Day 5:
The time to wake up came AWFULLY early Tuesday morning. This was our early entry day, so we got to be in the park at 7:00 instead of 8:00. This meant we needed to leave the hotel by 6:30 to make it to the front of the line! We wasted no time getting everyone up and going. Since Fantasyland would be open, this would be the day we really hit that area! We also wanted to get Dads Christmas present there: a picture of all the grandkids by one of the rides. Weve had the kids picture taken as a present for him for the last 12 years, so we didnt want to stop doing that now! My sister and I made some matching t-shirts for the kids, and we planned on lining them up in front of Monstro the whale at Storybookland Canal Boats! Anyway, we were soon all ready to go. Going so early meant that we wouldnt get to have breakfast at the hotel, so I loaded my bag with granola bars and leftover apples, and away we went!
There was no wait at security, so pretty soon we were all queuing up at the gates! Once they opened the gates, we found that we had a problem. We are staying at a Good Neighbor Hotel, so that qualifies us for early entry, but they hadnt made that notation in the computer, so when our tickets went through, they didnt want to let us in. Once we explained where we were staying, the lovely CMs quickly let us through, and away we went!
Instead of heading through the castle (the way everyone else seemed to be doing), we headed through Tomorrowland to hit the Matterhorn. There was really very little wait, here. Mary didnt want to go on the ride (and truth be told, neither did I), so she and I went to wait for everyone else by the Teacups. The others were off quickly, and met up with me there. Some wanted another ride on the other side of Matterhorn, so they went to do that, and I took Mary, Jacob, Jamison, Katie and Ian on the Teacups. Alan wont even consider doing this ride, as it throws him off balance for the rest of the day. It was a crazy, fun ride, and the screams of laughter from the kids made the sick feeling in my stomach totally worth it! We were able to squeeze in 2 rides on the Teacups while they were on the Matterhorn.
Next up was Storybookland Canal Boats! This is such a great ride! Unfortunately, our party of 25 was too many for one boat, so we split up. We still had a crowd, so the skipper asked my Jacob to sit up with her and help her pilot the boat. He was thrilled! Mom used to love going on this ride, as the miniature buildings really were something she loved. She loved to look at all the detail, so this ride was another one in her memory!
Once off this ride, we lined up all the grandkids to take the Christmas picture for Dad. It was fun to see this group of 12 kids all smiling in front of Monstro! Its times like this that I really know how lucky I am to belong to this great family! While we were taking the picture, Dad was chatting up a Fantasyland CM. He mentioned how sad we were not to be able to ride Peter Pan, and the CM whispered to dad to come to Fantasyland early Friday morning for a ride on Peter Pan. It was not going to be announced, they were just going to open the ride. How excited was he???? Very! I think that made his whole day!
Once the picture was out of the way, we headed to Dumbo! This is a must do for us all! The kids love flying the elephants, and its just fun to be able to look down at Fantasyland! This would be Timothys first flight so we were eager to see what he thought of it. Alan and Katie took Timothy, while I went with Jacob and Mary. All the kids loved it! So much fun! Up next was Mr. Toads Wild Ride! Jacob only has vague memories of this ride, and what he remembered scared him a little bit. He wasnt sure he wanted to go on this ride. We finally convinced him, and off we went. It does get a little big scary, as you have to go to Hell, but we made it through all right, and a fun trip was had by us all!
At this point, I needed to change and feed Timothy, so I took care of that while the rest of the group went on Casey Jr. Circus Train. I was sorry to miss this ride, but Alan got some fun pictures of the kids showing their wild animal faces! They love to ride in the cages on the train! I always tell them they should ride in the monkey cage, but they always go for the tiger one! What do I know????
It was finally time for one of my favorites
.Its a Small World! I truly love this ride! I always have! I enjoy the song, I enjoy the dolls, and I enjoy that its 15 minutes off my feet in an air-conditioned ride! As we headed over to Small World, Leslie changed into her Princess dress! Shes been dying to wear it since Grandpa gave it to her a couple of months ago! I was sure she would ruin it before we got to Ariels Grotto, but she was very careful! In fact, she turned into a princess in that gown. She would hold it out in front of her and kind of dance her way from place to place. It was so cute!
