Tuesday, December 20 cont. and Wednesday, Dec. 21Th

Our View for the Parade

Think there are enough strollers?

Our evening plan had worked perfectly.  We got ice cream treats and walked to the balcony by the train station to catch the parade.  While we were standing there, a nice woman on one of the only benches available asked us if we wanted to sit down.  She had been saving space for her family, but they didn’t show. We felt really lucky to have such great seats.  The parade was cute, but it took a few hours to get that repetitive song out of our heads.  

Then we rushed over to DCA and the Hyperion Theater to watch the Aladin show.  We got great seats in the mezzanine but about 15 minutes into the show, they stopped and announced that they would not be continuing due to “technical difficulties”.   The rock slide in the cave of wonders failed to fall.  Not good.  We were very disappointed as we left.

We thought about continuing our tour and going on the roller coaster again, but Emily and I were both tired and we bribed Ruben and Max into going home by buying them wonderful light up swords.  Dueling all the way, we walked back to the Tropicana.  It was early, but we were ready to relax.

Wednesday, Dec. 21st

We slept in until 6:30 and were at the rope ready to go at 8.  We were following one of the touring plans from the Unofficial Guide.  We went straight to Space Mt. and believe me, the roller coaster in the dark was a helluva way to wake up.  Then we rode the Matterhorn and Alice in Wonderland and Emily got fast passes to Indy while Ru, Max and I did Buzz Lightyear.  Then we rode Big Thunder Mt. and Indy.  By that time we were pooped so we went to get a hand dipped corn dog at the little red wagon.  There is usually a long line and slow service, but they got our order before we even got to the window and we got our greasy delights in record time.  

 It was wonderful to relax in the sunshine and watch the late arrivals try to figure out where to go. While people watching, I like to play a game of figuring out which parent the kids look most like, and of course, look for stupid shoes.  

Can't boogie, can load littlest in front

Buzz in the background

Corndogs in the sunshine

They have blooming roses in CA

The corn dog gave us enough energy to walk over to DCA.  After we went on the new Ariel attraction, we were determined to ride Screamin’ one more time, but it was broken down with no end in sight.  We watched as they helped the stranded riders climb out and down the superstructure, speculating on what would happen if the outage happened at the apex of the loop.  Maybe we would skip another ride.

We got in line for the newest attraction, Toy Story Midway Mania, (that stupid ride with the horrible line) but soon realized that no ride, no matter how special or new was worth over an hour of our time.  So we went to the other side of the park and rode the Monster’s inc. ride, saw the Muppet 3D show (Ruben pronounced it the best movie he had ever seen) and decided to give Alladin one more try.  This time there were no technical problems and we thoroughly enjoyed the professional musical.  The guy that plays the Genie is hilarious.

By this time it was 2 pm and hot and sunny.  So everyone but me decided to go on the Grizzly River raft ride.  You are guaranteed to get wet and they figured we’d go home and go swimming anyway so it was the perfect time to give it a try.  I got great pictures of them in their raft and Max was the only one who got really wet.  Then off we went to the Tropicana for a swim and a nap. 

Goodbye Disney’s California Adventure……I sure hope they get all their construction done and finally figure out how to make that park into a better attraction.  There is no theme, no continuity and right now, it is impossible to get around easily because of the construction.  Still, it does have a bunch of great rides like the Tower and Screamin’.  It’s still worth going there, but barely.

Forced perspective in DCA

Grizzly River Rapids

I had been suffering all day Tuesday and all morning with my horrible cold.  The Benadryl helped, but after our rest and dinner, I felt shivery and achy and really sick.  My own words came back to haunt me.  This time I truly was the weakest link.  And Jeff wasn't there to help me. If I wasn't missing him before (which I was) I was missing him even more now.  Even the idea of riding a couple of times through Splash Mt. (my favorite ride) didn’t sound appealing.  I thought it over, and finally asked my companions if they minded if I skipped the last evening tour.  I think Max and Emily were secretly glad.  They had been worrying about me.  And my sniffling, sneezing, blowing and coughing weren’t very pleasant to listen to, I’m sure.  I didn’t complain (or at least I tried not to), but there was no way to hide that I was pretty sick.

So they left me at the Tropicana and I went upstairs to room 281 to blog, watch Jeopardy and look at the pictures Emily sent me.  

When they got home later, the told me they had to skip Splash Mt. because it was broken down, but did get to see Mr. Lincoln, experience the fireworks and snow again, enjoy the Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Gadget's Go Coaster, and say goodbye to Disneyland.  I was jealous, but glad that they could enjoy it one last time.  The boys had a final duel with their swords, we had our nightly cereal snack and went to bed.  It was nice to know we could sleep as late as we wanted to before leaving in the morning.