Christmas Vacation: Disneyland

Our plan was to visit Disneyland on Monday the 21st. But since Audrey was sick and Dan was pretty ill, we decided to wait another day. Then the next day...the 22nd Audrey still had a fever. We ended up going on the 23rd, exactly a year from when we last went.

I don't know how many people are like this but I am terrible at taking pictures. I'll bring my camera and make a promise to myself that I'll take pictures, but I never do. I took like 20 pictures. Which I don't have with me right now, so I can't post them. We have our really big, awesome, Nikon D60. (LOVE IT) but it's too big to lug around and you can't take it with you on the rides.

Don't worry we never let it, as in the camera, sit alone. We were really split into two groups the entire day. The "Little ride people," which was Michelle and Audrey, and the "Non Pregnant people." Can you guess where the stroller and all the junk was with all day?

Michelle was gracious enough to hang with audrey when we went on the rides she could not. There are only 7 rides in Disneyland that she could not ride on.

1. Matterhorn
   
2. Space Mountain
3. Splash Mountain
4. Star Wars
5. Big Thunder mountain
6. Indiana Jones
7. and the one in Toon town.

Apparently Autopia is on the list. But we did not know that and Michelle, Patrick, Audrey and I got in line. It wasn't until we were almost to the front that we noticed that she could not ride it. We asked the guy/cast member why she couldn't ride it. It's a car that goes around a track at a very not so fast speed. He said it was because you could get hit in the back, even though it's posted like 30 million times to not hit the car in front of you, and jerk around. Plus we saw like 3 other pregnant people get on the ride. We'll we combated the hits with patrick and Audrey behind Michelle and I. Michelle maned the pedal, since it was on my left and I steered. We didn't go fast at all. It was a very nice ride. However patrick had a different ride. He let Audrey steer and then the kid behind him was crashing into him the entire time. It was a good thing that they were behind us. We really enjoyed that ride.

We tried to fit everything in. We didn't spend anytime in frontier land and adventure land since we did that last year. But we rode all the staples of the park. Michelle and Audrey rode Dumbo together. We did Pirates, Snow White, Pinocchio and the Cassy Junior Train.

I think one of the funnest things about the park this year was Princess and the Frog. The Mark Twain boat has been turned into a Princess and the Frog thing and new Orleans is dedicated to it. The people come out and dance and sing on the boat then get off the boat and dance around New Orleans to the music of the movie. It was really fun to watch. I have to say it was one of my favorite things about the day. Plus the music to that movie is totally awesome.

In the late afternoon we headed to California Adventure and spent our time walking around and doing the rides there. I don't think we did enough for me to appreciate the theme park. However we did ride The Tower of Terror, the Roller coaster (which is like the coolest one I have ever ridden. It has music in your ears that matches what you are doing on the ride. It's really hard to explain but really enhanced the experience. We rode it twice in a row since the line was about a minute long. Our second time on it the music didn't play. We all agreed that it's much more fun with the music. Plus it is the smoothest coaster I've ridden, it didn't jerk you around the turn like others do.) Then there was another ride that Michelle talked up so much that she told me if it did not meet expectations I could punch her in the arm after. It did not and I got to. Patrick and everyone else loved it. I had to deal with Audrey trying to get out of the seat. Once she actually made it out and I had to push her under the lap bar and get her to sit again. Tantrums in the middle of a ride don't make you like the ride. Looks like were going to have to make another trip so that I can actually ride the ride for real.

I figure for the last two years we've been doing the Disneyland thing wrong. You really need at least 2 full days to really get to see everything and not feel rushed. We're going to have to stay at one of the hotels next time.

I wanted to get Audrey Minnie Ears. But never found to time to get to a place that did the embroidery. So we got her a Cinderella frame. I printed a picture of her in her Halloween Cinderella dress and put it in the frame. It's pretty cute.

It was a really fun day. We got there right when the park opened, which was 9 am. And ended up leaving at 9. 12 hours is a long long day, but totally worth it.