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Saturday, January 26, 2013

Disneyland California Adventure Park 2012 - Ariel's Grotto Princess Dinner and the Disney Pixar Play Parade

Ariel's Grotto and The Little Mermaid Ride at Disney CAP
 
Meeting Princess Ariel

Ariel's Grotto - character dining under the sea
 
The girls excited for their Disney princess dinner

Meeting Cinderella and Princess Aurora - Sleeping Beauty

Mulan and Snow White (Alina's princess twin)
 
The Disney Pixar Play Parade at California Adventure Park
 
Baby Incredible Jack-Jack on fire, the girls were in awe
 
Finding Nemo Pixar Play Parade floats
 
Our first day exploring Disney California Adventure Park was lots of fun. We booked the highly recommended Disney princess dinner at Ariel's Grotto and it was one of the highlights for little miss Elise. Both of the girls were super cute all dressed up in their princess dresses for the dinner. Elise dressed as Rapunzel and Alina as baby Snow White. There were plenty more little girls in princess dresses and Elise had fun pointing them all out. Elise was thrilled to be greeted by Princess Ariel before dinner! Alina didn't think much of it, but was plenty brave enough to pose for photos with her big sis. The food was actually pretty tasty and Elise enjoyed predicting which Disney princesses we would get to meet. In addition to Ariel, we met, Cinderella, Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Mulan and Snow White (Alina's princess twin). Elise did so well. She made sure to have her autograph book ready, to prepare a different color crayon for each princess, and she chatted to the princesses, and posed for all the photos. The princesses were so sweet and spent plenty of time chatting with us. All in all, it was an expensive dinner, but well worth the price as Elise was simply thrilled by the experience!
 
We had great timing, because right after dinner we walked outside to be greeted by the start of the Disney Pixar Play Parade in California Adventure Park. The parade was fantastic! It started just after 5pm, so there were far less people than the morning and afternoon shows. We were greeted by Monsters Inc., which transitioned to The Incredibles complete with an awesome baby Incredible who shot fire from his head; the girls were simply transfixed. Next came a fun Little Nemo float, with Crush the surfing turtle and jumping jellyfish. A Bug's Life was also on the ticket, but perhaps the most fun were the Toy Story floats, complete with all the characters shooting bubbles into the crowd and acrobats performing precarious tricks atop the floats. This parade was non-stop fun, evidenced by the fact that our two girls, under four-years-of-age, sat still for the entire half hour watching in awe. Our first day was the perfect introduction to the world of Disney California Adventure.
 
 
Huge Pixar toy float
 
A Bug's Life in the Pixar Play Parade
 
The girls loved the parade; Alina wanted to join in
 
Toy Story aliens - eternally grateful
 
Toy Story floats in the Pixar Play Parade
 
Woody shooting bubbles at the crowd

Awesome Toy Story float in the Pixar Play Parade

Toy Story acrobats and plenty of bubbles; great parade!