But I also feel like I should finish with the telling of the trip....so I'm just going to cram days 3 and 4 together in one post, and then get on with things. Other things. Non-Disneyland things.
Ready, here we go.
Hold on just a sec, I have to go look at pictures so I can actually remember days 3 and 4.....
Oh yeah......
Day 3 started a little more mellow. We didn't kill ourselves trying to get there right when it opened. We took our time waking up and getting ready.
I even went down to breakfast in my pajamas thinking that there had to be some other people doing the same thing. I mean, why not? That's kind of one of the perks of having breakfast right in your hotel, right? I was wrong. Everyone else was all dressed and ready for their day, and there I was with my hair thrown in a messy ponytail, plaid pajama bottoms, no bra and no makeup, and the coffee sucked. I hurried back to my room in shame, and scarfed down a cupcake and instant cappuccino.
It was a pretty warm day and we spent most of it at Disney California. Damien and I rode the Grizzly river run and got nice and wet. Then it was supposed to be Patrick and Emily's turn, but Emily opted out and Damien went again. This was pretty much the theme of the day. Damien rode a lot of rides twice.
Emily did ride Soarin over California with me, and that was awesome! Very realistic. I really enjoyed the part where you soar over Tahoe....all the trees and hills and snow, it was beautiful and thrilling.
California adventure doesn't have a lot of rides for Cali's age, but we did get to ride the Monster's Inc ride. It broke down after we were in line for about 20 minutes, and they said it would be at least 20 minutes before it was fixed. So then we were stuck in the dilemma of stay? go? stay? go? We stayed and waited. Mostly because we were already inside the air conditioned building, and got to sit down. It was a very cute ride, Caliana loved it. I loved the end, where Roz yelled at us to bring her a churro next time.
Patrick had left the park to go get us lunch, and we were supposed to meet by the fountain. He had forgotten to bring his ticket with him and couldn't get back in the park. For some reason (crowds, maybe?) I could never hear my phone ringing and we waited a long time for him, before he was finally able to sweet talk his way in. While we waited, the kids got to meet a few characters.
It went well with Mickey and Minnie....until the photographer tried to get Cali to look at the camera (something about cameras makes Caliana suddenly want to inspect everyone's feet). She just was not looking up, so Mickey took things into his own hands.....literally
I would not be exaggerating to say that she was deeply offended. She stomped over to me, one pissed off toddler, yelling "Mickey do that to my HEAD!" I tried really hard not to giggle. I really tried.
After Patrick eventually rejoined us and we ate, Damien and I rode California Screamin. Loved it, loved it. I am a roller coaster girl, and that one was fun. Then Damien and Patrick rode it, then we had ice cream and cotton candy
And then Damien started to feel sick (anyone else see this coming?) and wanted to go back to the hotel.
Being the experienced parents that we are, we told him he just needed to drink some water and cool off. We were so right. *Smug smile*
We still had a little time before our dinner reservations, so we went to check out the Lego store in Downtown Disney. I thought Damien might die on the spot. I think it was the giant Darth Vader built from legos. That place made ME want to play legos.
We had dinner at Goofy's kitchen, where the food was magnificent. But one of the best things, was the kids got a chance to meet a lot of the characters without waiting in line for an hour. Things didn't start off so great. Patrick accidentally called Pluto....Goofy, and Cali smacked him in the nose, so he sat in the corner and cried.
He eventually forgave us and we got our second, and final family picture of the trip.
Caliana really enjoyed Cinderella's fairy godmother
but she was having nothing to do with Minnie. She still hadn't forgiven the mice for what Mickey did to her head.
If you're wondering what that is on her plate, it's potstickers, with hot chocolate spit all over it. You people with toddlers know what I'm talking about. Right? Don't you? Please tell me it's not just my kids.
E and D were very pleased to meet their favorites, Chip and Dale. Although Chip had a good time harassing Damien. He put him in a headlock and took a little walk around the restaurant. I think some of these characters have repressed issues.
Patrick and Cali called it quits after dinner, and went back to the hotel. The other two and I headed over to Disneyland to take in some rides we hadn't gotten to yet.
I think goofy slipped a little something into Damien's dinner, because he became quite....I don't even know how to describe it.....insane? While waiting in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, he kept yelling out "Oh my Gosh, I'm PREGNANT!" Followed by stares and giggles and he was just enjoying the hell out of it. By the time we made it around to the riverboat, he was in such rare form I thought he might pitch someone overboard, so we called it a night after that.
Onto day 4, also known as "oh crap, we have to check out, cram in everything we missed so far, AND drive home"
We had breakfast at Denny's because I was not showing my face in the hotel breakfast room again. Damien learned a thing or two from Chip
When we got to Disneyland, we went straight to Space Mountain because I was not leaving without riding that one. The Fastpass return time was already at 8:00 pm, at which time we planned to be well on our way home, so we had to do it the old fashioned way and wait in an actual line. Emily went with me, and she yeah, chickened out again at the end of the line, and I got to ride by myself. I also left my sunglasses in the little storage bag. Dumb, dumb.
Since I couldn't put it off any longer, I took the kids to Toontown. Patrick escaped once again, this time to go back to Goofy's kitchen to try and find HIS sunglasses that he left the night before. The kids seemed to enjoy Toontown, but I would have preferred if it was a bit less hot and crowded.
Patrick got himself locked out of the park again. He had remembered his ticket this time, but had forgotten to get his hand stamped. The same manager that had let him back in the day before, had to come back out and let him in again. She must have thought he was very bright.
He was pretty ready to go by then, but we still had some "must-do's" left. Like It's A Small World. Am I looking tired yet?
That little boat ride honestly put us all in a better mood. I liked Lilo and Stitch
We also did the castle walk through. Sleeping Beauty is one of my all time favorites, so this was more for me than the kids.
We made it back to Tomorrowland just in time for the Jedi Training Academy. Damien is a big Star Wars fan, so we really wanted him to get to experience this. Both he and Emily ended up being picked, and they enjoyed the hell out of it. I have a little video of Damien fighting Darth Vader that I'll try and post on here soon.
Damien proclaimed it the second best part of the whole vacation. His absolute favorite, and Emily's also was the Aladdin musical. It was the last thing we did, and we almost nixed it, so we could get on the road home sooner, but I'm really glad we didn't. We had front row seats and the show was outstanding. If you get a chance to see it, go.
I'd love to tell you all about my horrible drive home, where I almost fell asleep constantly, and had to pull over to nap at least 4 times, but who wants to read that? I'll just say, we made it home safely, the vacation was a great success, and I'm so glad it's over.
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