Glen's sister, Monika, and her family are moving this Summer to UT for new opportunities. Her and her husband, Ben have worked at Disney behind-the-scenes for a decade more or less and we've really enjoyed getting into Disneyland for every Christmas present after deciding to not renew our passes -- those prices are just dumb now. It had been over a year since our last excursion and the 60th anniversary celebration stuff happened within it so we were stoked to see everything changed and just to be there again.
Everyone excluding Glen's dad (he was in Florida on a business trip) came to have fun! Monika and Ben have three children now and they're all at really fun stages.
Kade is four and the boss of the crowd -- do what he says or suffer his wrath. Kiri is the timid two-year-old, but extremely adventurous when not hiding between her parents' legs. And Arwen is seven months and all smiles and screeches when flying up high in your arms. We spent the first and last half or our day with them.
Kade and Grandma; we rarely get to spend time with them so it was really nice to have family time in such an exciting place to be. The kids were (mostly) always happy which makes it easy to have a good time.
We went to Tom Sawyer's island for a good portion of the morning/early afternoon for Kade and Kiri to run around and do whatever they wanted (within reason). We played in the caves and hunted dastardly pirates around ship wrecks. It was crowded and hot and lots of fun. Alex had decided to skip the island adventure for Haunted Mansion and waiting under a tree for us. After we floated back, the Meyers went home for nap time and we went on Matterhorn.
The new effects and refurbished insides are seriously awesome in there! It used to be just a fun, mostly jarring roller coaster-ish ride we'd go on if the universe aligned itself and we're waiting for fast passes to come into effect, but man! It's mostly jarring and really cool too now! Glen and I had grabbed fast passes for Splash Mountain before the island and the time had come, so we went over there while Alex and Mom went on Small World (dodged a recurring bullet on that one).
Something about water rides... Glen loves him some water rides no matter the temperature, no matter the time of day. I am more choosy in these types of things. Temperatures must be high and the time earlier than late. It springs from an acute awareness of my mood when wet and cold -- add tired in and I might as well be poop on your shoe, in my humble opinion. On this day though, I had promised Glen all the water rides he desired; no take-backsies. I know... I'm a pretty great wife haha.
We hopped over to CA Adventures and I ran over to Tower of Terror for some fast passes as they got in line for Soarin'. We ended up going single rider because the liiiiiiiiiine and did not regret it. Little tid-bit about Soarin' if you're wearing slip-ons... take 'em off and leave on the floor in front of you; my little toes are happy as can be in the freedom of hanging naked :)
Glen and I tried to do Grizzly River Run, but failed because another crazy long line and the single rider line was cut off right before we got there -- ugh. So, while Alex and Mom went on Little Mermaid, we got in line for my favorite ride! Toy Story Mania. You know why it's my favorite? Because it's one of those things that Glen and I are both great at. The competition is real and ever present. There's no shoving or harsh words because I know it's a fair contest. Usually in games where I know I don't have a chance at victory cheating ensues in the form of jumping on backs and extreme laughter. He wins anyway because I don't cheat to win... I cheat to laugh so it remains fun for me too. So, now you know when I'm not cheating it's because I think I can win. And I usually try to help the opposite team too just to keep my competitiveness in check. If I'm not cheating or helping/friendly with the other team, would someone kindly remind me it's just a game and no one's going to die if I lose? Thanks and good luck with that.
This time though, I won. Yeah, that's me on the right.
Crappy picture of a picture, but we had the best time on Tower of Terror. Alex is hilarious on the scarier rides. And the cast member that opened the doors in the end scared the girls in the front row and it was the best too.
We headed back to Disney and sat in front of this beautiful thing for hours for good seats to see the parade and fireworks show. The Meyers showed a little before the parade began and stayed the rest of the night with us. Glen and I shared a corn dog for dinner and decided they need to be in our lives more than we have allowed.
We watched the new Paint the Night parade and it was surprisingly fun to watch. Glen and I never stay for parades, we use the time efficiently by choosing a side of the parade to get on as many rides we can before the end crowd. We thought we were making the biggest mistake staying, but it we were wrong.
The best float ever is in this parade -- Mack from Cars. He's amazing and I didn't get a picture because I couldn't do anything but look at it. His whole trailer was filled with strings of lights hanging from top to bottom in rows and rows. In the past, I've said if I had an extra room in my house that was all mine I would put nothing in it because I like that sort of thing. Mack changed my mind. I want those string lights throughout and just a circle in the middle where I can sit.
When the Frozen float went by in the parade, the crowd literally erupted in Let it Go. It was a little frightening and extremely infectious.
The fireworks show didn't disappoint and after they finished, we went to Fantasyland for some rides the kids enjoy. But not before the castle burst into light and didn't stop for like an hour.
Glen and Alex and I had fast passes that were only just expired for Star Tours so we decided to run over there before Fantasyland just to try. We ended up getting a pass from this other girl for three people which worked perfectly. Weird and awesome.
They were just getting onto Dumbo when we got back and Kiri got the pink one -- her favorite color.
After every ride, we would ask Kiri how she liked it and her only response would be "Mo' wides!" repeated vigorously. So, we went on mo' wides until they had to leave for bed time.
All in all, our day was not what we usually do with our Disneyland time, but was filled with laughter and family and fun. After the Meyers left, we went on Indiana Jones as somewhat of a tradition for Glen and me. Alex nor Mom had not been on since the refurbishments and Mom had barely been on it at all anyway, so we thought it necessary.
After, we walked to the buses tired and happy.
Hope to be happy and tired from this place again soon.
Aloha.
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