February 5, 2010
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And they became Disney frieks..
In January, Austin experienced his first (hopefully of many more) taste of Disneyland.
It rained the day we left, started when we left home, and rained ALL the way there. Half the length of our state, never stopped raining, not once! A sign of things to come? Yes.
We stayed at Paradise Pier which is right across from the Grand Californian and California Adventure.. it was fun having this view.
When we had to dash back to the hotel to dry out and stay warm, we could still see the park. Our room was a free upgrade since it was Austin's first time at Disney (and probably b/c not a lot of people go to Disneyland during a monsoon-
), otherwise we probably would have been looking at a parking lot.We were determined to make the best of our trip, even in the rain, and not let the weather get us down. It was challenging and frustrating at times but in the end, the weather made for some great, funny, and unique experiences.
For instance, have you ever ridden Dumbo when Dumbo had an inch of water inside? I guess wet shoes can be a trade-off for riding the rides two or three times in a row without getting off. Austin LOVED making it go up and down by himself:
Daddy was game to ride, too:
We probably rode this ride a total of 9 or 10 times during our trip. I think it was one of Austin's favorites. That's us in the orange one..
And in the purple one:
His other favorite ride.. Casey Jr. Circus Train..
which is right behind Dumbo.. very convenient to go back and forth between the two. This ride we also rode quite a few times. It played a little jingle during the ride.. I think Austin knows the words to the jingle. That's how many times we rode it.
The first time, in the caboose..
The next time in the pink cage.. then the orange cage.. we rode it a few times in a row the last night, too, the dark. He thought that was great.. Once we found this ride, it was the go-to ride. We were all humming that jingle on the way home.
Another hit was Autopia. The first time we didn't get any pictures, b/c it was a DOWNPOUR, and Austin insisted on driving.. so he steered, I did the gas pedal, and tried to man the umbrella, which was trying its best to blow away. We could barely see the track, b/c the rain was pelting us in the face, and the wind was blowing and I was trying to keep the umbrella as low as possible. It was a definite challenge. I wouldn't call it driving, I would say that it was more that we careened down the track banging from side to side until we reached the end. I was kind of sore after that one. The second time, it was only a light sprinkle, and it was at night, Chris drove the one in front of us, and it was alot more fun!
Oh, I forgot the carousel. That was his other favorite. The trifecta: Circus train, Dumbo, and Carousel. And they were all right next to each other which made it easy to go back and forth and ride them bunches of times.
He loved ridin' the ponies.
Other random rides:
Teacups..
luckily we got to ride them once. They were closed the rest of the time for rain. And Austin had seen them and kept begging to go on them. Coincidentally, or not.. it started pouring right after we rode them, and they closed the rest of that day, too.
Watching in awe:
the boy loves to spin.
We got to ride in the nose of the monorail.. I guess b/c we were the only people waiting to board it at the station. All of the sudden, the driver gets out and says, "You wanna ride up here?" I didn't know you could ride up there. ? It was great, and Austin was very excited. Bryan tells me that when it's really crowded, people wait in LINE to ride up there. Who knew? Later that day, due to the HEAVY rain and wind, the monorail closed b/c a tree blew down on the track! Crazy. It was reopened by the next day though.
This was the FIRST ride..happy to be riding a train!
Even happier to be riding in the front!
Well, that's enough for now.. more pics next time. One kid is napping, the other is downstairs doing who knows what and probably needs to go outside by now.
Until next time.. we miss you Disneyland!
