Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Disneyland - 2010 edition

My sister's kids were on spring break this week, so my parents decided to take the family to Disneyland before heading back to Spain next month. We flew down on Easter morning and met up in Long Beach. My mom's sister lives in northern San Diego county, so we decided to go spend Easter with her and her husband. While we were praying over dinner, the earthquake hit. The house was rockin' and rollin' to say the least and we were hours from the epicenter. Luckily it only lasted a minute and we go on with dinner while listening to the local news. Strike 1.

On Monday morning, we went to breakfast at the hotel where we stayed and right after the food was brought to the table, my oldest nephew Riley lost his Easter dinner all over the floor. If you know what I mean. And I think you do. Strike 2.

My sister stayed at the hotel with her oldest and youngest offspring while my parents and I took the middle 3 to Disneyland. We walk through the gates, get a photo with Mickey Mouse as seen below....

...and then it starts to pour. Strike 3.

But we stood in line and rode all the rides anyway. So it lightened up enough that we pulled out the camera again at Dumbo. The funniest thing about going to Disneyland as an adult it noticing how much smaller things are in reality than how you imagined them in your head for so long. We went to Disneyland at least 3 times before I was 7, and I'm still convinced that when I was younger, the rides were all much larger.



Riding the Casey Jr. train. Do kids even watch Dumbo anymore? I don't think the kids knew what the ride was about. I guess it doesn't really matter though.

This is still one of my favorite rides at Disneyland. The last time we went, it was closed, so I'm glad it was open this time. And as if all the British people at Disneyland weren't enough of a reminder, there was this:

Oh, the pain.

By the middle of the afternoon, Hannah had just about had it. So she fell asleep on my dad's shoulder while we were in line at Pirates of the Caribbean. Poor thing had been scared enough during the day, then she was woken up by the boat careening down a luge and then surrounded by mechanical pirates. She kept yelling "cary, papa!!!" = "Scary, Grandpa!"

To make up for that, we went on the Winnie the Pooh ride and then got photos with Tigger.

And then the teacups, which I am convinced is the best ride on the planet, or universe. How can you not have fun on the teacups? I watched while we were standing in line and everyone is laughing and smiling the entire time.


The last ride we went on was the Finding Nemo submarine ride. When I was a little girl, I loved this ride because of the mermaids, so I wanted to check out the ride's successor. Not bad, but I don't know why they make all the rides so scary. We had a delay right when we were "being eaten by a whale"....which is not good for the children who might be scared of large fish anyway....

And even though he didn't go to Disneyland with us, I have to give a shout out to Daniel, my little buddy who is about 22 months old. Love that kid.

All day Tuesday we spent at the hotel hanging out at the pool and last night on my flight home, my mom's best friend from high school was my flight attendant. So instead of taking a nap like I'd planned, she and I chatted our way through California at about 20,000 feet. I was in bed last night before 9pm and was fast asleep by 9:30pm. Getting out of bed this morning was no small feat.

Thanks to my parents for a great vacation! Let's not do it again for a few years. :) I might need all that time to recover.

2 comments:

Bud & Kim said...

So fun! Glad you had a good time. :-)

Margie Quilter said...

I'm jealous because I love Disneyland.... I wish I was there with you oh and Steph, you're so pretty!!!