At Small World we were pleasantly surprised to see that the boats are new here! They even have several boats that wheelchairs can be loaded onto. That would have made things so much easier with Mom! Oh well! This ride never fails to make me smile! We had a great time, this year, looking for all the new dolls that Disney has added. We found Alice in Wonderland, Lilo and Stitch, Cinderella, Gus and Jaq, Mowgli, Woody, Jesse and Bullseye, Ariel, Jasmine and Aladdin, Mulan and Mushu, Timon and Puumba, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell and a few others. It was fun! While they dont technically match the rest of the dolls, they are fun to spot! Some were a lot harder to spot than others! The baby fell asleep while on this ride, which was kind of a disappointment, as I really wanted to see his reaction to the bright colors. Oh well. Theres always next time!
At this point, we knew it was time to start working our way to the front of the park. We needed to be in DCA for our lunch at Ariels Grotto soon, and we didnt want to be late. As we got to Adventureland, we saw that we had more time than we thought, so we decided to watch the Tiki Room show! Again, this is one that I love! Unfortunately, Timothy decided to use this time to need a diaper change. Since Alan doesnt like the Tiki room as much as I do, he volunteered to change the diaper. A friendly CM told him that there are bathrooms right by the room, and showed him where they were. Imagine my surprise when Alan came back just a couple of minutes later with an unchanged baby! He said there was no changing table in the mens restroom. Probably true, but I wasnt about to check. Since the show was just starting, he held Timothy until it was over, so it wouldnt spoil the show for me. What a guy! I love this show! I like to sing along, and just have a fun time here. All the grandkids loved this, too! Even Timothy got into the music, and really enjoyed the fountain! It was darling, and I was unhappy that I couldnt use my camera to catch Timothys expressions as the birds above him started talking!
Once the show was over, Alan and the rest of the group went to Tarzans Treehouse, while I took Mr. Stinkypants to the restroom for a change. It wasnt as bad as I feared, so it was a quick diaper change. Didnt need to change the outfit! Lucky me!!! I got to the base of the treehouse, and waited for the rest of the group to descend. I have to admit that I really dont like this attraction! I loved the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, but this change seems really cheesy to me! However, the kids love it. So, I guess Ill do the teacups and Alan can do the Treehouse! Even Steven!
Now, it really was time to head to Ariels Grotto! This is one meal that my Dad insists on! With a whole bunch of granddaughters, he loves to see their reactions to the Princesses! We also like the fact that its not a buffet, so the kids have to sit in their chairs, and dont get to run around, handling the food! Once there, Mary agreed to put on her dress. This was a big concession for our little Tomboy! She didnt want to wear the dress, but agreed once I played the dead grandma card, and told Mary how much Grandma had wanted to see her in her Cinderella dress at Ariels Grotto. Mary consented to wear it until she had her picture taken with Ariel, and then off it came!
Check in went smoothly, but once they saw that there would be 12 kids in the picture with Ariel, they asked us to go to our table, and they would bring Ariel to us. We were seated outside on the patio, which was fine with us! We had a nice view of California Screamin on one side, and the drained lagoon on the other. The boys thought it was really cool that they could watch all the construction thats going on for the new water show DCA is putting in. Lots of big machines to watch! At the table were trays of our appetizers. We had Jell-O cubes, fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, mozzarella balls, salami, pickles and other items. We also had baskets of bread. Some kind of whole grain bread and sourdough bread shaped like coral. Very cute, and the kids enjoyed it a lot! Our waitress came out and took drink orders, and then the Photographer came and took all the kids to the gazebo for pictures with Ariel. It was really cute!
We ordered our lunches and quite quickly we were eating. I had ordered the Tri Tip Steak with mashed potatoes and green beans. Very yummy! I think we all enjoyed our food here! It was a lot of food! As we ate, the Princesses circulated. We saw Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora and Jasmine. While Cinderella was at our table, it was time for a royal dance lesson. All the little girls (and some of the little boys) got up, learned to curtsey and bow, and how to do the dance. It was so cute to see them doing their best to be real royalty!
Lunch was finished off with a selection of desserts. There were cookies, fruit tarts, and a chocolate lava cake that was incredible! I think we all really enjoyed this lunch. I know that it met Dads expectations! He was thrilled to see the kids enjoying themselves so much!
