Southern California January 2017 - Day 6: Disneyland & Napa Rose

Wednesday night was rough.  Ellie woke up 2-3 times between 1:00am and 2:00am.  After going back to sleep, my alarm was set for 6:50am and she woke up at 6:45am.  Darn.  We got up, got ready and went straight to Disneyland.  We decided to use our Magic Morning (early entry into 1 park with a multi-day ticket) for Disneyland.  The park opened an hour early so we got there around 8:30 for the 9:00 rope drop.  We had to wait a little for the turnstiles to open and then wait a little bit for the rope drop.  Only parts of the park are open early for the Magic Morning, including Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.  Our goal was to do as many rides in Fantasyland as we could before the crowd showed up.  

We started with taking a couple pictures in front of the castle and then going to Fantasyland.  We rode Dumbo first, which Ellie loved.  While we were waiting for Dumbo, Ellie was pretty excited.  She told us, "I want to ride Dumbo.  People get off."  It was cute.  She loved riding Dumbo.  When you ask her what rides she like, Dumbo always comes up.  The crowd started to fill in by the time we were done with Dumbo.  We rode Snow White’s Scary Adventures, which Ellie said was too dark.  At the end of Snow White she told us, "I like Snow White.  No like witches."  Then we waited 45 minutes for Peter Pan.  The line moved which was good, but it was a long time.  This was the longest wait we had the entire trip.  Ellie did surprisingly well in the line too.  She liked Peter Pan.  After Peter Pan, we asked her if she liked it and she said yes, but "Peter Pan need to turn the light on."  By this time, the park had officially opened and the crowd had showed up.  Mr. Toad and Alice were very long waits so we decided to leave Fantasyland

We went to see which Princesses were at Fantasy Faire and the line was an hour so we skipped it.  We then went by Rancho Zocala and had breakfast.  It was ok.  Lisa had a breakfast burrito, which was pretty good and I got a Mickey pancake to split with Ellie (and of course she didn't eat any of it, just my bacon).  After that, we walked to New Orleans Square and rode Haunted Mansion, which Ellie was ok with.  She liked Halloween so we prepped her by telling her it was a Halloween type ride, and she was ok with that.  Then we rode Pooh in Critter Country, which she loved.  She really liked Tigger and Pooh.  We then went back to New Orleans Square to get Mickey Beignets and a Mint Julep.  The beignets were good, not great, and I wasn't a huge fan of the julep.  Lisa liked it though.  We then went back to Fantasy Faire to check on the princesses.

The line was only 30 minutes, so we waited.  Ellie got to see Snow White, Ariel, and Cinderella.  She had a blast.  She walked right up to each of them.  Snow White and Cinderella walked with her.  Snow White was first and after her turn was done, she walked Ellie to see Ariel and she wouldn’t let go of Snow White’s hand.  It was so cute.  She wanted to walk with the characters and go to do it here.

After the princesses, we went through the Sleeping Beauty Cast walk through.  This was pretty cool  There are dioramas in the castle of the story of Sleeping Beauty.  Lisa really liked it because Sleeping Beauty is her favorite.  We also went to the Christmas shop, which was right next to it.  We found a couple ornaments and they had some cool Sleeping Beauty decor in the store.

Then we tried to go to Nemo, but we started to have a meltdown.  We got her down in the stroller and soon she was asleep.  Lisa and I walked down Main Street and did some shopping while she napped.  We also went to Adventureland and got Bengal BBQ skewers and a Dole Whip float.  Yummy.  Ellie woke up soon and we headed out of the park.  We stopped at DCA so I could buy a shirt and then went to the hotel to get ready for dinner at Napa Rose.

We fed Ellie while we were getting ready because we knew she wouldn’t eat.  We walked to the restaurant, which Ellie walked all the way.  Napa Rose was one of our goals for the trip.  This is the premiere restaurant at Disneyland and Lisa and I really wanted to eat there.  We had both read wonderful things about the restaurant.  Napa Rose is in the Grand Californian hotel so we got to walk around the hotel a little more too.  The food and service was amazing and Ellie did great.  We didn’t order her anything, but she entertained herself and had dessert with us.  She even tried the truffle mac and cheese, but didn’t like it.
 

Here is what we ordered:

Zack – Mushroom Bisque, Short Ribs and Truffle Mac N Cheese

Lisa – Butternut Squash Soup, Monkfish, and Best Ever Hot Chocolate

Ellie – Vanilla Ice Cream

After dinner, we walked through a couple of shops in Downtown Disney to finalize our shopping.  Then we headed back to the room.  It was overall a pretty darn good day.