The Rest of California

We had a great time on the rest of our California vacation. On Tuesday Mark had his weekly World Orphans conference call so I took the kids down to the pool for swimming. After lunch we headed to Downtown Disney to peruse the Lego Store and see G-Force. Taking 6 people to the movies in CA is expensive. We had originally planned to see the 3-D version but an extra $20 convinced us otherwise.

Then Wednesday was the big Disneyland day thanks to our wonderful friends who gave us passes. (We had dinner with them on Sunday night and just loved it. They have an awesome family!) I had mapped out our strategy thanks to the Disneyland discussion boards. We hit the park at opening time and immediately started gathering our Fast Passes. Did you know that you DON’T have to go back and use the FP at the time is says? Yep, that is the key. You can use it anytime during or after that window.

So we rode the Star Tours ride, rocket ride, Dumbo, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad…all the while getting new FP about every 45 minutes for the really popular rides (as the day goes on it is longer and longer in between when you can get new FPs). Around 10 we headed over to CA Adventure and got in line for Soarin. Had heard good things about the ride and kind of knew what it was about. When we finally walked inside and saw the rows of seats and big screen I was wondering what the big deal was. Ha, when the canopy came down and our row of chairs (w/ feet dangling) pushed out so we felt surrounded by the screen I was blown away. It felt like you were flying. So cool!!!

We hit California Screamin’ but Natalie was an inch too short to ride (the only ride she couldn’t go on). Noah wasn’t up to the loop and so I hung with those two while Mark took Wen & Beza. I grabbed a rider switch pass but by the time they got down the kids (well really just the girls) were whiny and ready for a break. Mark took the boys back across to Disneyland for the Star Wars Jedi Training Academy show and me and the girls, with much whining and gnashing of teeth, headed back to the hotel via the Anaheim resort shuttle system.

The kids put on swim suits and jumped in the pool while I grilled food poolside for lunch. We let the kids swim for about an hour and then we all headed back to the room and laid down for a rest. The girls slept for about an hour. I don’t think the boys actually slept but they were quiet and got some rest. We got back up around 5, packed some sandwiches and snacks and headed back to the park with all our Fast Passes in hand. I was super excited about riding Space Mountain which was my favorite ride growing up. Mark took the boys (girls didn’t want to go) and then I went back on with Wen (once was enough for Noah).

We had saved Indiana Jones for last but when we got there it was down. It was 11:15 p.m. and we weren’t going to wait around on the off chance it was up again so we called it a day.

Thursday we just rested, swam and watched movies. The resort had quite a selection of movies for rental for $3 which was nice. Friday we headed back to the beach again. Saturday it was home again to the heat of Arizona.

It was a great vacation and a fun time making memories with the kids.