DisneyMania! - The Bibbiti Bobbiti Boutique

London was one lucky girl while we were in Disneyland. On our last day, the first day some of our other friends were in the park, we had an appointment scheduled for her and Maisy to go get the Princess treatment at the Bibbiti Bobbiti Boutique. I think Maisy's mom, Jess, and I were more excited about it leading up to the actual appointment, but once the girls grasped what was about to take place, their excitement level shot up. 

The "Before" Shots

Jess and I were both amazed at how quickly these women worked to do our girls' hair, nails and make-up. And we were amazed by the amount of hair spray, gel and glitter that was used. They literally shalacked the girls hair into place! I let London go a few days without washing her hair - it lasted 3 days! It even lasted that first evening while we played in the pool (although London didn't get her hair wet). 

And "After"

At first London wanted the hair style that offered fake, colored hair, but her Fairy God Mother-in-training convinced her that the hair style with the little tiara would look better on her - and she won London over when she showed her the pink tiara and pink jeweled micky-head shaped barrette.

Jess and I had just as much fun watching the girls get pampered (although I think we were a little jealous that the age cut off is 12 - we totally would have gotten our hair done as well, I think). 

They pull out all the stop during the boutique experience. The girls were called Princess London and Princess Maisy throughout the entire experience. When each girl was done, their Fairy God Mother-in-training would then turn them around for all to see while they formally announced each girl and then they turned each girl back around to face a curtain. The curtain would then be opened to reveal a magical mirror that has twinkle lights in it as if it were fairy dust. 

Afterward, we headed to Thunder Mountain Railroad to meet up with our husbands, and Jess's son Miles. My parents were spending 1:1 time with Sydney while the big kids when on big kids ride. We got there before the boys, without knowing it, so we got in line and the girls had a blast on their first time on the ride - the first time ever for both of them. They were best friends the rest of the day.

As you can tell, I didn't stop taking pictures during the whole visit. I definitely want to do this again with the girls when Sydney is old enough. 

DisneyMania! - Mickey's Halloween Party

Waiting for the Fireworks

Our visit to Disneyland fell during all the Halloween celebrations, including special event nights for Mickey's Halloween Party. As soon as tickets went on sale, I made sure to purchase some for our family, deciding that we would participate in this special ticket event the night after our first day in the parks. And it worked out perfectly for my parents to join us that evening. The tickets allowed them to get into the park 3 hours before the party so they wouldn't need their Park Hopper tickets for that day, which worked out as they only purchased a 2-day park hopper.

Our little Tinkerbell

We didn't head to the party until right around the party started at 6:30 PM, as we had spent a full day in the park and Sydney needed a nap, plus the girls needed to change into their costumes. See, Mickey's Halloween Party is a costume party, which trick-or-treat stations and Meet & Greets with Disney characters dressed up for Halloween as well as Disney Villains.

And don't forget Elsa!

Before we got there, I had been quite curious how they ensured that people in the park were party ticket holders and not people who just didn't leave the park when they were supposed to. Well, good old wrist bracelets were our golden tickets around the park. We arrived while the last swarm of day guests were leaving so we were ushers in one direction while the others were told to exit another direction. It was a little cramped and chaotic, but once the day guests had all left, things opened up. 

We started with some trick-or-treating, as Cameron had stayed back with Sydney so she could get a longer nap in. We only hit 3 or 4 of the trick-or-treat stations, but that was plenty. The girls' new Mickey Light-up Pumpkin holders were packed to the brim with yummy candy, apple slices, pretzels, and carrot sticks - even chocolate covered craisins. As soon as Sydney and Cameron joined us, she was happy to snack on the apple slices. I'd read that the trick-or-treat lines can eat up on your time, but we found them to move quickly, and each station had 3 to 4 kiosks you went to for treats. 

Lines for rides were short - the longest was Pirates of the Caribbean, which I think was a 20 minute wait. Well worth it to Cameron who has not been on it since before the incorporated Jack Sparrow into it - it was closed for refurbishment the last time we visited. It was supposed to be open at that time but the refurbishment went a week late, which is exactly when we were there. Given it is one of his favorite rides, you can understand his disappointment and why he was happy to wait. Did I mention the ride had been closed all day long? Not sure why but Cameron about freaked out until he knew it would be open that night. Don't worry though, he got to go on it again a few days later. 

