Epic California Trip--Last Day at Disneyland, Day 5

 Wednesday we got up bright and early and skipped swimming to head to the Park.  We planned to spend the last day at Disneyland, doing things we had missed before or wanted to repeat.  It turns out that we were confused about our tickets, though.  We thought we had a special early bird admission but we didn't.  So we went to Downtown Disney, the street of shops between the two parks that was open.  They had a lot of neat shops but nothing was cooler than the Lego store!  Too bad it wasn't open yet.

 When the Park opened at 10:00 we rushed to Fantasyland so Paisley could meet Rapuzel, who is so special that she doesn't hang with the other princesses--she has her own little house.  The line the previous days had been two hours long so Bob wanted to get her in early today.

We were early, alright!

 We discovered that Rapuzel doesn't show up until 11:00.  So we had to wait for an hour, taking turns standing in line while the other adults (Dad and Steven were with us) took turns taking the restless kids on rides.

I hated waiting so long when there was so much more to see.  So I kept making sure that Annalee REALLY wanted to see Rapunzel (whose movie she'd never seen anyway.)  She was sure.

 Until 5 minutes before we got to the front of the line.  Then she didn't want to wait anymore.  Ohhhhhhhh no.  Not an option!  When a pregnant lady stands in line for an hour, you are going to meet the princess!

Rapunzel and Flynn were excellent, really playing their characters well.  Paisley breathlessly told her, "I've seen your movie lots of times!" 

Flynn broke in, "What was your favorite part?"

Paisley didn't know what to say.  So I said, "My favorite part is where she hit you with the frying pan!"

 Wounded, he protested, "That's EVERYONE'S favorite part!"  Ha ha ha!

 Steven and I tried to make use of some of the waiting time by rushing over to Tomorrowland to get Fast Passes for Autopia.  Unfortunately, they weren't doing any Fast Passes for that that day so we never got to go on that ride.  But I still found something fun to do over there.

Nathan, this is what happens when I have to run all over the Park while you and Vander are napping!  I love how the second storm trooper is like, "What about me?"

 Everyone else joined us not long after.  By this time Vander's nose was looking really bad.  Annalee's cute braids had already been removed.  And do you notice something else?  When I had finally given up on matching shirts and let us wear whatever it was finally warm enough to go without coats!  Grrrr!

 The kids loved Tarzan's Treehouse.

We went to some other stuff too, like the Tiki Room.  Wow.  That place must be someone's pet project.  I'm surprised it hasn't been replaced with something new and updated.  It would make an awesome Lilo and Stitch Elvis show or something, for example.  I felt like we should've gotten t-shirts that said, "I survived the Tiki Room."

 We went on Pirates of the Carribbean, which terrified Annalee until the very end when she declared she wanted to do it again.  We had been really lucky to get in with no line the first time, but when we came out the line was wrapped around New Orleans square.  Um, no.  We went to a fun fiddling show (Billy Hill and the Hill Billies) instead.  The kids really liked it, even if they didn't get the jokes.  The fiddling was amazing!  At one point a lady got up from her table to go get another drink at the counter and the lead guy pointed to her and said, "Hey!  Where are you going?  Our show isn't over yet!"  And then he said, "We'll wait," and played time-wasting music while the whole theatre watched her wait nervously for her drink.  It was pretty funny! 

We went on a Winnie the Pooh ride and then had one last chance for Astro Blasters, our favorite family ride.  Then we were out of time!  We met at Mimi's Cafe, a French restaurant to celebrate my birthday.  Yes, it was my birthday!  I got to wear a button and several people wished me Happy Birthday in the Park...mostly, people who were also having a birthday!  Mimi's was soooooo yummy and the kids did pretty well, considering how late it was.

Since it was the last day we managed to get together for a family picture.  It was a hurried affair, snapped by a passerby.  My hopes of a frame-worthy family photo were dashed when I saw that I had been talking to Vander "look at the camera!" during the ONE shot they took.  Needless to say, this is not going on my wall.

It was such a fun vacation with my family!  It was hard to say good-bye to everyone.  Mom, Dad, and Steven would be leaving for Idaho the next morning at 4 or 5, so we said good-bye that night.  Rug Rats!  Rug Rats!

I'm so thankful to my parents for paying for everything so we could have that great experience together!

My parents said they are done with big trips like Disneyland, but I think we might have to plan a visit back in the next few years!