Disneyland Again!

On Wednesday, Henry wore his Batman shirt from his new PJs to school. I have a feeling that it is going to become one of those items he can't live without. Before we left for school, I said goodbye to Corinne who has done most of the nannying for us with Baby A. Due to cost, we have to put Baby A in daycare next week. We're pleased with the daycare, but we know Corinne will be missed.

I picked up the kids after my work. That meant I didn't get them until about 5:45PM. Miss Marissa was watching them. Her last day was Thursday, so it was sad to say goodbye. I picked up fast food Mexican for dinner. Meanwhile, Jeff took Lily to a place that boards dogs, Roger to my parents' house, and Baby A to her respite providers on the far east side of town. We hadn't packed at all, so that was quite a task, and we didn't leave until 10PM.

On Thursday, we rolled into Anaheim at 5:30AM. Henry realized that we were somewhere exciting when he saw the statue of Mickey in the lobby (we're at the Disneyland Hotel). The kids had managed to sleep in the car. I got in a few catnaps, but Jeff didn't sleep much when I was driving as he doesn't have my ability to sleep in a car.

Henry was fussy b/c he wanted to go to Disneyland. He didn't buy our explanations that the park wasn't yet open. We all managed to get two hours of nap before getting up and ordering room service. While we waited for room service, I took the kids to walk around outside because Henry clearly had energy to work off. He was being very loud in the hotel room. The kids had fun dancing in a gazebo until Jeff called us to say that breakfast had arrived. The kids liked their Mickey Mouse pancakes.

We made use of the "Magic Mornings" hotel privilege, which meant getting into the park an hour before opening. We took the Monorail into the park. We went to several attractions, starting with the Matterhorn, which Miss R was a fraction too short to ride (so Henry rode it once with me and then once with Jeff). Henry’s favorite was Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. Miss R’s favorites were Pirates of the Caribbean and King Arthur’s Carousel. Henry fell asleep on our way to lunch. Miss R got a sudden burst of energy. So I stayed with Miss R in the park after lunch while Henry and Jeff went back to the hotel to nap.

Miss R and I went on the Winnie the Pooh ride three times, visited Winnie the Pooh whom she gave a hug, and then went into The Haunted House (having already visited it once earlier in the day). Then, it was time to head back to the hotel, where she slept quite soundly. Henry got up before she did. So Jeff took Henry back to the park, where they enjoyed a couple rounds on the Teacups.

This is a view of the Neverland pool from our balcony at the hotel. Once Miss R woke up from her nap, we met the boys in Fantasyland.

The park closed at 8PM on Thursday. We made our way back through Downtown Disney on the way to the hotel. There were people doing live music throughout Downtown Disney. Henry enjoyed songs by a man playing Spanish music on his guitar. A little girl (about 2) was dancing to the music so Henry joined her. The little girl actually had an incredibly good sense of rhythm. Henry mimicked many of her moves as well as doing a little rumba-matador movements around her. The funniest moment was when she put her hand on the ground and started wiggling her derriere around. Henry then got down next to her and did the same thing. It left her mother and us in stitches. We had dinner at the Rainforest Café, and then headed back to the hotel.

On Friday morning, the park was fairly well-filled at the opening. We arrived on the Monorail at 9AM and decided to hit the Finding Nemo Submarine ride first because the line is usually quite long.

We had lunch in New Orleans Square at a gumbo place. The restaurant had outdoor seating near the Pirates line. Henry dropped a cracker on the ground, jumped off his seat, picked it up, and ate it before I could catch him. This made a man in line laugh. The man said, “Don’t worry. He’ll grow up fine. Just look at this one who did the same thing.” The man’s son (probably about 20) was standing next to him. We went on the Pirates ride after lunch. Henry startled a woman on the boat just as she was drinking from her water bottle by shouting out the “Yo Ho” song right behind her. That made her husband (assuming) laugh.











































We went over to California Adventure around 1:15PM in an effort to see “Aladdin: The Musical Spectacular,” which is a shortened stage production of the Aladdin movie. The production was probably an hour or so, and the kids did reasonably well sitting through it. That was their first musical (unless we count last year’s Elmo Live!, which Henry didn’t sit through but Miss R did). While we waited in line for the show, Henry met a little girl who was probably about 1 year old. He was fascinated with her and gave her a few hugs. He was being very sweet to her.

We headed back to the hotel for naps after riding Monsters, Inc. twice. Henry took a very good nap. Miss R rolled around the bed for two hours but did not sleep. She sang the Eagles theme song at the top of her lungs however. I didn’t know she knew the words (that’s definitely Jeff’s doing). After nap time, we headed to the pool area. Unfortunately, they closed the slides before Henry could ride on them. Henry and Miss R played in some sand near the pool. Miss R pranced around singing “Yo Ho Yo Ho, A Pirate’s Life for Me.” I got into the jacuzzi. It wasn't a very hot jacuzzi and there were a lot of kids in it. Henry joined me. We didn't let him stay in it long. A six year old boy came up to Henry and struck up a conversation with him. He seemed drawn to Henry and surprised at Henry answering his questions. It was cute.

We decided to get some pretzels on the way to the Monorail. Riding the Monorail was a HUGE mistake. They had “a slight delay,” which meant keeping us stopped about 3 minutes from the station in Tomorrowland for a half-hour. Being trapped with Henry in a small space was no picnic. When we got off, they gave us tickets for jumping the lines of any single ride we wanted. We went to It’s a Small World for the first time on our trip. The kids liked it. We then sat toward the back of Fantasyland and had a fabulous view of the fireworks. It was not as crowded as the front of the castle is, so we got to sit down on the ground and enjoy ourselves. The only disadvantage of the spot was we didn’t get to hear the music that goes with the fireworks, but as we’d heard it before, it wasn’t a big loss. I’d probably choose that spot again if given the choice.

After the fireworks, we went on the Fantasyland train. Then, we walked around, eventually making our way back to Fantasyland. The Peter Pan ride was a 45 minute wait. So we used our coupon to jump the line and got on it in about 10 minutes. Miss R was sound asleep. So we “switched riders,” which allows parents of small kids to ride a ride and then switch places. That allowed Henry to go on it twice (first with Jeff, then with me). After that, we headed back to the hotel. To say that the lines were crazy is an understatement. At 10:15PM at night, the lines for “little kid” rides were the longest we’d seen them ever (and it wasn’t because of tons of kids in the park).

On Saturday morning, we had reservations for a “character breakfast” at Goofy’s Kitchen. The kids saw many characters who stopped by our table: Pluto, Dale, Mulan, Goofy, Chip, Baloo, and Snow White.