The Most Perfect Day

So, on our vacation, we had a lot of perfect days! This was the most perfect day! As most people do while preparing for Disneyland, we got lots of advice from friends. Our best piece was from Farrah to do http://www.ridemax.com/! WOW!!!! You buy a program ($3 more than you have to pay for parking, so not really a big deal and COMPLETELY worth it!!!) and enter all of the rides you want to do. It prints out a schedule telling you walking time to the next exhibit, waiting time, ride time, and also when to send runners to get FastPasses (an AMAZING invention since I was a child visiting Disney World). It simply was fabulous!!!! So, we had four different plans printed, stapled and ready to go since we weren't sure what time we would actually get it.

7:15 Andy dropped me off at the gate to wait in line while the rest of the pack drove around until the parking lots opened.
7:40 Andy calls and they are at the gate; where am I? (at the other side entrance of the park.)
7:45 We rush through the entrance and go to ticket booth. (There are so many ways to buy tickets online, but since we just wanted a one-day pass to Disneyland - not parkhopper - it was best to buy them there)
8:01 Tickets purchased (with a little bit of running from JJ to deliver picture IDs) and we are in the park!!!

***Side note. JJ came with us for our trip. This made it even more perfect! Besides being a calming stoic presence, he was a fabulous 3rd adult. I would definitely recommend bringing a friend when you go to take turns watching the littlest of your crew while the other four ride. Now they have these amazing passes where you can either go up the exit ramp or take a shortcut to the front of the line if you are watching smaller children so extra wait time is greatly reduced for everyone to ride!!!***

So, our first ride was Autotopia on our list. This was our first snazzle with Ridemax. They don't open Autotopia until about 8:15 when a line builds up. However, it happens to be next to Nemo (which we were advised not to ride because as soon as the line builds up, it is a super long wait - even with fastpasses). So, we caught the second Nemo boat and still hit the first set of Autotopia rides. Of course, everyone loved these!!! And no, I won't take you through each ride, just some favorites. The kids, of course, loved Dumbo and the flying elephants. Emily just walked around all day with wide open dazed eyes (until she fell asleep on It's a Small World). Ben and Annie soaked it all in and wanted more (and less at times).

I think Dumbo was our third longest wait of about 15 minutes (preceded by carousel and Alice in Wonderland), but the kids were all SO patient.

The two rides I requested were Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and The Haunted Mansion. Andy wanted Autotopia and Space Mountain. JJ wanted Splash Mountain. This is from Andy and Ben's seat on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

To Infinity and Beyond!!! Emily wasn't so sure about Buzz...

We road Winnie the Pooh several times as it was across from Splash Mountain and I could take Emily on that while the others did the dropping logs. We got to meet Pooh and Tigger right after the ride too! Emily wouldn't even look at them! But then again, she doesn't like the Easter Bunny or Santa Clause either...

Everyone loved the pirate island! They are working together to raise the buried treasure! (This was in between Andy on the phone with our realtor negotiating a housing contract. Then another bid came it the same day. Then the contract fell through 8 days later. Great times...)

We went to see the Princesses but found ourselves in a 2 hour wait line. Since Annie wasn't really sure what we were waiting for, we decided to find other princesses. We were so happy to come along Jasmine and Aladdin while waiting for Indiana Jones (which I think was one of my favorite rides. I laughed the whole time!). WOW! That Aladdin was something else!!! I can still feel my heart melt as we were walking off and smooth as glass, he says to Annie, "Bye Princess!"

This was a little tense moment. Emily woke up not completely happy. They all got ice cream while I rode Indy (and used the single rider line to go STRAIGHT to the front!). All day I wanted a Mickey Mouse Ice Cream Sandwich. I got one while we waited to see the Bird Show at the Tiki House for Emily. JJ took a quiet moment to read his book. I think he was about done with us by then! UNTIL.... Space Mountain!!!!

While waiting in line with Ben, Annie and JJ - and I could think was...AM I REALLY TAKING MY 3 1/2 YEAR OLD ON SPACE MOUNTAIN??? And she did fabulous (hands up most of the ride and screaming the whole time!) Ben had to go potty at the very front of the line, but it would have taken him longer to walk out then just ride the ride and go. So, mean mom that I am, I told him he had to wait (thinking he was just scared). Then JJ got to ride next to him. :) The silly car claimed my sunglasses that I forgot to get out of the pouch. I wonder what they do with all of those lost articles... Andy had a parent swap pass (that works for two people), so JJ watched the three kids for us while we rode together - for Andy's first time!

I think Buzz ended up as Ben's favorite ride. JJ took the complete top score our last ride (he was childless - not that it makes a difference, just wanted to point it out) and did great!!!

8:25 It was time to go home. We had the most perfect day. I was ready and willing to stay longer, but I was vetoed by the boys. We did get to coax in one last ride of the train around the park to soak in our last few minutes of perfection...

Thanks Andy and JJ for putting up with the rest of us! We had such a great time and will remember it forever!!! Thanks Annie and Ben for being so brave on all those big rides and just having fun! Thanks Emily for enjoying your snacks when you were too little to ride. THANK YOU WALT DISNEY for making special moments!!!

***Still to come...the BEACH...along with the beach MONSTER that stole sunglasses, googles, etc.***