The day started with me being a drill sergeant “Okay! Everyone out of BED! Time to get to DISNEYLAND!” I ran down the street to the 7-11 and grabbed
unhealthy breakfasts for everyone, then pushed everyone out the door so we were
to Disney by 8. We started, again, at California
Adventures, and, being Sunday, it was already way more crowded than it had been
on Friday.
Our first stop was Cars Land (again)! The lines for Radiator
Springs were even longer than they had been Friday, and we decided that it
wasn’t in the cards to try the ride.
Pete was disappointed, but we told him we’d try again later.
We walked through Cars Land again, showing the teens
everything we had seen on Friday, and then we headed over to Hollywood Land and
the Tower of Terror! Pete had had no
interest in doing the Tower on Friday, so I went with the older kids, and Steve
took Pete to play at the little kids Bugs Life rides.
We then met up for the Monsters, Inc. ride, which was really
cute. Emily noted that since everyone
was at Cars Land, we were able to walk right up to these rides and get right
on! While that was nice, it wasn’t going
to be the case for the rest of the day.
We crossed the park to do California Screamin’ with the big
kids. We waited in line, rode the ride,
agreed it was awesome, and then got a fast pass to do it again. While we waited, we rode the Toy Story Mania
ride again. I was also able to buy some
Churros to hold everyone over until lunchtime.
(You really have to kiss your healthy habits goodbye when you choose to
spend a day at a theme park)
After a second ride on California Screamin’, we headed back
out of the park and over to Disneyland.
It was getting to be lunchtime, so we ended up at a place for salads and
sandwiches (Wahoo! Something
healthy!) Of course, Andy eyed the JUMBO
Cinnamon Roll, but we put him off saying “later!”
After lunch, I got a fast pass for the Indiana Jones, ride,
and while we waited, went on the classic Jungle Cruise. It was a lot of fun, and we spent the right
amount of time before it was Indiana Jones time. I don’t remember doing that ride at Disney
World, and it was fun! Like being in a
runaway explorer jeep going through familiar places from the movie.
After Indiana Jones, it was a walk through the old Swiss
Family Robinson treehouse (now renamed the Tarzan treehouse) and then over to
Tom Sawyer Island! We knew it would be
perfect for Pete. It’s a bit different
from the one at Disney World. You take a
raft to get there, and there is an “Injun Joe” exploring cave, but the fort
isn’t accessible inside, and the island seems to be bigger at Disney World.
We only lost Pete once, so I felt we did pretty well…
After we were back on ‘land’, we headed over to Pirates of
the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion Rides.
Not long waits, and I was grateful.
Everyone was starting to really slow down.
We wanted to go to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain, but
we were exhausted and it was starting to get really hot. So, (after letting Andy get that horrible
Cinnamon Roll), we took the train around the park to the other side. Sadly,
when we got to Space Mountain, it said the ride was closed! We were disappointed, but decided it was time
for a restroom break anyway. When we
were finished with the restrooms, the ride was open! We hopped in line, and the wait wasn’t long
at all (others hadn’t figured out it had reopened yet!)
Everyone loved the ride.
Because it was still hot out, we headed over to Innoventions for some
wonderfully air conditioned down time.
We got to play some video games, see a home of the future, and just
generally refuel.
After we left Innoventions, Andy decided it was time for a
nap (that cinnamon roll had put him in a food coma), so he headed back to the
hotel, and we headed first to the raceway cars and then into Fantasyland.
We rode some of the smaller rides we hadn’t ridden with Peter on Friday
including the Alice in Wonderland Ride, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and the Peter Pan
ride. Emily found a cute hat in the Snow
White shop, and we took a tour of the castle at Disneyland (it is much smaller
than the castle at Disney World…you are able to walk through and see dioramas
telling the story of Sleeping Beauty)
We then did a bit of shopping, then wandered over towards
Cars Land to our dinner destination. We
had booked reservations at the Wine Country Trattoria for 8:10pm back when we
were riding the train around the park, so our timing was just about right. By that time, all we wanted to do was
sit. The sun had gone down and it had
gotten cold (there is no middle ground here!).
Unfortunately, our table was outside, so it was a pretty chilly dining
experience (we were not fortunate enough to get one of the tables under the
heat lamps) Andy met up with us, and we
had the “World of Color’ meal, which meant it was a fixed price (think
expensive), but we got VIP seats for the World of Color show at 10:15.
After dinner, we headed over and saw a show that was
wonderfully Disney-esque. It used a lot
of color and water jets in the lagoon, and we ended up getting a bit “rained
on.”
Once it was over, it was getting pretty late (10:45pm), but
we decided we would try one more time and see if the wait on the Radiator
Springs ride was long or not. While the
park closed at 11, they said anyone in line before 11 would be allowed on the
ride, but the wait was still 80 minutes!
I told Peter it just wasn’t a good idea…that he wouldn’t get on the ride
until 12:30am, and by that time, he’d be asleep! I was so proud of him. He was on my back at that point and said
quietly into my ear “I’m just grateful I got to go on it once, right?” What a sweet boy.
We knew that Disneyland didn’t close until midnight, and we
knew we hadn’t done Thunder Mountain Railroad, so we decided to cross to the
other park and do that as our last ride.
I have never been a big fan of Thunder Mountain Railroad,
but in the dark, with an almost full moon, and a lot of fun kids on the ride
singing “Living On A Prayer”…it was REALLY FUN!
And there was no wait, so…we rode it TWICE!
Needless to say, we did not get back to the room until
midnight. Everyone was so exhausted, and
tired, and hurting, that I think we were conscious in the room for about five
minutes until we all fell asleep…well, all except Andy who was the smart one
and took a NAP during the day!
Tomorrow…a day of rest.
whew!
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