we arrived at disneyland bright and early on friday morning and took our time strolling down main street so we could take in the sites. the park was decorated beautifully in all shades of orange, and sleeping beauty’s castle already had “snow” on it for the upcoming holiday season. we were greeted by goofy in a skeleton suit, although ellie made it clear she preferred to watch him from afar :)

next, we made our way over to the jungle cruise in adventureland. i thought ellie would be really into it because of her fascination with animals, but she kept a tight grip around my neck most of the time. it wasn’t until we got to the teacups in fantasyland that she really began to enjoy herself :)

after the teacups we ate lunch, went on the alice in wonderland ride and pirates of the caribbean (again) and made our way back over to main street for some shopping and the big parade. we found a prime spot on the curb and shared a big strawberry-flavored lollipop to pass the time.

the parade was great. every character you can imagine – mickey, minnie, donald, daisy, goofy, pluto, chip & dale, lilo & stitch, even mary poppins – stopped and danced right in front of us. ellie was in awe.

after the parade we decided to head over to disney california adventure, but not before buying ellie her first mouse ears, complete with personalization, just like mommy and daddy when we were little <3

california adventure was less eventful, but we did go on the monsters, inc. ride and the humongous ferris wheel. it turns out i am much more afraid of heights than ellie is ;) ryan also took some great pictures of us in front of paradise pier.

by the time we were done at the parks it was around five o’clock and all three of us were exhausted. it was the first time we had pushed ellie an entire day without a nap, but she did great and it was well worth it. we went back to the hotel, had a bite to eat, packed for the trip home and fell asleep early.

after a smooth flight on saturday morning we returned home with plenty of time to take naps, watch the giants game and carve our pumpkins in time for halloween.

we had an amazing time at disneyland and look forward to going back soon <3