Glorious Vacation Day 2: DCA

Waiting in line for security, Ireland noticed a little girl just a few people behind us. She plunked down her park bag and chatted away with her about how she was dressed as Tinker Bell and which pin did she like best and which ride was she going on first, etc. Turns out she was also staying at the Disneyland Hotel! The older couple behind us kept commenting on how sweet she was. They were from the Seattle area and talked about how they put in their will that after they die they wanted all their kids and their families to fly First Class to Disneyland and do the VIP tour (expensive, but worth it they said) and just enjoy the parks. I loved how they wanted their family to have some celebration after they were gone and felt inspired to maybe do the same thing.   

Our excitement at having Magic Morning access quickly deteriorated when we found out both Web Slingers and the Incredicoaster were down. Radiator Springs Racers is not a Magic Morning ride but we couldn't even get in line for that one as it was also down. Brent and I really wanted to start the day with a thrill ride so we took Liesel and Gita to Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT! while Ireland and Sydney eased into the day with Soarin' Around the World. 

Gita still had a lot of trepidation from her last time on Guardians and we are big believers in facing your fears. She sat next to Brent and I assured her she just needed to remember it starts with a BIG pull up and then a BIG pull down. After that the pulls were much less intense. For our song, we got I Want You Back by Jackson 5.

Now that Gita had faced her fear, it was time for us to face one of ours which is the swinging gondolas at Pixar Pal Around. For years Gita had taunted us that it wasn't scary at all. I think we got a very enthusiastic cast member who ran that thing at full speed so the gondolas swung wildly. I started yelling at the people in line to make a different life choice and as we passed the cast member screamed, "I wanna get off! I don't like it!" I think he granted us some mercy and slowed it down because it wasn't nearly as raucous the second time around. 

Even so, I am never going back on this. Seeing the girders slide past as we swung into the park high in the air is just not fun for me. Look online and you will see a lot of people who agree this is the scariest ride in the park. But we faced our fear! Check!

We met up with Ireland and Sydney who had also managed to get on Web Slingers. Even though the Incredicoaster was still down, Jack Jack's Cookie Num Nums was open so we snacked on those as a reward for facing fears.

We did the Silly Symphony Swings twice and then used the restroom before heading to Soarin'.

Remember Liesel had already lost her favorite ears? Well Ireland left her phone in the bathroom. With all of $12 on her Till card, Brent asked if I could disable it because her phone was nowhere to be found and Ireland was devastated. 

While they hunted for that phone, the rest of us were at Animation Academy sketching Goofy.

Brent and a somber Ireland joined us at Turtle Talk with Crush. Sydney was picked to ask a question and she wanted to know if he had ever been in a race. Apparently he was a champion so yeah, he had won races. We all became adept at responding to his, "You so totally rock!" with "DUUUUUDE!!!"

I had a long list of food to try from San Fransokyo. From the Aunt Cass Cafe we tried the mac n cheese bowl and sourdough. From Cocine Cucamonga we had the carne asada taco, street corn, frijoles charros and lime-cilantro rice. Finally, from Lucky Fortune Cookery we tried the beef ramen, pot stickers and Baymax macaron. How cute is that macaron!?!?!

We had a Genie+ reservation for Web Slingers but before heading over I wanted to take a couple of photos on that fantastic bridge! 

A guy asked if I wanted a photo of all of us and I said, "You don't steal phones do you?"
"That would be weird" he said as he pointed to his cast member badge. I laughed and handed him my phone. 

As he gave it back I said, "Look! I still have my phone!"
"And I still have my job!" He smiled at me and I laughed again.

Web Slingers was amazing and as the park filled up we headed back to the hotel where the little girl Ireland had met in line at security was excited to see her again. 

Brent and I have such fond memories of doing Guardians with Liesel which the other girls just weren't as keen on. We went back a tad early and did this one just the three of us. 

Ireland, Gita and Sydney did the Silly Symphony Swings, Goofy's Sky School and then were stuck due to the Mickey's Happy Holiday parade. 

We were all able to meet up for the lighting of Cars Land at sunset which is especially fun with all the holiday decorations!

For dinner we had old favorites from the Cozy Cone, Chili cone queso, chicken pesto cone and Fillmore's Fuelin' Groovy Pomegranate Limeade. We also grabbed a couple of flavored "popcone." Sydney was having fun with Grandma's scooter while we ate.

Keep in mind Radiator Springs Racers had been down all day. As she ate, Ireland said (to no one in particular), "They're testing the cars" just as one of the zoomed by over her shoulder. Somehow from where she sat, she could see a crowd of people walking in to the entrance that had been blocked off all day. She cried out, "Guys Cars is OPEN!" This was one of those moments where 16 years of marriage comes in handy. Most of us grabbed our bags and straight up left the table without saying a word. I'm not even sure where Brent was but I knew he would figure it out, quickly clean up the rest and manage to join us. And that's exactly what happened.   

Brigitta was so excited and she's so speedy, she got ahead of us in line and refused to rejoin the family. We decided to adopt our single rider as a replacement, which she was happy to do. Gita had no regrets as she got to ride a bit before we did.

The last rides we did as a family that night was Luigi's Rollicking Roadsters and Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. 

bathroom plans Mater's, Webslingers, Ireland, Sydney, grandma & Jennifer back to hotel after checking lost and found (no dice for phone). Sydney rode in grandma's lap. 

With Liesel all to ourselves, we decided to do a stationary gondola at Pixar Pal Around which is still a little too high for my taste! The colors on the ferris wheel were lovely though!

We enjoyed the Silly Symphony Swings and Jumpin Jellyfish which we decided was a kiddie version of Guardians. Liesel and Brent met up with Gita and Grandpa to do the  Incredicoaster which was finally working!  Gita and Grandpa headed back to hotel and Gita tells us while they walked "he didn't say literally, anything." As I age, I greatly appreciate how those thrill rides do a number on you- ha! He'd been such a good sport running around with the kids all day. 

We were hoping to end our night with Liesel the same way we did on our last trip- Web Slingers and then Guardians. However, Web Slingers was down again so we settled for one more ride on Guardians. Honestly I was exhausted and wanted to skip it. Brent did too. However, the song we got was Burnin' Love by Elvis which we'd never had before! I found myself laughing in the middle of it and I'm so glad we did this one with her again. 

The park started to empty for the second showing of World of Color.

We snagged a spot but were told by a cast member we couldn't sit down. It was getting downright chilly and turns out World of Color is rather long. Beautiful! But long. Just when I thought it was over and we could head back to the hotel another song would swell and the water would dance and we were still in it. At long last, we made it back to the hotel!