Mar 21, 2011

Disneyland, Day 3!!!



Ok, on to day 3...our last day :( We started out the morning with waffles for breakfast...Park Vue had the best waffles ever, or at least it seemed that way to us!



After breakfast I took a few pictures of our hotel. I really didn't get any of the inside of our room, but it was just a basic room..queen bed, bunk beds, tv. The beds were SO comfortable....or we were just worn out each night!







We met Jim at the park around 9 and then headed to Toontown (thanks again Jim!), but first we stopped by the cinema on Main Street for a quick cartoon. K was impressed with how cartoons used to look "back then!"



As soon as we got to Toontown we saw Pluto and got in line. But just as it was our turn to meet him, it was time for Pluto to take a break :( K still got a hug from him though. Next we visited Goofy's Playhouse and had our picture taken with Goofy. He's my favorite, so I was really glad to get to see him :)



Kristin thought she wanted to see Minnie, but changed her mind and decided to ride the Gadget Go Coaster and somehow managed to talk Mom into riding it with her! I'm fully convinced that one of these days that child will be riding the big coasters with me!!! Anyway, they had fun and as soon as they got off, we headed to Mickey's house...we had to see THE mouse!! Mickey's house was really cute. Seemed like we were in there forever, but Kristin enjoyed looking at and playing with everything. Finally it was our turn to see Mickey. My picture of Kristin with Mickey didn't turn out so well, but the photopass pic of all of us is great!



Once we got out of Mickey's house, it was well past lunchtime and Kristin was about to have a full blown low blood sugar meltdown! We quickly got in line at Daisey's Diner for some cheese pizza. Aahhhh....meltdown avoided!! We enjoyed a nice lunch, but it was beginning to get hot and REALLY crowded. We left and we back to the hotel for...ice cream!!! Park Vue guests got a discount at the on site Coldstone Creamery. I didn't get any pics, guess I was too busy eating! Afterwards Kristin went for a swim, working on her backstroke :)

Rested and ready for more, we took off for DCA to see Soarin' Over California. We'd gotten fastpasses for it after we left Toontown and I was super excited. Since I began planning this vacation, this was the one ride I HAD to ride. And all I can say...AWESOME! It was a perfect ride...the fastpass line was maybe 15 minutes (the standby line was well over an hour), we got to sit on the front row, in the center, for a perfect view. If you don't know about this ride, basically you are raised up in front of a huge movie screen, and it looks and feels like you are flying over California. SO COOL! Of course Kristin's favorite part was flying over the Golden Gate Bridge! Next time we are there, we are getting fastpasses everyday for this ride. Period.



After our flight, we took a short trip to Bugs Land and watched It's Tough To Be A Bug. This was a really cute show and we all enjoyed it. On the way out I discovered orange trees!! I took tons of pictures and I'm sure people thought I was nuts, but we don't have orange trees in Arkansas! I really wanted to reach over the fence and grab one...but I didn't!





Kristin wanted to ride a couple more rides on Paradise Pier, so that was our next stop. I have to say, next time we will spend more time in DCA. Kristin didn't care for it as much as Disneyland, but I really liked it. I couldn't believe she didn't have a care in the world for Monsters Inc...oh well. We rode The Golden Zephyr and then Kristin rode Jumpin' Jellyfish, making a new friend while waiting in line :)

We wandered around DCA a little more and made sure Kristin didn't want to do anything else there, because we weren't coming back...but she was done. So, back to Disneyland we went!

The monorail was a must do on Mom and K's list, so that's where we decided to go. I was starting to get a migraine, so I really don't remember much of the monorail ride. I know it took us outside of the park, to Downtown Disney, through DCA, close to the Hojo's across the street, then back to Tomorrowland. I'm sure I'd have more interesting things to say about it if I'd been with it just a little bit! All I remember was that it was HOT!!

I dosed myself up on some meds, got a coke, and started to feel better. We rode a few more rides, then found a spot in front of the castle for the fireworks. While Mom and K kept our spot, I got K and I some chili in a breadbowl. Don't have a pic of it, but there was the breadbowl with chili, then two hemisphere shaped pieces at the top to make it look like Mickey Mouse! Very cute. And the chili was SO good. Not sure if we were just starving, but K and I downed that chili and bread like it was the best meal ever! Not long after it was time for the fireworks. Now we'd watched them the night before at a different spot and it was so cool to see Tinkerbell fly right over our heads. However, some fireworks were in front of us, some were behind us and we couldn't hear the music. So. we wanted to sit in front of the castle to get the full effect. I should've known it wouldn't go well. K has some serious sensory issues and she does NOT do well with loud noises. And you guessed it...the fireworks were SO loud. So, instead of taking pictures, I helped K keep her ears covered and she kept her face buried into my chest, sobbing :( Next time we'll have earplugs...or skip the fireworks. I should've thought of it. But she was ok the night before, I really didn't think they'd be that much louder. Oh well. After the fireworks, which really were beautiful, Mom and K rode Autopia while I ran back to the hotel for a jacket and camera batteries. Let me just say once again how nice it was to be staying right across the street...fifteen minutes later I was back in the park, waiting in Tomorrowland for Mom and K.

Mom went back to the room while K and I enjoyed our last night at the park. We ventured over to Frontierland and Adventureland. K wanted to go up in Tarzan's treehouse, but it was closed due to Fantasmic. I wanted to see Fantasmic, but once again, there's the noise issue. Plus we discovered that while Fanstasmic is going on, there were virutally no lines for the rides!! We rode Pirates of the Caribbean again, and were put in the very back of the boat. We got soaked...well, actually just our rear ends and feet got soaked. It was pretty funny!

K wanted to spend her last night in her favorite part of Disneyland...Fantasyland. We went to Snow White's Wishing Well, just to the right of the castle. As you lean over the well to make your wish, Snow White sings "I Am Wishing." K threw two pennies into the well for two wishes. And it took her forever...must've been some serious wishes!





We wandered around Fantasyland, rode some more rides and did the Castle Walk Through. This is really cool. As you walk through Beauty's Castle, it tells the story of Sleeping Beauty with 3-D dioramas. Hard to explain and the pictures aren't great. You just have to see it :-)





After the walk-through, it was aound 11, so we decided to make our way out to Main Street. We enjoyed our second night of sharing a churro and coke while sitting outside the lit castle then did a little shopping.







We had to get something for Ms. Brenda, who took care of our dogs. So we picked her up a Mickey coffee mug and flavored creamers, while I got Mickey and Minnie salt and pepper shakers to add to my collection. K picked out a Disney lollipop :) She bought a cute stuffed Mickey at the hotel gift shop the first day. She didn't have one, and you can't leave Disneyland without Mickey Mouse, right???

Our last day at Disneyland was wonderful!! If you want to see all my Day 3 pics, which seems to be the day I took the most, click here!

No comments: