When we rolled out of bed and as I was getting ready in the bathroom, Natalie says to me:
"I'm still debating going on Screamin'. I haven't made up my mind."
This is huge. That she is even considering it is amazing. Then she tells me she wants to do it, but that she wanted to ride some other stuff first.
I tell her that if she's nervous about it, we should go straight away and ride it FIRST, otherwise she is just going to build up the anxiety until we do it and it'll make it that much worse. Really? She asks? Dad agrees. She agrees. Off we go.
Now, my memory fails me for a bit here, because I know that Natalie and I set off by ourselves. The whole way there, I just knew she would chicken out, but we kept getting closer and closer. When we actually got to Screamin, we got right in line. John texted me and asked where we were and I told him in line...and he said he was crossing the bridge. I told him to hustle if he wanted to watch us take off from the rail.
The whole way through the line, she kept asking me to compare it to other rides so she would know what to expect. I told her I thought Space Mountain was probably scarier and woman ahead of us in line turned and asked if it was her first time. Natalie nodded, nervously. She assured her Space was scarier and she had nothing to worry about. When we got our seat assignments, we were in row 2. There were two guys beside us in row 1 and they noticed that Natalie was quite nervous, as well. One guy told her she had nothing to worry about and that the ride was awesome. The other guy said something like "You'll be fine....if you survive" and I told her not to listen to him and I told him he was awful. I know he meant it in a joking way but what a thing to say!
Once we got in and pulled the safety bars down over us, Natalie says to me "MommyIdon'twanttodoitIwanttogetoff" and is borderline tears. I knew that we were just about to start moving, so if I could stall her for just a few seconds, we would be committed. And that's just what happened. I told her it was too late and she would be fine.
I saw John at the rail when we came around the bend, waiting to take off. 5...4...3...2...1...SCA-REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEM! WHOOSH! We were off! Natalie was screaming her little lungs out and as soon as we hit the first drop, I hear her scream "OH MY GOD THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!" and I knew all was well. And I also knew that the thing she was the most afraid of was the loop. She was loving the ride, but she always keeps her eyes closed the first time she rides anything scary, so I waited until after the loop to tell her "Natalie! That was the loop! You did it!" and she chirps back "REALLY? OH MY GOD THAT WAS NOTHING!" Haha. What a kid.
When we got off the ride, the guys next to us caught up to us and gave her the ?Well? Thumbs....up? Sign and she beamed and gave them both a big double thumbs up. They gave her high fives. I think the one guy felt a bit bad.
We caught back up with John and he showed the photo he took of us at takeoff. I wish I had it. We hastily grabbed three FP's for Screamin', and then we were off to Build-A-Bear, while John took off to procure a locker for us. And let me tell you, she chirped on and on about how awesome the ride was and how proud of herself she was the entire way through DTD. And I was so proud of her, too. And I told her that she had now conquered every single scary ride at Disneyland and DCA! There was nothing left to fear!
Once we got to Build-A-Bear, I was relieved to see that it was empty. She picked out a Boxer that she named Buddy, as well as some sunglasses for Buddy and a shirt. That kid has more stuffed animals...
Once we hooked back up with John, we headed over and grabbed ToT FP's and then walked on to ToT twice, then headed over to Natalie's new favorite ride of all time, ever, California Screamin', and used our FP's.
After Screamin', we were all feeling a bit hungry so we meandered on over to Whitewater Snacks, where John and I split the beef nachos and the chicken sandwich. I think the nachos have been significantly downgraded...they were much smaller than I remember and there was barely any beef, where there used to be a ton.
Man, that chicken sandwich was messy. Anyway...after our lunch, we headed over to Grizzly River Run and got a bit wet, but nothing like that time on Splash. We rode with another dad and his three kids that were making him go over and over and over...they were cute. He told them to get it completely out of their system so that he could change clothes once they were done with that ride. Smart.
After Grizzly, we wanted to do Soarin' but Natalie was still not up for it. I don't think she'll ever get on it again. We asked her if it would be OK for us to go on it and to wait for us...and she didn't seem to mind.
After Soarin', we did ToT once more, and then headed across the Esplanade for Disneyland.
Had to get a shot of her with the giant N since it would be the last time, ever.
*sniff*
Once back in Disneyland, our mission was BTMRR.
John left something back at the room, again, and told us he'd catch up with us later, so Natalie and I decided to do the Sleeping Beauty Castle walkthrough, since we'd never done that before.
Stopped at the hub for a photo or two...
Got a few of the castle...
The walkthrough was pretty neat. I was sorry that John had to miss it.
Then we poked around for a bit in Fantasyland. She rode the carousel, but couldn't find the elusive horse with the gold tooth which was Walt's wife's favorite horse.
We stopped for a bit to watch the teacups in motion...
...and then we headed over towards the Matterhorn and Tomorrowland Terrace where we pulled up a seat and waited for John to catch up with us. Once we were finally together again, we headed on over to Space Mountain.
Once we'd ridden Space for the nine-thousandth time, it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for our dinner at the Napa Rose which we were REALLY looking forward to. We caught the monorail back to DTD (we didn't want to fight with the parade crowd) and then headed to the hotel.
Once ready for dinner, we thought it would make sense to walk through DCA and enter the hotel from there, so I snapped a few photos of Paradise Pier all lit up along the way.
To be continued...