Disneyland~the happiest place on earth!

This weekend Brooke had a race down in Southern Cal.  

Ashley took a break from school and joined us on Friday night.  

The race on Saturday morning didn't quite go as Brooke had planned 

so we headed to "the happiest place on earth" to cheer us up.  

And it worked!  

No sooner had we walked through the gate, 

that we all forgot the race and Brooke began to smile again.

We ran from one ride to the next, taking in all the Christmas cheer

with all the festive decorations throughout the park.

We enjoyed the new Aladdin show, but hands down our favorite was

the brand new World of Color show in the California Adventure.

It was spectacular...as Ash would say, "beyond belief!"

I would say it was something like the fountain show at the Bellagio times 10!

The girls loved watching it, reliving their childhood memories
 as they reminisced about their favorite Disney animated movies and characters 
as they were featured in the show.
I love how Disneyland brings out the child in everyone
and for a minute I felt like we had gone back in time.
  I could almost picture Ashley sprawled in front of the TV
completely mesmerized as she is watching Lion King...again,
wearing her Pocahontas pajamas, clutching her favorite Disney stuffed animal
and constant companion, Abu, the monkey, 
while Brooke, wearing her Cinderella pjs, which were 2 sizes too small,
 is happily dancing with her minature Woody
that came in her BurgerKing happy meal.
As little girls, these two, loved every Disney animated show,
 the princesses, the songs, every character, except, of course, the villians.
I think Brooke dressed up as Cinderella for Halloween every year 
until she was a freshman in high school and her princess dress no longer fit her. 
She was either Cinderella or a pig for any dress up day or for any school project!
 And I think Ashley has downloaded every Disney song on Itunes. 
 She has a Disney playlist which we listened to this weekend
 and claims that it's her favorite playlist of all time.
So accompanying these two at Disneyland proved to be not only "the happiest"
 but at this time of the year "the merriest place on earth!"

 

  Ashley was agreeable and posed for the traditional A for Ashley photo...

but then she got sassy and insisted on striking another pose.

Spanx Ash, for showing your true personality!

Years ago, we took the family to DisneyWorld when the Tower of Terror had just opened.

We immediately had to try out the new ride and we all thought it was fabulous...

except Brooke, who was about 5 years old at the time. 

The first time we took on the ride, she screamed hysterically and wanted nothing to do with the ride. 

The only problem was that no one wanted to volunteer to stay behind

and wait with her while everyone else went on the ride. 

So we dragged her along with us every single time. 

With great hesitation she would follow us to the line and question us, 

trying to make sure we weren't going on "that scary ride." 

I have to admit, it's not one of my finest moments as a mother,

as I didn't want to miss out on the fun either.

I confess that I participated in tricking her as we would distract her

 or skirt the questions or flat out make a crazy story up

to hide the fact that we were, yet indeed, going on "that scary ride"...again! 

There wasn't much of a line at all that day at The Tower of Terror

 so we would finish the ride, then ran back in line and do it all again,

 over and over, giving Brooke the same misinformation about the ride,

dragging her along the way until we got to the point

when the elevator doors would open and she would burst into tears. 

 It's a wonder that she doesn't have serious trust issues! 

 Her favorite story that we told her was that "this is a shortcut to the Tea Cups!"  

I think Dad came up with that one! 

Like I said, not my proudest moment, but Brooke survived

 and loves to tell the story about when we traumatized her at DisneyWorld.

 And the Tower of Terror ride has become one of her favorites.