Celebrating Alayna at Disneyland!

Pretty much since we decided to move back to CA, I was determined to celebrate Alayna's birthday at the Disneyland Resort.  Since I have a (limited) annual pass there, originally, I was just going to take her for a day in December.  But, she wanted so much for Peter to go too, so we decided to fork over the extra cash and have him join us.  And we're so glad we did!  We had an amazing time.

We got there early.  I wanted to make sure we could get Fast Passes for Radiator Springs Racers, which usually run out by 9 or 9:30am.  Even getting them at 8:30, we had to wait until 3pm to ride.  Arriving early at Disneyland also ensures that you miss a lot of the crowds. Most pass holders don't show up until after noon on Sundays, so the mornings are simply delightful.  We walked onto our first 4 rides (Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones, and Astro Blasters).  Space Mountain had a 30 minute wait at 10:30, which isn't bad at all.  Then, we had fast passes for Star Tours and rode that.  A 25-minute wait for the Rockets and it was off to Fantasyland.  We rode Alice in Wonderland, Tea Cups, and Peter Pan.  The longest wait there was (of course) Peter Pan, at 65 minutes--and it was only that long because the ride broke down (we chose to wait the extra 15 minutes than try to come back later).  Then, we rode Space Mountain again.  With that, we were done with Alayna's "To-Do" in Disneyland (by 1:45pm) and headed over to CA Adventure.  (For the record, Big Thunder Mountain was closed--otherwise that is always on the To-Do list.)

Over at DCA, we managed to ride 7 rides (RS Racers, Soarin', Zephyr, Jellyfish, Goofy's Sky School, Toy Story Mania, and The Little Mermain) by 5:30; then, we ate dinner and headed back to Disneyland for the Castle lighting and "snow".  Alayna loved that, though I got no good photos of it.  But, it was the perfect ending to our day.  Then, it was back to Grandma's to pick up Jeremiah (he had a fun solo day with his grandparents) and drive home to the Central Coast.  We got home at midnight.  (And, yes, it was hard to get up for school this morning).

It was a special day with our special girl.  We love her so much and our so thankful for her birth, almost 9 years ago.  Alayna wants to make Disneyland an annual tradition.  I'm all for it!  But, we'll have to wait and see what finances allow.  :)

Here are just some of the photos 60+ photos I took yesterday.

Ready to go!

With Minnie!

Walking on to Haunted Mansion!

Waiting for Alice in Wonderland

Buzz!

The Castle shots

At DCA!

Toy Story Mania

Radiator Springs Racers! 

Cars Land

Love the "Pier" at night!

Small World!

And, the tree and castle.

Unfortunately, I didn't get photos of either completely lit up.