro Blasters. Matisyn's eyes were wide open the whole time. She told us that it was pretty scary, but fun. I took about a billion pictures, but I'll try to pick just a few to share.
The first day we spent most of our day in Disneyland in Fantasyland, Toontown, and Tomorrowland. She loved it, but also had plenty of breakdowns. She was so over-stimulated she would go from hyper, excited, and crazy to ballistic tantrums rolling around on the concrete. Luckily she adjusted quickly and by the second and third days she went strong and couldn't get enough of all the magic.
The first night we ate dinner with the princesses at Ariel's Grotto in California Adventure. It was well worth the money, and Matisyn is now loving everything princess even more than ever. She responds best when addressed as Princess Matisyn, and loves anything that resembles a princess castle. She sadly fell asleep on the way to the dinner so she missed the beginning, but luckily woke up during the appetizers (she refused to settle down and nap when we went back to the hotel). We met Ariel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Belle. She even showed the princesses how to twirl and dance in her princess dress.
We finished the night with some more Disneyland, spending most our time on the Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride. It was her favorite. We rode it three times in a row, and again on Wednesday when we went back to meet the Pooh characters, Eeyore and Tigger. She would have kept riding it if we would have let her. The park was busier than we thought it would be for the off season, but it was nice to avoid most lines, especially the long ones this time of year. We also went on Pirates of the Caribean. Matisyn spent most of the ride clutching me and shaking. She even said, "I want my Daddy." Then when we got off she said, let's go again! We finished off the night with the Fantasmic show. Matisyn's eyes were huge and she sat glued to the show the whole time.
Tuesday we finished up Fantasyland. It was best in the morning because it did get busier later in the day. She loved the Dumbo ride, so we rode that twice, as well as It's a Small World. That was Grandma's favorite ride too! The only ride we missed that she wanted to do was the teacups. Neither of us could handle all the spinning, so we didn't go, but Matisyn was disappointed. She keeps talking about how Mommy and Grandma didn't take her on the "spinner cups."
We spent most of the rest of the day in California Adventure. The Bug's Life section was pretty cute, and I got a kick out of watching Matisyn and grandma turn in circles on the bumper cars with Matisyn controlling the wheel. She could barely reach to steer, and they even had to stop the ride to tell her to sit in her seat!
We also got to see lots of shows like Aladin, Playhouse Disney, and the 3-D muppets. Playhouse Disney featured her favorite shows right now, Mickeymouse Club, Handy Manny, Winnie the Pooh, and Little Einsteins, so she was pretty into that one. That evening she was nice enough to fall asleep in her stroller so that Mom and I could take turns riding Soaring over California. We ate dinner at the Jazz Kitchen in Dowtown Disney. She got to wear her new princess dress from her other grandma on the second day, and she got her face painted (like a princess was her request), so she did some extra twirls and had an extra bounce in her step which brought her lots of attention which she loves!
Wednesday we were able to meet a lot more characters. That was probably the highlight was seeing Matisyn light up and run to hug them. We ate breakfast with the characters at Goofy's Kitchen (complete with peanut butter and jelly pizza) and met Pluto (for the second time), Goofy, Chip and Dale, Jasmine, and Baloo (she wasn't so sure about him, he was a little big for her!).
Throughout the week in addition to the princesses and the Pooh characters, she met Mickey and Minnie Mouse. She ran so hard for Mickey that she knocked him over when he bent down to hug her! She had a bit of enthusiasm!
We covered the rest of Disneyland on this last day, Frontierland, Adventureland, New Orleans, and more Toon Town. She loved the Jungle Cruise and the Chip and Dale Treehouse. We ate lunch at the French Market in New Orleans. For dinner we went to Midevil Times. Mom and Matisyn had never been there, and they both really enjoyed it. Matisyn was jumping up and down, waving her light stick, and cheering as loud as she could. She loved the horses and even ate some food (other than treats, which is what she ate mostly during our vacation), but she kept asking the server for forks. She couldn't understand why we were eating with our hands!
We had to cut our vacation a little short this morning. We left early to get Mom home to a dentist appointment. Sadly she had a very bad toothache the whole trip, and it just kept getting worse. She looked like one of the chipmunks by yesterday morning. She was a trooper though, and still kept going all day, everyday with us. We had an amazing time, and we couldn't have gone without her. We did miss Daddy though, and I'm grateful that he was willing to give up going with Matisyn for her first time so that we could take this trip. I'm thinking Matisyn will be talking about this vacation for awhile!
Saying Goodbye!
Sorry your mom didn't feel well, but it looks like you managed to have an amazing time. The pictures are SO cute.
ReplyDeleteSo much fun! I miss you. We NEED to catch up. Love, Lisa
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