Pit Stop

We found a way to make the drive to Arizona not only bearable, but quite enjoyable--a pit stop at The Happiest Place on Earth. And pit stops at Disneyland are even more enjoyable on days like yesterday when the place is practically empty. We hit CA Adventure first where Blake and Max walked right on to Soarin' Over California and Tower of Terror, while Jack and I braved the Monsters Inc ride.

Then we met up at the Aladdin show, our new favorite thing. It's a nice place to rest and Max loves it. And Jack loves most of it, so we can't ask for more. After the show we went to wait in the longest line of the day. Last time we were there, the wait was 1 hour and 45 minutes and we decided to skip it. So this time, we figured 30 minutes wasn't bad. And what was this ride that was worth the wait, you ask? The new Toy Story ride! The ride is a 3D carnival game and is so much fun. Blake won (barely) and everyone had fun--even Jack, who kept his glasses on the entire time while pointing and yelling, "Buh!" (That's "Buzz" for those of you who don't speak Jack.)

Then we headed over to the Magic Kingdom. Of course we went straight to Dumbo, which continues to be Max's favorite ride. And in other noteworthy Dumbo events, Jack has added "Bumbo" to his little vocabulary, Max has expanded the color of Dumbos he will ride on to "yellow--Geri's favorite color," and I was able to practice some of my panning photography technique. We love Dumbo! :) After Dumbo we went on the carousel and tea cups. This is my first time on the tea cups since I went to Disneyland in high school, and I'm sad to report that even the speed at which Max was spinning us was a little too much for me. I think I'll be sitting on the side with my dad from now on.

But the most exciting news from our little pit stop is that we got to go on It's A Small World. I swear that ride is always closed when we're there. Well, except when we went for my birthday, but that time I was too busy going on the big kid rides. I even have this picture of Blake from our first anniversary in 2003 when we went to Disneyland and tried to go on Small World. Doesn't he look crushed? So yesterday we finally got to put a smile on Blake's face and go on the much anticipated ride. I love all the new changes they made with the Disney characters. So cute. The only problem--the ride broke down while we were on it and we were stuck with the already repetitive song for over 15 minutes. I think I got my fill for another 10 years.
Both boys were dead asleep before we even left the parking lot. Our pit stopped worked! See you again on the way home, Disneyland!