Disneyland Day #1

It had been since February 2011 since our last Disneyland trip, so we were due. This time we got the opportunity to take our 7-year-old niece Cheyenne with us. She had never been to Disneyland nor on an airplane, so we were excited to have her with us. (We had taken her older brother & sister a few years earlier, so she saved up some souvenir money figuring it was her turn to go). We found out about her plan to go with us at her 7th birthday party in July. We were totally on board because it is fun to go with someone who has never been before.

The morning of our trip, Shaune took us to the airport. We flew Delta and had a 6:15am departure so had to get up mighty early. We were all excited - don't you love Uncle John's pink bag?

We switched planes in Salt Lake and arrived around 11:30 am to LAX. We took a shuttle to Anaheim - Disneyland Express Gray Lines - and got to meet a nice set of grand parents on that ride. They were meeting up with their grand kids to go to Disney. In fact, we did run into them another time at the park.

We dropped off our luggage at the hotel, but had arrived too early to check in. They let us store the luggage while we went across the street and explored Downtown Disney, including the huge Disney Store and the Lego Store.

They had lego displays of Aladdin, Beauty & the Beast and Toy Story characters.

Then we went over to the Disneyland Hotel and grounds. They had a display of various Disney toys, dishes, books and games through the years. It was fun to see the history. It was also fun to see how many details are added throughout the area (fun shrubs!). Cheyenne got to take a picture in Goofy's Kitchen, a place where they have character breakfasts in the Disneyland Hotel.

We were ready to relax in our hotel, the Park Vue Inn, which was located directly across from the entrance to Disneyland. We had booked a reservation for 2 queens, but were pleasantly surprised when we got to our room and realized they had upgraded us to the family suite at no additional charge. That meant a queen bed for John/Sam, a queen bed for Audrey and twin beds for Cheyenne. She slept on the top bunk and used the bottom bunk to lay out her suitcases. Pretty cool!

The hotel also had a pool and it was rather warm (upper 80's - low 90's), so Cheyenne checked it out. She even packed her goggles so was prepared.

When we originally picked the time we were going to Disneyland, we had coordinated with John's sisters (Nancy & Susan) who were planning on meeting Nancy's daughter and her family there as well. Since we all had arrived today, we met up at Mimi's Restaurant for dinner. Had a good time catching up with Heather, Shane, 5 year-old Kyle, Nancy & Susan. We finally left when poor Cheyenne was literally sleeping at the table. A very long day!