More Disney-Maia meets the mouse and others

Disney Part Three-Princess Breakfast

A highlight of the trip was breakfast with the princesses. We had been telling Maia all week that we would be doing this, but I don't think she really understood what was going on. The breakfast was at Ariel's grotto in California Adventure. When we arrived, we were first greeted by Ariel, the Little Mermaid (with legs and dressed in a princess dress). Maia was speechless when meeting her favorite princess. Ariel was great and kept talking to her trying to make her comfortable. They took an official picture and let us take pictures with our camera. We later declined the $30 picture, it wasn't much better than the picture below.

We were seated and then served a family style breakfast. A royal page stopped by our table and talked with us for a bit, then the first princess was announced. One by one the princesses were announced and came around to the table to talk. There was a few minutes of chit-chat, and then an opportunity for pictures. Maia was out of her mind! We had a great time watching her meet all the princesses, the food was pretty good, and the overall mood was very relaxing. Enjoy the pictures of Maia and the princesses!

Disneyland Part Two

We stayed at Paradise Pier Hotel, which is one of three hotels on the Disneyland property.  The hotel was great, the room was nice a big and had some true Disney touches.  When we checked in, they asked us if we were celebrating anything and I mentioned Maia's birthday.  They gave her a big birthday button and when we got back to the room the first night, there were mickey shaped rice krispy treats and a small birthday cake made out of towels waiting for her.  Every night when they turned down the beds, they left gold coins with different Disney characters on them.  

The hotel was about a 10 minute walk to Disneyland and the main entrance of California Adventure.  For California Adventure, there is a second entrance just for hotel guests which was about a 5 minute walk.  It was a nice perk.  The biggest perk by far, and the reason that we ultimately decided to stay at a Disney hotel, was that hotel guests received early entry into Disneyland every day that it was offered.  On Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, fantasyland and parts of tomorrow land open an hour early for certain folks.  We were up early and first into the park on those days, which gave us the opportunity to ride some of the slowest loading rides without any lines!