Travel Log of Disneyland

We went to Disneyland yesterday, so here is a post with all the pics, funny stuff that was said or we saw and some videos. If you want to know what we liked, read the next post. If you want to know why I did not get an annual pass, read the 3rd post.

First off in the park, the carousel. Amelia had fallen asleep on the way there, and then had to wait in the ticket line for about 45 minutes, so when we finally got in, she was not truly excited about it. She said she wanted to go on "that one" and then when she finally got on the horse she wanted to get down. We coaxed her to stay up by showing her that Ben was doing it, so of course she stayed on.

She seemed to be more interested, so we headed to Mr Toad's ride, right next door. She was terrified and told us after we came out, "I don't like that one. It's too scary."

Next, on to Dumbo. She had to wait a long time, and was not so interested in being on it and didn't like going really high, but she didn't scream. She later will tell us vehemently that she did not want to go on that one again.

Lunch and then on to Casey Jr's Circus Train. It was a fun little train that goes around a little miniature village and river. It pretends to not make it up a little mountain while saying, "I think I can". Amelia liked tooting like a train.

Walked over to Mickey's Toontown where we saw "a mouse" (Minnie) from the street. Amelia and Phil climbed aboard a ship play area.

On to the Alice in Wonderland area where Amelia and I went on the tea cups. I coaxed her on to this ride by letting her pick a pretty pink one to sit in. She loved it. She told me while we were going that, " a boy's screaming. No screaming" I told her on this kind of a ride, she can scream because that's what makes it fun and I proceeded to scream. I think she loved it so much because she got to scream as loud as she could for the whole time and wasn't in trouble for it. She said immediately she wanted to do it again.
Next, Alice in Wonderland ride. You sit in a caterpillar and ride through the dark, terrifying, loud, psychedelic story of Alice in Wonderland, some sort of fiery demon/devil area, smoking caterpillar, crazy queen and all. When we got outside of the tunnel she yelled, "yay, it's all done". Touche!

Back on the tea cups one more time, this time all of us. Philip was hesitant to go on it, that's why I went first. I convinced him it really wasn't that bad, and even Ben could do it. Halfway through, Philip looks at Ben and said he looked like he was going to puke, and it made him think he was going to puke. This is why we don't do roller coasters folks. It was fun. Check out the video in the sidebar.



Next was Nemo's submarine ride. Since Amelia LOVES Nemo, we had to wait in the 45 minute line for this, but it was one of my favorites. Well worth it. She kept herself busy by climbing the rocks while you wait. You get to go in a submarine and "dive" deep into the ocean and see the characters from Nemo interacting in the water around you. It's kind of long and hard to explain, but it was really well done. Amelia was so scared. First off it's really dark and they make it really loud and they simulate you dropping, so it gives you a little sea sickness feel. She made me hold her and cover her ears like I did when she watched fireworks last year. At one point, they simulate hitting an explosive and the sub shakes and bubbles everywhere and sirens and red lights. I think she really thought we were sinking. Ben managed to stay asleep the entire ride.

Next we went to the Innoventions attraction(is that what you call something you have to stand in line for but it's not a ride?) You go in this room and it's all this technology. It is mainly a house that is run by computers. It is pretty cool and you get to do a lot of interactive things. Upstairs is an entire gaming area including lots of xbox's and arcade like games. Amelia had fun doing some driving one and Philip attempted the guitar hero, but the controller was broken, or so he says. We emerged just about dusk and made our way back to "It's a Small World". This was by far Amelia's favorite ride. It wasn't scary or dark and it was painfully cheery, just her style. She bounced her head, clapped her hands, tried to hula and was overall mesmerized by the whole thing. And to tell you the truth, so was Ben. It's a nice long 10 minute relaxing ride. We came out when the sun was just setting, so it seemed really magical.

Finally, to end the day, we hopped on the train that goes around the park. The kids were winding down and snuggly, so we rode the train around the park and saw what we missed from distance. When we got done, we asked Amelia if she wanted to go back on "It's a Small World". I truly expected her to say yes, but she said,"no, I want to stay in the double stroller". We walked around the park to the areas we missed, hopped on one last ride, Winnie the Pooh, and walked down to the New Orleans area. As we neared Pirates of the Caribbean there were a number of people sleeping on the ground. I asked Phil if Disney provided bums to give you the real effect of the area. We laughed but as we kept walking there were more and more. I asked someone what they were doing, not crazy bums, just waiting for the water/fireworks show 2 hours early!! Are you kidding me? Finally Amelia was conked out, so we went in search for anything milky. We kept walking down the street thinking that looks good,when's the last time you had cotton candy, there's got to be a churro cart around here somewhere, maybe the lines will be better at the next one, yes I would like hand scooped ice cream, etc. Next thing we knew we were at the tram and didn't get one treat. At that point, we were done, we loaded up the kids and went home. Amelia did not wake up once even when I changed her diaper, put her in her seat. Set off the car alarm while we were in it, Ben screaming, changed her into jammies and put in bed. (But she did wake up at 4 in the morning telling me, "Nooo, I don't wear socks in my bed!!!" My mistake, I'll try not to let it happen again.)
What an enjoyable birthday. Thank you Phil, Amelia, Ben and Disney. Here's my never ending need for a photo collage of the rest of the pics from the day. Check out the videos on the sidebar.