A Potato and 5 Princesses

Wednesday, June 25th - So a new Toy Story ride just opened on June 17th, less than a week before our arrival. And, like the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, it is drawing huge crowds, which of course makes for a huge line, which in turn means a LONGGG wait. But fear not, I had a plan! (Imagine that.) Thankfully, DCA (Disneyland's California Adventure) doesn't open until 10:00 a.m. officially. So we didn't even have to scramble too much to grab breakfast at McD's again and be in line by 9:00. Then at 9:30 they let us thru the turnstiles, and everyone started making a beeline for the new ride. But fortunately, Disney was ready for us! There were tons of Cast Members directing traffic and lots of ropes to funnel the crowd into a neat and tidy line that seemed to serpentine all thru the park. In fact, it took us much of the 30 minutes between 9:30 and 10:00 (when the ride actually opened) to make it to the actual queueing area. Moving the entire time made the wait seem short, and we were on the ride by 10:15! And let me tell you, it's a fun ride! Like the Buzz Lightyear ride, it's very interactive, but even more so for young kids. They can actually do it and be successful. Well done, Disney!

After that, Dave and the kids went back over to A Bug's Land while I went to ride Soarin' Over California. Grayson was thrilled to see Flik. (Is that his name?)

Then it was off to Ariel's Grotto for our lunch with the princesses.

Now I'd like to say that we went for our own dear sweet princess named Molly, but that would be a lie. No, we went because our little ladies' man named G-r-a-y-s-o-n insisted on dining in the presence of royalty. Female royalty, specifically. And once again, our boy turned on the charm!

And I'm happy to report that by day 4, even Molly was a fan of the characters! In fact, for the remainder of our trip she wanted to hug anyone or anything. Go figure. Maybe next time we'll get a picture of that elusive Mickey hug!

After lunch we had just enough time for each kid to pick one more ride at Disneyland--Grayson picked Pirates of the Caribbean, I think, and Molly picked the stomach turning Astro Orbiter, of all rides--then we stopped off for one last round of souvenir shopping, and took our final stroll down Main Street before it was time to leave and go pick up our rental car.

$25 Buzz Lightyear toy...

$4 light up ball... How much longer do you think we'll get away with that?! ;)

Thank you, Disneyland! We had so much fun! I would go back tomorrow in a second. Not my husband though. He's tired!!!