California Adventure Part 3

After our "time off" and after Vanna was feeling much better, we made our way back to Disneyland on Wednesday, May 29th. 



Welcome to Disneyland!

 

We first headed to Fantasyland to finish our adventures there and found ourselves enjoying, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Casey Jr. Circus Train, Peter Pan's Flight, etc.  And speaking of Peter Pan's Flight...we waited in line for quite a long time for this one surprisingly and when we finally got right near the front of the line, we thought our wait had been in vain.  The group getting on the ride in front of us had a child throwing a huge tantrum and his parents couldn't get him on the ride quickly enough - this backed up the ride and jammed everything up.  We were told that the ride wouldn't be working for what could be over an hour.  I was a little bummed as I had been trying throughout the trip to get as much in as possible and thought, "man - what a waste of time".  We decided to wait it out for just a bit and luckily the ride was up and running within a matter of about 5-10 minutes.  Ty kept saying, "this ride better be worth it"  and it was I thought.  For not even remembering the ride before or having never heard anything about it, I was glad we got a chance to ride it because I thought it was very cute and was one I loved.  Just kind of a funny story - and one I'm glad didn't repeat itself throughout the rest of the trip!

 

We finally caged these wild boys on the Casey Jr. Train!

While we were in Fatasyland we got to meet the Princesses.  Vanna soaked it up - she said she was most excited to meet Cinderella and who do you suppose was the first princess we got to meet?

 

Cash played almost bashful (which is quite unusual for him) with his hands in his pockets the entire time!

 

After the kids were done admiring and flirting with the princesses, we made our way over to Frontierland where the only thing we enjoyed was the Mark Twain Riverboat.  Most everything else was closed for remodeling.  But, no matter, not much looked overly exciting there anyway.  So we went to see Winnie the Pooh and the gang at Critter Country.  We met T-I-double "g"- er! He gives great high fives!
 

And Eeyore gives great hugs!  OOO, I just love Winnie the Pooh!

Then we got a Fast Pass to Splash Mountain and while we waited, we hit some attractions at  New Orleans Square such as Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion.  I was surprised the kids did so well through that.  Brave little buggers.  Then we ate a yummy (and might I add expensive) lunch in the park at the Harbour Gallery.  We finished up just in time to cash in our Fast Pass to Splash Mountain so we headed back for the dive of our lives :).  Ty got especially wet - I'm pretty good at ducking behind the person in front of me. :)  The kids loved it!  It was always so funny - as soon as we got off one ride, Vanna would say, "Let's go for another ride!"

 

We finished up in Adventureland with Tarzan's Treehouse, the Jungle Cruise and the Enchanted Tiki Room but we were hugely disappointed to find Indiana Jones' ride was shut down.  We got a fast pass for it anyway and hoped we'd be able to catch it later.  It was one ride I remembered loving. 

 

By then we had literally marked off just about everything there was to do in the park and so we made our way back to a couple of our favorites - like Star Tours and Space Mountain (except Cash - after going on Space Mountain the first time, Cash said, "I hated it!" - the rest of us loved it!).

 

At this point we told the kids it was time for them to pick out their souvenirs.  We had actually bought each of them a Disney shirt before we went to save on the cost and gave it to them then told them in advance that they could each only pick one thing from Disneyland and one thing from Sea World (knowing how expensive everything is and knowing we didn't have a ton of extra luggage space coming home).  They were really good about understanding that and were on the lookout the whole trip for their very favorites.  When we got to the check-out counter to pay for the souvenirs, the clerk asked Vanna what her favorite part about Disneyland was.  Vanna responded, "Sea World!"  Ha ha ha ha!

The kids loved the 3D glasses.

By the end of the day we were all walking a bit slowly and the kids were tired of course.  But we thought it was so funny when a mean and impatient Cruella came behind us and muttered to Cash, "You walk slow!" before bolting around him.  It was so funny - she really played the part. :)  The kids found themselves a little resting place along the walk way before we headed over to Main Street for the parade. 

 

 

The parade is one of my favorite parts about Disneyland!  We saved ourselves a spot right along the route and sat there to eat our dinner of hotdogs and pop and waited for it to start and I'm so glad we did because the kids got to see everything up close and personal!

Meet Mary Poppins everybody.

 

Vanna loved this new float with Rapunzel.  The whole time I was watching the parade I couldn't help think about how hot each of those characters must get in their costumes and all that get-up.

 

After the parade, we went and saved ourselves a seat for the night show Mickey and the Magical Map.  I wasn't sitting for long before Vanna curled up on my lap and fell asleep.  Since we were just waiting and I was kind of stuck in one spot, Ty went to see if the Indiana Jones ride was open and he lucked out!  He got to ride it along with a few other favorites again before the show started.  And what a fun show it was.  I have to say that I think the parade and the night shows are just the best at Disneyland - they are so magical with all the characters and amazing effects!  

 

To add even more magic to the night, we stayed to watch the fireworks going off behind the famous Disney Castle.  What an amazing day and unbelievable night!