We love Disneyland

Yes, I'll admit it. I love Disneyland. The first time I went I was twelve and very disappointed that the park was in the middle of LA's urban sprawl instead of in the midst of a magical forest, but I still loved it. Why confess this? Well... while I blogged Hazel's first trip to Disneyland in May of 2009, I may have forgotten to mention the 2nd, 3rd and 4th trips, and I just took Hazel to the park for the 5th time in two years. Yes, that's right - five times in two years and she's just about to turn four. Extravagant? Maybe... but my husband generously allows us to use his hard-earned air miles, and my sister and her husband live 45 minutes from the park and graciously allow us to take over their guest loft. They also happen to enjoy Disneyland as well and have annual passes, amazingly cheap Southern CA passes which we can also purchase because they live in a magic zip code. Did I also mention that kids under the age of three are admitted free? Our first three trips were when she was two, and Hazel definitely got the most out of that.
Is it silly to take her while so young because she might not even remember these trips later? Perhaps... but she has an amazing memory, and we have hundreds of photos and movies to jog her memory. I just love taking her because I love watching her enjoy everything. I can't look at this next photo and not hope to plan another trip. Hazel was showing Tinkerbell the tiny, imaginary fairy she's holding in her hand.

We also mostly go to the park in February and November. Not only are the crowds sparser and the lines so much shorter, in November the park is all decked out for Christmas. Such a beautiful castle at night. All these pictures are from our last trip three months ago.
California Adventure's bumper cars. I think we were blocked by another kid's car the entire ride, but Hazel loved that she got to steer even though it was a bit of a stretch.

Once in awhile we drag Daddy with us. He hadn't been to CA Adventure before, and he agrees it's a very relaxing and fun park.

Hazel always enjoys seeing the characters, but after meeting a few up close she's usually happy to take a peek and move along to the next ride. Nice, since that's one less line we have to wait in.

I think Pluto's whiskers were tickling her.

Bunny ears, Mickey ears... always the ears first.

This is Duffy, Mickey's teddy bear and travel companion, given to him by Minnie.

King Triton's carousel.

A little love for Lightning McQueen.

I love that Hazel's at an age where she doesn't worry about getting to the park when it opens - we usually have a leisurely morning and wander over around noon. She also doesn't really get that tired or cranky, so we can stay late and it's still the happiest place on earth. We also have to leave enough time to play with Aunt Hilary and Uncle Milton's basket of toys.

And back to the park. I don't always get the pictures in the best order. She likes this parachute style ride where we (and her stomach) drop on the way back down.

Waiting in line for one of the best rides ever - Toy Story arcade! Hazel's very patient in line, easily entertained. Then again, most of the rides have less than a five minute wait. Not this one, but most of them.Riding in the swinging cars on the ferris wheel. While they caution you to watch your children, they fail to mention that you should actually hold on to them. When our car swung forward, Hazel slid off her seat and did a face plant on the floor of the car. Whoops! Bad parents. Fortunately her tears were out of fear and there was no serious bleeding or bruising. This picture was before, of course.

Enjoying the view from so high up! No fear here...

Wow... this picture is actually from Disneyland! I was wondering if we were ever going to get there... she didn't like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, but sitting in the car outside was fun.

Hazel enjoys the Winnie-the-Pooh ride - with it's bright, garish heffalumps and woozles. I think it's because there's a birthday party scene at the end.The absolute best thing about our November trip was that Hazel had crept past the magic 40 inch height requirement. She was ecstatic to hear that she'd now be able to go on Splash Mountain, so here we are! (40 inches also gets her onto Soaring Over California - her favorite ride now.)

All these trips to Disneyland do require some souvenirs. Happily, Hazel enjoys collecting flattened pennies - at 51 cents a pop, that's fairly economical. This is the machine on the way out of Splash Mountain, which we stopped at of course.

Hmm... that didn't seem like a very organized post, and there weren't a lot of pictures from Disneyland itself. But I've got lots more pictures to post from past trips, and once my sister brings me her pictures from our trip last week, I'll post the latest and hopefully not the last trip...