Having Fun!!

We are having the best time! Today was such a fun day. We woke up at 4:30 am and drove from Primm to Anaheim. We got to the area just as the park was opening. We parked and got a little freshened up and then walked over to Disneyland. The park was incredibly empty! Not what we were expecting. We decided our first ride would be Buzz Lightyear. I thought this one would be a good one for Darek to start out on. WRONG!! Ryan and Alex rode together, while I took Darek with me. As soon as we got into the ride, he started bawling. I think the lights and noise just really got to him. He calmed down a few minutes into the ride, but he still didn't like it. After Buzz, I took Alex over to Star Tours while Ryan went to get fast passes for Space Mountain. Alex loves Star Tours, and I just love watching his face while we're on that ride. We met Ryan after that and went to eat. While I fed Darek, Ryan and Alex went on Space Mountain. I was going to go on it with Alex after that, but decided not to. Instead we went over to It's a Small World. We have not been on this ride for a few years as it's been closed down for some refirbishments. They did some wonderful things to it to tie Disney into it a little more and made it a little brighter (so you don't feel like taking a nap). Even though Darek was more than ready to go to sleep, he was wide eyed the whole ride and practically broke his neck to see everything. He loved it! Alex decided after that ride that we should go over to pirates. On our way over there, we saw that Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was only a 10 minute wait. It ended up only being about 5 minutes. So Alex and I went on that one together. Darek fell asleep while we went on that one. We walked over to pirates, took Darek out carefully and went on that ride. Darek stayed asleep until the last few seconds of that ride. Then it was over to Haunted Mansion. Darek did really well on that one, where we thought he might have a hard time. After that busy morning, we decided it was time for a break.



We went back to the hotel to see if our room was ready. It was and we got all our luggage in and unpacked. During that time our wonderful friends, The Nielsens, arrived!!! We were so happy to see them. They did not have tickets for the park today, so we decided to head over to California Adventure before it closed. We headed straight back to Toy Story Mania and California Screamin'. We have been excited for this trip because Alex had not been tall enough before now to go on Screamin'. We found out just recently that he would be able to go on it. We got fast passes first and then went on Toy Story Mania until our fast passes were ready. Alex was freaking himself out the whole time. Toy Story Mania was a really fun ride and I can't wait to go on it again. We got off and Alex decided he wanted me to take him on Screamin' the first time. We got in line and he decided that he wanted to sit in the very front. It was a bit of a wait since quite a few people request the front, but we waited. Just before we were about to get on, Alex started crying. He always does this. He loves these rides, but scares himself so bad and gets upset. After a little bribing, I got him to settle down and got him on the ride. We took off and he got quite happy pretty quickly. I could tell he was a little nervous as we came up on the unside down loop. But at the end of the ride, I asked him what he thought. He was laughing and said he loved it. I asked him what he thought of the loop. He said, "Ah, it was nothing!" Such a funny boy!



After our rides, we did a little shopping and Tammy and Kaylene decided to meet me to go into Downtown Disney. We had decided one thing we wanted to do while we were here, was to get Build-A-Bears in Downtown Disney. We all picked out the same bear and decided we would get pirate outfits for each of them. They all look a little different, but ended up being so cute! It was so much fun doing together and something to remind us of this wonderful trip together!



After shopping, it was back to the hotel for a little ice cream, swimming and now bed. I'm tired, yet have too much energy to go to sleep. I have no idea how, but I do. I do have some pictures to post of today, but haven't put them on my laptop yet. I'll try to tomorrow. Ready for a fun day of rides and great food. We have a reservation for the Blue Bayou! Great atmosphere, great food... GREAT DAY!!! More to come...