Day 3- Disneyland:

We got up bright and early to meet Rich's parents down at the breakfast area around 7:30am. They had flown in the night before and were staying at the same hotel. It turns out that they were staying right down the hall from us, so they just stopped at our door that morning instead of meeting us downstairs.

After we filled up on our breakfasts we hopped into the car and drove over to Disneyland.

We were early enough that we parked in the parking lot next to the parking garage... then took the shuttle over to Downtown Disney and the entrance. Once inside we got a stroller for the little girls to share and went and stood in the line on mainstreet waiting for the park to officially open. It was hot that day... the last day of a heat wave that the area had been experiencing.





The first thing we did was go to the Finding Nemo ride. We stood in line for a while... maybe 45 min to an hour? but the line was twice as long every other time we walked past the ride, so our line wasn't that bad. They were shooting a commercial or "infomercial" or something about the ride right next to the line que so we got to watch them take some takes of it while were were waiting. The ride is in little submarines. You walk down a little spiral staircase and there is a bench in the center with seats on either side so it's basically two lines of people sitting backs together (with a seatback and flotation cushions between the seat backs) facing the portholes- there is one porthole per seat. It was a cute ride, but there is a little bit of a scary part. Alex and Alyssa were a little scared during the shark scene, but I think they enjoyed the rest of the ride.





Then we went and rode the Matterhorn. I stayed with the little girls while Rich, Alex, Ashley and Rich's parents went on the ride. Then Disney has this great system called "child swap" so instead of me waiting in the line and everyone else having to wait for the entire line wait... I just showed the little paper that I got from the cast member when they got in line... and I got to go in through the exit and had a 2 minute wait instead!



After that we went to fantasyland. The carousel, Dumbo, Mr Toad's wild ride, and Peter Pan.







we have our traditional pout face on Alex, we get at least one picture of it on each trip... he didn't want to ride the carousel, so he sat on the bench on it instead of on a horse...










Then we went on Space Mountain, and had some lunch. The ride has been redone in the past few years and it's much smoother than it used to be... they did a great job revamping it!

After lunch we rode on the Pirates of the Caribean, and went up in Tarzan's treehouse. The kids always have fun with the stuff at the end they can play with.







We also went on the Jungle Cruise, and then it was time to ride Indian Jones... a favorite of most of the Adults, and Ashley! Alyssa and Angela and I hung out and took some pictures while we were waiting for the others to go on the ride.





I think they took some more pictures while I went on the ride too... :)


After that fast paced ride, we went on the riverboat for a cruise around the lake/river???



Then we went and rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad... that's a fun coaster too! Alyssa and Angela and I went to the picture spot and took some pictures while the others were on the coaster.







We were starving and got some dinner for everyone, and then we only had a little bit of time left. We went on the Alice in Wonderland ride and Angela fell asleep on my shoulder in line... so she slept through the ride...





and then we ended the night with a spin on the teacups...



and it was dark by the time we left the park: