Disneyland 2012 - Day 5

Lots of "Pooh" jokes were made while waiting for this picture

 

When labeling these "Butte Gas," they should've known...

We started our last day with another Magic Morning in California Adventure.  We stopped by Earl of Sandwich for some breakfast sandwiches and ate them as we cut through The Grand Californian to get into the park.  By the time we got to Radiator Springs Racers, there was already a 30 minute wait.  We knew when the park opened, the line would only get worse, so we made the most of it.  Jackson and Ashley  play-fought nearly the entire time – with “play” making up about 5 percent of that combo.  They’d go from laughing hysterically, to suddenly arguing about who touched whom, and of course we heard the classic: “there I was, minding my own business, when suddenly out of nowhere, he hit me…”  That was all forgotten when we got into our little race cars and had our first ride of the day.

See?  Waiting in line CAN be fun

Next, we went to the Tower of Terror for one last plunge, and then we had to make our way back to the hotel to pack and check out.  We walked a lot slower through the park this time.  On the way out, we met Mickey, and Ashley gave him a huge hug and kiss and posed for pictures with him.  While she was giddy about meeting Mickey, the other two hid from him and refused to be photographed.  They’re funny that way. 

Mickey Mouse and one happy kid

Packing was a pretty a grim experience, but we got it done, checked out, left our bags with bell services, and went to Disneyland for our last 6 hours of fun.  The moment we got on Main Street, everything we did, we did with a bit of sadness in our hearts: “This is our last time on [insert ride],” “Well, say goodbye to [insert land],” were said over and over again.  Each time, a bit more dejectedly.  We rode all our favorites, and I noticed on every ride, I sat forward, almost leaning out of the ride, memorizing every last detail, breathing in every last scent.

Ali and Jackson wanted to go on Space Mountain, so Chad, Ashley and I got lunch at Redd Rocket’s Pizza Port, and then waited for them in the arcade.  There, I met up with my old best friend, Ms. Pac Man.  I filled my pockets with tokens and forgot all about my husband and baby girl (sorry, guys).  While I was playing my favorite game in the history of video games, I missed out on a fun encounter Chad had:

While Chad was putting Ashley’s teddy bear (who is dressed as Winnie the Pooh) into a bag, a lady stopped him,

“Oh, a Pooh Costume!  That’s almost big enough to fit on a doll," she said.

“Oh... yeah.  Yeah, our kids don’t have any dolls that are that big anymore.”

“I didn’t say I had dolls that were that big.  I have plushes that big that it might fit on.”

She then took out her phone to show Chad a picture of her “plushes,” and spent 45 seconds scrolling through her photos to find the one she was looking for, while Chad stood there awkwardly. 

When she found the photo, she held out her phone for Chad to see, “here is Plush Mountain,” she said.  And it was a picture of her bed with an enormous pile of stuffed animals on top of it.  She continued telling Chad all about it, until her “friend” came to get her.  Chad said, by “friend” he means “care giver.” 

With that, it was time to get on the monorail and leave.  Since it was Friday in Disneyland, the park was so packed and chaotic that we were relieved to get away from the crowd.  The monorail was completely packed.  That’s something we usually don’t see, and we were reminded why we avoid Disneyland on weekends.

Back at the hotel, bell services brought our bags and we waited for the Disney Express to come get us and take us to the airport.  While chatting with a hotel employee, we learned that Mario Lopez was staying at the hotel to host Earl of Sandwich’s Grand Opening.  When my kids heard “Mario Lopez is here,” they freaked out and wanted to go find him.  They wanted to meet A.C. Slater.  And they were obsessed with finding him.  Every time a Hispanic-looking person walked by, I thought Ali and Jackson would go into cardiac arrest.  About halfway to the airport, they finally dropped the subject.  Much to everyone’s relief.

Depression setting in...

We got to the John Wayne airport, and walked through security.  Ali was stopped after the x-ray machine detected something in her pocket. They had to search her with a wand, and perform a bomb residue test on her hands.  It turned, out she had a tiny heart shaped charm in her pocket.  My daughter, the terrorist.  Our flight home had been delayed by about 30 minutes, which was no problem, because we enjoy hanging out at airports and goofing off.  Especially John Wayne.  This airport has the friendliest, most helpful employees of any airport we have ever been to.  The announcements on the airport PA system cracked us up, “Joe Smith, you need to run as fast as you have ever run in your life to gate 9.”  “Bob and Sally Williams, please come to gate 15, you are the only ones NOT on the plane, and everyone is waiting for you.”  John Wayne is the complete opposite of Sea-Tac.  At Sea-Tac, it’s like the number one rule for making announcements is that English must NOT be your first language.  And you must not smile.  Ever.

This was the first flight we’ve been on in years that wasn’t completely full.  In fact, Jackson was able to lay across two seats and sleep, and the entire row behind us was empty.  The flight attendants told us that the flight had been delayed because they couldn’t get one of the engines to start in Seattle.  Those are things I do NOT want to hear right before we take off.  Every time we take off, I am convinced we are going to die, so this little nugget of information didn’t help me much.  And when the captain came on and and told us since we were running a bit behind, he was going to “accelerate more aggressively than normal, and climb faster than usual,”  well, that was just more news I didn’t want to hear.  By the time Chad leaned over and told the kids, “if we are ever going to die in an airplane, it’s probably going to be this one,” I had pretty much kissed this world goodbye.  But a little over two hours later, we landed safely, and said hello to our gray and cloudy city. 

We got home a little after midnight, and my sister Leah was waiting for us.  She had brought our pets home, vacuumed, turned on the lamps, and made our house cozy and warm.  I’ve never seen a cat so happy to see a human, as Bonzai was to see us.  Jessie was depressed that she didn’t actually get to go back to the blueberry farm with Leah, but she managed a few wags of the tail.

Our vacation already seems like it happened a long time ago.  The rest of this weekend will be spent watching Disney movies, looking at pictures, and re-living yet another incredible family vacation.  And when everyone goes to bed, and I’m all alone, I think I’ll start planning the next one. 

- The Niemeyers

...I promise - we won't.