Here’s Abby in her stroller. I got a lot of comments on the stroller bling that I added. It was a cute fabric trim I found at Joanne’s with pink and white polka dots and little dangling Minnie Mouse silhouettes. I just glued it on with hot glue. Speaking of the stroller - we really debated on whether or not to bring it. Ultimately though, I decided that potentially carrying Abby all over Disneyland was just not going to be an option. No, ma’am. Not going to happen. Bringing the stroller was a hassle though because we had to park it somewhere for each ride, but Abby sure was tired and needed a break from walking everywhere + standing in loooooooooooooooooooong lines. In the end I was glad we brought it. Disneyland and California Great Adventure parks are HUGE!
Actually, we were exhausted with everything. Everything seemed to be about hurrying up to stand in line. I was really starting to hate it. We’d get up early to stand in line just to get into the park. Then we’d all rush in and stand in line at a ride. Of course, we also had to stand in line to go to the bathroom, or stand in line to get food or drinks. Sometimes we had to stand in line just to move from one part of the park to the other. Talk about cattle. Then, we would stay as late as we could to watch the late shows or fireworks, or whatever. Some days we were up at 5:30 am and not back to the hotel until 11 pm or midnight. By the end of the week I was done with that. We took it a little more easy, but we were all exhausted!
Here’s Abby one evening when she fell asleep in her stroller around 7:30 pm. We couldn’t rouse her to even eat dinner. Poor kid.
And yes, we didn’t eat dinner that evening until after 7:30. Sigh. We couldn’t do much of anything in a timely, semi-routine manner.
We were so miffed that we went during their Halloween Fest (or whatever they call it.) First of all, we wanted to go during their “off-season” which, realistically is probably never, but we wanted to avoid the crowds. Apparently we went on one of the busiest Oct weeks. Darn it all! On top of that though, they were selling additional tickets to the Halloween “party” and kicking out the “regular” ticket holders. Essentially, the park closed earlier for us. Unbelievable. Now we were getting ripped off out of our time there + hanging with extra people. Ergh. On the other hand, seeing Disneyland tripped out with Halloween décor was cool…
Now, we had 5 day park hopper tickets for both parks. So we also checked out California Great Adventure. It sucked.
First of all, the workers were like Disneyland rejects or something. They were not that smart or nice. Second, rides broke down over there, especially after you already spent 30 minutes to over an hour in line!! Poor Abby was in line for all three of them when they broke. Third, it’s more carnival feeling with midway type rides rather than themed “adventures.” It’s like where all the rejected Disneyland rides go to live. And fourth, it’s smarmy over there. Sure, Disneyland can make you vomit with cuteness, but the kids love it. The CA park is obviously geared towards adults, and it just fails to win over adult hearts. Blah. Every single ride I went on over there, except the Tower of Terror, was a flop in my opinion. Just not worth the crowd or lines or walk. Except the Tower of Terror. That thing was freakin RAD! (Yes, I said rad!)
Ok, back to Abby. She so totally impressed me, Lee, Nancy, Shawna and Amber.
She was a trooper. Physically, emotionally, attitude-wise, and fun-level, she kept pace with the big kids 100%. There was no temper tantrums. There was no whining (well, almost none at all.) There was no pouting or crying or unrealistic demands. She went with the flow; she stayed upbeat and positive; she stayed smiling. And (shhhhhh, it’s a secret) Abby went potty at Disneyland!!!
Let me back up a little bit. Abby goes potty just fine. She goes potty at other people’s houses. No problem. But Abby has never gone potty in a public restroom – even super clean ones. Soooo, on this trip, Abby went potty in Disneyland’s public restrooms! Yay!! Once she did it the first time, she had no problem repeating the process, and she even started getting faster at it! Woot! Our big girl even started doing other things on her own. It was like, once she passed that hurdle, she could do anything.
Oh, and the rides? Forget about it! Our big girl was a little dare devil! She had no problem with the Matterhorn, Big Thunder, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Start Tours, or even the Tower of Terror! That’s right, folks. My big girl rode the Tower of Terror three times! Abby even gave Nancy, who is not a friend of heights, some handfuls of her own braveness to talk Nancy into riding with us. Nancy caved and finally joined us on that last ride of the day. To quote Abby, “That was so totally awesome!”
Now Carsland, the “newest” addition at CA Great Adventure, looked cool.
I mean, it really looked like you were walking down the main street of Radiator Springs. Aside from the looks, though, Carsland sucked. We wanted to like it, but it just wasn’t anything. The main ride was one of the rides that Abby and Lee waited in for over an hour and then it broke down. I got to ride it as a single rider, before it broke, but even the 40 minutes I spent in line was not worth it. Actually, it was kinda cheese ball. Some effects were cool, but it just plain and simply wasn’t worth the wait or the crowds. The other kiddie rides were ok. But the place was PACKED. You couldn’t get a clear shot or move up and down the streets without bumping elbows, knees, strollers, or sometimes heads with other people.
We did like the Bear River Rapids. Abs got soaked and I didn’t, which was awesome.
We rode the swinging cart of the Farris Wheel. Yawn.
We rode Midway Mania, which we all really liked – but so did everyone else in the damn park. The line was hella long and while Shawna, Amber and Abby were in line for it for 45 minutes, it broke too! We all eventually went back and tried again. If it wasn’t for the long line, I would have been very happy with that ride.
We rode California Soaring, a ride where you “fly” in a hang glider over images of CA. But the screen was spotted, the images were cut too severely and blurry, and I was hugely disappointed. We also rode the giant swing, another carnival type ride. I was bored with it but Abby positively loved it. Look at that smile!!
And, of course, there was the Tower of Terror.
The best thing about this ride, other than the thrill of “falling,” is that each ride is slightly different. So, for the three or four times I rode it, each one was different. And the last ride for me at the parks was Tower of Terror, AND it was the best one. To quote Abby again, “That was so totally awesome!”
Here are a few other shots. They're from Disneyland.
Jungle River Cruise:
Toontown (lame):
Meeting Ariel (out of the water, of course!) Lee kept saying "where's her flipper?" and Abby would just roll her eyes at him:
Brace yourself for Parts III and IV after this one. (Sorry, but a week long adventure deserves a couple posts… Maybe not 4 altogether but a couple at least!!)
I love this shot of Abby. It's the epitome of what Disneyland is to a kid:
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