Disney Day!

Karen had a vacation day to use up last week and, since Emma had been fighting a slight cold anyway, so I took a sick day too. We gathered up Grandma, Lenay, Mikayla, & the babies and headed to Disneyland. We had a great time. The parks were not too crowded and, between short lines, fastpasses, and child swaps, we were able to go on all the big rides at California Adventure twice with little to no wait! Emma really enjoyed Soarin' Over California again but I didn't have the heart to take her on Tower of Terror yet even though she kept insisting "I am NOT scared!"

We spent most of the day at DCA and then headed over to Disneyland in the evening. Now, it has been almost a year (March 2010) since Emma had the bejeezus scared out of her on the Pinocchio ride. Since that time she has refused to ride ANY of the indoor Fantasyland rides. Yep, no Pinocchio, no Snow White, no Peter Pan, no Alice in Wonderland, no Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Nothing. Well, she had been telling me for the past few days that she wasn't scared anymore and she wanted to ride the rides again, starting with Alice in Wonderland. So Grandma, Emma, & I headed that way while Karen, her kids, Lenay, & her cousins headed to Haunted Mansion and Pirates. So we stand in line for half an hour, get to the front, Emma changes her mind at least twice about riding, I cajole her into the ride, and we set off. After the first couple turns Emma exclaims, "This is not so scary!" and is fully enjoying the ride. Then.... it break down. Lights come on, announcers over the PA system instruct us to stay seated until a cast member gets to us, Mom starts getting claustrophobic being locked into a giant caterpillar, and Emma keeps telling us, "ooohhh. Somebody must not have been sitting down correctly. Someone must have been up on their knees.." Lol. Eventually a cast member gets to us, releases us, walks us through the repair shop for the ride and out a secret exit where she gives us 2 fast passes good for any ride in the park! Peter Pan and Dumbo, here we come! No hour long waits for us! So I call Karen to come meet us & skip the lines. And then... Emma announces that she is tired and done being at Disneyland and requests that I "put me in my stroller NOW please!" So I do and she is fast asleep before Karen reaches us. Karen & the rest of the group enjoyed the fastpasses, or so I am told, since the three of us were already on the tram back to the parking structure by that time...