DisneyLand December 2010

Disneyland is such a magical place...for those who have not been-go!!! It's a beautiful place that is always clean, cheerful and full of new parades, decorations and magic. My parents took my brother, Brett, his daughter, Riley and me to Disneyland this week. Steve couldn't  get the time off for it. He was sorely missed out there. I ended up being the 5th wheel...awkward. 

This is my beautiful and wild niece...Riley. She truly made going to Disneyland such a different experience than just with adults. The energy she had every day was enough to supply the whole family. We had to be at the airport by about 7:15 for our flight out to Long Beach Airport. I was up at 5 am to finish packing and the rest of the household stuff before we left. We picked Brett and Riley up and headed to the airport. The flight was short...thank goodness! I get motion sickness and to prevent it I use a patch called Scopalamine. It makes me feel so hungry and dry. I could eat a horse! I took it off as soon as we were landing. Unfortunately the effects didn't wear off until late that night. On the positive side I could ride the crazy rollercoasters and not feel sick. My dad got us a taxi and off we went to the Grand California Hotel. We dropped our luggage off with the bellhop since it was too early to check in and made our way into Disney California Adventures. 

First stop...Toy Story Mania. I really think the ride is fun and well done but I suck at it!!! I came in fourth with points. I swear it's the gun but I truly can't win that game. 

All of us got in the line for California Screamin Rollercoaster after Toy Story Mania. I love that roller coaster. It is one of my favorites!!! I could do it over and over again if I didn't get motion sickness. Riley rode with her Dad and after it was over Brett said the whole time they were on it she was saying "I don't like this Dad". But she survived and no tears were shed. The best part about Riley is that she is tall and can go on all the rides!

Soarin Over California was awesome. I love the scents that you smell as you go through different parts of California. The best part of that ride is you really feel like you are flying. I never felt sick through this ride at all.

We walked over to the Pier to get some lunch and who else do we run in to. The toy soldiers off Toy Story! We watched them play with the kids. They had them marching in a line and freeze when "Andy" was coming. It was pretty cute...Riley was too shy to get up there. She loved to watch the toys.

We walked over to the entrance of Disneyland and took the train around to New Orleans Square. First stop was the Haunted Mansion. I love this ride and it has changed so much since I was a kid. Of course Jack wasn't involved in the old Haunted Mansion. And the part where you go by mirrors to see what was sitting with you, they used to be people not cartoon images. The mansion was decked out for Christmas! They had garlands and Christmas hats and snow! Angels with pumpkin heads, Zero with a big pile of bones with ribbons on them. A Christmas tree that had no needles with pumpkin ornaments! Jack's sleigh consisted of a garbage can with a casket. 

All of us loved going to all the shops they have. Even though they all mostly sell the same stuff it is just so much fun to look at all the merchandise. Riley's mom had sent her with $100 gift card to the Disneyland shops so Brett started out with the magic hat and sunglasses. My parents bought her Jessie from Toy Story. This hat made it so much easier to find her in a crowd. Pink shirt, pink hat, blonde hair! 

My family went to the Uva Bar to get some drinks and Riley and I went through some of the shops in Downtown Disney. We went in to the Silver shop and she found polished rocks. Of course she wanted some. I kept telling her we could come back with her dad and maybe he would buy some. She just had to look at me and say "Come on" in this cute innocent voice. Just write "Sucker" on my forehead! I bought her a small bag of rocks....she picked out all the pink and purple ones. 

By 7pm Riley was falling asleep...it had been an early to rise to get here and now she was fading away on my brother's shoulders. We headed back to the hotel where we all crashed. 

I even got a little snuggling in from my niece that night. Her little head ended up laying on my chest as we slept. If I had a camera I would have taken a picture if I knew it wouldn't wake her up. The best part of this whole trip was the bonding I got to do with my niece. She is an amazing little girl and the rationales she gave for all the questions we asked were quite funny but made a lot of sense.

Wednesday we started off with breakfast at The Jazz Kitchen Express. It was pretty good. Riley didn't eat all her french toast beignets. Wow they were delicious. Fried in grease but super tasty!

Main Street was decorated for Christmas so beautifully. The tree was so tall and beautiful. Incredible what Disneyland does for holidays. Garlands upon garlands, lights upon lights. WoW!!!

Seeing how small we against the tree helps with the actual size of the tree!

The castle was beautifully decorated too. It even had snow on the roof tops. 

I decided to skip out on the Tea Cups and just watch my family. Poor Riley could never find me but the rest of my family did.

We went on the Matterhorn Bobsleds next. What a blast! Riley loved those a lot. We rode them twice in a row. She rode with me the second time a round. 

This picture is one of my favorites. We hadn't even started the ride yet! 

Tomorrowland- we went to Buzz's ride and of course I can't win crap!

 

Riley decided she want to "drive" me on Autopia. What a wild ride. I told her we need to revoke her license. I laughed the whole time she drove. She told me to push the gas harder.  She would turn the wheel the wrong way and we would bounce of the track and go the opposite way and back and forth the whole time! 

This is the Christmas Tree inside the Grand California Hotel. It was beautiful! Large presents at the bottom just like the one on main street. We did photos with the photopass in front of this tree and Santa was there. No line! They did pictures of Riley and Santa but she would not talk to him. On our way out of the hotel, my dad asked her why she wouldn't talk to Santa. Her reply "I haven't seen him for a year, I don't know him". It cracked me up!

We wanted to see the parade that night but didn't want to line the streets and wait hours for it. We went to where the parade would end....It's a Small World. We decided we would ride It's a Small World and when we came out the parade was there. Small World was decorated with massive amounts of lights. The inside was decorated for Christmas. Christmas trees, snowflakes, music was Christmas music with the original song. Gorgeous!

We walked Main Street on our way out and the castle was lit up. How beautiful!

We did a lot of the photopass pictures in front of different places. The girl that took this picture took one with my camera. It's slightly blurry but hell I know nothing about how to set my camera to the right setting. 

We watched World of Color from the balcony of our hotel room. We couldn't see most of the projections of characters on the water but the music and water show was incredible. Riley crashed when we got back. It made me laugh...she asked "grandma, can you rub my back? It helps me fall asleep." Damn straight....that would help me fall asleep too! 

Thursday was our Magic Morning. We got into the park early. We headed to Tomorrowland to eat breakfast. Brett and Riley went on Space Mountain. They had tried the previous day but the line was so incredibly long they gave up. That morning they walked right on. That whole day we had pretty good luck with just walking right on the rides. We had to wait for Peter Pan. 

Storybook land was decorated. All the small storybook houses had garlands and ornaments on them. 

 

While the boys disappeared to the bathroom and to find food, my mom and I took Riley where the princesses were. Unfortunately the wait to meet them was 75 minutes!!! Way to long....so instead my mom said okay to get her face painted. She chose a unicorn mask. I didn't even get a picture of the finished product. 

 

This was our last day at DisneyLand. It makes you not want to come home but we were all very tired of walking! We did some last time shopping on our way out of the park and in Downtown Disney. I bought my Christmas ornaments for the year. All of the ornaments I would buy but I can't afford that many. Again I say that my favorite part of the trip was getting to hang out with my niece, Riley. She made the trip so special for me!