It is not mystery to my readers and my circle of social contacts that we visit Disneyland a minimum of twice a month. Yes, its true. However, in an effort to experience more of what the LA area has to offer, rather than all of our spare time and resources going straight to Disneyland, we decided to not renew our annual passes {insert gasps}
!!
On Mother's Day weekend, we made two final trips to Anaheim (although, I must insert that I do not believe they are final...more like, post-poned, until further notice). Friday afternoon, we drove straight from school to Disneyland, and enjoyed a leisure afternoon/evening as a family. We even treated the kids, okay, ourselves, to a meal at Cafe Orleans for Monte Cristo Sandwiches for dinner - yum! It was a great evening!
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| Never too many pictures with this backdrop. |
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| The Jungle Cruise just reopened after a lot of refurbishments had been done. Glad we made it on for one last trip! |
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| Cruisin' in my favorite jungle. |
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| Mmm... |
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| Absolutely enjoyed every.single.bite. |
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| These goobers have improved so much with their ability to wait in the long lines... don't misunderstand: I never said they were perfect, but I'll take what I can get! ;) |
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| Pirates is one of our favorites! |
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| Autopia also reopened after a several-month closure, which was perfect timing! |
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| One happy driver! |
On Sunday, we woke up and hit the park early on. It was Mother's Day, and it appeared like it was going to be super crowded, but surprisingly enough, it wasn't bad, and we maneuvered around both parks like pros, and let's be honest -- we really are.
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| I love these children, and I love this happy place. Combining the two together has been more than a dream. |
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| Main Street USA |
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| Complimentary carnations were passed out to all moms, in honor of Mother's Day. Disney definitely knows how to add that extra special touch! |
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| I feel like this could be taken straight from the scene in the movie, if only the children were dressed in the appropriate garb and there were chalk drawings everywhere. |
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| Time for some California Adventure fun! |
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| Getting our kicks on Route 66! |
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| They sure poke and pick on each other a bunch, but at the end of the day, they are the best of friends. I'm going to be sure they remember this in the future. |
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| Time for a Junkyard Jamboree. |
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| We're ready! |
We decided it was completely and wonderfully necessary to treat our family to a nice dinner, sort of like a "last hurrah," and settled on going to Ariel's Grotto, which is a character dining experience. We have never been (or had a character dining), made reservations earlier that week, and didn't tell the kids. It was a fabulous surprise, particularly for Maddie, and the perfect capstone to our magical year!
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| I actually had them pose with me, prior to letting them know we were eating here. ;) |
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| Ariel was at the bottom of the stairs to greet us, and this girl was so excited! |
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| Geoffrey was not too keen on the idea of pictures with princesses, but he made do. |
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| Two happy girls! |
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| I love their kind eyes. |
We had quite the feast, with a three course meal as well as personally meeting 4 princesses during our dinner!
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| Ready for autographs!! |
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| Aurora and two cheery kids. |
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| Each princess gave us attention, autographs, pictures, conversation, and hugs. It was the best! |
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| Even buddy wanted a hug from Aurora. |
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| But when Rapuzel showed up, he hit the deck, hiding under the table until she was out of sight. Strange. |
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| Almost like twins. |
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| After she left the table, he crawled back up to join the rest of us. It was too funny! |
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| Such a delicious salmon dinner! *When* we go back, I'm getting this again. |
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| Tiana |
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| He didn't hide this time, but remained in his chair. |
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| Big hugs before moving on. |
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| I don't know if it was the blue dress, or what, but Geoffrey definitely got on is feet for this royal princess. |
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| Pretty sure Maddie could have stayed right there forever. |
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| Both kids scored a great dessert! |
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| Ours was even better!! |
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| After a few more rides, it was time to leave the park. We had done about everything we could, and have really made the most of our passes this year. Walking out in the plaza, I still felt sad and did my best not to stick around for too long (okay, so I paused to take a selfie and listen to the happy music...). |
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| Like so many others, we are no different. This is our happy place, and has a deep, special place in our hearts. What a terrific end to our year as passholders! |
