California Adventures Day 4--Disneyland!!!

Disneyland, the stuff kids dreams are made of, for sure. We started our day at 5:30. We were he first ones in the breakfast room this morning. Everything was fresh and hot. It was too early for the kids to eat much, none of them seemed hungry this morning. We hit the road by 6:30 am-- took the 210 to the 57 all the way to Anaheim. All things considered, traffic was not too bad. It took us right around 45 minutes to get to Anaheim. Once there, we went into the ginormous parking structure and parked on the Mickey level, row 10H. We took the tram to the park and we were off and running! We rented a heavy duty stroller and checked into a locker to store a few things for the day. What a good idea that was! We checked out Main Street USA and then went straight to the Princess castle. We immediately had a princess sighting with Ariel, aka the Little Mermaid. Julia was a bit awe struck I think. She wasn't sure what to think of her. Ariel was very nice (they train them well at Disneyland!). She talked to Julia and even the prince and pirate Julia was with (Jacob would be the pirate). We rode Dumbo, which Julia absolutely adored, Peter Pan's flight and Mr. Toad's wild ride (neither Julia nor myself liked this one). From there we walked on to Tomorrowland. The boys went through Star Tours while mommy and Julia had a snack and went potty. When the boys finished, we through Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters ride/game. That was really fun, especially for the boys. I think there were too many flashing lights and loud sounds for Julia. Fantasyland was next. It's a Small World is and always has been amazing. Everyone adds that ride. Mickey's Toon Town was next. That was fun. Everything looks like you are in a cartoon. We got to meet Goofy and Minnie Mouse. Julia loved the cartoon cars on the street. She especially liked meeting Minnie. Our lunch stop was in Frontierland--Big Thunder Ranch Barbecue. Very, very good ribs and BBQ fare. We stayed in the frontier and got fast passes for Thunder Mountain Railroad. When we returned to ride it, it was temporarily closed. We rode the ship Columbia and got fast passes for Splash Mountain as well. We did the Haunted Mansion in Frontierland, the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Enchanted Tiki Room in Adventureland. Those were all outstanding rides. Pirates was so awesome! Once James got over the initial fear factor of the unexpected, he loved it. The first part was a little scary, as there was a small portion of complete pitch black darkness that ended with the first drop of the ride. Both exhilarating and frightening at the same time--it was awesome! We took a snack break and split up for an hour or so. The boys went back to Frontierland to ride the railroad and Spash Mountain, while mommy and Julia went to the Princess Fantasy Faire. We waited in line for around 30 minutes to meet three real live princesses. We didn't know who it would be until we got there. I was hoping for Cinderella, as that is Julia's favorite. Cinderella wasn't there, but we did get to meet Princess Tiana, Belle, and Jasmine (Julia's other fave). Julia was so cute. Tiana and Belle were first, ending with Jasmine. Julia wasn't completely sure what to think of the first two, she just kind of stood there, frozen. When we came to Jasmine, though, Julia ran right to her and smiled. It was very sweet. I don't know if she'll remember any of it next week, but we have some nice pictures to show her later. We also went though Sleeping Beauty's castle before meeting up with the boys again. It was then time to find a parade spot. The parade . . . What an amazing spectacle that was! Al of our favorite characters right there in front of us! Post parade, we took the tour train around the park and mommy and James made an attempt to ride Space Mountan. Unfortunately, it was temporarily closed and we were unable to get on it. Dad took the younger two back to Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. Jacob decided at the lst minute (after they had already boarded their space ship) that he would not, under any circumstances, ride it without his mommy. Aargh!!!! Apparently, they had to shut the whole ride down for a few minutes, so Jacob could get off. Post ride disasters, we attempted to find a suitable place to watch the Fantasmic show. What an amazing display of Disney ingenuity!!! That was a truly awesome show! Immediately following the show we took in the fireworks spectacular. Also really good, but nothing compared to Fantsmic! It was neary midnight when. Returned to the hotel to go to bed. When we pulled into the parking lot, all three monkeys were completely asleep. That is a sight you never see in our car and might I add, a very welcome sight as well.