Once lunch was over, we went to check out the line on California Screamin. Heres where our one sad moment of the trip happened. Mary was dying to ride this! For some reason, she really, really wanted to ride this. We had measured her the day before, and she came up short, but she wanted to try again. When we measured her against the board, lo and behold, she hit the measuring bar! She was so excited! We quickly got through the line, and were at the boarding area, when they pulled her aside to measure her again. When they measured her here, her head was about 1/2 inch under the bar! It was so disappointing to her! I didnt know what wed do to make it up to her! The others went on the ride, and we waited for them at the end.
Once done here, Alan agreed to take Timothy back to the hotel for a nap, while I took the other kids to Toon Town. He despises Toon Town, but the kids really wanted to go. So, we parted ways at this point. My sister, Dorcas, had the same agreement with her husband, so we paired up. Before we left DCA, however, we had promised the kids a ride on the Orange Stinger. I would have to ride with one twin, my niece Marina with another twin and Dorcas with her daughter Olivia in the double swings, while the rest of the kids were tall enough to ride by themselves. Unfortunately, there are only 4 double swings, so the 4 kids that were riding by themselves were done before we were
..long before we were! We sent them to wait for us at the bottom of the ride. Instead, 3 of them headed off for the play area, without letting Jamison know. Now, Jamison has Asbergers Syndrome, and when he fixates on something, he doesnt hear whats going on around him. So, even though his older brother told him to come with them, Jamison didnt hear them. He was watching something else. We saw all this from the line of the ride, and my sister went into full panic mode, as Jamison finally realized that the kids had left him, and he began to wander away, looking for them. She raced down the line, and eventually caught him and took him to his brother in the play area. Does it tell you how long we had to wait if I mentioned that all this happened and she was back in line before we had moved at all????? We eventually had our ride on the Stinger, and Im happy to say I never have to do this again! We now left DCA and went back over to DL!
Once at DL we boarded the train to take us to Toon Town. It was fun to ride the train, and get off our feet for a while! Theres a Toon Town stop, so thats where we got off. The first thing we wanted to do was go on Roger Rabbits Car Toon Spin. As we got there, we noticed CMs turning people away. The ride was down for about an hour. So, on we went. The kids ha a blast trying all the doors and looking in all the mailboxes, windows, etc. When they got tired of that, we decided to go to Minnies house. However, the line in front was horribly long. We were told that the wait to get inside Minnies house was like 75 minutes! No Way! Instead, we headed to Mickeys house. No line here! The kids looked all through the house, and when they got tired of looking around, we got in line to meet Mickey Mouse. We really only had about a 5 minute wait to see him. The CM in charge of him, raved over the kids shirts, and Mickey himself, was thrilled with them! We got some really cute pictures here, and then we headed out!
Next stop was Chip and Dales Treehouse. Last time we had come here, there was a pit of acorns that kids could play in and jump into, but now its not there. All there is is a lame treehouse. The kids were really disappointed! So, to alleviate the disappointment, we hopped into line for Gadgets Go Coaster. Leslie was really scared of this ride; even though I told her shed been on it when she was 3. Didnt matter, she didnt want to ride it. Still, she was brave, and we got her on it with little fuss and no tears. It was funny to watch her try not to smile during the ride. You could tell she was enjoying it, but was not about to let anyone know!
We were so hot after this! We took a few minutes to get Goofys autograph and picture, and then we decided that liquid refreshment was in order! We stopped at a frozen drink place, and ordered a sour watermelon slushy and a frozen apple juice. We shared them between the kids, and the consensus was that while the apple juice was good, the watermelon was more refreshing. We sat in some shade and finished the drinks, and planned out the rest of what we wanted to do. The older kids wanted to get back to the hotel for a swim, so we decided to make our way out of Toon Town. As we were leaving, we saw the CMs at Roger Rabbits Car Toon Spin letting people line up. My nephew asked how long it would be and was told anywhere from 5 minutes to 20 minutes. We decided to wait it out! We were among the first 10 people in line when it opened back up in about 7 minutes, so we felt pretty lucky. This was a really cute ride, but it didnt mean much to my kids, since they have never seen the movie. Guess well have to watch that one sometime soon. Still, they thought it was fun, and it was a ride theyd never been on before.
