Dancing at Disneyland

Dreams sure did come true at Disneyland this year.  Thanks to Madison and her dance team and all their hard work, they were selected to dance in the Disneyland Holiday Parade.  After a couple audition tapes with two routines and then learning three new pieces for the different parades they made the cut and were on their way.  They would be dancing in the Main Street Parade, and twice in the ABC Holiday Spectacular that airs every Christmas Morning.

The first day we were there Madison didn't have any dance commitments so we were free to explore the parks.  It was such a fun age for all of the kids.  Grace was way into the Princesses and just knew that each one was real and special and there just to meet her.  We took her to Ariels Grotto for lunch to meet many of them and she was in heaven.  Bex loved all the rides, the bigger the better, and Madison was thrilled to be there with her dance team but is still happy to hang with the family too.  I loved being there with the kids and getting to hang out with them all day long.  They really are neat little people and I am so proud to be their mom.

Graces favorite ride...the carousel with the PINK dolphin!

Most nights ended like this...

One night we got to go to the rooftop terrace with Maddies coach to watch World of Color.  Her coach and husband used to work at Disneyland and had a few in's with the staff.

The Cars Ride quickly became a family favorite and thanks to the fast passes and the switch passes we got to go many times!

Dance days were long and exhausting for Madison.  Some days we were up at 5:30 doing hair and make up so we could meet her team and they would head over to spend the day rehearsing in their secret location.  

Friday night she was in the Main street Parade at Disneyland that they have each night.  It was so fun to see them dancing down main street together as a team.  When they got to us near the end of the rout we went nuts and cheered as loud as we could.  I was so emotional, it was all happy but man, waterworks were ON.  I guess Madison takes after me because when I went to pick her up after they were done she came over to me crying.  I was so scared she had gotten hurt or something but her coach told me she started crying at the end when she saw us because she was so happy.  It was the sweetest thing.  Her coach told us "that is what it is all about.  That right there makes all the hard work and stress totally worth it."  She was so right.  

The next day they rehearsed for their filming of the ABC Holiday Parade.  We were able to take the other two to explore the parks and then meet up with Madison between rehearsals so she could go on a few rides too.  

She continued to dance every where she went

Sunday morning was the big day.  They had two different dances they were in for the filming.  One was a Monsters University dance and the other was with the cast of Teen Beach Movie.  It was a pretty crazy day.  Ronnie got up early to run the Malibu Marathon while I got Madison all ready and down to meet her team.  Later I tried to take the other two into the park to catch a glimpse of filming but after waiting in line for 2 hours just to get into the park I decided to bag that and take them shopping at DD.  It was very frustrating and I felt like a bad mom for not being there.  These two thought it was pretty great though...

Ronnie made it back and I tried running over to see if I could catch the end of filming but I just missed it.  Luckily other parents got some pictures and video for me and assured me that it was a whole lot of waiting around and not much to see.  I guess people come from all over just to get a few seconds on TV and the park gets packed.  Madison didn't know the difference though.  She was grinning ear to ear and even though they had to wait for over and hour and 45min. in the sun so that the guy from Teen Beach could get his lines right, she loved every second of it.  And then she was free to explore the parks and celebrate with her team.  

 She had the happiest faces

It really was a great trip.  Call me crazy but Disneyland isn't my favorite place, I am not a huge fan or amusement parks but this trip was pretty magical.  We will be back.