A dream is a wish your heart makes - Sept 14-19 2008 (photopass pics added!)

Day 4

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This morning we went to the Grand Californian Hotel for breakfast with Chip n' Dale. Ariel was eager to get going, can't have her waiting for food thats for sure.

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So far from what I have seen, that has to be the most amazing hotel. Its stunning, simply something that words and pictures can't explain. The huge open spaces, the attention to detail in the decor, it just is beautiful. I hope someday in the future we can stay there, save our pennies I guess. Haha.

The breakfast was super yummy (Ariel did some serious chowing down this morning)and the characters here were so fun. Mickey waffles!

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More food!!!!!!!!!!

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It was the critter party, so Chip n Dale of course, along with characters from Brother Bear, Tarzan and Pocahontas. Ariel really liked this one, not sure if it was because they were all animals, but she insisted on trying to feed and pet all of them. Big doggies I guess. Here are all her new friends...

Dale

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Chip ( I am so sad this one is blurry. There was a smug on my camera, blah!)

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Turk

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Koda

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Meeko

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After breakfast we headed to the park. Its kinda weird because we keep thinking we should be already home, its such a long trip and I must say, its awesome. We are getting to take our time with everything, not rushing, go with the flow etc. Its great knowing if we are too tired to do something it can wait till the next day. So we started with Ariel's favorites thus far, a whirl on the carousel...

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...and a flight on Dumbo (or Dimbo as she calls it).

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As you can see Ariel was in her Cinderella dress at this point, as we heading over to the Princess Fantasy Fair once it started. It was really cute, starting off with waiting to have your picture taken with 3 princesses, but it was surprise who it would be. When you turn each corner you are surprised each time. We got to see Ariel again, which our Ariel was SUPER excited about. Then Aurora was next and finally the last one was Mulan! That was totally cool since we hadn't seen her. Gotta love the tough princess! Ariel was putting on her 'tough' look. Haha.

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After the photos, we headed to the big stage and dance floor. They then introduce three more princesses that come out and all the kids get to learn a dance with them. I must say it was pretty cute. Pretty funny watching the poor dads trying to learn the dance too.

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One of the maidens who help out at the faire, took a real liking to Ariel and stayed with her out out on the dance floor. She tried helping her learn the dance and would tell her about the princesses as they came out. Such a sweetheart, and I must mention that today we got the honor of encountering many super sweet cast members.

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They then bring out a maypole so the kids can take a ribbon and prance around. The princesses come down and join with them. Jasmine was at our pole, and Ariel was spellbound with her. I must say its a little girls dream come true with the whole set up. Outside they even have the 'beauty parlor' where girls can get all dressed up and get hair and makeup done too, for a price of course. I should have looked for the shock value (I did see the gowns were $79 each - nothing close to what I spent to make both the Cinderella and Tink costumes for Ariel, thank goodness I can sew!) Ariel was ready to get going, she was ready for more rides and it was getting too hot for her gown, so I changed her into cooler clothes.

On our way down to find some rides, we ran into Woody...

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...and Jessie!

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Up in Critter Country we found Winnie the Pooh...

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...Eeyore...

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...and Ariel's favorite Tigger! She just wanted to keep hugging him.

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We followed it up with a few more rides and then decided to head over to the California Adventure side for lunch. As we entered, we ran into some photopass photographers. We took our pictures with them and as we were leaving the one fellow gave Ariel her first pin! So sweet, a Stitch in an elvis outfit! We thanked him and headed off to find food. Had some yummy burgers...

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... and then went to the Bugs Life area to re-do some of Ariel's favorite rides...

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...and watch the 3-D show. She really liked it, and the silly glasses.

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Its too bad the Muppet one is closed, she would have really enjoyed that. Oh well, next time. We also managed to watch the full show of the 'Mickey Mouse Clubhouse', after our first attempt ended with technical issues. Ariel enjoyed the show, and Ken really liked the puppets.

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It was a REALLY hot day, so Ariel took a drink break with her fancy High School Musical 2 cup.

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Then we stuck around to watch the parade again. It was great since it was super hot and they spray you with water. Ahh, refreshing. Afterwards we walked back to Disneyland and Ariel fell asleep in her stroller. Ken then took off to go ride Indiana Jones and I went to get Ariel a cute present for her room. They had these neat artists paint your name in characters while you watch, so I got a princess one for her room. It has glitter too, so it really sparkles. Ken came back from the ride to see the finished product and was loving it as well, yay!

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Then it was time for the parade again, and Ariel was awake, so we grabbed some grub and settled to watch the show. I took some video and I will upload it a some point, but I am too tired tonight. We ended the day with a trip on the train around the park, which was cool in the dark. We then walked back to the hotel for an evening swim at Ariel's request, and now we are resting up for our final day in the park tomorrow. Its kind of sad, but we have so much to look forward to and then we can't wait to get home to share all the other pictures and video we took with our friends and family. So look forward to our last day coming soon. Sniff!
 
I just love love love your TR. The pics are wonderful and your DD is sooo sweet! I am glad that you had a wonderful time and that your daughter had fun as well! Look forward to more.
 
Today was our last day at the park... sniff. I tried not to think about it and concentrate on having a great day. I managed to finally get the perfect picture of the California sign with no people walking in front of it. Yay!

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We started the day with our final character meal at the Disneyland Hotel. Such a cool hotel for history. Ken was enjoying checking out the wall of pictures as we waited for our time at the restaurant.

