Disneyland Day Four - Friday

We were up and at the gates at 8:15.  We met Jenny and Justin and took some pictures while we waited for everyone else. 



So we met everyone at Peter Pan in Fantasyland.  We boarded our flying pirate ships and took a trip to Neverland.





A funny side story, I don't know if Jenny is going to tell it or not, so I will.  Like Bailee on our first trip, Zoey was terrified of every ride we went on.  Halfway through the day, they bought Tyler a Buzz gun.  At the Haunted Mansion I saw Zoey with the gun calm and collected (earlier she was screaming), so I asked Jenny what the deal was.  Apparently, whenever Zoey got scared, she would just point the gun and shoot and she was fine.  So the rest of the trip, she had that gun with her at all times.  It was great.
So after our flight I wanted a family picture on the teacups, too bad Bailee had her eyes closed.




After the teacups, we went on Alice.  Everyone was wanting to go off and do some different things, so before we all split up, I insisted on a picture in front of the castle with everyone:

So after we said cheese, we all took off in different directions.  Matt was starting to get cranky, so we headed over to Riverbelle Terrace for some pancakes.  After breakfast we decided to climb up Tarzan's Treehouse.  It was cute.

After we climbed the treehouse, everyone met us at Pirates.  Right when we got up to load onto the boat, we were told that it was having technical difficulties.  But it would only have a 10 minute wait, so we decided to wait it out.  We got on it and at the end, where the pirates are shooting each other, one of the pirates hands had popped off, and when we got back to the loading dock, they were escorting everyone out and closing it down.  So after Pirates, the kids wanted to ride the "fast train" again.  So we headed to Thunder Mountain Railroad.  Bailee was giddy.  She would laugh at every turn and drop.  When we pulled up to unload, the Stoker's and Tullis' were waiting to get on our train, so I snapped a picture.

After our train ride, we were ready for a nap.  Before everyone took off, we got a picture at the entrance:

The sun was right in our faces, that is why everyone has funny looks on their faces, but it is still priceless.  So after our naps, we were going to meet in California Adventure at the Animation Building.  Matt and I got there a little early because I wanted some pictures:


Once we were all together, we hit Monsters and then some of the group wanted to go on Tower of Terror again and the rest went to start saving a place for the Pixar Play Parade.  This is my favorite parade.  I love the music, the floats, everything.





So after the parade we headed back to Disneyland.  We decided to hit Tomorrowland.  We went on Buzz and Space Mountain.  I was really struggling with the whole email thing, because the only ones I have are of Matt and I.  Too bad.

So we started to save places for the fireworks.  We got a spot front and center.   Linsey and Ray didn't want to watch the fireworks, so they went to the Princess Fantasy Faire and waited hours to see the princesses.  When Jenny and Justin came back, Matt and I took the kids and got some dinner at Pizza Port.  I LOVE the chicken fusilli there.  Matt even found a recipe for it.  Yummy.  So around 9:30 pm an announcer comes over the speakers and announces that the fireworks are canceled due to high winds.  Bummer.  I did get a good picture in front of the castle though:

It was Sheridy's last night and she didn't get to see the fireworks.  Oh well, now she has a reason to go again.  :)  Everyone split up.  I wanted to go on Pirates again.  On the way Jenny and Justin convinced Matt to hop on Indiana Jones with them.  I told them I would be fine with the kids.  That ride REALLY hurts my back.  So they head off and I camp out at the exit with the kids.  They had fast passes, so I thought that it might be just a 20 minute ride,  50 MINUTES later they came out.  By then, the park was closed.  Jeremy was really worried about them.  He kept thinking something bad happened to them.  It got so bad he tugged on my arm and said, "Mom, I need to pray to Heavenly Father so Dad is safe and I can feel good inside again."  So I helped him pray and he was fine after that.  Kids are so sweet sometimes.  So after Matt got out of the ride, we took the kids to do some shopping around Main Street and then headed back to the hotel.  Coming up . . . our last day.  *sniff *sniff

Disneyland Day Three - Thursday

Today was our early entry, and the rest of the family would be joining. We were up and at the gates at 7:15 and as we walked up we discovered that Mom and Sheridy had beat us and they were the first ones there. Linsey and Ray were close behind us. Jenny and Justin were parking in the Mickey and Friends parking lot and were a little behind us. So we head straight for Peter Pan and get that out of the way. Megan was a happy little baby the entire morning. I don't think I have ever seen her cranky. She is such a little cutie:

After Peter Pan, we headed over to Dumbo:




Our elephant was right behind Matt's and I look at them and lo and behold, Stephen actually puts his arms in the air. I just had to get a picture:

After Dumbo, we headed over to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. The kids were excited that they got to drive their own car.







Then we went down the rabbit hole with Alice:





Then we hit the teacups, the girls were quite happy to spin and spin and spin.


After the teacups, we went on the Matterhorn. McKenzie and Bailee had a bobsled to themselves, and Rachel wanted to go with me. I thought she would scream, but she quite enjoyed the ride. After the Matterhorn, we met up with Jenny and Justin and headed over to California Adventure. The new Toy Story ride opened last year and is still really popular. So if you don't want to wait an hour, you go right when California Adventure opens and go on it first thing. So we got there with only a 5 minute wait. It is a fun game similar to Buzz but in 3-D.


After Toy Story, we realized that we had 10 minutes until Playhouse Disney started. So we threw the kids in the strollers and took off. We missed it by a few minutes, so we headed towards Monsters. On the way we stopped for a bathroom break and we ran into Goofy!!


So after everyone played around with Goofy for a minute, we hopped on Monsters Inc.



We still had some time to kill so we headed over to the Animation Building to see Turtle Talk with Crush.


By now it was time for the next showing of Playhouse Disney. So we went in. The kids REALLY liked this show. They were jumping, dancing, trying to catch bubbles, and clapping. It was cute.

After Playhouse Disney, we decided to use our fast passes for Tower of Terror (thanks goes out to Justin for running and getting all the passes - you're the best). Bailee absolutely refused to go on it again, but Jeremy was game.

We were on the second row. This ride has a pretty creepy queue with twilight zone music and boiler room sounds. So when we got on the ride, little Stephen (stoic as ever) leans over to Matt and asks "Um, Uncle Matt . . . (with his little puppy dog eyes) are we going to get stabbed?" Matt hides his smile and assures him that there will be no stabbing and off we go. After our drop we decided to grab some lunch at Taste Pilots Grill and take a ride on Soarin'. During the trip, one group would stay with the little ones who were too short, and the other group would go on the ride and then we would switch. As we were waiting for the first group, we decided to visit Lightning McQueen and Mater.

By now, the kids were a little hot and tired, so we headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap. Tonight was the night we were going to watch the Celebrate Street Party. We met up with everyone around 6 and started saving places. It was an OK parade. I don't know if I would want to see it again.



So after the parade, the rest of the group wanted to go meet Mickey, so we made our way over to Toontown to discover it deserted yet again. Tonight Mickey was in his classic attire:



After Toontown, everyone split off and did their own things. We decided to check out the Emporium on Main Street and let the kids spend some of the money they earned and then we went back to the hotel. Coming up . . . Day Four.