Disneyland / Universal Studios 2010 - Day 4

I regretfully confess that we may have overdone it a bit today. But only a teeny bit. It is 10:30 PM and we are only just now eating dinner. We had to order room service because we when we got back from Disneyland we realized we forgot to eat while we were there. The kids were so tired as we were leaving the park that our little Ashley said, “I thought this was supposed to be The Happiest Place on Earth, but I’m not very happy.” Alarms began to go off in our brains. The likelihood that our 7-, 10- and 11-year-olds can't keep up with us is very high. But, boy, did we enjoy every minute of our day up until then.

We arrived at the park as it was opening at 9:00 AM and spent 3 hours going on rides that we didn’t get to yesterday and returning to others to ride again. And again. And again. We stayed until noon because we wanted to swim in the heat of the day and then return when the weather began to cool down. Which, 10 minutes into the swim, it began to do.

 

We stopped at Red Robin for lunch (courtesy of the DeMonte Family) before catching the shuttle to California Adventure. As we stepped off the shuttle, the rain began. It was awesome! We had wrapped Alison’s cast in Saran Wrap and black duct tape to keep it dry on the water rides, so we were good as far as that went. We brought our sweaters, but the rain only got heavier. $19 later, we had 3 ponchos for the little guys and we were in line for Soaring Over California. Yes, I said “line.” While building California Adventure, the crafty Disney Imagineers thought it wise to make the queues large enough to accommodate wheelchairs. Bummer deal for us.

Here comes the part of the blog that I’m tempted to skip because I can't do justice to the story that needs to be told. But I’ll try. For weeks, we've been trying to convince Ashley that now that she's tall enough, she needs to ride the Tower of Terror with us. We almost had her convinced, but 2 days ago at a rest stop, she told me, “Mommy, I have to listen to my heart and my heart is telling me I am not ready to go on that ride.” I told her that her heart was stupid and she was going on it come hell or high water. No, I didn't. But the thought did cross my mind. Ultimately though, the sweetness and purity of what Ashley said, caused me to tell her she needs to listen to her heart. 

Well, thank God Ashley has a fickle heart because she changed her mind and rode the Tower of Terror with us. The anticipation of walking through the lobby of the Hollywood Tower Hotel, watching the Twilight Zone movie in the library, and getting on the service elevator to await the ride, is enough to make a person crazy. As the bellhop loaded us onto the ride he said, “If you have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free....... to scream” just as the elevator doors closed leaving us in pitch blackness. And the 13 story free fall drop that follows is the best feeling in the world. Not screaming as you are falling over 150 feet is impossible. Truly. Chad and I were so concerned about Ashley’s wellbeing after riding it, that as soon as it was over we both huddled around her, “are you okay? Did you like it?” And the only words that came out of her mouth were, “AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN!” So we went again. 3 times in a row and the last two times we didn’t even need to get out of our seats – the bellhop simply asked if we wanted another ride. That’s how dead the park was because of the rain. Okay, enough about The Tower of Terror because I could go on about it for hours.

Since we were already wet, we went on Grizzly River Run and got soaked to our bones. We bought churros from the churro cart, rode some more rides and when the park closed, we walked back to Disneyland for 2 more hours of rides in the dark. The best nighttime rides are Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain, so we took our 4th ride on those. And of course, a nice mellow jaunt on Pirates of the Caribbean to calm our nerves after the craziness at the Tower of Terror.

We reached the Central Plaza just as the fireworks show, “Remember… Dreams Come True” was about to begin. Narrated by, be still my heart, Julie Andrews. Again, any attempt at accurately portraying the sheer brilliance of it would be a waste of time. I’ll just say it was spectacular and perfect. The sea of people trying to get out of the park at the same time, however, was not. And this is where the grumpiness began to take its toll. Here are some of the comments we heard as we made the trek to our shuttle just outside the gates: “I feel like I’ve been walking for my entire life.” “I don’t want to come back tomorrow. I want to sleep.” “Can’t someone carryyyyyy me?” “How come Alison gets to be pushed around in a wheel chair all day?” 

So, tomorrow we may take it easy on our children. We want to instill our love for the place in them, not create some horrifying foodless-marathon-walk-nightmare, you know?

Yo-ho Yo-ho!  A pirates life for us,

The Niemeyers