Disneyland

Remember when Annaliese was supposed to go to Disneyland with her ASL class and got chicken pox and had to come home? Well, her teacher gave us her ticket, and said maybe we could go later. So I took her and a friend down for a quick trip, and took Furby with me so I'd have someone to hang out with while they went off and did their thing.

The kids started following me around because they knew I was leaving for a couple days.

This was Sunday morning, while I was getting ready to go. 

Finally, it was time!  We're off!

Left the house around 10:30.

Made it down to Anaheim, got checked in to our hotel, and took the shuttle over to Downtown Disney.

Got the boy some pins.

And then played at the Lego store.  

The girls checked out boutiques and makeup shops. 

Then we wandered around and around in search of dinner.  Which we eventually found, at a little Hawaiian BBQ place near one of the Disney hotels.

Sometimes you just need a break.

Waiting to catch the shuttle back to the hotel.

Next morning.  Breakfast at the hotel with HOT cocoa.

And back on the shuttle to DISNEYLAND!

See the bracelet?  We used number beads to spell out my cell phone number in case we got separated. It broke the second morning, lol.

First we rode Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion, then Furby engaged in some pin trading.

And we saw the sights.

And, of course, 

Rode more RIDES!

And stood in some lines.  

The one thing I did miss, traveling without another adult, is that I was always behind the camera, so I'm not in many of the pictures.  

Furby was generally willing to do most of the cheesy posed shots for me.

But he drew the line at characters.  

No character pictures.

:(

And we stayed far away from all the princess stuff. 

Being that this was a special trip and all, and that he was the only one with me all day long, I indulged him in his second ever taste of cotton candy.

I loathe the stuff, but he worked on it for about an hour or more and finished every sticky pink morsel.

Furby dropped one of his pins and Naomi (who has 3 younger brothers) helped him put it back on.

Outside Guest Services, waiting for a lost ticket to be replaced.

California Adventure, right after opening.  See the Mickey wheel?

These pics were taken from the top.  That's the new Cars Land in the background.

Aaaaand, I've discovered Furby's not crazy about heights.

Which is weird because he did fine on Tower of Terror

 (which he went on with the girls, thankyouverymuch!)

But didn't like Soaring Over California or the Mickey Wheel at all.

He tried to get me on California Screamin', which I declined.  

He was a little put out with me for a while.  

But we did Star Tours and Buzz Blasters instead, and he got over it.

I remembered to bring a sweatshirt.

I even remembered to tell the girls to bring sweatshirts.  

What I didn't remember, was to pack a sweatshirt for Furby, 

so he ended up getting a sweatshirt as his souvenir.  

It gets chilly at night.

The girls were a lot of fun to travel with.  They're good natured, and they make me laugh.  

 

                  

Green shirts, Day One, red and yellow shirts, Day Two.  

Really, Furby DID have fun, I promise.  He's just not that great about smiling on demand apparently.  

I had this shot taken while Furby & the girls were on Tower of Terror.

I also got samples at the bakery and the Ghirardelli shop, yum!

All in all, we had a great time.  But I made a mental note to never bring a stroller sized child to Disneyland and never go in the summer again.  All the moms with little bitty kids were Not Having Fun.  I know it's supposed to be The Happiest Place on Earth, but we heard quite a bit of crying.  I imagine it's sensory overload for kids who have issues with that sort of thing, too.

The other thing I really noticed was the attention to detail.  I imagine it must be fun to work on the design team.  So many "little things" go into making Disney the magical experience that it is.  The thought that must go into choosing just the right plants, coordinating the decor for each "land", and the amazing amount of upkeep that keeps everything looking fresh.  It's very well done.  

We shoved a lot into two days, but it's just not possible to do it all.  We missed a few rides and attractions that we would have liked to have seen.  And we were dog tired at the end of the second day.  The next morning, we were up and out and on the road at 9:20.  At the end of our drive (around 4:30ish) we had a lovely homecoming, with all the kids happy to see me again, and the M family mentioned here spending their last night in the area here with us.  

So there you have it.  Our bonsai Disney trip in a nutshell.