Disneyland

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Linda's family went to Disneyland and was kind enough to take us along. (Note: the week of Thanksgiving is a horrible time to go to Disneyland. Very, very crowded. But Dallas had a broken ankle that was still healing--although Linda and I think that he re-injured it while at the beach--so we rented a wheelchair for him to ride in. That turned out to be our Super Fast Pass to the front of the line and made the day much more enjoyable.)

Before we moved out to Beaumont, we had annual passes and would frequently go to Disneyland for a day or a couple of hours--depending on our mood. Amanda has no recollection of ever going and Mason's memory is sparse. Needless to say, they were very excited when they found out that they would get to go with their cousins and Aunt. And Rainer kept saying (in his cute little voice), "Going Disneyland."--like he knew what that meant =).

The first thing we did was get in line for the Rockets per Amanda's request. When she saw the line for it, she changed her mind about wanting to go. I let her know that this was not going to be like it was at Magic Mountain--there were going to be lines for everything all day long. So, we stayed in line, but by Disneyland standards the line wasn't that bad.

Rainer sat with Linda and Kayla because Linda figured he wouldn't want to go as high as Amanda would and neither would Kayla. So, Mason went with Dallas

and Amanda went with me.

Surprisingly, Rainer, Kayla and Linda went as high as the rest of us. I didn't think Rainer would like that ride, simply because he doesn't like to be tossed high in the air--it scares him. But we all had a blast...it was a good way to start the day.

While we were in line for the Jungle Cruise, Mason had a memory flash. He was very excited to remember being on the ride before and that he liked it.

Rainer enjoyed looking at all of the animals and taking a ride on the boat.

While the rest of the group went on Indiana Jones, Rainer and I went to the tree house.

His favorite part was playing all of the musical instruments at the end and putting his hands into the hallow tree.

When we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean, Amanda was trying to freak out until we reminded her that it wasn't as bad as any of the rides at Magic Mountain. She calmed down after that and was able to enjoy the ride. Linda and family had never been in the Haunted Mansion when it has been decorated for Christmas, so they really enjoy that.

When the group went on Splash Mountain, Rainer and I went on the Winnie the Pooh ride. He really liked that. Linda and I then traded spots so that I could go on Splash Mountain with the group and she then watched Rainer. I've been on Splash Mountain before, but it is still amusing how deceptive that ride is. Lalala, you go along having a nice little ride, then boom, you go down a 50ft. drop. Quite exhilarating!

We had originally gotten Fast Passes for Space Mountain, but we soon realized that it was far faster to use the wheelchair access. Rainer and I sat outside by the huge marble that can be rolled around on top of the water fountain and everyone else went on Space Mountain.

Linda then switched so that I could go. Space Mountain is so different since the remodel. It is so dark that I could not see a thing--that made it so much fun because you can't see where the next turn is going to be. They also made the ride smooth--no more jerking to a stop. They made it a much more enjoyable ride.

When we went on Finding Nemo, Mason at first was just going to sit that one out. He has a little bit of claustrophobia, but we were able to calm his nerves and he went with us. After the ride he decided that it wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be.

Autopia turned out to be a big hit. Unfortunately, Amanda and Kayla were just a little bit too short to drive a car by themselves. Amanda went with Dallas, Kayla went with Linda, Mason drove himself and Rainer drove for me, mostly =).

Even if we had to wait in line, we had a fun time together laughing and goofing off.

Dallas and Rainer had a sweet deal. They got to be pushed around all day. Dallas would have Rainer pretend that they were on a motorcycle and pretend to steer the wheelchair and do tricks. Rainer loved playing with Dallas and taking a ride on his lap.

At some point we made it to the Matterhorn.

I sat in the middle car and had Mason and Dallas behind me and

Amanda and Kayla in front of me.
The ride was just as I remembered it--jerky, but we still had fun.

In the late afternoon we made our way to It's a Small World. Rainer didn't have a nap all day and he crashed while we were in line. Luckily, I had the foresight to bring my sling along so he had a cozy nap while I held him. Unfortunately, he was asleep for the entire ride, but the rest of us enjoyed it. I love how during Christmas time they mix Christmas songs in with the Small World song--it is really done well. And I am now going to admit that I am a geek. Whenever I ride on It's a Small World, regardless if it's during Christmas time or not, the song always makes me cry. I don't bawl or anything like that, but tears come to my eyes and it definitely touches my heart. I told this to Linda, and at least I'm not the only geek =).