My parents and London were able to walk right on to Star Tours and we all walked on to Buzz Lightyear's Astroblasters, since Sydney insisted we go on it when we walked by. By the time we were done with all that, it was time for the fireworks. It would be our only time to watch the fireworks on this trip and Cameron had made me miss out on the fireworks last visit (to watch Fantasmic twice), so I wasn't missing them this visit. All I can say is it was well worth the years-long wait. They were by far the best I have ever seen.  The Disney Villains get all the glory, trying to out-do each other in the spectacle. 

After the fireworks, we decided to call it a night, even though there was still an hour and a half left in the party. But given we'd already put in a full day and we still had 2 full days ahead of ourselves, knew we'd be pushing it by the end of trip with the girls if we had stayed and tried to see the second parade of the night (we'd skipped the first showing, after asking London if she wanted to watch it or go on Pirates - she made her daddy proud with her selection.)

All in all I loved the party. The only thing I would have done differently was try to time it so we wouldn't have been in the park all day and used up one of our park hopper days - not that it was a big issue either. Definitely would be fun to do again some day. Unfortunately, we didn't take many pictures that evening. 

DisneyMania! - Disney Photo Pass+

Disney is smart. The second you book a room with them, they send you a brochure about what you can expect on your trip, what special events are going on while you are there and any special offers you might want to take advantage of while you are there. We knew we were going at Halloween time and we purchased tickets to the Mickey's Halloween Party. This is when you have to have an extra ticket to this event, that includes trick-or-treating, special parades and fireworks and more. But I'll get to that in another post. What I want to focus on today is the DisneyPhotoPass+.

Basically, for a set price (cheaper if you purchase it at least 14 days prior to your trip) you can get a CD of all the photos park staffers take of you throughout the two parks as well as all the attraction action shot photos from such rides as Twilight Tower of Terror, Cars Racers, Space Mountain and Splash Mountain (there are a few more, too).

For this trip, I thought I would give this package a try. See how it works and determine if it would be worth purchasing for future trips. I'm happy I did. While I know the Photographers stationed around the park will take photos using your own camera, it was so much easier to have someone all set up with one do it for you and have them swipe a QR code on the back of card versus fumbling for your camera and explaining how it works, plus risking a blurry picture if the settings accidently get changed. (We've had this happen!)

When I ordered the package, within a few days I received a CD in the mail, with a voucher for our PhotoPass+ card, a code for ordering the CD after our trip and a CD full of Disneyland stock images. As soon as we got to the park the first morning, we went straight to the Photoshop to get our card. And man, do they make sure you can get your images, even if you lose the card. Between the code written on my receipt that they recommended tucking into a safe place, and taking a photo of it on my phone, they wanted to make sure we got our pictures. Staffers even suggested coming in a few times to see our photos to ensure everything was loading. Plus, the card comes on a handy lanyard so you can wear it around your neck, and has a list of all the attractions and dining locations that you can use it at.

I'll admit, we used it to our advantage, getting almost every attraction photo we could, as well as stopping and having pictures taken every time we saw a staffer set up, as long as the line was short. In all, we received 115 photos total, which meant that each photo cost me about $0.61 cents. And when I went to order my CD within 30 days of our trip, I found I could actually use the code to get digital downloads instead of the CD so I got my pictures immediately! I'd have to say I'd likely buy a PhotoPass+ package again since we don't go very often. We took pictures with our own camera too but I really liked this option. We even chose not to carry our camera around 1 day because of it. Here are the best of our PhotoPass+ photos:

Day 1

 

Day 2

 

Day 3

All of our friends that made the trip - accompanying grandparents chose to sit this one out

Happy 2nd Birthday Sydney!

I'd like to interrupt our DisneyMania series, to wish our sweet Sydney Lee a Happy 2nd Birthday. DisneyMania will conclude next week.

