Mickey's Magical Party

Saturday morning 18th July....we woke thinking it was going to be a magical day, but we didn't get off to a very good start! If you would like to read Mum's detailed drama version go here but in short... disaster started when we miscalculated our getting up time....which led to nearly missing the TGV train to Disneyland (which is quite expensive) and running around the station like chooks with our heads cut off in a country that doesn't speak English!

Now when you look at it, there are so many things we could have done differently - but it's easy to say that now!

Running around that station I was determined to get on that train - and that's all that I was thinking about. When we actually did make it I thought it was a bit of a miracle, I also thought the craziness was over - so I started to put my head back on, but it fell off again just 10 minutes later when we had to leave the train and this was even more frantic... this is where we lost the laptop. We left it on the train... which we didn't actually know at the time - thought we may have left it on the shuttle bus, but we didn't know and that was the most annoying part - the unknown!

Losing the laptop was terrible, it had all our travel plans on it, booking confirmations, hotel address' (along with the printed versions in the bag pocket). It was our entertainment for the girls over the next 2 weeks on some long journeys, not to mention it has ALL our photos on it from 2009 and it is a big part of my life, it's how I contact home... and it's only a few months old... we weren't too confident that the travel insurance would help out either so it really was a bit of a problem. Mick had thankfully backed the computer up, so there was a bright side to the story, but really - it was very upsetting thinking that we had done something so stupid!

BUT... we were here at Mickey's Magical Party and we had to enjoy ourselves, after all it was only a computer, so that's exactly what we did - enjoyed ourselves!!

First we checked into out hotel and picked up our tickets, all the hotels have a different theme, we stayed at Disney's Newport Bay Club which was huge and has a nautical theme, with marine memorabilia and it kinda felt like you were on a big cruise ship once inside. Our room was nice, but very basic. Mum and Dad stayed about a 10 minute walk away at Hotel Santa Fe and it really felt like you were walking through South America's desert over there with cacti and red earth all around.

This is Disney's Newport Bay Club...

We then headed back through Disney Village and into Disneyland Park... as you would expect there were people everywhere, Disney music playing and the atmosphere was pretty exciting.

This was one of our first photos of the day... as you can see the smiles are a little forced.... but it got better... very quickly!

Lani mapped out where she wanted to go and followed along so we wouldn't get lost!

Lani was also in a 'non posing mood' so trying to get our photo taken outside Sleeping Beauty's Castle wasn't happening easily...

Looks better without us anyway....

It was ride time... we started in 'Fantasyland' where we went on It's a Small World, Casey Jr. le Petit Train, Peter Pan's Flight, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), Les Voyages de Pinocchio, Le Pays des Contes de Fees (storybook canal boat ride), and Le Carrousel de Lancelot. It didn't really feel like we were in France, because we were at Disneyland and pretty much everyone spoke several languages, but you wouldn't forget long and you would hear your favourite Disney song playing in French or be trying to work out which Disney Story they are displaying because it is written in French!! Some things you can work out pretty easily, but others you have no idea!!

{It's a small world}

{Le Pays des Contes de Fees}

{Casey Jr. le Petit Train}

{Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains}

We also saw Cinderella and Prince Charming on the Fantasyland Stage, but didn't line up for a picture because the girls weren't feeling quite ready for that!! (They are pretty shy with things like that!!)

Party time with Mickey and friends on stage.

The girls really enjoyed the shows and loved watching all the characters dance away.

{Dumbo the Flying Elephant}

It was great having Mum and Dad there, and not just so they could take photos for us!!!

There wasn't much in 'Discoveryland' for the little ones except Buzz Lightyear's Laser Blast - which was lots of fun so after that we headed over to 'Adventureland' and 'Frontierland' where again most of the rides were for the older ones, but we saw some Disney Characters, Woody's Roundup Village, ate pizza shaped as Mickey's head and just enjoyed the atmosphere. We did go on Pirates of the Caribbean which was a little scary for Leilani but she just closed her eyes and was very brave - Emily had a sleep!

When the Main Parade started, Emily thought it was a bit loud...

...but the fingers didn't last long in her ears because she was too busy waving at everything as it went by....