While Rainer slept, we went over to Toontown and everyone else rode on the only roller coaster in that area.

Dallas really wanted to go over to California Adventure, so we took a gamble that Rainer would be asleep for a while and went on over. Of course shortly after entering that park, Rainer woke up. Mason and Dallas wanted to go on California Scream'n and so did Amanda, but she wanted me to go with her too. I've been on California Scream'n and just remember that my neck got tweaked. I wasn't wanting a tweaked neck, so I decided not to go. Instead, the rest of us went over to the Merry-Go-Round.

Linda told him to make a scared face, like this was the scariest thing he had ever been on. Because she was acting like she was scared too.

Amanda and Kayla had fun, even though it was the fast paced ride they were used to .

When Mason and Dallas got back, they reported on the ride and convinced Linda to go on with them. Because Linda was going to go, Amanda and Kayla decided that they wanted to go too. While they were in line, Rainer and I went on the Merry-Go-Round 4 or 5 times, in a row. I think we went on all of the different animals that we could choose from.

I think I could safely say that the Merry-Go-Round was Rainer's favorite of the day.

The only other ride that we went on while at California Adventure was the Ferris Wheel. There were two different kinds of cars that we could choose to ride in, the swinging or the non-swinging. Of course we chose the swinging one.

Amanda, Mason and Dallas sat on one side and

Kayla, Linda, Rainer and I sat on the other side.

Let me just say that that ride scared me like no other ride has ever scared me. First off, heights will sometimes get the better of me and when that happens, I am scared stiff--quite literally, (ask me about what happened in Jr. High in gymnastics class.) Really, the only time that happens is when I don't feel very safe in whatever I happen to be in or on. This was no exception. I had Rainer sit between Linda and me and I scooted as close to the middle of the seat as I could. The rail that our car was on was in the shape of a curved rectangle...two sides were straight and the other two sides were curved. So as the Ferris Wheel turned, our car would slide along our track and swing back and forth. Amanda wasn't liking it too much, so Linda told her what she did when she was afraid. Linda then started singing "Whenever I Feel Afraid" from The King and I. I joined in as soon as I realized what she was doing. Well, that seemed to calm her down. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning. Well, anyone who has ever ridden on a Ferris wheel knows that the ride doesn't really start right away. It takes maybe one rotation to get the cars refilled with new riders before you are allowed to go around a few times uninterrupted. The same was true for this Ferris wheel. It wasn't until we really started going that the swinging and the sliding took its full effect. Needless to say, Amanda was not very happy. She said, "Um, Aunt Linda, will you sing that song again." So, Linda and I started singing. And then it hit. The patooies were scared off of me. I stuck my right hand out as if there was something to grab onto, I squeezed Rainer tighter, I may have even squeezed Linda's knee at one point, and I closed my eyes. I was no longer singing but rather doing a half-singing, half-terrified-I-don't-know-what (and I wasn't very quiet about it. I'm sure that many other people there were able to hear me.) Of course, that sent everybody else into fits of laughter. Periodically, I would let out a, "Whoohoo, whoohoo!" Because Rainer couldn't see my terrified face, he would echo my "whoohoo" with his own exuberant "whoohoo". After 2 or 3 rotations, we were able to get off (I think I was still doing my half-terrified singing when the guy opened the door.)

Before we were ready to call it a day, we headed back to Disneyland so that we could go on Big Thunder Mountain. Mason really wanted to ride it because he wanted to see what had terrified him so much that he didn't like roller coasters until our trip to Magic Mountain. He absolutely loved the ride.

We wanted to make sure that Rainer had one last ride before we left, so we went on Alice in Wonderland. Once we were done with that, Dallas, Mason, Kayla and Amanda went on the Tea Cups. After that we started making our way back to our car. While we were on the shuttle, Amanda pointed out that we had been at the park for 15 hours. She was pretty close, it was only 14 but I'm sure it felt much longer.

We were so beat. I really don't know how Linda stayed awake while she drove us home.

We had such a great time. And we are so grateful that we were able to go.