Where were we? Ah, trying to make that decision about Splash (which we dearly love, and as I said, it was HOT) and park-hopping over to enjoy a few less people. I should mention that on the itinerary, we should be spending the late evening in Disneyland and seeing Fantasmic. I was planning to lay out our little throw on the grass and read something on my phone/people watch for a couple hours while DH took the little ones around/got dinner, etc. But we just weren't feeling Disneyland at the moment, and decided to make the Fantasmic decision later, and head across the esplanade. (I would possibly have never known it was called that except that I found the DisBoards through a little game called VMK (or
Virtual Magic Kingdom) back in the day.
Before we left though, I helped the kids complete their first pin trade (there hadn't been many CMs wearing lanyards where we had been mostly on rides.) They thought that was kind of cool, and we made slow progress to the turnstiles, since they were getting ready for the afternoon parade on Main Street, and the pins were plentiful. It was hard for me to just stay back and not influence the trading (much) since there were so many pins that I- thought were cool. Mommy might have to get in on the action next time. Here is a picture of one of their first trades:
Walking into California Adventure was a bit of a breath of fresh air. It was busy there too, but its more open- than Disneyland in many areas, and you could feel a bit of a breeze. It was definitely the right choice for us at that moment. After trading once or twice on our way in, we rode The Little Mermaid again. It was a constant favorite, mostly because the kids enjoyed it and the line was not much of a line.
After that I took the little one on one of her favorite rides, the Golden Zephyr, again while DH took the older two on Goofy's Sky School. Ha. Sucker. He'd never been on it. (Technicaly, neither had I, but I've ridden "Muholland Madness" once or twice, thank you.) I might have enjoyed the theming, but I was gracious and let him try it out. He wasn't a fan (surprise) but the kiddos enjoyed it. GSS had a bit of a line (maybe 10 minutes?) but we didn't have to wait for the Zephyr.
I was a little sad that the Silly Symphony Swings, which my kids would have loved, were closed, (They didn't even seem to be up on their little pedestal - strange?) but for the "off season," we really didn't miss much to refurbishment, overall. And they would have been awkward to ride, since none of our kids are tall enough to ride independently. Now we tried to figure out if the kids wanted to wait for the Pixar Play Parade or ride something else. Somewhat sadly, the older two wanted to ride TSMM again. (And DD2 usually wants whatever they're excited about still) I say sadly, because the wait was listed at 45 minutes. They still wanted to go though, so we did. I'd say we waited closer to 30 or 35, thankfully, and took a few fun pictures in the process.
This was actually the first time in the whole trip that my feet were starting to really hurt. They had felt tired before, but I was uncomfortable standing in this line. Goes to show that getting a little more fit and switching my shoes every other day made a difference this time though! (I was in my almost-broken Saucony sneakers and heel inserts again this day, even though the temperatures called for my Croc flip flops again. I had a tiny "hot spot" on top of each foot where the strap rubbed a bit though as soon as I put them on that morning, and I chickened out and switched them while we were standing in line before rope drop. How many of you can say you changed your shoes during rope drop? Anyone else crazy like me? )
The kids enjoyed the ride again, and DH was excited that he got "high score of the vehicle," whatever that means. ;-) We realized that if we booked it over there, we could probably catch most of the Play Parade, since it started on Buena Vista street, and would be ending by the Silly Symphony Swings. We ran (er, walked quickly) around and crossed just before they roped off the exit for the Parade to cross. DH was a bit grumpy at this point (I don't remember why, but I know HIS feet were hurting) so he sat back in a chair at the restaurant and watched while the kids and I got a curbside seat. (Lineside?) They enjoyed the parade, though not nearly as thoroughly as Soundsational the night before. I think any parade gets a few degrees more magical when the sun goes down though, and it was only about 5:30. ;-)
We weren't sure exactly what we wanted to do after the parade was over, but we were getting pretty hungry (and lets face it: TIRED), so we walked up through Cars Land to check out the lights and see what our options were, and then we continued over through the big arch. All the kids wanted was a Power Pack, and I figured at least one- of the restaurants in that little food court area of the Wharf would have one. We found some, and DH took the kids in to get some (it was a bit crowded and there were some lines) while I stopped at the Lucky Fortune Cookie (is that its name?) to get some food for myself and ask about their gluten-free options for DH. The chef came out of the restaurant (it's counter service) to talk to me about the options there, and DH ended up choosing to eat there too. The next morning I thought my tasty, very filling dinner had given me some mild food poisoning, but later I was thinking it was a little bit of heatstroke or something else. I'm still not sure.
