Back From Disneyland
So Friday we took off early in the AM and dropped Marley off in Manteca and did the drive to the Disneyland Hotel; a great view on the 10th floor of the Wonder tower. We were right above the area where they have weddings and got to watch one as soon as we arrived.
Saturday we hit the parks for the first of three days. This day: Disneyland. We did most of the major rides: Indiana Jones, Finding Nemo, the Matterhorn, and Star Tours where Justin managed to lose his lanyard with his 5-day hopper pass, and which was covered with fancy pins from the souvenir shops. We went back 10 minutes later and it was already gone; not at the ride's lost & found; not at the parks lost & found. So from then on, we had to stop by the Guest Relations desk each day for a replacement 1-day pass for him to get in. We go pooped around 4PM or so, and headed back to the hotel for some pool time and rest for the baby. Then later that evening we went back into the park to watch the fireworks show on Main Street. Very, very cool. Now it was late, and all the family-friendly restaurants were closed but we found a Torilla Jos Express for some burrito-goodness.
Sunday we did California Adventures, and hit most of the major rides there: Soaring over California, Screaming over California, the Grizzly Rapids, etc. Then we spent a good amount of time toward the back of the park at the Midway games and having lunch (and a Grand Margarita for dad :oP From there we waited in line for Aladdin and in the meantime I was able to go on the Tower of Terror. The Aladdin show was fantastic! Afterwards we had a great dinner at Naples; unfortunately Andrew was pissed by this point and made it a rough dinner. From there back to the hotel... pool/spa time... and watching the Main Street fireworks from our balcony.
Monday was back to Disneyland, but only after having the Character breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen and getting lots of pictures of the kids with the different characters. We were absolutely exhausted by this point, but made it through ToonTown, the Haunted Mansion, Bugs Life, and Honey I Shrunk the Audience. We had lunch in Critter Country before Lisa split with the baby to go shopping at Sephora while Justin and I did a few rides. Justin and I took the Monorail back to the hotel where Lisa and the kids watched TV, relaxed, and Justin played with a new Lego Agents set the Lisa bought him in Downtown Disneyland. In the meantime I got to checkout the Fitness center. The fitness center requires that you sign a waiver at the front desk to 'activate' your key to get in, and nobody under 14 is allowed in; as such there was NOBODY in this fairly well-equipped gym. I enjoyed that for about 45 minutes, then went back to the room for Justin and headed to the pool (after getting a Rob Roy at the bar :o).
After an hour or two in the pool we went back up to the room, ordered room service, started watching Life As A House which I Netflixed before we left. We were able to connect the portable DVD player to the TV. We caught the Main Street fireworks one last time that night.
Tuesday (yesterday) the fun was unfortunately over. It was all packing, loading the car, getting a quick bite to eat and hitting the road.... a quick stop in Manteca to pickup Marley, who'd only done minor damage to the sitters home :o(. As much fun as we had, it was REALLY NICE finally being home!
