TSMM, Soarin'. Done and enjoyed. Got a second set of FPs for Soarin' b/c SIL loved it so much, but one thing I DO remember is that the time on them was 1:55, so we had some time to wait!
snippets from the day
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We had
lunch (none of us except E had had breakfast) at Cocina Cucamonga and Pacific Wharf Cafe. E and I both got kid's meals of the bean and cheese burritos. For the first time, he actually wanted to try the fruit cup. He couldn't deal with how sweet it was, but at least he tried it this time! Brother and SIL shared the corn chowder (in the important bread bowl) and the Carne Asada w/ Chicken Tamale. They enjoyed it all. For some reason, SIL also got the toddler meal of mac and cheese, and offered some to E...he really liked it, and so did she. I can't get over what a tiny little portion of mac and cheese it is, but at least the taste was good (according to them).
I really like the set-up of the new Cocina...you order well away from the windows, at stand alone kiosks like they do at Pizza Oom Mow Mow and, I believe, the Hungry Bear. Then you take your receipt to the windows, and once you get up to the person at the window, you show your receipt and they gather your order. The kid meals were still in the mickey plates, but the other dish was on a proper (bright yellow) plate and came with proper silverware. Nice!
There was a roving female mariachi band. They didn't bug me, but my sib and his wife are extremely anti roving bands, so it brought tension to the table. Thankfully we were done with our food by the time they started over towards our side.
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The
tortilla factory was a big hit! Not, perhaps, the "maseca" cartoon, but seeing them made and having a fresh one at the end was a good thing. SIL wanted to go again, right away! While she did that with Eamon, that's when I went to first aid, as it was just around the corner. Brother went with me, but waited outside.
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E did not get soaked in the
bug's land water areas! My sib scoffed at me when I told E he could run through things, but he was not to get soaked...but he agreed, and he did just that! Got a light sprinkling all over and was happy with that.
We rode the Chew Chew train (brother noticed the "chew" spelling and meaning immediately). E and I went on Tuck and Roll, where we encountered a wait! Had to wait 2 ride cycles before we went on. Shocking. They have GOT to do something about the heat in there...the tent just traps the hot air...I know I'd been to first aid by then b/c I had my wet paper towel around my neck, LOL, but I always notice the heat under that big top.
The CM was borderline useless on that...she was having issues on Heimlich, too (they cycle the CMs around the rides quickly in bug's land and it's not the first time that the CM at Heimlich was the CM at tuck/roll even when we go right over there). Then she'd make the announcement about...well, who knows, really, and she talked fast, high, and muffled. I did quite a good impression of her later, by speaking into my closed fist, it brought a smile to my stoic brother's face. Always fun to get a smile.
E actually DROVE the buggie this time! He needed some help sometimes, but for more than half of the ridetime, he was controlling the entire vehicle. How cool is that? Both Robert and I have relatively long torsos with relatively short legs, but maybe E is going to get the long legs from my dad's side of the family? His being able to reach the pedal might be indicative of that.
The Ladybug Boogie was fun, but like I've mentioned, something about the ride re-injured whatever part is injured on my bro. He hasn't shared what exactly is pulled, but it's something very painful, I can tell.
After that we called it quits in bug's land, b/c E doesn't enjoy Flik's Flyers enough to go just the two of us, nor does he like it enough to justify any wait over, say 5 minutes.
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While leaving the bug's land area, SIL saw Sam Andreas Shakes (actually she saw it on our way in, and we created a path where it was on our way out towards Sunshine Plaza...creative path). She needed one of those shakes.
So while wandering out of there, heading for our second time on Soarin', they decided to stop in the shade of Grizzly Mountain (as I call it, even if that's not the name, LOL) and finish it. I figured that I might as well go get the FPs, so that's what I did!
They are generous with everything else in their lives...but NOT desserts. Desserts are hoarded, and I wasn't having fun watching them scarf down a milkshake.
So I went over there, and in my brain-melt (I was still overheating then), I got a FP using E's AP too. He won't go on it, he doesn't like the fact that you disappear, but we made that 4th FP work for us.
When I got back we went on Soarin' again.
Later on, when we made our way over into Hollywood, first we went on
Monsters Inc. The line was out the door, which is a first for us. Not unpleasant, just surprising.
After Monsters, I went on
TOT with sis in law...she screamed so loud! And she was laughing so hard at the end. Loved it. We came out and she went on again (using E's FP) with my brother. He tells me she screamed on that ride too...he of course did not, silly boy. But they both really liked the ride.