Day 2

Rick woke us up on his way out to head to meetings......

We were all up and ready to go within a half an hour. :)

I had asked the kids to be super good and not whine. I was hoping for the best.

45 min on the road in crazy traffic and we had arrived at the park. Our day started out fantastic as we were allowed to park in the Chip and Dale parking, which meant we had no walk at all to get us to the tram. score one for us! We hopped right on the next tram, and we were off.

We headed right into DisneyLand and caught a glimpse of the castle......

(I will compare all of the attractions from World vs. Land)

The castle was of course a let down. Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland stands at 77 feet. Cinderella's castle in Disneyworld is close to 200. So, it just doesn't seem as majestic.

Now I knew going into it that the castle was going to seem so small, so I knew not to be disappointed. The castle was very pretty though.

As we walked down Main Street USA, it seemed very similar, I had promised the kids that we wouldn't stand in character lines if we had just seen them at Disneyworld. My eyes start scanning Main Street.....mickey, check......minnie, check......pluto, check.....chip, dale, goofy, check, check, check.....and then DONALD!

I grabbed both kids and headed over as fast as I could. Donald was in his blue sailor suit! I had yet to see Donald in his blue clothes.....I have seen Safari Donald, Chef Donald, Pirate Donald, Birthday Donald, Frontier Donald, but never original Donald. I love Donald, and it drove me crazy that I didn't have a picture of him in his original clothes.

Hooray! Mission Accomplished! What a fantastic way to start the day off!

We headed to Fantasyland and got on Pinocchio's Daring Journey. The kids really enjoyed this ride because we just bought the Pinnocchio movie and they recognized everything in the ride. I enjoyed this ride, because they don't have this ride at Disneyworld.

We decided to skip Snow White's Scary Adventures because none of us cared for it in Disneyworld.

Off to Mr Toad's Wild Ride. LOVED IT! Another ride that they d0n't have at Disneyworld. They used to, but it has since been replaced. RJ and Heidi were obsessed with this statue of Mr Toad in the line just before we loaded. Heidi insisted I get a picture.

Next we road the TeaCups. Disneyland's teacups are much much roomier than Disneyworld's. That was a nice surprise! Both kids think it is HILARIOUS to try to spin until someone pukes. Thankfully no one did!

Off to Dumbo, (the same at both parks) and then the Storybook Land Canal Boats. This was a canoe ride that took you past the minature houses of all the disney characters. That's 15 minutes of my life I'd love to have back. Definitely the low part of the day.

Off to It's a Small World. It was HUGE! It has such a presence in the back of the park. It was far and away a better ride than Disneyworld's. However, it just underwent a refurb, and I hope that when Disneyworld's refurbs next, they will incorporate the same changes. Along with all the dolls of the world, they also had doll versions of the disney characters. Even Tinkerbell flying overhead and one point. The kids loved looking for them all. We didn't even see them all during our first ride through.

We headed off to Frontierland next to Big Thunder Mountain Rail Road. There were no crowds at all, so the Fast Pass Machine's weren't even open. We road twice. While there weren't a ton of differences here, I have to give BTMRR to Disneyworld in win column. Seemed a little longer with a few more dips and turns in Florida.

We headed off to the Golden Horseshoe to eat lunch. It just looked like a fun place to eat. We had chicken strips, apples, and a GIGANTIC $5 piece of chocolate cake. We didn't finish the cake, but we had fun eating it. That is something that Rick would have frowned upon, so we took advantage that it was just the three of us. :)

After lunch we headed to Critter Country and rode The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. This ride is the same at both parks except for the car that you ride in. HoneyPot in FL and BeeHive in CA. Heidi loved this one so much, we had to ride it twice in a row.

In between rides, we were lucky enough to see Brer Fox and Brer Bear. I was so thrilled since I have never seen them in Disneyworld. The kids humored me and headed up there. Brer Fox stole Heidi's Winnie the Pooh doll that she had just suckered me out of at the Winnie the Pooh gift shop, and wouldn't give it back. :)

We skipped a few rides and waited for Rick to be there (splash mountain, Indiana Jones, Jungle cruise, etc)......and Headed to New Orleans Square next.

We rode the Haunted Mansion which is a favorite of ours.....we didn't notice any differences. Next we were off to the Pirates of the Caribbean. Huge Difference! Disneyland's is far superior! It has 2 drops, and is what seems like 5 minutes longer. We all enjoyed it!

We hopped on the Disneyland Railroad and headed over to Tomorrowland where we rode Finding Nemo's Submarine Voyage. This was a super fun ride that Disneyworld doesn't have. Both kids really enjoyed it and they did a very good job of making it seem like the submarine was actually desencding into the bay and then rising up again. RJ completely believed it.

We rode Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters next. Another Family Favorite. I'll have to give it to Disneyworld on this one. While it is really neat that the guns detach from the car and you have a bit more movement, I thought it was harder to register a hit on the targets, so I'm still going to say FL's is superior.

Next we headed to "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" which was good for a laugh, and then off to our last ride of the day, Star Tours, which was the same as in FL. One of RJ's favorites.

At this point is was about 4 p.m. I couldn't believe how much we got done and neither kids whined at all or threw fits. It was absolutely the PERFECT day!

I had told the kids that we'd park hop over to Disney's California Adventure, but instead we headed home. I didn't want to ruin such a great day with over-tired kids.

I used my Ninja-like driving skills to find a Wal-Mart because I am a loser and forgot to pack swimsuits for the kids. That only took a few minutes and we were back on the road headed for the Ritz.

When we arrived back at the hotel, Rick wasn't done with his meetings yet, so we went to the front desk to ask for a key. At first they wouldn't give me one since his name was the only one on the room. (Even though I showed them ID and everything). Both kids were bouncing off the walls of the super classy lobby.

Rather than get mean, like usual, I just said, "that's okay, we'll just wait right here....". Suddenly, it was okay, to give me a room key, and we were off. :) I had a feeling that might work.

We headed down to the pool which was magnificent. RJ and Heidi swam for almost 2 hours while I read the complimentary USA Today and made a few phone calls. I also enjoyed the complimentary spa water. and the oceanview. (totally out of my league.....I kept my room key close. I was expecting someone to demand to know what we were doing there at any moment)

Rick was running late, so we headed up took baths, and ordered room service for dinner. I'm a huge fan of room service for breakfast, but I don't think I had ever had room service dinner before.

The kids and I were in bed and asleep (on our pillows filled with magic) before 10 when Rick finally made it back to the room.

What a fantastic day. I couldn't wait to do it all over again with Rick the next day.

:)

-a