Anaheim, California: What a wonderful adventure we all had today! 13 hours in the Happiest Place on Earth. We are all exhausted, but we made so many fun memories today. My recap:
Knowing we had to be up and out very early, Lucile set-out her clothes before going to bed. She cracks me up so often. We all slept well, except for a 1a basketball game in the room above us. (I slept through the game, but Bubba and Lucy woke for a while.) Lucile was ready to roll by 7:30a.
It was chilly! We all wore sweaters until lunch time. Our tickets included something called a Genie. I supposed it refers to the kind of Genie that comes out of a bottle, but it could also be a reference to the Genie garage door opener as it opens doors for us to all cut the line for rides we selected. Lisa had all the Genie's on her phone and mapped our route for the day. I am not going to get everything in the correct order, but we started at Indiana Jones and finished at Autopia. Little Lucy is finally tall enough to ride all attractions. My favorite is still the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster. It isn't too scary, plus it is outdoors and not in a darkened space.
Then we headed over to the new Star Wars area. This section is truly impressive and unlike anything Disney has built to date. It is on a massive 14 acres! Leo (of course) was here on opening day because Leo's godfather works for Disney.
We went on a Star Wars ride where we all enter a space transport ship that was taking us somewhere (I'm not sure), but then we were attacked by evil-doers, and were ordered into interrogation rooms, sorted, and then put on smaller transports that were going to take us... where? No idea. The smaller transports were cars for 8 passengers, and the vehicles are "trackless" and operate via magnets below the floor. Super cool. Of course, as we were being transported, we were attacked and thrown every-which-way in spine-crushing madness, before being rescued at the last moment by the good guys. I think Princess Leah was somehow in charge of our rescue? Not sure. All I know there were Storm Troopers everywhere. (Can you tell I know nothing about anything related to the series.) After our harrowing escape from certain death, the kids were thrilled to buy Cokes in some-sort of Star Wars bottles, written in Aurebish (the most spoken language in the galaxy), that resemble a thermal hand grenade.
We later went to the area of the park for younger/smaller kids. Dave and I sat-out the "It's a Small World" boat ride, mostly because we didn't want that stoopid song stuck in our brains the rest of the week. Our clever plan failed. As soon as the 4 L's went onto the ride, an outdoor performance of large fake children proceeded to pop-out of the building, singing the dreaded song. We also sat-out the spinning tea cup ride. We brought Lisa to Disneyland for the first time when she was five. (We must have been on a home-leave from Taiwan?) Young, healthy, and fit, DT became so dizzy on this ride, he had to lay down on a bench in Disneyland! He avoids it now.
There was not a Mad Shirter shop.
We had lunch in Tomorrow Land and the sun finally showed up! Off we went to Toon Town and ran into Pluto.
There was also a visit to Mickey's house and he was home! They had a worker who would use your phone to take photos, but she was awful - she cut-off our feet! They rushed us through too quickly for me to really notice.
And no trip to Disneyland is complete without the terribly hokey and terribly ancient Jungle Cruise ride. Our "guide" told all the terrible jokes and puns. We all laughed and rolled our eyes at all the silliness. The cruise has had a make-over. No more cannibals. No more shrunken-heads. No more chumps. A lot more chimps.
It was getting late and we had been in the park since 8a. I had 28,000 steps on my pedometer, and if I walked ten miles, that means Lucy did as well. Impressive. We were hungry. Lisa grabbed a table at a Mexican place in Downtown Disney while the kids shopped for souvenirs in the massive gift shops. Lucy found a "gold" initial L necklace with three "diamonds" shaped like Mickey's head and ears. Very cute. Leo chose a few things for his fabulous godfather.
Cheesy carbs and an icy-cold margarita! Just what we needed to end our wonderful day together in Disneyland. We did all the things, rode all the rides (not all mentioned here, of course), and everything was so well organized by Lisa. A great Father's Day for Dave and Lenny.
Until my next update, I remain, your Disney correspondent.
Your grands are adorable; almost as adorable as our Clara age nine! That was a wonderful day at Disney and your Mexican dinner looked delicious. A very important day to celebrate.
What a wonderful place, Disney Land !
Great pictures and wonderful memories.
I love it there, my husband, not so much.