Hey, she got her nap. I don’t think she’ll mind.
So she
did get a nap. All's well then.
Who cares if the kids are bouncing off the walls. She napped!
Someone apparently must have been proud that we let him handle his own ticket on the way into the park.
Looks like it!
DS, once again, had a blast. I think he was loving the rider swap system and the fact that he was getting plenty of rides on this one!
I want that for adults.
Hmmm.... Maybe next vacay has to be with all three girls.
"Sorry ladies, but BTMRR rules are that only two people can go on and one has to be the primary member, so I'll just have to ride it three times."
I was surprised to board the train and find that the seats are sideways in the cars, and not like the ones at MK.
Huh. Interesting.
It was disappointing that the entire Critter Country area was walled off completely.
Was the whole thing going under renovations? Or is that just the way it is?
I’m not sure which you’d call it because it is basically right between the 2 lands, Tomorrowland and Main Street.
Tomorrow Street. Mainland.
Dinosaurs!
Seriously! I didn’t know this existed.
One of the only things I know about DL. Saw it on another TR and it just stuck, I guess.
I thought it was kind of cool.
You know.
Because, dinosaurs.
Now if only they'd make Dinoland in AK more like a Dino land and less like a cheap amusement park.
We scoped our seats out and found a great location where both kids had nothing but several rows of empty seats in front of them so they could see.
Score!
Just as the show was starting, a couple of people came and sat down literally right in front of DS and DD. The entire row was empty. 20 rows in front of them was empty. And they chose to sit right in front of the kids.
Subtract the "score" comment.
When a place is full, I don't look behind me, but if it's empty? Of course you do!
I can!
Thankfully our row was empty as well so we just slid over a little bit.
And that’s about the time they decided to get up and go find a spot closer to the front of the theater.
Of course they did. Their work was done.
It kind of reminded me of a live action Mickey’s Philharmagic, in a way.
Interesting.
It felt like it was over before it began.
Then it must've been good.
After the show ended, we had to stop at the restroom again.
Again? Well, that must be the last time.
Apparently, while DW was asleep and I was in the parks, DS had helped himself to the rest of the Sprite that had been stashed in the fridge from when he was sick earlier in the week.
Was it a gallon???
Never ask your kids what they want to do when you’re standing in view of It’s a Small World.
Oh, God. Well, that'll learn ya.
They sure look happy!
Again, with the holiday overlay and the altered soundtrack, it really was enjoyable.
I'll take your word for it. I don't dare risk it.
"Oh, sorry, the last running of IASW ended 10 minutes ago."
It’s kind of a neat attraction, but it is very dark in there. DD actually kind of freaked out on us a little bit.
Aw, poor little thing.
I mean let’s face it… There aren’t many characters that are scarier than Maleficent.
She's been around a long time, but.... yep.
Really nice shot! Love it with the castle lit up like that.
DS was using the end of his belt to whip his horse like he was trying to win the Triple Crown.
Well, sure. He want's to beat all those other horses, right?
After his thrilling race, DS asked to use the restroom, once again.
Seriously? I didn’t even know we had that much Sprite left in the fridge!
Two gallons?
I wanted to give the DL burgers another try. For research purposes, of course.
Sure. Of course. For research.
You know, other than the fact that they can’t tell you anything about road closures. But I digress.
Or maybe DL gets grass fed beef. Yeah, I’m going with that theory. Grass fed is the trendy thing, but if you want good flavor it needs to be corn fed.
Sure. And there's absolutely no bias in that statement whatsoever.
I had just finished eating when DS had to go to the restroom…
Again?!?!?
So I made the suggestion that we go over to the Tiki Room. You know, because the kids love it!
Sure, for the kids.
Aw, man. Too bad.
And our kids just absolutely love it. They sing along with the birds and just have a great time. There’s no way we’re skipping it if they enjoy it that much.
Well, that's probably the best reason I've heard to see it.
I didn't feel like it on my solo trip.
I kind of felt bad for the people sitting behind her though.
Oh, don't worry. Balloon lady didn't mind at all.
Oh, wait.
That's supposed to read "Balloon lady didn't have a mind at all."
But it wasn’t a minute into the show before another lady 2 rows behind her, leaned across the top of the people in between them, tapped her on the shoulder and asked her to keep the balloon down. There was a small round of applause in the theater at that point.
Love it!
The show ended and DS had someplace he needed to go. Wanna guess???
No. You've
got to be kidding!
Thanks to those fantastic rider swap passes, DS was going to get to ride BTMRR after dark… twice!
Lucky. See previous comment.
But DS… the kid got 6 rides on BTMRR. And I think he’d have ridden it 6 more times if he could!
I wanna be a kid again.
the girl was tired. She crashed on me in the store.
Poor little tyke.
It took me long enough, but it finally hit me that we were sitting maybe 10 feet away from the shooting gallery. No better place to teach a 5 year old how to handle a rifle than the shooting gallery at Disneyland.
Yes! Absolutely. I totally missed it in MK. Not sure if it's even there still.
Again, with the crowds and darkness I have no idea how he spotted her. But he did.
Young eyes.
Always carry the lighter one. That’s my theory anyway.
Good theory.
Apparently, they take all the benches in the area of Frontierland and line them end to end to form a wall for crowd control to keep people leaving Fantasmic! from heading straight to the hub or something? It looked like they were blocking it off so that the crowd would have to cut through Adventureland and go back to Main Street that way. Fantasmic! wasn’t even starting until 8:45 and it was before 8:30 when they made us get up so they could move the benches.
Benches? Ropes not good enough? That's just weird.
No sooner had she said that than other CM’s were out in force setting up ropes and signs directing traffic.
See? Ropes!
But we still had to wait 45 minutes before the fireworks would start.
And I was holding a sleeping 3 year old with no place to sit down.
That sounds a little... tiring.
And I’ve got to tell you, watching them over Aurora’s castle just isn’t the same as watching them over Cinderella Castle.
Huh. But then again, I'm not all that surprised.
And honestly, when the show ended, DW and I both looked at each other and asked if that was it.
I get it. Too bad though.
I mean literally if you look across the street from Disneyland hotel there are houses. Who wants to hear a huge firework show being shot off in their backyard all the time?
Ya know, my first reaction was "Yes! I want them in my backyard!" and then I thought about it.
Every night? For the rest of my life?
Maybe not.
And it might have been that we were tired and I was just not loving life at the moment because I was in so much discomfort from standing up holding DD for about an hour.
Yeah, that will definitely put a dent in the enjoyment factor.
You can't just forget everything and enjoy when all you're thinking about is when will it end so I can sit down?
I found Walt’s light in the window and took one last look.
We got back to the room and finished packing before going to bed. It had been a whirlwind of a visit to Disneyland with a little bit of a rocky start. But it was worth every minute.
Sounds like you guys sure packed in a lot!
Thanks for the chapter!