Monday, December 19

The alarm woke us at 6:15 and groaning, I got out of bed.  The previous days activities had left me sore and achy.  We followed the same pattern as yesterday and were there for the rope drop at 8.  This time we headed right toward the Finding Nemo submarines.  Emily passed on that one, but jumped right in at Autopia.  Then we talked her into going on Space Mountain.  And they rode the Matterhorn while I got Fast passes for Indy.

Waiting for Screamin'

After that, it was over to DCA.  They are totally remodeling the whole place, but we went to Soarin’ over California and then to Ruben’s favorite…..the Tower or Terror.  When that was done, so were we.  We headed to the Storyteller Café in the Grand Californian Hotel to have another character breakfast.  Delicious, but expensive, the buffet was more than adequate and they even had eggs benedict.  The Storyteller is done in craftsman style and the entire hotel is luxurious.  After brunch, we took the Monorail to Tomorrowland and then cruised down main street and did our shopping.  I got a 20% off coupon when we dined at the Plaza, so we took advantage and got all the souveneirs we could carry.  Emily got a wonderful fleece jacket.  I think she wore it to bed that night.

Then we headed home for our afternoon break.  We almost had a whining breakout, but had our naps just in time.  After a long rest, we went to Millie’s for dinner and back to DCA to ride California Screamin’ which is one of the best coasters I’ve ever been on.   Ruben was finally big enough to ride, and he looked pretty scared as he watched it make a giant loop above our heads.  But once he got on he did great…..in fact, we all did…..and we rode it one more time. 

Emily had gotten us passes to watch the new water show at 8, but when we showed up expecting a reserved seat, we were told we needed to stand up to watch.  NO seats available except to those who paid for expensive dinners at the restaurants within view.  I was more than a little irritated by that time.  DCA wasn’t that great before, but they have totally torn it up and are doing construction all over the place making it difficult to get around.  Now the expectation that we would reserve a place to “stand” really frustrated me.  Anyway, I gave the Disney “Cast member” a piece of my mind before we decided to skip the hour “stand” and go ride some more rides.

We rode Soarin’ and Tower on our fast passes and then decided that enough was enough.  We got home just in time to enjoy the fireworks from our balcony and then off to dreamland with the alarm set for 6.