Vacation Part 2: Disneyland

Once the rest of the group was done with Indiana Jones, we decided it was time to find something to eat.  Dylan was super cranky, we could tell he was tired so we wanted to get moving to see if he'd fall asleep.  Joe, Dylan and I headed towards Frontierland where they rest of the group said there was a great all-you-can eat BBQ place.  We headed that direction and Dylan was asleep within a few minutes.  We put our name in at the BBQ place, it was around 1:45 or so.  We sat in the shade and waited for the rest of the group to arrive and for our table.  We waited close to a half hour but the food and to be able to sit down for awhile was well worth it.  If you are heading to Disneyland, I would highly recommend the Big Thunder Ranch BBQ for lunch or dinner.  All-you-can-eat chicken, ribs, baked beans, cornbread, coleslaw and a drink.  As you can imagine, lots of the food in the park is super pricey and ends up not even tasting that good.  This food was delicious and I think it was about $15/person.  Dylan slept through lunch but we had tons of snacks that we brought in the backpack for when he woke up.

Snoozing in the stroller

After lunch, we went back over to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to get Fast Passes.  Since it was and hour plus until our time to go back to that ride, we headed over to It's a Small World since the line was a 20-minute wait.  Dylan woke up on our way over there so he was awake to go on it.

Waiting in line with his Pooh sucker

It's a Small World

It was close to when our Thunder Railroad passes would be active so we walked back towards there.  This was also a 40" height requirement so Dylan was measured a few times again.  He was getting a little bothered by having to get measured but luckily he never refused to have it done.  This ride was pretty rickety and I had to hold on to him tightly to prevent him from sliding down off the seat and out of the car!  The lap bar was snug against my waist but since he's so much smaller than me, it didn't do much to keep him in place.  He was gripping tightly to the bar the entire time and had a stone-cold, serious expression on his face the entire time.  He was such a brave kid going on on the big rides!

Waiting to board the train

Daddy's set to go

It was getting close to when the first afternoon parade was going to start so we figured we'd try to hit some of the smaller, kiddie rides while that was going on, as well as get Fast Passes for Space Mountain.  The wait for Space Mountain had been 60-100 minutes all day long and I guess is a very popular ride because if we were to get passes for it, the return time was 11:10-midnight!  Since you are only allowed to have one Fast Pass at a time, we decided against it and hopped in the line for the Buzz Lightyear ride which was only a 15 minute wait.  This ride was what I assume was Dylan's favorite as he loves Toy Story and that he got to 'shoot' the targets and the Evil Zurg.

If he didn't want to ride in the stroller, this was the next
best option.  He just couldn't walk fast enough to keep up

Buzz!

Once out of the Buzz ride, we grabbed some churros and water and went over to the Autopia car ride.  Dylan was so excited to get to "drive" a car but I think I'm still recovering from the whiplash we sustained from the jerking back and forth...

Nolan and Rob

Trina and Kayla

Erik and Katrina

Sooo excited!

Since we weren't going to get Fast Passes for Space Mountain, Erik, Katrina and their kids decided they'd wait in line since they really wanted to go on it.  We didn't think Dylan would last in line for over an hour so we stopped to go on the Buzz ride again and then ventured to Fantasyland to do some of the kid rides.  It was crazy how long the lines were for all those rides, since if little ones aren't tall enough to ride some of the other big rides, these rides are basically where they have to stay.  Peter Pan was 40+ minutes as was the Tea Cups, Dumbo, etc.  Joe, Dylan and I got in line for Pinocchio and we heard from Katie and Brandon that they were in line for Peter Pan (they couldn't do Autopia with their kids so had gone over to the little rides earlier) and were going to head there next.   

It was getting to be mid-afternoon and Dylan was getting tired and cranky, especially since he didn't really have a real lunch since he slept through it.  So we decided after Pinocchio to hit up short lines and got in line for the Carousel.

Gooo".  I felt the same way, I hate waiting in lines...Once we were FINALLY at the front of the line, Dylan was soo excited. 

 I have a special connection with the Dumbo ride from when I went to Disneyland my very first time.  My parents still tell me the story of how all I wanted to do was to go on Dumbo and how we waited forever in line to get to the front to have it shut down for maintenance and how I screamed and had a major melt down.  

Patiently waiting in line

He loved it

He loved Dumbo soooo much that he didn't want to get off.  I had to pull him off kicking and screaming.  Yes, it must run in our genes.  Another temper tantrum over Dumbo.  I carried him like a sack of potatoes as we followed the rest of the group over to ToonTown, though we stopped at some point because his flailing was too much for me to carry any more.  Luckily, the parade was going on and it drowned out his screaming.  He went on like this for at least 45 minutes, so pissed that I made him get off of Dumbo.  Eventually he became enthralled in the parade and quit his drama.

We could tell his was super tired, hot and most likely hungry.  It was close to 7:30 by then and getting dark.  Dylan perked up when Kayla and Nolan arrived after their long wait for Space Mountain and toured Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Chip and Dale's houses.  Everyone was exhausted and we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel to find something for dinner.

Steering Donald's boat

Driving the toon car

Answering Mickey's phone

We ate at the PCH Grill inside the Paradise Pier, our hotel.  I'm pretty sure I remember it being close to 9pm by the time we had ordered so we were starving, tired and everyone was pretty on edge.  I don't think I've seen Dylan each as much as he did in a long time, he ordered macaroni and cheese with a side of fruit and he ate 3/4 of the huge bowl and most of his fruit.  Back in the room, he was wide awake and wanted to watch cartoons but minutes after Joe laid down with him to rub his back, he was sound asleep and didn't move the rest of the night!  It was a little hard to get to sleep for me with the loud echoes of the fireworks shows going on until midnight, there were two shows at California Adventure and two at Disney.  It was great to be staying so close but hard to sleep with all the noise!