June 7, 2012

    Disneyland, part 2.  Jeff and I decided that today would be our "smart day" at Disneyland.  After trial and error the day before, we learned a few things that would make it easier today.  Like getting
Fastpasses (sort of like ride reservations) early, and finding a place to eat lunch/dinner before the kids are starving and have melt-downs. 

Splash Mountain.  Despite the terrified look on Ryan's face the first time, he rode it again with me with the Rider Switch pass.  He's hidden behind the guy with the red shirt.

Lunch at 11:30, before the crowds.  See? Smart Day.

???

Tower of Terror.  Not a great picture, but it is a great ride.  Basically you're in an elevator riding to the top of "The Hollywood Hotel" while a movie screen tells a story of a group of hotel guests that disappeared one night in the elevator.  Suddenly the elevator doors open and you can see you're at the top of the tower and can see the whole park. Then it free falls to the bottom and up and down a few times more.  The outside of the ride is quite impressive.  It huge, like a hotel would be, but they've designed it to look old and run-down, as if it were abandoned years ago.  Most of the kids loved this ride.  Erik did not.  He was not prepared for the free fall.  Upon exiting the ride, he said, "I'm never, never, never going on that ride again."  I told him to wait until he's Shelbi's age, and he'll probably have changed his mind.  He smiled a little bit at the idea of being old, like Shelbi.  Also, Ryan proclaimed he "had to go potty!" just as they were stepping on to the ride.  See what I mean about their timing?

A welcomed splash pad for the kids while Syd and I rode the Tower of Terror.  The boys are "fighting" the water sprays.  Of course.

The carousel, Bailey's one ride of the day.

With Buzz Lightyear

By mid-afternoon, Ryan was D-O-N-E done.  We were sitting in the shade waiting for Jeff and Shelbi to finish their ride, when I looked over at Ryan.  He was crying for no one's sake, just because that's all that was left for him to do.  I went over to comfort him, and within seconds he layed his head on my knee and was asleep.  He spent the next two hours asleep in the stroller while Bailey was allowed to walk (Free at last!!).   We decided that we were Disneyed out, so we picked up a few souveniers and left to grab dinner at a real restaurant.  As were we walking to the exit gate, we ran into this guy: