Armed with our plan, we arrived at 8:30 and went to gate 13. For some reason, this really is a magical entrance gate with minimal line. I was sort of shocked it worked.
We knew we were going to see the Princesses First. I know how the waits can be for these ladies, so we got there straightaway and didn't wait more than ten minutes to see the Royalty. So worth it. Yes I teared up over this stuff also. The first two princesses, Ariel and Aurora had these very sweet calm voices. They called all my girls princess and Squish fell in love with them. She would have hugged Aurora all day I think. Cinderella was nice also, just not as "huggy." Prepare for an onslaught of Princess Pictures!
See the love?
Spider shows Aurora her Disney manicure
All the girls
Like a little Baby Ariel
And yes, I made my girls wear their Princess Pajamas to meet the princesses. I was totally that mom. And yes, Sugar Bean immediately changed her clothes when we were done.
After the Princesses, it was not even 10:15. Time to head over to Jedi Training Academy. It was super important to me that Engineer be picked for Jedi training. I know my son well, and even though he is 11, I knew if he wasn't picked to be a padawan that there would be more tears than anyone could handle. So I had him wear his slightly sheer and ill-fitting Luke Skywalker pajamas and made sure we were there early and front and center. It turns out he probably would have been picked anyway, since it wasn't super busy. I think they picked all the kids that wanted to go up (and even some who didn't).
But he looked wicked awesome.
Like a mini-Skywalker
Bean also got in on the action:
Probably my favorite moment of the Jedi Training was when the Storm Troopers start coming down the walkway. All the little children run to the corner and for a brief moment Engineer stayed where he was, light saber at the ready, like he was ready to rumble with the baddies. It was sort of priceless to me though I am sure no one else noticed.
Per the plan, we then went over to Fantasyland and went on all of those rides over there.
Some of my kids tried to pull the sword from the stone:
That's my Prince Charming right there
If only cuteness was all that was needed to pull the sword out.
After Fantasyland we got lunch! We ate lunch at the Plaza Inn. Mousesavers.com recommended the chicken as meal to potentially split as there are 3 big pieces of fried chicken on a plate as well as mashed potatoes, green beans and a roll. We actually just ordered 2 of the chicken for the 6 of us ($30 for lunch, yay!) and while it was not a ton of food, it felt relatively healthy and was enough to satisfy. It tasted good too! The hungrier kids were able to finish off what the Squish didn't eat.
Besides, we were planning on Dole Pineapple Whips at the Tiki Room...
But the freaking Tiki Bar was being remodeled! We watched the Tiki Room show sans pineapple whips. Only one kid was sad at the end, but that was because she was expecting some kind of ride. Charming and I were just glad that the Disneyland Tiki Room doesn't have Iago from Aladdin.
We followed it up with some Indiana Jones (Spider covered her eyes the whole time), Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Carribbean. Squish slept through Pirates as I may recall and thankfully we brought her blanket to the park with us which was a great comfort to the overstimulated toddler.
After that we decided to head back to California Adventure to catch the 5:15 Pixar's Play Parade which we had missed the other days we were at DCA. The kids and I did Turtle Talk with Crush while Charming scored us half of a bench on the main street to watch the parade. The Parade was cute and Squish woke up at the very end of it. We went to Bugs Land for a few more rides and then went back to the hotel for some dinner.
I just want to say the Park Hopper tickets were great to have. Because California Adventure is just right across from Disneyland, hopping in between parks for a parade or just because is so easy. Totally worth the extra money. I wouldn't get park hoppers at Disney World because they cost so much more, but also, transportation between parks is so time consuming you miss a lot of time in the park. Park Hopper at Disneyland is awesome.
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