Making it to Disneyland

The kids slept all night long without interruption. I was the first one up at around 6:30. I took the opportunity to wake up and shower and get myself ready. Then the kids got up and we quickly got ready for the day.

We made a quick stop at the hotel breakfast and finished packing up for Disneyland. The park opened at 10 am so we planned to leave at 9 am which we more or less did.

Our hotel was exactly one mile from the gate so we had a nice brisk morning walk to the park. We moved surprisingly fast thanks to the help of our strollers. Alyssa was so excited as we waited for the park to open.

What a cutie. Entering the park was magical as always, but I didn’t cry this time. There is just something about making it to Disneyland and walking inside. We didn't waste anytime getting on the rides. Our first ride was Dumbo. Its always a favorite and Sunny was elated to be flying through the air. Next came the wildly popular merry-go-round. Seriously, you can't beat taking little girls on merry-go rounds. Next up "I think I can," KC Junior. A great spot for a family pic. Another fan favorite, the Tea Cups. 60's technology still alive and well today. We stopped and got a cotton candy. So irresistable. Then the one everyone is still talking about... Small World.

After small world we headed over to the Toon-Town for the moment of truth. Is Sunny tall enough to ride the Go Gadget Roll Poster, I mean Roller Coaster. You must be 35 inches to ride. Sunny is 34 1/4th inch. I was hoping with a big hair-do and a hat and tall shoes we might get away with it. BooYah! She made it. No one ever questioned her. And…she loved it. Like she LOVED it loved it. She immediately wanted to do it again. Alyssa and her friend M’li felt like teenagers riding on the ride in a car all by themselves. So much freedom. We planned to get right back in line, but got distracted by Goofy and Minnie Mouse we saw them instead. Both kids got a real kick out of seeing the characters, especially Goofy. We also got to explor Minnie Mouse's House which was fun and cute. Look at what beautiful gardens she keeps. I wonder if she uses Chem Lawn? After the characters we started feeling hungry so we headed over to the Princess area for lunching. We enjoyed our King’s Hawaiian rolls with Ham and Turkey. Also on the menu was string cheese, sliced peppers and pudding for the kids. It was fast easy and delicious. We’ll do this lunch every time. We felt so smart, and a lot less poor.

Since we were so close to the Princesses, and the line was relatively short so we decided to make this the next attraction. We waited in line for 45 long and tedious minutes. It seemed like a year. It was for sure the most painful time in line at Disneyland. Why does that line move so slow? It's so horrible. Once the line is over, its fantastic. The girls got their own personal experiene with...Ariel who was tops as far as princesses go. So sweet and nice to the girls. Then Snow White. Snow White used to be Sunny's favorite princess until recently when she was replaced by Snoopin Beauty. We didn't ever see her, but thankfully, Sunny didn't seem to notice. She also got to show Snow White her special blankie. Snow White was very gracious and interested in the little blankie. So sweet for Sunny. Next we saw Cinderella who you can tell has aged since she married Prince Charming. She was also less gracious and sweet to the girls. She just wanted us to get on with taking our pic with her and moving it out. Luckily Sunny didn't seem to mind.

This part was the major highlight of our last trip. This was everything to Alyssa. I guess she is growing up a little, because she didn't really believe that these were the actual princesses. She was happy to see them and have her pic taken with them, but it wasn't the same for her like last time. Sunny enjoyed it though. There was no doubt that this was the real deal in her mind.

Next we moved over to the Matterhorn. Alyssa loved it! Last time she hated it. She did scream twice when she saw the abominable snowman.

Sunny rode with me and also loved it. I explained to her what would happen and that it wouldn't be scary it woul just be fast. I also told her to look for the gorilla with red eyes and to tell me when she saw it. I wanted her to know what to expect so she didn't have nightmares about it like Alyssa did. All the explainations about the ride paid off because she loved the gorilla with red eyes. She talked the whole time on the ride. I couldn't really hear what she was saying, but she loved it and was not scared.

We were so glad our double stroller could accomodate a third body. The girls got a kick out of riding together like this. It was like pushing a wheel barrow full of kids. Then, onto the Space Mountain, my personal favorite. It's a pretty intense ride for such a little girl, but Alyssa has proved herself to be a very brave and fearless little girl. She really liked this ride, but right after she told me..."Mom, do you know what I was thinking while we were on the ride? I was thinking I wish Yellow Blankie was here. It would make me feel better." It was so cute. Her Yellow Blankie has magical healing abilities. Apparently it has comforting abilites too. She did mention that the reason she love the ride is because she felt like she was in space. She was very brave and after seeing how much fun her little friend had, they wanted to do it again and again together.

While we rode, Sunny and Steve waited outside and played in the spinning rock fountain. Of course Sunny got all wet. After I got back, I changed Sunny’s shirt quckly with out anyone noticing. It was fast and easy. I engaged in a conversation with someone and while I was looking away, Sunny decided to change the rest of her outfit too. As I glanced back I noticed she had her pants and underwear off right there as well. We scrambled to get her covered but it was pretty funny.

Then, we went to Big Thunder Mountain. Alyssa and M’li got to ride with moms, then dads. Alyssa claims this is the best ride in the universe because of the fake animals that are shown along the trackside. They are pretty cool.

Then the group headed over to Pirates of the Carribean. Why do people love this ride? Steve said it best when he described this ride as the evil version of "It’s a Small World". So true. We all hated it. It's very scary, violent and crude. It's not a pirates life for me, that's for sure.

The Brocks were done with the park after that so they split and we stuck around for more fun and more importantly to find out the skinny on World of Color.

We marched ourselves over to California Adventure to scope it out and found and employee to ask about the show. Our simple question turned out to be a 25 minute dissertation about what to do and not do while viewing World of Color. We finally had to fake a cell phone call to get out of this conversation (just kidding, but it did last a long time).

The sun was fading at this point and so were we, but we didn’t call it quits with out a quick ride on what seemed to us as the worlds largest and slowest moving ferris wheel. The kids were impressed but freezing at that altitude.

With that we booked it out of the park and back to the hotel. We felt great considering we had just had a massive day at the DL. We felt so good that we actually ran back to the hotel taking turns pushing the stroller. This is something that would just not be possible last year or 20 pounds ago. Here we are back at the hotel parking lot still energized and everyone still awake. An amazing accomplishment after a full day at the DL. Once back at the hotel we ate tacos and our kids favorite, plain pasta with parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top. We were so happy to have some food to eat at the hotel and not have to drag the kids through a restaurant after a full day at DL. So much simpler, easier and cheaper. Everyone wins. We settled in for the night. The kids fell right to sleep and we prepared to do it all over again only this time California Adventure style the next day.