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Goofy's Kitchen was really something special. Not only was the food totally wacky, it was very interactive for the kids. Every so often they would turn on some music and all the kids would run down and dance with the characters or bang plastic pots and pans together. Ariel wasn't too sure at first but by the end of it she was grinning saying 'that's fun'.

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Getting back to the food, there was the regular breakfast goodies, but there was also all the kid friendly foods. So you could have hot dogs, macaroni, pizza or nuggets for breakfast if you wanted to. Ariel was thrilled to get to have pizza for breakfast, and gobbled it down pretty fast before having a cupcake... yes, there was a whole dessert bar too. We ate ourselves silly, and it was a great place to finish off our character dining experience.

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For characters we saw 'regular' Belle, Alice, Chip n Dale, Baloo, Pluto and Goofy of course. Ken likes Alice, so he was excited to see her. She was cute with Ariel as she compared her dress to a mouse she knew. Hee.

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When we were stuffed, we walked down to get into the park early with our passes. Ken and I did some 'big rides' where we each took a turn and got the 'child swap' pass. I must say that is so cool, and getting to bypass the line is great. While Ken has his turn on the Matterhorn, I took Ariel on the carousel and Dumbo for one last time. Those were her requests during breakfast, and we aim to please.

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We finished off the few rides we hadn't gone on yet, including the tea cups (which she totally loved).

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Then a switch into her Princess dress, we went back to the Princess Fantasy Faire to see if we could meet anyone else, and surprise, we got to meet Pocahontas. She was so cute.

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And we got a picture of Cinderella with Ariel in her Cinderella dress. Yay

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Ariel was tired so we went to get lunch, but during that time she fell asleep. So Ken and I had a lazy lunch in California Adventure before going back to Disneyland. While she slept, we did a few more 'big rides' including Splash Mountain, as it was uber hot and we needed a good cool down. I got the front seat when I went down, and was pretty wet afterwards, but it was all good.

Ariel woke up and we took her to the story time with the princesses. It was a really nice place to hang out because it was cool and shaded.

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Ariel liked listening to Jasmine tell her story with the other kids.

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The big coronation happened shortly afterwards, and Ariel got to dance again with the princesses. When they did the maypole this time, Snow White came down and took her hand and walked with her. It was soooooooooooooo cute and when it was over she got a kiss on her forehead.

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Then it was back to Toontown for some pictures and shopping. We got to see Minnie and Goofy together, so that was fun. We then ran off to have our big final dinner at the Blue Bayou. Such a beautiful setup and the food was fantastic. We had a dessert to share, the big cookie boat. Yummy!!!!

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We finished just in time to see the parade the final time. Ariel was eager to wave at the princesses again. It was at this point I really started feeling sad, as it really was coming to an end. We had the most AMAZING vacation and so many memories that we are going to treasure forever. I am so thankful and blessed this was possible.

Here are a few highlights from our last day here, Ariel and Daddy on the teacups, dancing with Snow White and our favorite song from the parade! Click here for the video.


Ariel is finally asleep, but she was full of beans when we got back to the hotel. Tomorrow is a big day of traveling home. Pray it goes smoothly, and when I check in next, we should be back in our home.

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I hope to post a little slide show of some of our favorite moments tomorrow night, so tune in for some pictures and video. Until then, its time to pack up the mouse ears until next time.

Will post one more time about our travels home and some of our photopass pics. :)
 
I'm just loving your TR!! Your princess Ariel is adorable! it looks like she had a magical time!! :)

And please please tell me where you saw this!? I must get it!
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wow! So many things to comment on!

1) The first picture of you DD and chip is SO darn cute!
2) The pic of her with the nice CM at the princess fair is so adorable
3) the pic with her hugging Tigger is amazing!
4) Her little red polka-dot dress is TOO CUTE!

I love your pics. Your DD always looks like she's having so much fun. :goodvibes
She's very photogenic and looks like such a good natured girl. I'm glad you had such a great time. :thumbsup2
 
What a wonderful trip you had. Your pictures are great, Ariel is soooo cute, and I love all her outfits.:)
 
Hello - Yours is one of the most enjoyable TRs I have ever read. Your little Ariel is adorable; she looks (and poses) like a little model! You are a first rate photographer and it made me feel so good to see and read about your family's vacation to the Happiest Place on Earth. Do you make Ariel's clothes/special outfits? I have a question so I may PM you. Thanks for spreading some pixie dust with your TR!
 


I'm just loving your TR!! Your princess Ariel is adorable! it looks like she had a magical time!! :)

And please please tell me where you saw this!? I must get it!
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If I remember correctly we saw it at a few places. Kinda like it was the treat of the month or something. I do remember seeing it at the Baker's Field Bakery for sure and any small counter service place seemed to have them. Hope that helps. :)
 
As promised, here are some photopass

My FAV of the bunch, its so amazing!
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Also, here is the video of some of our fav pics and video. Ariel loves watching this. Enjoy, and thanks for reading my report. Hope we can do this again sometime. If you want to follow our normal lives, check out my blog.
 
WOW! That is an amazing Cinderella picture! I have to admit that her RUNNING AWAY FROM THE CASTLE (MIDNIGHT, ANYBODY???) IS MY FAVORITE!

She is incredibley cute. What a fantastic memory! Thanks again for sharing!

P.S. I have a "cinderella font" that would look so cute with whatever you chose to do with those pics. If you want me to, I can send it your way. Every capital letter has Cinderella's dress. It's too cute.
 

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