Disneyland Day 1

Our dream trip almost didn't happen!

We flew out early Monday morning. Paul had been feeling really bad and by midnight on Sunday, (so technically Monday morning), I took him to the er. 

KIDNEY STONE

Yeah. So we arrived back home after 3:30 am and our alarm was set for 4:30. There was no point going to sleep so we just got ready and headed for the airport earlier than we originally planned. 

 Annie coloring at the airport. :)

This is the second time Paul and I have flown together in the 7.5 years we've known each other (6.5 years married). I never realized how badly he gets sick when flying. On top of a Kidney stone. *sigh* No more flying for the Keierlebers.

Needless to say, when we got to the hotel, Paul felt like death. Annie and I ended up walking to Disneyland to see if they would reimburse his ticket, (thankfully they gave it to us on a gift card to use while there! Hey, as long as we didn't lose that money!!). 

But there was one more problem. Annie now had a fever. Great. All I could think of was a UTI. I asked the front desk where the nearest children's hospital was, just in case, and set out to find some medicine. Thankfully by Wednesday her fever was gone, but I am not so sure she still doesn't have a uti. Dr appt this week!

Ok, back to Disney.

 Yes, I was beyond giddy when we got to Disney Way on our walk. :)

 Mulan "posing" on Disney Way. It is the best we could get since she was feeling really crummy at the moment because of the fever! (about 5 minutes later we got meds and she was much better!)

DISNEYLAND!!

 I positioned Annie to the side so as not to steal every good photo spot. Well, as you can see, the family in the background saw us taking pics, but decided their pics were more important. RUDE. Share the space people!

 See what I mean? ugh

 So, I moved Annie a little closer to get a better shot. You refuse to share the space? I'll make you share! ;)

These next few pics are from the photographers at Disney. **TIP** Get a photopass from the first photographer that takes your pics. Give it to each photographer at every photo op. At the end of the trip, purchase the photopass CD for $69. You get all of your images on it! WORTH EVERY PENNY! A few of our images didn't make it onto the disk, so to purchase 3, I will have to pay $50. Yeah, I got 170 images for $70. ugh. The CD is the way to go!

 Something about the lighting(?) made Paul's and my teeth look really yellow. Get over it, I did. lol

 The photographer told me to kiss her on the cheek. Before I could, she moved in for a kiss. :) (oh and my hair is clearly a hot mess. No sleep, 5 hours on a plane, walking to Disneyland, and then of course walking in Dinseyland. lol)

 So many people, many of them Chinese, got a huge kick out of my sweet, brown, warrior of China! (and no I am not speculating. People stopped us to fawn over her and to say they were from China, etc)

 The photopass photogs posed us...they told her to pose like a princess, then showed her how. :)

 Look closely at this one... they had us hold our hands out like that and then added Tinkerbell later. :)

 I took this pic. Can you see the difference between this and the photopass shots? I'm telling you, WORTH EVERY PENNY!

We ventured a little past Sleeping Beauty's castle and then I became extremely overwhelmed. I had still not slept, Annie had a fever, and it was my first time in Disneyland- trying to navigate/not miss anything, all while wrangling a kid in a wheelchair. It became too much, so I decided to get my souvenir shopping done, hang out on Main Street, and then head back to the hotel. (we still spent 5/6 hours there that day so it certainly wasn't a waste!)

I was nervous as to how Annie would react to the characters. At first, this was as close to Minnie as she would go. 

One frustration with Disney. The photopass is very affordable. I wish they forced you to buy it, but they do not. They allow you to use your own camera. What's the problem there? Well, at some photo ops, the characters were photographer-less. A cast member was there to use your personal camera, but it is not the same. This really became a problem the next day when we met Snow White. :/

 As long as she wasn't touched she was ok! lol

 Then Minnie made a kissy noise and freaked Annie out! 

 I've decided to get Annie Mickey ears every trip. Here are her ears for 2013- Dumbo :)

 At the hat shop, (like every other shop we go to), she rolled herself behind the counter. And I am guessing it is because of her wheelchair, the employees always oblige. lol So she got to "work" at Disneyland. ;)

After our pics with Minnie, we walked over to Mickey. As we approached the line, the cast member said it was closed, but he would be back in like 10 minutes. While we waited, we took these below pics and hit up more stores. Finally we gave up and went home. It was ok though, we got to meet him twice while at Disneyland. :)

Tomorrow, Day 2 :)