Disneyland Day 2

On Wednesday, September 3rd, the kids forgot about being on Pacific time, and woke up at 6:30 am local time. I was surprised they didn't sleep in any longer, with the lack of sleep from the day before, but they were both in happy moods. Joe had some work that had to be done, so I got the kids up and dressed, and we explored the hotel grounds a bit, and then went across the street to Mimi's Café for breakfast. I could tell the day was going to be a bit dicey, again, particularly since they woke up so early and the parks didn't open until 10 am.

 After trying to dawdle as much as possible, I decided that we should just head over to California Adventure and be at the front of the line for the rope drop, so that we could get FastPasses for Radiator Springs Racers. While the kids were happy to be finally headed to Disneyland, once we got there and they realized that they had to wait for a bit longer, Joseph turned into a bit of a grump.

Joe managed to meet up with us a few minutes before 10, and we decided he would get the Fast Passes, while I would take the kids to ride the Toy Story Mania ride, which we figured Joseph would like. It's very similar in style to Buzz Lightyear, but you wear 3-D glasses and are pulling a pull-cord style "gun" to hit your targets.

On the way, we saw Donald Duck, and Maddie shrieked with excitement. Joseph was still grumpy and refused to get out of the stroller, but Maddie was super excited to meet him! It was really cute to see her take the book and ask him to sign it. She refused to give up the binkie, but I was happy she didn't seem scared of Donald at all.

 

The kids liked the Toy Story ride, but I think it was a little difficult for Joseph, and the glasses didn't stay on Maddie's head. We weren't too surprised when Joseph said he liked it, but didn't want to go on it again.

The carousel in California Adventure is right next to Toy Story Mania, so we took a spin for Maddie.

 Then we wandered over to ride the Little Mermaid, with Maddie demonstrating some solid nose picking along the way. That girl!

 We were bummed to discover Little Mermaid was down for repairs, and they estimated it would be a couple hours before it was running again. So we continued on to the Bug's Life Land, which is designed for the toddler/preschooler crowd.

I suppose I should also point out that when I was planning the trip, I thought it would be fun to make coordinating outfits for the kids. I knew Disneyland would be our first day destination, and opted for the Minnie/Mickey theme. I spent the couple weeks leading up to the trip sewing a different dress for Maddie for each day, and making different shirts for Joseph. Joe thought it would be fun for us all to coordinate, so I picked this day, when Joseph and Maddie were characters from Monster's Inc.  We got lots of comments on all of their outfits, but the Disney cast members in particular loved Maddie's dress this day! I'm guessing it's not often they see a cute two year old wearing a monster dress :)

We had to make a few stops for Churros, although I ate far fewer than our trip last year, sans kids!

After spending a bit of time in the Bugs Land, it was time to go on Radiator Springs Racers. Maddie isn't tall enough, so Joe and I took turns waiting with her while we took advantage of our Fast Passes and the Rider Swap rules (which basically is Disney's way of not making the whole family wait in line when one person can't ride - Joe and Joseph went first, and got a rider swap pass, so that when they finished, Joseph and I went together and used the pass. It's a great system!)

Maddie had fun browsing around the shops, and enjoying a Red's Apple Freeze drink.

 I had also brought a few magic ink coloring books, so she hung out in the stroller coloring for a bit too. I was really pleased with how well she did just waiting. Although, really, she was getting to wander around, color, snack and do the things she loves to do anyway, so I don't think she even noticed that she was missing out!

Joseph loved the car ride. It's a great newer ride where you go on a leisurely trip through the scenery from the movie, Cars, and then you get either a new paint job or new tires, and line up next to another car with passengers, and the cars race through Radiator Springs. It's randomized so you don't know if your car will win or lose. When Joe went, their car lost, and Joseph was apparently bummed. Not enough so to not go on it again, but he was super excited when our car won!

As was becoming a popular trend, Joe took Maddie to eat lunch while Joseph and I were on the ride. We met up with them, finished lunch, and then headed back to the hotel for naps by about 1:45 p.m.

Of course, on the way out we saw Goofy just hanging out with no line, so we opted to get his autograph and snap some pictures. The kids were definitely wearing down, but we hadn't taken a family picture yet and I wanted to make sure we got at least a couple!

Back at the hotel, the kids quickly fell asleep, and Joe and I assumed our usual positions, hanging out by the one outlet in the hallway to recharge out phones. Our room had a balcony, but while it was great that it faced Disneyland, it meant direct sun in the afternoon and quickly became uncomfortable hanging out there. 

After naps we did a bit of park hopping - Joseph would not stop asking about going on the Little Mermaid, so we headed back to California Adventure, hoping that it was running again. We were happy to find out it was, with absolutely no wait, so we ended up riding it three times in a row! By the time we were able to get the kids off, the Pixar Parade was about to roll down the street, so we hung out to watch the parade. The kids loved it!

We then headed over to do the Monster's Inc. ride, and had to snap a picture at our favorite place in the park:

We then opted to run over to Disneyland to take in the Tiki Room show, get a Dole Whip (or two!) and ride Pirates of the Caribbean, which the kids loved. By this time it was getting close to 7 again, with the parks closing at 8. We had planned to watch the World of Color nighttime show at California Adventure, so we headed back over and found a spot in line. Joe opted to kill some time and took Joseph on a few of the rides in the back of the park that Joseph had wanted to go on, and Maddie made friends with the kids around us in line.

Joe brought back a few corn dogs for our dinner, which were really tasty. By the time the World of Color show began, the kids were getting a bit antsy, but were in awe when the lights and water started up. We saw the show for the first time last year and were amazed, and knew the kids would love it. Joseph still talks about the "movie on the water" and when we can see it again - it's a light show with scenes from various movies projected on mist over the lagoon, with water cannon and fire effects. So neat!

It ended about 8:45 p.m., and we managed to keep both kids in the stroller for the walk back to the hotel. Day two definitely ended a lot better than it began, and it felt like we were finally starting to get the hang of park touring with two little kids. I was a bit sad that we only had one more day!