This lady had freaky eyes... she is the wicked Queen from Snow White and entertaining to watch - just because of the eyes!!

Lots of other fun things in the parade too.... but I think you will be glad I'm not uploading every photo!!

On the morning of day 2 we met Minnie in our hotel after breakfast, Emily looks a little worried in this picture, but she was very brave and said hello to Minnie and even gave her a little kiss! Leilani was happy to just watch at this stage! Minnie became Emily's favourite, she just loves her now!

Resort stayers get to go into the park from 8am, so we took advantage of this and had another look around Disneyland Park. Most of the rides aren't open until the rest of the park opens at 10am, but it's a nice time to look around before the place is filled with people everywhere. We went on Peter Pan's Flight again, as this was Leilani's favourite - it was a fantastic ride and you really felt like you were flying. Lani kept saying 'I just can't believe it.... I just can't believe it... we are flying!!'

At 10am when the rest of the park opened Mum and Dad gave Mick and I some free time and we raced off to go on some rides. We used Fast Pass and were able to go on 3 rides in under 30 minutes - which is pretty impressive for this time of year!!! We went on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom twice, which was pretty fast and fun and then went on Big Thunder Mountain, a runaway mine train that takes you under the water through a dark tunnel and up around the mountain. It was good fun, and something we wouldn't have done if Mum and dad weren't there, so we are really grateful.

The girls had a lovely time with Grandma & Grandad and were excited to show us what they picked out from the shop - Emily chose Minnie Mouse and Leilani a baby Simba! Mum and Dad then went into the Haunted House together and we all met back up again over at the 2nd park, Walt Disney Studios where we spent the rest of the day.

Here we did the Studio Tram Tour and saw some film props, sets, and behind the scenes magic!

This was a little freaky.... the tram stopped here.... we watched the truck burst into flames....

Then it just started raining.... no not raining.... pouring....

... and then all this water (something like 260,000 litres) came flooding down the canyon.... heading right for us.... panic attack I tell you.... luckily there was a very large drain between us and the mountain that just soaked it all up nearly instantly! It was film magic alright!!

It's incredible how real they can make these place looks... I would love to go on a film location tour one day!!

We also saw some theatre type stuff here, Cinema Magic and Art of Disney Animation, both were good, and it was nice to sit down for a while out of the sun (the weather was pretty perfect for both days here) but they weren't anything too exciting!

Mum and Dad again took the kids so we could go on a couple of rides in this park, and took them in to see Play House Disney Live on Stage.... which turned out to be in French and therefore a bit hard to follow - but I am told they enjoyed it anyway!! They also watched the Disney Cars & Stars Parade with them while we waited in line for an hour to get a ride on Crush's Coaster... it was a long wait - but SO worth it. It was one of the best rides I have ever been on, and the fact that it was all about Australia's coast from Finding Nemo!! It was smooth, dark with glowing jellyfish, windy and you really felt like you were riding the EAC!!! The other ride we went on was Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, which was pretty good too. You are in a huge dark room and the music is loud rock and you are swung all over the place doing lots of loop the loops... not to mention you take off at high speed - 92 km/h in a couple of seconds! Arrgghhh the fun!!!

Leilani was very very excited to finally be brave enough to say hello to one of the Disney Characters - Minnie in her High School Musical uniform! As you can see in this picture, she looks a little unsure - and it really was a big thing for her to do! (see how tight she is holding my hand!!) And she was so so so happy that she did it - and was just so excited!! Later she even got Mickey Mouse to sign her book!! I guess if we stayed any longer she would have got everyone's autograph!

After a short rest back at the hotel we headed over for the Evening Parade and Fireworks... which we nearly weren't going to bother with, cause we were exhausted, but I'm really glad (as you always are once its over) that we did. Emily made it through the parade and was waving her little heart out, but as soon as it finished she was in a deep sleep in the pram! Lani made it through to the fireworks and thought they were fantastic. She was also excited to see how different it all looked at night!

On our 3rd day we didn't do much... wandered around the Park one more time and then waited for Mick to come and pick us up with the hire car! Disneyland is a wonderful place and really makes you believe in magic!! How lucky we are that we got to go, I feel really blessed. Thanks Mum & Dad for coming with us.