Disneyland Days: 2

On Tuesday, we slept in unit 7:00, so that was an improvement, and, it was also the day we used our Magic Morning Pass to get into Disneyland at 9:00! Even Better. Even less of a line in, a little else people at the park, and a little warmer, Tuesday was so great. 

I told you that Archie didn't mind waiting in line; he always finds something to do.

Every day we rented a stroller for Archie that doubled as our pack-mule too. Lucy and Archie are waiting for me to arrive with it here. Not a bad spot to wait!

 After arriving at the park early and catching a few fast-passes, we RUSHED to Paradise Pier Hotel barely making it in time for our character breakfast with Papa and Gramma. I'm told I'll laugh about it someday. We all snuggled up to some characters as we enjoyed Mickey waffles and lots of fun. 

Archie with his first crush. Of all the princesses and characters he met, he was most smitten with Daisy Duck.  She wrote, "Love, Daisy Duck", and when I told him, he said, "she loves me!" Even now, when he sees her signature in his book, he gets all abashed. 

Here's the crazy one...and Stitch too!

She managed to get Elliott to blush too.

After breakfast, it was back to the fun. Mike and I had a great unspoken system: one of us would go with the big kids, and one of us would go with Archie. Lucy, Elliott and I wanted to ride the Matterhorn, so Mike took Archie to Toon Town to party for a bit. 

Here we are waiting for the Matterhorn. It was probably the longest wait we had because they were doing some maintenance, but I promised the kids an iconic Disney experience, so they stuck it out. The abominable snowman freaked them out; mission accomplished. 

Then Mike took the big kids and Archie and I did the teacups! Another classic Disney experience. He liked this one! There was never a line, so we were able to do this one a lot. 

 And this picture is just because I love the face Archie makes when he's tired of smiling. 

 Then we went and found Sleeping Beauty's castle. 

 We accidentally happened upon the 3:00 parade, and since we LOVED the last one so much, we grabbed a Dole Whip treat and settled in for the show. The parades are magic.

 Thanks to the park-hopper passes, we were able to go back and forth between the parks, so, with no lines to stop us, we had to give California Screamin a try and the river raft another go. Thanks Papa for watching the kids while Mike and I had a mini date on the Screamin, and Gramma for going on the raft ride with the big kids!

(we learned our lessons and brought ponchos today)

 We couldn't miss another chance to be Wilderness Explorers of course. 

 Around dinner time, we found a nice Cafe in Disneyland and sat to eat. We watched crowds gather and realized we had accidentally found a prime spot for the Light Parade and firework show! We bought a few blankets, more hot chocolate, a few more churros of course, and enjoyed parade and the most amazing castle-projection and fireworks display!

 (photo credits to Elliott for these)

Cudos go to the kids for their stamina and attitudes on these long, tiring days. Elliott was so brave trying the scary rides! The only one he "swore he would never ride" was the Tower of Terror, but he tried, and retried and tried again, California Screamin; he loved it! And Lucy walked and walked and WALKED with us and never complained that she literally had holes in her shoes and her orthotics worked like a charm! We averaged about 12 miles and 8 hours a day! Archie stayed awake in his stroller and loved every minute of it. Mike was patient and generous with his time and hard-earned money ($8 a corndog!). We spent more time together, interacting and enjoying each other in these 2 days than we would in a month at home and school and work. And that's why 

Disneyland really is a magical place!