Day 4

Recently, my dad’s job has required him to work in Los Angeles.  It is temporary, and he comes home every other weekend.  While nobody likes having him so far away (especially my mom and Marcus and especially, especially my mom) we were excited to be able to share a day in Disneyland with Grandpa.  He met up with us at our hotel Saturday morning, ate breakfast with us and then we got on the bus to head over to the parks.  

Before going into the Disneyland part, my kids really wanted to show him Toy Story Mania, so we went into California Adventure just as it was opening and headed straight for our favorite ride.  I guess we are not the only ones who have that as their favorite, because the entire throng of people seemed to be going the exact same place as we were.  Little Man had wanted to be Grandpa's partner and see if he could beat his highest score, which he did.  

After riding the ride, we happened to see Jessie, so Kiwi got in another hug before he headed over to Disneyland.  It was my first time in Disneyland since I was fourteen and I thought it was really cool that the last time I had been here was with my dad (and rest of my family) and now he was there the first time my kids experienced the classic Disney park.

First on the list was seeing Tinkerbelle in Pixie Hollow.  Kiwi had, of course, packed her Tinkerbelle dress (which I may add I scored at a garage sale for 3 bucks and then saw almost the exact same dress at the gift shop for 40? Love that feeling.) 

We then headed into Fantasy Land and started to do some of the little rides there.  The first one we did was Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride which was one I remember loving as a kid.  Mike and Little Man rode together, and Kiwi rode sandwiched in between my dad and I.  Neither one of us had remembered this ride as scary, but it was a little bit spooky for my four year old.  When we got off the ride she said, “Every time I saw something I thought would follow me, I would just squeeze you or Granpda really, really tight.”  My dad said she was sqeezing his hand pretty tight.

It's A Small World was decorated for Christmas and it was so neat.  The first time we went on it (we did a total of three rides) was during the day with my dad and the kids sat up front with him while Mike and I sat behind them.  It was hard to hear everything they were saying to my dad because of the music throughout the ride, but it was obvious they were excited by the almost constant pointing and the expressions on their faces.  Along with the traditional dolls that I remembered, there are Disney characters hid throughout and the kids loved finding them.  This ride became an immediate favorite and became even more of a favorite when we saw it at night time later in the trip. When we saw it all lit up for the first time, Kiwi said, "I wish Grandpa could see it like this."  

Another highlight from Saturday included Mickey’s Toontown.  The kids were so interested in seeing where the characters lived (as mentioned earlier, the characters were definitely one of the highlights of this trip).  The kept pointing things out like the pictures on the wall (“Look, Mickey has a picture of Goofy!”) and loved sitting on the furniture.  Outside of Goofy’s house there is a little park and the kids just wanted to play there, but we urged them onward.  Just too many fun things to do at once place.

Opening the door to the "Power Company" in Toontown

On Go Go Gadget Rollercoaster

We also did Thunder Mountain Railroad, another favorite from my childhood, and even did Splash Mountain.  The kids wore their ponchos and Mike took one for the team by sitting in the front and taking the majority of the splash.  This was definitely the most nerve wracking ride of the trip for me.  I hadn’t remembered the seats being so long and that there was no seatbelts.  I was sitting directly behind Kiwi and started to seriously think that my child was going to be the first one ever to fall out of this ride.  What was I thinking taking her on this?  Both kids handled it well though and of course no one went overboard. 

            

We also did Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, which all the boys liked because you shot things and racked up points and Kiwi enjoyed because she saw Toy Story characters.

            We went out to a Mexican place for dinner (thank you Dad!) and again the food tasted so good, because we were starving (next time we go, we are packing way more snacks than we think we need). 

            After dinner, we went over to California Adventure to see The World Of Color, a light/water/fire show they do over the water.  It was really neat and Mike listed it as one of his favorites of the trip.  I was grateful we had my dad, because the kids couldn’t see anything unless they were being held.  Mike had Little Man on his shoulders the whole show and my dad and I took turns holding Kiwi.  

Saturday was the most crowded day that we were there and had the longest lines, but it really wasn't that bad compared to what it is during peak times.  It was also probably the day that the kids were the most tired, so it was nice to have an extra adult (Kiwi was held a lot that day) and it was definitely extra special to have dad/grandpa there.  

 Dancing with Sleeping Beauty.

 On a boat with Granpda.

 Posing with Tigger.

Taking a rest during dinner.