Dimino Family: Disneyland- Happiest Place On Earth

We returned yesterday from the best trip ever! Thanks to Disney's 'Give a Day, Get a Day' program at the beginning of the year, we were able to earn free tickets to Disneyland. (Maddie is under 2 so she was free)

We spent two nights at Homewood Suites in Garden Grove. Thanks to my Hilton points, we got a free night plus it was super affordable.. we received dinner the evening we arrived including free BEER & wine. Hot tip: The plastic cups hold more than the glasses. :) Anyhow, the room was great, had a kitchen and a separate living room so the cheeky monkey could sleep. This is the first time she's actually slept well away from home... I wonder if it's because we put her in the closet?! Think "cozy" instead of "abusive". The day we visited the park, she didn't nap and was EXHAUSTED... she passed out as soon as we got to the shuttle and couldn't wait to get to her private hideaway. :)

The hotel had a shuttle that took us to the park and picked us up when we were ready to go. The $8 ride was less expensive than the $15 parking at Disney.

The day started with free breakfast at the hotel and we were off by 9:00 am. Maddie didn't spend any time at all in her stroller but I'm so glad we brought it to lug all of our stuff.

We walked through Main Street to the castle. We stopped to have our picture taken a few times and Maddie was so excited she could hardly stand it! It was a pretty warm day (high 80's) but we made sure to drink lots of water. We went on quite a few rides and even some that Matt and I had never been on before. I didn't miss standing in line for one hour+ to get on Indiana Jones one bit.. instead we enjoyed 10 minute lines and flew to Neverland and experienced the magic through our little one's eyes. This being a mom thing is pretty cool!

I seriously teared up as we were watching the Celebration Parade. I was so excited for her and I couldn't believe we were there.

Maddie looked absolutely adorable in her Minnie Mouse dress complete with Minnie Ears, her name on the dress, and matching socks. We had a few people stop to ask if I made it.. and another mommy said she really liked the shirt I made for myself. It says "Princess Mommy" on a pink Minnie head, complete with crown. I made her a shirt for the day we left too... turned out pretty cute but it was hard to find short sleeved shirts right now so next year I'll need to plan ahead a little better.

Maddie had absolutely no fear when it came to meeting the characters. She met three princesses, Tiana from Princess Frog, Jasmine and her favorite, Cinderella. She also met Goofy, Minnie Mouse, and Mickey. They all signed her autograph book that I made just before we left on the trip. I wasn't sure if she was old enough to be ok with the masked characters, but she was fine and really happy to meet all of them. She loved Minnie's hug and she and Mickey touched noses.. so sweet. Unfortunately we missed Tinkerbell, her obsession, but we did pick up the newest Tinkerbell movie and watched it a bunch of times at the hotel. We did get to visit Pixie Hallow (where Tinkerbell lives) and that was pretty fun.

When all was said and done, we did everything we had wanted to do and it was past our normal dinner time. We walked over to Downtown Disney hoping to eat at the Rainforest Cafe, but it was 7:00 and we couldn't wait another 75 minutes to get a table.. surely we'd have a meltdown before then! We enjoyed some Mexican Faire at Tortilla Joe's. Matt and I ate there last time we went and it wasn't bad but Rainforest Cafe would have been fun... next time.

Matt, who doesn't normally like crowds or amusement parks of any kind, is actually looking forward to going again. This trip turned out better than I ever could have imagined. I found lots of printable things to make for next year and want to start on a fancy autograph book when her birthday planning is over.

Life is just Tinker-ific!

We saw sparks of magic when these two noses touched!