Tour de California, part two

Despite having got up at 5am the day before, we knew we had to be at Disney early, so once again we were up WAY early. We were all down having breakfast in the hotel by about 6:30. Disneyland opens at 8AM, you know, and you have to be there exactly then.

This turned out to be a good move as we were able to get quite a few rides in during the morning.

First up, LT, DT and I went on Astro Orbitor while TT was off figuring out the Fastpass system. The three of us riding this rie was a little nutty. LT sat in front, I sat in the back and held DT down on the seat in between us.

One thing about Disneyland is that most rides allow babies. Seriously.

See, here we are on the Dumbos...


So we did the Astro Orbiters, Dumbo, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (bit of a mistake, LT was terrified, but I couldn't figure out how to leave without riding once we were inside - TT reported DT tried to escape their car as well), LT & TT went on the carrousel, and Casey's Circus Train all within about an hour. Then we walked over to get Fastpasses - Autopia for TT & DT and Space Mountain for me. The way a Fastpass works is that you get a time to ride, so then we rode the railway all the way around to the Toontown, where...

We met Mickey! And LT wasn't even scared!


LT really enjoyed Toontown - here he is in Minnie's house



After Toontown, LT & TT rode Autopia (you drive a car or something like that) and had a good time and then they watched the Star Wars show while I did a quick trip on Space Mountain. LT wanted to ride the submarine, but the line was horrendous. We did the Jungle Cruise next and the Tarzan treehouse (formerly known as Swiss Family Robinson tree house). LT enjoyed the Tarzan treehouse until Indiana Jones had a mock battle with a badguy in the treehouse while we happened to be on there. Meanwhile, I got a leg cramp. By this time we were getting hungry, but decided to go on the Pooh ride first. When it was our turn, LT would not get on because the way it started off was to go into a tunnel. Who designed all their kid rides anyway? We convinced him to go on and at the end he declared it fun afterall. Then we had some lunch, ran back over to the other side to check on the submarine line. Still bad. TT asked the guy if the line ever dies down and he replied, "At 11:50 [PM]." So then we caught the parade, which was great. We didn't have a premium spot since you have to camp out for 1 hour+ for those, but we got a great view from up higher. Then we went on a search for our souvenir - I had promised LT a pencil.

The salesgal suggested we pose DT in the mound of stuffed animals. A little strange perhaps, but I felt it was only polite to do so...


Finally we went back to the hotel for a break around 4:30/5. No one napped, sadly. And then back again at about 7:30. Then we waited in line for the submarine ride because LT really wanted to ride it. It's now the "Nemo" submarine ride instead of the 20,000 leagues under the sea ride. By the time we got off (LT mostly liked it except for the part where the sub goes into a whale's mouth - that was scary), we had just enough time to grab some dinner before the fireworks show. Um, it turns out you have to camp out for like 2+ hours to get a spot for that. We had a mediocre viewing spot and decided to try to get closer and got caught up in 1 way traffic patrols. What? Then we ended up right in between to launching stations, which I thought was great, but LT thought was horrible. So we had to move again. At this point he fell asleep in the stroller (DT was sleeping on me in the wrap) and TT and I were able to enjoy the last few magical fireworks.

Phew! That was exhausting. Sorry for the long recap. I think it was necessarly to give an accurate view of our day. We won't be going to Disney again for a long while, I don't think.