More Disneyland

When you are at Disney on your birthday, you get enough wishes for a happy day to last a lifetime! I don't think I've ever been told, Happy Birthday, that many times.

 Even  the numerous Facebook well wishes aren't any comparison to the ones from the park employees.  

We had my birthday lunch with Ariel.

And Cinderella, among other royalty.

The food at Ariel's Grotto was spectacular, and they were very helpful in fixing Sugarwings a gluten/dairy free meal.  There was no problem at all throughout the park, especially since she is only sensitive, not allergic. We can go gluten/dairy careful, not avoid it completely. We made sure she had solid, healthy meals, then let her have treats and dessert that are usually not allowed.  

Heck, it was vacation!!

My husband doesn't care much for Disney, but he does enjoy watching his girl smile and then drown him with hugs. So he is happy to go.  Especially since I don't mind him leaving for a few hours to get a break, Sugarwings and I were fine on our own for a bit.

And he made it back in plenty of time to meet us for the parade. In off season, the parade is smaller, but I swear, the crowd to watch it is NOT.  We planned ahead, and found a spot on a bench for me, and my husband sat in the stroller with Sugarwings on his lap. (I am not allowed to post that photo)

Maybe we should have planned a little further ahead to actually get a whole bench…  But at least we were down front and could see the whole show.

I think that if we go back, I'd plan a picnic dinner, get a to-go meal, find a bench and take our time waiting for the parade to begin. 

There are plenty of to-go restaurants that are good, but we sure liked our sit down meals.  We ended up doing two character dinners, by accident. We'd planned to meet the royalty at Ariel's Grotto, and paid for it in advance along with our room, and shuttle transport.

(by the way, that is so much better than renting a car, since we only go from the airport to the park and don't leave, $90 for all of us, round trip, cheaper than a car too.  Plus it was adorable to hear every little girl on the bus start singing along to Frozen as we watched the movie on monitors.)

We had so much fun, mingling with the princesses, that I forgot about our meal vouchers.  Untill a couple hours later when it struck me, with a sick feeling that I'd paid cash for a meal that had already been paid for and thought I was out about a hundred bucks!

A very sick feeling. Visting Walt is expensive enough without paying for the same thing twice.

Which is why it is great to have a cell phone.  I called customer service to get their advice and was set up with reservations at Goofy's Kitchen that night where I could use the vouchers.  Even though they were for lunch price at the mermaid restaurant, for about $30 each, and Goofy's Kitchen's dinner was $47 each. We were able to use them and not pay a difference.

The phone call itself wasn't as carefree as the results.  My battery was running low, and I was trying to hurry, but the park was so loud, the operator couldn't hear me.  Sugarwings took advantage of me being on the phone and distracted and climbed a light pole.  Really high.

 Park employees told her all day that the rule was: One Foot on the Ground at ALL Times.   But that is not an easy rule to follow.

And my poor husband had to sit through another endless parade of characters interrupting his meal!  Sugarwings and I loved it. He just wanted to eat without a giant headed creature bothering him.

Not everyone is born to love Disneyland.  But he tolerates it okay for us.

He's a keeper.

Okay, I promise, this is the last vacation post. 

It was a great trip, I just wish our whole family could've came.  Sugarwings spent a great deal of time picking out gifts to take home and talking about the people who couldn't join us.  

She's a keeper too.