The Dalzells in Disneyland ⇒

We have just returned from the long anticipated trip to Disneyland and San Diego. What a time we had and I can't wait to go there again when the girls are older. It was lovely seeing Disneyland through their eyes and I hope it was not as much of a blur to them as it was to me. I hope they enjoyed every minute as much as I did. First of all, as much as Disneyland is all commercial and certainly not the road less travelled, the place is designed flawlessly to make you feel happy. It's like you are put in a trance when you pay the ridiculous fee to go through the gates. The fee is forgotten immediately, or at least, value is seen in every penny. This was highlighted even more by the opposite experience at Sea World which I will tell of in another post. Ahhh Disneyland. To a four and six year old, this is what Heaven must be. Giant stuffies walking around waiting to give you a hug and a kiss. Rides for thrill, rides that tell a story and rides simply for nice things to look at. Shops filled with colourful, delightful toys and shiny things to buy. The sky is the limit. Their favourite movies and characters coming to life right before their eyes. Long since past the age of just believing, I sometimes have to remind myself to be young at heart and let myself get sucked into the illusions. I am lucky that I am still a child at heart in a lot of ways. Disneyland makes it easy to forget you aren't a child especially when you are holding hands with a frightened four year old on a submarine in a swimming pool that she fully believes is on the bottom of the darkest ocean. Elise's favourite rides were Winnie the Pooh, Goofy's Flying School, Autopia, Big Thunder Mountain ("it was one of my scariest) but she enjoyed all the rides we went on except Splash Mountain which she has said she is never going on again until she is as old as Grandpa. Daniella in her need for speed loved Big Thunder Mountain! It was awesome! as well as the King Triton's merry-go-round, Autopia, and the coaster in ToonTown but I think she would say all the rides to be honest. She did not like the Finding Nemo Submarine "it's pitch dark I can't see a thing I want off" or Splash Mountain because besides the drop at the end which she said made her tummy feel sick, there is a model of a bunny tied in a rope with a shadow of a wolf about to eat it just before the drop off. This was too sad and scary for her to handle. As for experiences, Turtle Talk with Crush (Elise got to ask Crush a question so she told him a joke - why did the chicken cross the road and crush said "dude I totally didn't see that coming" then asked her "shy did the tuna cross the road? because it's the chicken of the sea", drawing lessons where we learned to draw Donald Duck, the Muppets in 3D, meeting characters and getting autographs but the highlight for us was when the girls did their Irish and Highland dancing for Terence (when he asked them what their fairy talent was) and he tried to do it too and then they danced over to see Tinkerbell. SO much fun! We did a character meal at Goofy's Kitchen. Food was mediocre but we were expecting that. We didn't realize our girls were food snobs as well but they didn't care about the food anyway because they were busy visiting with Pluto, Cinderella, Minnie Mouse, Aladdin and Chip n Dale. Pluto and Chip n Dale have a new fan in me because of how lovely they were at this meal. Pluto had fun with the girls pretending he was too shy to talk to Cinderella. He put his ears over his eyes and kept shaking his head like he was overcome with shyness and then we all cheered when he finally did it and she curtsied to him. SO CUTE!! Chip and Dale held the girls hands and "attempted" to lead them down the path to the cast only area of It's a Bug's Land when we happened upon them as they were leaving their photo post. Lots of hugs and kisses and genuine smiles all around from Elise, Daniella and us as well! One of Daniella's special moments was meeting Snow White, while wearing our friend's Snow White costume and Snow said "Did you sneak into my closet to get that dress?" Daniella says "no, I borrowed it from Elise Coutts." Daniella was a bit obsessed with the shopping. She was determined to choose just the right souvenirs. It was a bit overwhelming. I keep telling people about her breaking a small snow globe (which I shouldn't because she was embarrassed about it) but I tell the story only as a testimonial to the staff at Disneyland. I was cross because I had told her not to touch. It wasn't expensive, just the principal of her touching anyway. But in truth it wasn't totally her fault as the snow globe was on a pedestal which she thought was part of the snow globe so when she went to turn the whole thing upside down, it slid off and smashed. She was devastated. I didn't help matters but then tried to back pedal and comfort her instead and the shop keeper came along and said "it's ok. accidents happen." and when I asked how much I owed for the broken piece, he said "I just want you to not worry about it and enjoy your day." MAN! They so totally GET IT! Well, back to the shopping thing, Daniella picked out her souvenir on the first day. I noticed them and even if she hadn't had been with me, it's what I would have chosen for her. I made her wait until the end of the second day before she bought a plush baby Simba wrapped in a leaf blanket. She also bought a snow white glowing magic wand. Elise bought a fancy princess pencil box, not because of the princesses on it but the hidden drawers, pop up pencil sharpener and date changing thingy. Totally what I would have picked for her too. She also bought two little snow globes. I think I will go on line and order a snow globe for Nella too because I think breaking that one put her off them and I know she had really wanted one. Birthday gift? What do you think? More on the trip in another entry. I'm off to bed.