Christmas at Disneyland!

It's hard to know which pictures to include but I just tried to pick a few of my favorites that shows how this place is transformed at Christmas time.
There were quite a few places set up throughout the park that were specifically for picture taking. This was one of my favorites.
The Christmas parade is very popular and was fun to watch. It really was quite entertaining plus we got to sit down for awhile!!
This picture probably doesn't do it justice but Cinderella's castle is spectacular this time of year especially after dark.
We often split up to cover more ground and this particular day Laurie and Annalie took a ride around the park on this old truck that was also decorated for the occasion.

Although we did encounter some rain and cool evening temperatures, Christmas time is a picturesque time to visit Disneyland. Seems like everywhere one looked there was always something worthy of a digital picture. These Santa pictures were all taken by professional photographers that roam around the park.

Character Study

One of the many fun things at Disneyland is being able to see and interact with the Disney characters. We never seemed to have trouble finding them and here are just a few of the many different ones we encountered.
This is the newest addition to the Disney princess collection. Her name is "Tiana" from the movie "The Princess and the Frog".
No trip to Disneyland is complete without a shot of Mickey Mouse and we found him at his house in Toontown.
Somehow Laurie discovered that if we showed up at the Hollywood backlot area in California Adventure we could get our picture taken and receive a free copy. We did this several times to get as many pictures as we could.
We also found these bears at dusk in California Adventure. We got a tip from a cast member who told us when they would be arriving. They are Kenai and Koda from the movie "Brother Bear". The amazing thing was that we were the 1st ones in line to see them. Almost immediately after that it began to rain and they were gone just like that! When it comes to seeing Disney characters sometimes it's just a matter of timing! I should say that we ate at some restaurants where part of the price included character visits but all the pictures you see here were just being at the right place at the right time.
Oh!! I almost forgot Woody and his pal Jessie from "Toy Story"

Annalie's Birthday Wish!

During 2009 Disneyland offered anyone a free day in the park on their birthday.
Since we had purchased our tickets well in advance and would be there on Dec 12th (Annalie's birthday) she had the option of receiving a $60 gift certificate instead that she could use for whatever. She opted for a major makeover at the Bippity Boppity Boutique beauty salon. Their specialty is transforming young girls into princesses. Since I'm really not keen on all the details I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. It's obvious though that this was a big deal to a five year old girl. And boy did she get the looks!! A number of people in the park asked if they could take her picture. We even had a flight attendant ask the same thing on our way home. Again we were impressed about how Disney continues to strive to "WoW" their guests in everything they do.

Jedi Training Academy at Disneyland Resort 2009

These pictures were taken during our much needed vacation to Disneyland this past December. Seems like everytime every time Annalie volunteered for something she got picked to participate...even amidst crowds of several hundred people. This attraction was no exception and was quite popular with the younger generation. First she was trained in the art of using a light saber by a Jedi warrior. The climax was when Darth Vader appeared and each young fighter got to "take a few wacks at him". It really was quite entertaining for the parents to watch. I'm not sure if Annalie even knows much about Star Wars but she still held her own and refused to join the "dark side".

I will be adding more pictures from time to time highlighting our adventures!