The Day We Went to Toon Town

On Monday we started our day with early entry into Toon Town. The priority of course was to meet Minnie. The visit was so much fun and Katelyn and Brooke had a great time with her. Brooke loved giving her kisses and both girls had lots of hugs for their favorite mouse.
Next up was to meet Mickey. So, while Kyle saved a place in line for us, we went to play in Minnie's house. The girls practically had the whole place to themselves - they loved checking everything out. They got to bake and have a tea party and then it was time to meet the mouse that started it all. Meeting Mickey was a lot of fun but he didn't get nearly the same attention from the girls as Minnie did. After the visit, Brooke was ready for her nap, so while she tried to take a rest in the stroller, Katelyn decided she would try out the little roller coaster - "Gadget's Go-Coaster" in Toon Town. Katelyn has always been a "cautious" kid so I was anxious to see how it would go. She absolutely loved it and that became the beginning of her starting to ride the "real" rides.
But first we decided to take Brooke on Dumbo for the first time. She loved it and even though Katelyn said it was a "baby ride" she enjoyed taking her sister on one of the classic rides at Disneyland.
Our next event for the day was to have lunch with the princesses at Ariel's Grotto. It is a really neat restaurant overlooking the "Pier." We had great food and enjoyed visits from Ariel, Mulan, Jasmine, Belle, and Snow White right at our table. Katelyn loved meeting them and visiting with them while they signed her autograph book... Brooke didn't really care since none of them were in furry costumes. In her world, food trumps princess every time.


After lunch we spent quite a while at King Triton's Carousel. Every time our ride would end, Brooke would make the sign for "more." So we rode it over and over and over. Fortunately there wasn't a line and there was some shade for the non-riders. All that excitement wore Brooke out so it was time for a stroller nap while Katelyn went to ride Soarin' Over California with Kyle, Gram and Pop. But before Brooke fell asleep, we ran into Pluto - it was love at first sight. I sent the camera with Kyle so I didn't get any photos but she drew quite a crowd. She kept trying to climb up in his lap... I think that is where she wanted to take her nap. There was a huge line of people waiting to meet Pluto, so I had to forcefully remove a very heart-broken Brookie. Once she was back in her stroller, I decided to try pushing her around again to see if she would finally fall asleep. Wrong again... about 2 minutes later there was a tap on my shoulder and when I turned around I saw Pluto and his "helper." She told me that Pluto wanted to come and spend some more time with Brooke. They had stopped the autograph session where we had seen them moments before so they could find Brooke. She had some great one-on-one time with her favorite puppy. It was so nice of them and she really enjoyed it. That made it easy to decide what her souvenir stuffed animal would be... Pop got her a Pluto of her own to remember the highlight of her trip.
Next up was Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage featuring Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins and Handy Manny. The trifecta of toddler bliss. Katelyn was a good sport about it and enjoyed herself in the liveliness of it all, but Brooke was in total heaven. She danced, squealed, clapped and cheered.
Then it was time for the Pixar Parade. Even waiting was fun thanks to some good snacks and our stroller that the girls entertained themselves with quite happily. The parade was great and the girls enjoyed the music and Pixar characters. Katelyn did not enjoy the water they kept squirting at the crowd. I used Brooke as my human shield. Unfortunately Kyle caught that one on camera. Not one of my finest "mom moments."


To end the day, we headed over to give Pirates of the Caribbean a try. Katelyn really enjoyed it and it actually relaxed Brooke enough that she finally went to sleep in about the middle of the ride. After her nap we had a great meal at Cafe Orleans including Monte Cristo sandwiches and a chocolate crepe dessert that we devoured in about 10 seconds. It was another great day with more fun to come on Tuesday. Here are some video highlights of the day.

To be continued...