Dear Sydney,

Our family would not be complete without you. Your smile and laugh is contagious. Without fail, you make me smile every morning when I wake you up. Most days you are more than happy for a big hug before laying down with a cup of milk while we get you ready for the day. You're getting more and more affectionate these days. While you give hugs often, the big bear hugs are extra special when you put your hands behind my head and land a big wet kiss on me at the same time - you're not quick to dole out kisses at all.

Over the last month or so, you have worked on declaring your independence, wanting to do more and more on your own. Only when you get frustrated will you ask for help, and even then you will ask for it begrudgingly. Case in point, you always want to put your own pants on, but more often than not, you end up putting both legs through one leg hole. You've also taken to grabbing the pink stool from your bathroom to carry around the house so you can turn lights on and off on your own. 

This year you have been blessed with good health, rarely getting sick. Next week we visit the cardiologist to ensure you are still in good health after the Kawasaki Disease scare last year. Plus, you are finally getting caught up on your immunizations, which brings a sense of relief and closure to the whole episode.

You have such a happy, easy going personality, yet you aren't a pushover. You let your voice and opinions be heard. Your teachers say you sing "let it go" when another child tries to take a toy you are playing with. You do the same with your sister.

And you are one tough cookie. Shots don't phase you at all. And your teachers haven't always caught when another child has, on the few occasions, bitten you over a dispute until the teeth marks show up later.

The love you have for your sister London is clear. You love to play with her, and it's the cutest thing when you give her a hug and kiss goodnight before bedtime. While you were slower to walk, as soon as you could, you started running after London. One of your favorite things to do with her is kick the soccer ball back and forth. 

You two have entered a squabbling phase, fighting over toys, attention from mom or dad, even seats at the table. But you both good about saying sorry and giving hugs afterward. 

Your vocabulary expands in leaps and bounds almost daily it seems. "Let it go" was likely the first major stringing of words you did, when London received a singing "Elsa" doll for her birthday. Now you ask "What song" just like London in the car when we listen to the Disney music, and "yellow bus" when you see them while we are driving. Your favorite is "Mommy I see you." And like your sister, you are good in asking please and saying thank you when you have requests. You ask for movies on the weekends just like London but you have yet to even sit through a full episode of Yo Gabba Gabba. I'm sure this will change soon.

You're very good at entertaining yourself. I'll be doing something around the house, like dishes and you may pester me at first, but before I know it I will look around and find you knee deep in toys, playing happily on your own or flipping through a book. 

You love having daddy or I read to you before bed. 2 or 3 books at a time. Some of your favorites are "Goodnight Moon" and "Little Blue Truck Leads the Way", not to mention your puppy book. 

You are also my little eater. You don't have much of a sweet tooth, eat pretty much any veggies placed in front of you and most fruit. Apparently, cantaloupe is the exception. And you're not that fond of meat, at least not yet. You also love to dip a finger in my wine and then suck on your fingers whenever you get the opportunity. We learned in Disneyland you need to be watched. We were sitting around the Tiki Bar fire chatting with friends. Next thing we all knew you were sneaking in a taste of my Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki rum! We had a good laugh and we all kept a closer eye on you and our drinks the rest of the night.

Technically, our recent trip to Disneyland was to celebrate your birthday, but we're also having a party at our house tomorrow. The cake will be decorated with a train, as you are obsessed with them. The second you can hear a train whistle blow at home, you run to me and say "Mommy see, mommy see" telling me you want me to pick you up to look out the kitchen window, although very recently you've learned to run to the back door or the slider in Mommy & Daddy's bedroom to see it for yourself without my help. 

You had a blast in Disneyland, particularly liking The Disneyland Railroad and Buzz Lightyear's Astroblasters. We were actually walking past Astroblasters on our way to Pirates of the Caribbean but had to stop and ride Astroblasters again at your insistence as you became hysterical the second you saw it. You did a fantastic job during the Fireworks show we watched - you clung to me a little more than usual, but you never screamed or cried and by the end you were smiling and giggling.

You love to sing and dance, often humming a tune in your head when no actual music is playing. One of my favorite memories so far is being woken up by you on a Sunday morning while you were humming "Friend Like Me" from Aladdin. I can only hope that you continue to have this happy go lucky & fun personality all your life as I believe it will take you far.

I can't wait to see what the next year brings out in you. We love you.

Love,
Mommy