After that we walked back through Carsland and ended up deciding to get in line for Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. The kids were really excited about it, and even though it was after 7:30 PM we decided the 30 minute wait wouldn't be too bad. The kids were a little hyper (especially DD2, who gets sillier as she gets tired) but doing okay when we had our little mishap. They were finishing up some of the goldfish crackers from dinner, and all of a sudden DD2 started choking on them a little bit. She worked through it almost as soon as we realized she was in distress, but it scared her pretty badly and she had a little accident. As soon as she realized it, she turned to DH, in the saddest voice said, Does this mean I don't get to ride the ride? Breaks your heart, doesn't it? DH walked her back out through the line and talked to the CM before exiting to go get her some fresh clothes. Thankfully the bathroom behind Flo's isn't that far away, and after about 10 minutes they were waiting for us at the exit. She had already had one slight accident that day (DLR is hard for the recently potty trained too much going on and potties are not closeby sometimes.) and used her change of clothes, so she ended up in her brothers extra pants thankfully some lightweight khakis that didn't look out of place.
Anyway we all got to ride the Junkyard Jamboree and I think it was one of their favorite rides. Definitely one of DD2s, so I'm glad she didn't miss it. ;-) And even though the line was long, it was a fun one to wait in that late in the evening, with all the lights and getting to watch the ride going on in the center. There is some fun giggling and sliding on the video.
You've probably realized by now that we decided to skip Fantasmic! this time. We had already done so much and experienced so much and we were a little crowd-weary and worn out in general. Also, I knew that it was intense enough to scare the kids at least a little bit, and I'm pretty sure that it will be there for our next trip, when they're older. Well try to make it a priority.
We couldn't decide about trying to catch the fireworks though (at least from the esplanade?) so we wandered over in the Animation Academy (which I'm NOT sure will be there next time, and which my older kids hadn't seen at all). First DH took me in to see some of the art though. We've always loved to look through here, but it wasn't something on our list with our kids for the first time.
When the kids got bored (or I got tired of asking them to look and not touch, I don't recall) we headed into further into the building. I LOVE those big screens and the immersion of video and sound in that big oval room. My kids are media junkies and thought it was the best thing ever. So we rested and relaxed a bit, checked out the Zoetrope (which blew my mind!) I think I've seen several other versions of the same idea, but never a 3-D model.
While we were relaxing they announced that Turtle Talk with Crush was starting. I'd seen it before, and it didn't excite me THAT much, but the kids had asked about it several times, so in we went. One of my favorite pictures of the trip was taken outside while we waited for it to start:
They kids enjoyed it a lot, and DD5 even got to ask Crush a question. (Why do you like your son?) Really, DD? Crush had to take a second to figure out what to do with that one.
If you had told me that the last attraction we would experience together on this epic trip would be Turtle Talk with Crush I probably would have laughed. It wasnt really in the same league as Fantasmic!, but it was a good example of how flexible we tried to be, I guess. We made the trip enjoyable by not
making anything happen against the flow. We tried to listen to our kids signals and ask what they wanted and gently steer them through a general schedule instead of a specific one.
We had mostly avoided stores (also different from our normal we generally do a lot of window shopping, even if we don't buy much) since we weren't planning to spend much on souvenirs, and didn't want the kids seeing all sorts of cool things and being disappointed. But after Turtle Talk we did a little shopping, planning to let the kids pick out one or two small things. DS, however, didn't see the Star Wars set he wanted there in CA, so we exited the park, intending to either find it at the World of Disney, or trek back into Disneyland to get it.
Im going to go ahead and post my final video, which will give away some of what happened next. I've got to get dinner going though, so Ill have to wait until later to tell you the story of how and why I watched the fireworks all by myself. <3
Day 3, part 2 Video
I just said I wouldn't ride and DH could take the other 2 by himself. As I got out of line the CM asked me if I decided no to ride and when I explained the situation they told me where to go to wait for my family. Happened again this last trip but it wasn't as bad as a situation.
I can't believe we're finally doing this! Praying for no sickness and decent weather!
