Pink Pixie Dust: Welcome Home

"Black Family, welcome home."

Those words brought enormous joy to my soul--the Disneyland hotel became home to my family and me. Well, at least for the following two nights.

I pulled together another Disneyland adventure for February 10-12 weekend--my family tagged along this time! Two years had passed since our last family trip to Walt's first masterpiece, and we could not wait to be home.

I haven't done a good enough job of expressing my gratitude and thankfulness for the many blessings I have in my life, even the unnecessary ones. I have visited a Disney park three times in the past two months (five times if I count last November and December). Do I really need to be surrounded in a magical, Disney atmosphere this consistently in order to be happy? Of course not. Yet, do these activities make me extremely joyous and probably a little too giddy?

Ha. Ha. I think I've make that pretty clear in this blog.

So, thank you, Heavenly Father, for giving me experiences that I really don't need (but would be very depressed without).

Unnecessary events/memories/opportunities/tangible items (such as my constant travel to Disneyland or obsession with all things pink) become a part of us and make us who we are.

I guess in a way, these blessings actually become almost necessary. :)

A twist occurred in our much-anticipated trip.

While waiting for my flight from SLC to Orange County, my mom call and asked for me to check if any rooms were available in one of the Disneyland hotels. I have to admit, I was pretty surprised at her request, especially since a free bed at Uncle Tony's was not far away from Anaheim. Of course, I abandoned this thought and began searching my work website for good deals.

One thing led to another (including much pushing from my father, and a little pixie dust) and voila! We found ourselves walking into the original Disneyland Hotel, being welcomed home.

Mom and I in the hotel lobby sitting in a darling tea-cup chair!

The building was magnificent.

The room was magically-unimaginable!

As a new experience for everyone, the atmosphere felt surreal.

(Including my mom who noticed the hotel's many changes since she had last stayed there as a teen.)

Our room was located in the Adventure Tower, and the place was covered with Mickey and Disney! The lamps on the walls were held up by Mickey's gloves; the facets were shaped like Mickey; pictures of Walt and Disneyland hung on the walls; the carpet design was lots of Mickey's and stars; and the pillows were embroidered with "a dream is a wish your heart makes when your fast asleep."

However, the best part was the bed. The headboard displayed an imprint of Sleeping Beauty's Castle that would light up with the push of button! BUT, that's not all. That button also triggered the tune "A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes" to sing us to sleep!

Magical!

With a bed sprinkled with pixie dust, a ten-step walk to Downtown Disney, and a resort-only Monorail ride directly into Tomorrowland, a magical vacation was awaiting us!

If I actually took the time to write down every detail of our weekend, I would still be writing and this post would go on forever. As a compromise, I made a bullet-list consisting of all the main events of the trip. Plus, we took TONS of pictures!

Bare with me :)

After we checked into the hotel, we headed straight for Downtown Disney!

This was the GIANT pizza we ate for dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant. I took the picture after we started digging in, so don't worry, the pizza filled the entire pan. :)

Disney Day :)

(In no particular order)