We got back on the train, and headed for the Main Street stop. We love the railroad, since its a relaxing ride, and theres a great diorama of the Grand Canyon. My kids loved it, as they had just come from the real thing, and could compare. Jacob especially loved the part where you see the dinosaurs in the Grand Canyon. All Mary took away from the ride is that the dinosaurs made the Grand Canyon. Not sure how she came to that conclusion, but its cute nonetheless!
We left
Disneyland and headed back to the hotel. Once there, it was a fast thing to get everyone in swimsuits and in the pool. Even Alan and Timothy decided to take a dip. It was Timothys first time in the pool, and he loved it! The kids loved seeing him in the pool, too! Our kids made great friends with a couple of other kids staying at the hotel. So, it was a fun afternoon. After a couple of hours, we headed back to Disneyland for more fun!
We wanted to do Big Thunder again, but the ride was down for a while, so instead we headed back to Pirates of the Caribbean! Love this ride! Its so much fun to watch my dads face on this ride. Not to mention the kids.
Next up was Splash Mountain. It was finally my turn for a ride down the waterfall! Mary agreed to go with me, and we got to sit in the back. I really enjoyed the ride, but felt no need to do it more than once. Not so the rest of the group! They all wanted another run! Luckily, there were no crowds, and it was a walk on. So, I took Timothy, my Dad, Leslie and Olivia and we went on the Pooh Bear ride while the others went on Splash. Actually, we were able to do about 4 rides on Pooh Bear while we waited for them to get off Splash! No problem, though. The little ones love Pooh Bear. Timothy just laughed his way through that ride! We went back to BTMRR and had a quick run on the wildest ride in the wilderness! before stopping for a break. Lunch had been a long time ago, and the kids were hungry. We decided it was time to eat.
My sisters family and my family decided to head to IHOP for some food. It was a bit chilly, now that the sun had gone down, so we thought a nice hot dinner would hit the spot. Since kids eat free with an adult entrée, this makes it affordable for our family. Dad decided to come with us, so off we headed. As we walked along, we all remarked at how wonderful it was to have a trip where there were no meltdowns (thus far), and how much fun we were all having. Dinner was pretty good! We managed to get the kids to not order the smiley face pancake, so we felt good about their choices. Jacob and Leslie got silver dollar pancakes, eggs and sausage. Mary ordered a grilled cheese and fries, and Katie ordered a cheese steak sandwich. She was thrilled not to have to order off the kids menu anymore! I ordered a bacon guacamole burger which was to die for! The avocado was so fresh and buttery! I took the meat off the bun and just ate the meat, with the avocado! Yummy! Alan also ordered some kind of salad, and he was happy with that, as well! Once dinner was almost over, Timothy was cranky! Hed been so good to watch the rest of us eat, but he figured it was his turn! I left Alan and the kids at IHOP (conveniently located next to our hotel), and took Timothy home for his dinner. I got him fed, in his jammies and in his bed before the rest of the family got home. Unfortunately, they left his stroller at IHOP. I had left it there, as it had the kids jackets in the basket. Alan trudged back, and met up with my youngest brother and his wife and in-laws there, so he visited with them for a while. We eventually got the kids all ready for bed, and it was lights out for us all by 9:00.
I am glad that you had the opportunity to have her to yourselves for this trip, a little one is more work and the trip is so different but what a memory you all made!
It also happens to be the last Tuesday that I will be going to bed in NYC. Next Tuesday night I'll be in NOLA! 
I am not feeling bad at all! I dont have alot of pain, just when I do too much walking. I go in for surgery tomorrow. I have to call them at 8 this morning to find out what time I have to check in. 
......Nan might find out I had something to do with Buddy hurting his back.....
I would think that putting them in the mail, would be easiest for you!
I was not going to meet up with someone I didnt know in Hartford. So it turns out she lives near the courthouse my aunt works at. So she was able to leave them with the Marshall in the front of the building. 
What a day!
I send you an email with my address but there is no need to bother your DH or rush to send them. 
How is HE feeling? 
