Disney Diaries

Yay! Our first visitors while we're in Cali! Here are my fav sis, her hubby, and kids getting off the plane at the John Wayne airport. It was the kids' first plane ride, and poor Mini-Doug had a terrible time with his ears, compounded by the fact they had a connection in SanFran. I was really happy to see them! We had lunch at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles in downtown Long Beach. While we were eating, Uncle Doug called - he was really jealous he couldn't come on this trip, and that we were eating at Roscoe's without him.

Our first day at Disney was Friday, and we hit all the major rides except Nemo, which had a billion people in line all day long. Drew brought his cam-corder, and had it on during our trip through the Matterhorn. I'll post that later once we figure out the format. Turns out that little DougJr is a roller-coaster junkie! Scout, not so much... We left the park around 10 PM the first day, went on most of the cooler rides, but seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time in line...hmmmm...
Here is the fam lounging by the hotel pool. We spent most of Sunday at the pool, and at downtown Disney. Saturday we drove around LA, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and ate lunch on the Santa Monica pier. We ordered in Thai food for dinner at the condo, and the kids got to see Uncle V, who had to work most of the weekend :-(

Monday, back to Disney at the crack of dawn to get in line before they opened. We spent most of the day at California adventure, where the rides are wayyyyy more cooler. We finally clued in to how the 'fastpass' system works, and avoided standing in line as much as we did at Disney. We hit some pretty great rides before the park was too crowded and no lines! The first ride was Grizzly River Run where we managed to get soaked. It was a blast. California Screamin' is the fabulous roller coaster that we went on twice - but Scout hated it. We had fastpass tix for a third ride, but they closed it! Total bummer! Soarin' over California was also awesome, as a virtual ride over the natural beauty of the state, complete with smell, sound, and wind effects.

However, I think the best ride was the Tower of Terror, with free-fall drops faster than the speed of gravity. It was awesome, however, we did have one terrorized passenger with us...
Scout was hanging onto me for dear life, and not a happy camper. This is a picture of a picture taken by the ride and displayed outside afterwards. She was pretty upset for a while afterwards. Even DougJr said he was 'screaming like a girl', although he wanted to do it again!
This is more Scout's speed and her idea of a 'good ride'...both feet firmly on the ground.
DougJr with Goofy. We saw MM, Snow White, and Pluto, but the kids weren't keen on standing in line to greet them. I think they were fed up with lines!
DougJr in front of the Hollywood mural, one of the few when he's standing still...lol.
Scout in her mouse ears picking out lunch with dad. Behind us was a table of old dudes, who Drew found out were all veterans. As they were leaving, Drew got up and shook each of their hands and thanked them for serving our country. Drew is a dude!
Another great pic of Scout. She loves those ears!
One of the kids silly things they do right now is the 'rabbit ears' behind an unsuspecting person's back. Here, C is giving DougJr some of his own back, unbeknownst to him.
DougJr pretending to be asleep, and look! More ears! ha ha!
Hammin' it up for the camera like a normal six year old boy!
Here I am trying to get a pic of Scout playing cards, and there seems to be a monkey face ghost in the picture.

And in this one too! DougJr would jump in/out of the frame right when I snapped. First time funny, second time..ha ha ha...third time!!! GRRRRRR!!!!
Here is Scout showing off her WAR winnings. Those two are little card sharks! I can barely win at UNO. Who knew 6 years olds could strategize???
The girl is full of giggles!!!!!

It was a fabulous trip, and I miss them already! However, I'm really looking forward to another 8 year old niece, MadMary, visiting over spring break. I heard through the grapevine that she's a roller coaster junkie as well, so I think there are good times coming in the near future!