Malia drove through this part, naturally. She is much better about this than I am. Slamming us into a divider will do this to you. It got worse...
before it got better.
The rest of the drive after Bishop was my turn. I got to drive us through the windy section, so it kept me awake!
We had to make a stop at a Target to pick up new water bottles (left the old ones at home!)
I like these water bottles. BPA, phthalates, and PVC free, and way less wasted plastic, as well as being able to use probably the best quality water in the world, it just makes sense. $40 for 4 of these bottles makes sense when you consider how much a bottle of water costs at Disneyland (or anywhere else for that matter!)
We finally rolled into our "home away from home" and said "Hi!" to our old pal,
Goofy!
After getting checked in, we went up to our room, and this was the view that awaited us!
Free upgrade! Gotta love it! It was truly an amazing view. The picture doesn't do it justice.
We had about 2 hours before dinner reservations at The Rainforest Cafe, so we wandered around Downtown Disney. The LEGO store has some really cool statues, as seen below.
Maleficent fighting Prince Phillip
The Hulk
Gandalf and Me
Genie, Aladdin, and Jasmine
I could easily spend a fortune in the LEGO store. Between the Super-Hero sets, the Lord of the Rings sets, and the Star Wars sets, I could blow a whole paycheck here!
Dinner was decent. A bit over-priced, but then again, what isn't? I had shrimp, steak, and ribs combo with broccoli. No pictures of that. After dinner, we wandered back to the hotel and the boys went swimming. I thought it was too cold, so I just bundled up on my chair!
The next morning was early entry into Disneyland. We were in the park by 8 AM and on our way to Star Tours. I was fortunate enough to be picked as the "Rebel Spy", so of course I had to buy the t-shirt.
Next up was Space Mountain. I think this is really the best ride at Disneyland. It's fast, it's dark, it's cool! It's SPACE!!!!!! The music alone is worth the ride!
The rest of the morning was finishing up Tomorrowland and parts of Fantasyland.
We then headed to the back of Disneyland into Critter Country. Where we had lunch at the Hungry Bear Restaurant. I had a Chili Cheese Burger on a gluten free bun with gluten free Sweet Potato Fries. Pretty good stuff.
After lunch we worked our way down New Orleans Square and rode Haunted Mansion. Sadly, Pirates was closed for most of the day.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye was up next. It's a fun ride!
Finally, the moment I had been waiting for was up...The Jungle Cruise. It was the longest wait we had had all day at 30 minutes. Not bad, but it was weird. They even had the second floor portion of the queue open. In all my years of going, I had never been upstairs before. It was really cool!
This guy hangs out right at the top of the stairs. There are lots of cool things to see up here.
Sadly, the wait was not worth it. Skipper Randy was awful. Hopefully he was just having a bad day, because he totally ruined this ride.
Afterwards, we headed over to the Enchanted Tiki Room. I like the music here. It's fun.
Since it was Long Lost Friends Week, we headed over to the Big Thunder Ranch to see who we could see. Noah got to meet his favorite Disney Character,
Stitch
I got to meet Robin Hood, even if he was a bit upset with my Captain Hook shirt! Prince John even tried to steal my ring!
Next up was Uncle Scrooge and Ludwig Von Drake. Marc and I posed along with these two, while Malia visited with a real Long Lost Friend she went to elementary school with.
Uncle Scrooge and Ludwig before they started "making it rain" imaginary money!
Outside the Ranch we ran into Woody. Despite the Facebook post, Woody doesn't fall to the ground when you yell "Andy's coming!" His handler just replies, "Nope, Andy's at college! He said goodbye already!"
Noah, Woody, and Marc
He does sign peoples' shoes, though!
After a little more time with Marla and her kids, it was off to Toontown, where Malia and I picked up these beauties!
After dark, we wandered around through the park, and I got this great picture of the Tangled Tower in the Fantasy Faire with the Castle in the background. The Fantasy Faire is a neat place, but not much for teenage and pre-teenage boys to do, unless they want to look at the princesses!
Malia and Marc at the Tangled Tower.
We closed the park down at 9 PM and felt like we had a good day, so it was off to bed.
I was woken up by a huge flash of light around 1:45 AM. I looked out the window and saw they were running the World of Color lights and water jets. It was pretty cool!
(not the actual photo I took. Mine didn't come out, but this is the view I had of it!)
Next morning was all about Carsland (Still think they should have named it Radiator Springs instead, but whatever!). We were some of the first in line for the park, but since we followed the rules and walked, we were not the first on the ride. Taking Cast Member Tony's advice, we walked right over to Carsland where Cast Members were walking everyone through Radiator Springs. A very smart idea as all the people running were really making things unsafe!
The queue itself is amazing! So much detail went into this ride. Again, pictures really don't do it justice.
We got the whole family on Screamin' one time. I was impressed that we even got that many! Marc joined Noah and me for 1 more run using the single rider line. 2 times was enough. No one threw up, but everyone decided they had had enough.
Eventually, Noah and I made our way over to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Both of us were pretty nervous about it. Honestly can't say who was more afraid, me of the boy! But,if you can see our faces in the picture below, you can tell who had the best time! Oddly enough, I have no memory of the woman next to me. I remember there were two teenage girls who were giving their Mom and Noah (and me) a pep talk, but the lady and many next to me? No idea they were there. Weird.
However, he's the one who got the t-shirt!
Grizzly River Run has some beautiful picture spots, and this is one of my favorites. It looks so wild and natural!
We finished the night with a ride on Toy Story Midway Mania and watching the backside of World of Color. Fun stuff!
The next morning was our last day in the park, so it was an early entry into Disneyland. We got there so early, we were the first ones in one of the lines! Very cool!
No one in front of us!
Malia at the gate!
The boys at the gate!
Me at the gate!
Once we got in, we were stopped at the end of Main Street. Once again, everyone around us was ignoring the calls to walk. We had a nice leisurely stroll over to Star Tours again. Marc was desperate to be chosen as the rebel spy, but it was not meant to be on this trip. We rode 3 times in a row with no luck!
Eventually we made our way to the Matterhorn. I'm not a big fan of this one. It's okay, but I'd rather ride Space Mountain than this one.
We stood in line for the three busiest dark rides; Alice, Mr. Toad and Peter Pan. I like all three of these classics. Afterwards, we tried to see who would be the true king of England.
Not him.
Nor him.
I'm sure not even this guy could pull the sword from the stone!
Fittingly, our last ride was Carsland. We walked by Mater on the way!
The "Cadillac Range" lit up at night is a beautiful sight.
Gorgeous views.
Love the waterfall!
Closer look at the waterfall.
All in all, it was a great time. We all enjoyed ourselves. Mostly. The boys would have liked more junk food. I would have liked a son who knows how to walk in a crowd, but over all, it was a great trip.
I am looking forward to the next one!
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