Disneyland ~ Just One More Time

Months ago my mother in law asked if we'd be interested in free tickets to Disneyland?  Obviously I didn't hesitate to say yes.  It turns out my mother in laws cousin is a Senior Manager of Production for the Freeform channel which is owned by Disney, how cool is that!??   Anywho my mother in law told me to talk to her cousin and let her know we were interested so not only did she get us tickets to go to the park but she also got us a great discount on a room at the Disneyland Hotel.   We made sure to keep this all a secret from the girls because we knew they would flip out.  Both of them talk about going back to Disneyland all the time but we always tell them it's just too much money now.   We used to have passes but it's been so long that Brooklyn barely remembers all of the memories that Kayla talks about because she was maybe four the last time she went so I knew this would be the best surprise ever for them both.   It was extremely hard to keep this a secret from them because I was probably just as excited to be going again as well!

 Brooklyn had an 8am soccer game on Sunday morning and after her game we told both of the girls to shower and get cleaned up because we were going to have a nice family day.  They thought we were driving out to the beach to walk around and go to dinner.  They had no idea I had spent all weekend secretly packing suitcases and bags for their big surprise.  In fact when we got off  of the freeway and drove right by Disneyland they never even guessed that we were going there.  Kayla even looked out the window and said, "Bye Disneyland, I wish we we could go there"   When we turned down the street to enter the Disneyland Hotel both of the girls were so confused.   They were very quiet and kept looking at each other like, what is going on?  I mentioned we wanted to eat at Downtown Disney so they thought we were just parking for that.  Once they got out of the car, Brooklyn followed me to the trunk and when it opened she just stared and said why is there a suitcase?  When we told them that we were staying at the hotel and we would be swimming today and going to Disneyland tomorrow they just stood there in total disbelief!   I finally said, you guys aren't very excited and Kayla said, "I'm not sure if I'm dreaming" 

Soon after there was jumping around and non stop talking about all of the rides they were going to go on and of course hand holding because when these girls are happy they are holding hands!  #besties

When we got into the hotel I took the girls out to the pool so they could see that there were water slides for them to play on

Back inside while we waited for check in the girls played games and when the lady asked if we were celebrating anything special I told her we were just surprising our girls with their dream trip and then she said she would upgrade our room to a pool view room.  I tried not to cry when I thanked her because again I was just as excited as my girls were to be there.

Our room was perfect!

I loved these pillows but the best part of the room was that the castle above our beds lit up and played the song, 'A dream is a wish your heart makes' when you pushed the button on the nightstand.

We pushed that button a lot!

I pulled out some shirts I had bought for the girls to wear when we went to Disneyland and they both approved and were excited to wear them the next day.

We all changed into our swimsuits and headed down to the pool.   The girls went on the water slides over and over again while we relaxed.

 We ordered nachos, Shirley Temples for the girls and adult beverages for us.

cheers!

It got chilly fast so after a few hours we headed back up to our room to shower and get ready for dinner.

We walked around Downtown Disney and grabbed a pizza to share for dinner.  We did a little more shopping in Downtown Disney and then headed back to our room for an early bedtime because we had to be up early for our early access into Downtown Disney.

Monday morning we were all up before 6am because....EXCITEMENT!   We were also meeting our cousin at 7:30 because she had to walk us in to the park for the tickets to work.   Brooklyn and I hung out together while Kayla and daddy loaded the luggage into the car before we headed off to Disney California.

As soon as we got into Downtown Disney I took this picture and it's an instant favorite!  My parent's gave the girls each $20 to spend on whatever they wanted and Kayla chose Minnie ears the night before while Brooklyn wasn't sure if she wanted a stuffed animal or not so I told her to think it over and she could decide while we were at the park the next day.  She told me before we even walked into the park that she wanted Minnie ears too so while Kayla and daddy were loading up the car she was picking out her ears.  I loved watching these two walk around all day, holding hands, smiling and laughing as happy as could be all while wearing their Minnie ears together!

Cousin Lisa making their dreams come true!

 She hung out with us for awhile and went on some rides with us before heading off.  We are so thankful for everything she did for us and for making this trip happen!

When you stay in one of the Disneyland hotels you get access to one of the parks an hour before opening.  It switches everyday and on our particular day it was early access to Disney California.   The park was empty but I would have been a lot happier going into Disneyland an hour early because half of the rides we wanted to go on weren't even open for us to go on so it was a bit of a disappointment. 

We got to go on maybe three rides before the park opened.  The girls were happy so it worked out.

Happy Girls!

After a few rides I told the family we needed to get over to Disneyland because I had waited long enough!

We went on Pirates of the Caribbean first and then we went to eat lunch because we were starving!   Afterwards we went on Winnie the Pooh and since Kayla had mentioned earlier how she loved the honey pots spelled as hunny I had to take a picture of her and Pooh's hunny

Next I was super happy that I finally got both girls to go on The Haunted Mansion because Kayla would never ever go on it in the past.  I could always get Brooklyn as a 3 year old to go with me but Kayla always refused.   

I can't tell you how much fun it was being able to go on just about all the rides together!  Brooklyn and I opted out of the roller coasters but other than that we went on everything together.  Brooklyn got to try so many rides she had never been on and it was so fun that we were all experiencing them together.

 Happy girls holding hands

The park was busy but not terrible at all, we got to go on every single ride we wanted to go on.  I was so worried we wouldn't be able to go on everything because it would be too busy but it wasn't, it was perfect!

Christmas wasn't supposed to happen until that Friday at the park but the tree was already up and most of the park was already decorated!

Kayla finally got to ride the roller coaster at Downtown Disney and got to go on Space Mountain, she was a happy girl!

We ate dinner over at Downtown Disney and the restaurant overlooked the water area and it was a perfect spot to relax for a bit plus the food was delicious!

That salmon burger was amazing!

I'm pretty sure that if Disneyland has Christmas decorations up already it's okay for the rest of the world to as well!

My feet were killing me by the end of the day and we were exhausted but after 13 hours of Disney fun the park was about to close.   We had the most amazing time and I know we will remember this trip forever.  Everything about it was just as Disneyland always is....Magical!