House of mouse

My oldest girls had dance competitions over memorial day weekend at none other than the Disneyland Hotel. Hmm, do we really want to be anywhere near Disneyland during the 3-day weekend that kicks off summer? Probably not. But that was beside the point. We were going.

And when the schedule came out, a mere 10 days prior to the start of the show, and we realized that the first dance was scheduled for Friday evening, and the last dance not until Monday morning, well, there was not much left to do but make the most of it and embrace the fact that we'd be spending the entire weekend in Anaheim, or local environs.

My mom was slated to fly out to join in the girly fun. And fly out she did, thank the 8 lb baby jesus, because I could not have done it without her -- physically, emotionally or financially.

But thanks to her help, we had a grand old time, despite the pesky highway traffic, dance drama, and incessant toddler demands.

Friday night was all about checking out the hotel. It's pretty terrific, we were very pleasantly surprised. It's very tasteful, but still definitely Disney. You do not forget where you were while staying there...

From song-playing, light-up headboards

To Mikey Mouse, both big

and in various parts and pieces througout,

to goofy characters ready for a quick hug and photo

it's clear that you are in the house of mouse!

Breakfast in Goofy's Kitchen was a treat.

But unbelievably, not as big of a treat as lunch at the American Girl store in LA. That place is a little girl's dream.

Look at those little doll chairs...

And oh wait, little doll cups and saucers too.

But really, this is the very best (or at least my favorite) thing about the entire American Girl experience:

A doll stand in each loo? Do they not think of everything?!

Eventually (but no, not that same day) we made it into the actual Disneyland park, taking advantage of the fact that we were entitled to enter the park an hour before the general public, due to our preferred guest status (I told you it was a cool hotel).

We loaded aboard the monorail

and landed just minutes later in the happiest place on earth.

With it's giant teacups

and wild lines rides

And all manner of opportunities to spend money transform yourself

and have fun

Oh, and did I mention there was dancing too? Well thre was. And although we made it to each competition and the girls performed well, dance was somehow secondary.

That mouse has some charisma I tell you.