Andrew's favorite rides were, not surprisingly, roller-coasters: he liked Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain a lot.
The kids also both liked the adventure play grounds--Andrew really wanted to get his "wilderness badge" at the Disney California Redwood challenge (he earned it, but we opted not to go to the "ceremony" because it was pouring rain the last day). I wasn't as big a fan of this place, mostly because we lost Evelyn in the first ten minutes we were there. Andrew was supposed to stay with her when they climbed the ropes. He came skipping back five minutes later without Evelyn and Dan spent ten minutes looking for her. (She was happily exploring on her own).
They explored caves, found drowned skeletons, and some fake pirate loot that kept them entertained for a good fifteen minutes. Long enough that Dan and I sat down to watch them, I set down Evelyn's Cinderella dress, which she'd been wearing but I made her take it off on the island, and then forgot about the dress when we left. I didn't realize it was gone for another half an hour and was lucky to catch the last raft back to the island to find it--exactly where I left it.
After we left the island, we walked by a young family. The first thing I noticed was that the mother was visibly pregnant--and then I got a good look at her face. I think we both recognized each other at the same time. It was my greenie from my mission, Alyssa Bitner (I don't know what her married name is). It was fun to meet her husband and her son and to catch up a little. And certainly, she wasn't someone I'd expected to see in the middle of Disneyland! (I never expect to see anyone I know there, but really, I know enough people who go there, that I shouldn't be surprised).
On Thursday night, we "let" (made?) the kids stay up late so I could see the light show at Disney California. It was really incredible--they shot water fountains in the air and then broadcast lights, colors, and even images across the water while music played. I would have liked it better if we'd realized we needed to arrive earlier to get a spot where the kids could see from. As it was, we had to hold them on our shoulders the entire time (save your sympathies for Dan--Evelyn isn't light, but she's not the 60+ pounds that Andrew is). I still think it was worth it.
On Friday, we split up again while Evelyn and I went to see the Aladdin musical and Dan and Andrew went on rides (Andrew wasn't interested in Aladdin--Dan wasn't much interested either, truth be told). We both loved it. I'm a sucker for a good musical, and in this case, the costumes were exquisite and the actor who played the genie was pretty hilarious. Evelyn even thought he was funny, although she didn't get most of jokes (many of which relied on pop cultural references: Snooki, Lady Gaga, Nikki Minaj).
That evening, Dan and Andrew opted to go back to the hotel early while Evelyn and I stayed to watch the parade. I enjoyed most of it--but it was really loud (probably because we were sitting by speakers). These were Evelyn's favorite parts of the parade (in fact, she instructed me to take pictures):
We didn't end up spending as much time in the park as we'd planned on our last day (Dan was grateful for this!) because it poured all morning. After three or four hours, the kids were soaked and cold (Andrew more than Evelyn because he kept slipping into puddles), so we decided we'd had enough. Before we left, Evelyn and I did get to attend the Princess Coronation ceremony, where the princesses teach you to curtsey and dance and then declare everyone present an honorary princess. Those who chose to, got to go down onto the floor and actually perform the dances. Evelyn was enraptured the entire time.
And, of course, the characters. The characters in big costumes (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, etc.) didn't interact with the kids much, although they were good about posing for pictures and signing autograph books.
I love Evelyn's little pot belly in this one. She loves her Ariel dress, but the mermaid look isn't a good one for her!
My favorites, though, were the characters who could actually interact. The princesses and fairies we met were all really good about getting down on the kids' level and talking with them. We met Ariel serendipitously one day while Evelyn was wearing her Ariel dress. Ariel asked: "Am I your favorite princess?" (since Evelyn did, after all, look like her). Evelyn said bluntly, "No." When pressed, she clarified that Tiana was her favorite princess.
When she did meet Tiana (after a close call! I got in line early to meet the princesses because the line often gets long--it can be over an hour or two at some points--and Dan was going to bring Evelyn to me before the event opened at 9 a.m. But they got stuck on It's a Small World and only just arrived with a few minutes before Evelyn's turn.), Evelyn told Tiana she was her favorite. Tiana asked what Evelyn's favorite scene was from the movie and Evelyn told her something about the Shadow Man. Tiana looked a little taken aback. But I appreciated how gracious they all were--even though I know they get paid for it. (And yes, we saw Ariel again at the Princess greeting thing).
Can you tell Evelyn enjoyed herself? A funny note on the meeting with Belle--Andrew was really upset because she signed his book several pages after the previous signature (he wasn't there to make sure she signed it where she was "supposed to") and he was worried about filling in those 6 pages (a typical Andrew-sort of worry). In any case, he got plenty more signatures.
Some other favorites--mostly because they showed a lot of personality--were the Mad Hatter (who kept teasing people in line to see him) and Cruella de Vil (really!), who called everyone "dahling" and asked that we be civilized while waiting for pictures. She also showed Evelyn how to pose.
Friday afternoon, we happened to spot Woody hanging out between Fantasyland and Frontier land. Andrew wanted a signature, but Woody was on the verge of leaving. We asked when he would be back and were told around 4:30. So, we made our way back to the area at 4:30, only to be met by a deluge of characters (I have no idea where they were coming from): Eyore, Tigger, Tweedle dee and Tweedle dum, Brer Fox and Brer Bear, some holdovers from the old Country Bears show, Baloo, Captain Hook, Mr. Smee, Stich (from Lilo and Stitch), the Beast . . .
Andrew was nearly frantic. He didn't know where to start with signatures, and we knew we wouldn't have time for signatures and pictures with all of them before they had to go back to wherever they came from (I'm learning that these kind of serendipitous meetings only last for fifteen or twenty minutes), so we started with people who were close with short lines (so, no Eyore, sadly).
We tried to get the Beast to sign the books, but apparently he doesn't do signatures. He does do pictures, though.
Andrew's big goal for the last day was to get lots of signatures. Sadly, he was thwarted by the pouring rain. Evelyn and I managed to meet Iridessa in Pixie Hollow (with no line!) and we caught Mickey at his house in Toontown, but despite waiting for 15 minutes in the rain, we never saw Donald Duck at his scheduled showing and we figured that the rain would keep a lot of the characters indoors. (I'm sure it costs a fortune to dry some of those costumes).
We spent Saturday night in Primm, NV, so we didn't have to make the drive all at one go. The kids managed to sleep through our rowdy neighbors (seriously, why is 3 a.m. an acceptable time to be yelling in the hallway?), but Dan wasn't so lucky. (I woke up, but went right back to sleep when they quieted down). Still, we made it home in one piece--to snow!
I'm not sure I'm ready to face reality this week, but reality is coming at me, ready or not.
I'm still grateful I had a break.
2 comments:
Someday, I will go to Disneyland. *sigh*
wow! You guys sure know how to spring break (turning that into a verb). You did everything!
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