Day 3 - Survival

When I took Fefe into the doctor last week, the doctor recommended a book called "The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland". It turned out to be a pretty good recommendation. I learned tips and tricks that I never would have known otherwise and it made our day go so much more smoothly. It had some schedules to follow, but we needed a combo of the kid and adult one so I piece-mealed it a bit. It still worked out well. We did everything we wanted. It really helped that the crowds were so much smaller than the last time we went.

Our first stop in the morning was Space Mountain to grab some fast passes. Ephant was pretty nervous from the beginning. She's definitely the least intrepid of all the kids. We ran over to Dumbo next since it is such a huge hit with the kids. Ephant was pretty excited to have her own Dumbo.

What's funny, after all the buildup, Loofa still didn't realize we were in Disneyland. It took some heavy duty explaining for him to finally understand we were THERE. Big Thunder Mountain was our next stop.

J thought it would be a good starter roller coaster so the kids could decide if they wanted to do more. Afterwards Ephant said no, Brother B said maybe and Loofa said no. Loofa's no turned out to not mean anything. He proceeded to ride every roller coaster after that, although he never wanted any repeats. He even rode one coaster the other kids didn't want to, the Matterhorn. I think he was so captivated by how it looked on the outside that he couldn't bear to let it pass by.

J took Brother B and Loofa on Space Mountain while I waited with the girls. When it was my time I wanted someone to ride with and later found out Brother B went with me just so I wouldn't be alone. What a sweet boy. He was pretty scared of that ride too.

Sadly the altruism didn't continue with Splash Mountain. I had to ride that one on my own. J got a good shot of me with my big mouth open.


Ephant held to tradition and sobbed halfway through Pirates of the Caribbean. She was also pretty unhappy about The Haunted Mansion. Jungle Ride was an all around favorite, as was Winnie the Pooh, Tea Party and Alice in Wonderland. Their absolute favorite ride was Star Tours. We rode that with them 3 times. I never would have guessed they would all love that one so much. Buzz Lightyear went over really well too, we rode that one twice. At the end they let you email pictures of yourself on the ride. Amazingly it was free. Crazy for Disneyland. Speaking of which, I figured out the best way to not spend money there is to simply not bring your wallet. I did almost have to buy a diaper, but I cornered some women in a bathroom and they gave me one. I couldn't believe I did that, but I was desperate :)

We came back to the hotel in the afternoon around 3pm for a break and nap. It sure was nice to have such a short walk back. The kids were pretty wiped out and on the way to the hotel said they didn't want to come back. After a couple hours they were rested enough and raring to go. We did most of the big rides in the morning and since they didn't all have positive experiences on them it colored their perceptions a bit. The second round we did more rides they loved so they were pretty happy. Fefe did great through the whole thing. I think her favorite ride was "It's a Small World". All the singing and colors really captivated her. We stuck around till the bitter end so the kids could see the fireworks display. Loofa loved it, Fefe didn't. I wouldn't say she absolutely hated it, but it did seem to scare her at the same time as fascinating her. Her favorite position during it was to lay her head on my shoulder with my hand over her other ear. After the fireworks, we ran over to Star Tours for one last ride.

Trying to pull the sword out of the stone:

Lunchtime:

A little father/son time:

Feeling pretty happy still:

Nevermind, the tiredness is setting in:

Now everyone is in bed and ready for a nice rest. Tomorrow: California Adventure...