Birthday 2014 - Day 2 (Disneyland)

Friday morning we were a bit tired from the day before, so our start was a little slow. But Mom remembered it was Valentines Day and had brought these cute Skittles Hearts for everyone.

 

And as we were walking to the parks we noticed there were a lot more people and realized they were probably there for the beginning of the 3-day weekend. The parks were much more crowded than the day before. We rode into Disneyland on the Monorail and got a bird's eye view of the park. As we pulled into the station at Tomorrowland, we looked down and the one ride Doug was looking forward to riding, the submarines, was closed for repairs. That was just the start to the disappointments. Thunder Mountain Railroad, It's a Small World and Splash Mountain were also closed. But even with the let downs there was a ton of things to do.

We started in Tomorrowland and with my favorite ride, Space Mountain roller coaster. It's a coaster in the dark and you can't see where it is going. So much fun. Mom, Dad, Doug and I rode it twice. Jen opted out of the second ride. Down in the souvenir shop we looked for some Mickey ears but Mom and I couldn't find any that didn't pinch our heads, but I still found a really cute hat.

 And we also caught a glimpse of some friendly Storm Troopers, that were trying to stop some kids from building their own light-sabers.

We then went and rode the Star Tours ride. And apparently it has had a major overhaul. The line for it was really long and we found out why. You can go on it over and over again and never have the same ride twice. It was a lot more fun than I remember it being when I was a kid. Sadly we only got to ride it once. Things got a bit crazy after that.

We rode the train to the main gates, for some reason Doug wasn't able to get Fast Passes with his ticket. So we were told he needed to leave the park and come back in. With a quick trip to the front gates, we got it all figured out. And Dad and I were able to take some pictures of Main Street.

 

We got back on the train and rode it over to Adventureland to get some Fast Passes for the Indiana Jones ride, now that Doug got his ticket fixed. Then we wandered around and rode a few rides. And discovered the ones that were closed. And before we knew it was lunch time. We randomly picked a little resturant called the Golden Nugget. It was almost completely empty when we walked in so it was nice to get out of the crowded streets.

Jen liked my hat so much she decided to get one for herself.

Doug was our time keeper for events and things, here he is looking for the next show.

What we didn't know about the place was that just as we were about to leave, huge crowds of people started to come in. Apparently it was a dinner and a show kind of place. So we stayed for the show.

They pulled people from the floor to help act out the story. It was a fun little show.

After lunch we rode the Haunted Mansion ride and I got to ride it again with my Dad. When I was 8 years old I rode the entire ride with my eyes closed. This time he got to see me enjoy it.

Then we rode the Indiana Jones ride. It's quite the adventure, getting shot by darts, almost crushed by a giant rock, big snakes....yeah it's a fun ride. Jen went on it twice.

We hopped the train again and went to Toontown, where we split for a bit. Mom and Dad to wander alone for awhile. Doug, Jen and I together went in search of some princesses. So we explored Fantasyland.

 

 

Didn't find any princesses wandering but we found Alice and the mad hatter. We also rode on a few rides. At 4 pm we met back up with the parents to watch the parade.

 

 

 

 

Afterwards we rode the Roger Rabbit ride and then we split again and us young folk went and watched the show "Mickey and the Magic Map." Fun and entertaining stage show using a huge screen and trap doors and lots of singing Disney characters. Sadly I didn't get any pictures of it.

The we met up with Mom and Dad again and decide to explore Main Street a bit and then head to a nice quiet dinner place.

We rode the train to Critter Country and sat down to eat in the quietest part of the park. Since Splash Mountain was closed no one was in that part of the park.

Doug ordered this fun little dessert cupcake. He shared some of the frosting.

After recharging at dinner we got in the very long line for Pirates of the Caribbean. But it was worth the wait. Always fun to see some pirates attacking a fort.

At this point in the day, my battery on my phone was dying so I wasn't able to get any pictures of the fireworks, the Fastasmic show or riding on the Matterhorn coaster. But with the crazy whirlwind of a day, the night shows were kind of a blur. At 11 pm the park closed and we made our way back to the hotel. Stopping only to take a picture of the Main Entrance flowers all lit up.

Back at the hotel, I collapsed onto my bed and looked forward to one more day of fun.