Disney, day two

With Ms. S still out of commission, I was on tap to take the kids to Disneyland. To be fair, Megan did say it was more than okay for me to take Hen and leave Avery with her - yeah, right - but that didn't seem to be the best we could do. Knowing I wanted to make use of the Magic Hour once again, we had those kids up, dressed, fed, and ready to go with plenty of time to spare to get to the inevitable line that forms at the entrance gates. I very much felt like I was going to lose one or both children. They are great kids and listen well and everything but tackling something as big as Disneyland solo made me nervous. So I took out my pen and wrote the name of our hotel, room number, and my cell number on their little ticklish bellies. Note to future traveling self: Buy a Sharpie and have on hand for just such occasions. 

I figured our plan of action would be to hit less popular areas in the hopes we'd be able to experience more without wasting a bunch of time waiting in line. Turns out this was a great approach. The first rides we tackled were in Fantasyland: 

• Pinocchio's Daring Journey
• King Arthur Carrousel
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant (Hen drove and laughed maniacally while doing so)
• Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
• Peter Pan's Flight
• Mad Tea Party (twice with much spinning per Avery's request)
• Alice in Wonderland
• It's a Small World

On the way to Critter Country, where I planned on taking the kids to Splash Mountain before the heat of the day was likely to bring every park goer present, we walked through Frontierland. As the one with Executive Powers, I made the call to take the kids on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Both Leaders A and A (Henry and Avery, respectively) were hesitant to go on said ride. And, while on said ride, neither Leader A nor Leader A made a peep, which I thought was strange since I was hollering like a banshee. 

As the kids were a touch shellshocked after that ride, I figured I might as well take them all the way into the land of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and get Splash Mountain out of the way, too. Which is exactly what we did, but not before stopping to get much needed calming jellybeans. Splash Mountain is not what I would classify as a scary ride. But to the preschooler set, this is one of the most intimidating rides ever created by humankind. There is a very big drop, the fear of getting douched with water, and only two people can sit in one row. We were a party of three. A quick lesson in scared screams seemed to help and through no small miracle, I convinced Hen to sit alone so I could sit with Avery in the back (the farthest spot from the splash zone because I had my camera to protect as well). I sat forward in my row with one arm wrapped around Hen and Avery clinging to my arm with such force that I'm now sporting a bruise. I had promised the kids that if they would do these two rides with me, that'd be the end of the scary rides for the rest of the day. And I kept my promise. After Splash Mountain, we worked our way through the following:

• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Jungle Cruise (probably the longest wait of the day)
• Tarzan's Treehouse
• Disneyland Railroad
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Finding Nemo
• Autopia (Avery did some fabulous faux driving while Hen just laughed)
• Donald's Boat
• Mickey's House (where Avery met Mickey and Hen hid)
• Chip 'n Dale's Treehouse
• Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin

During the day, there were potty breaks, hydration stops, lunch (Café Orléans - salmon, pasta, and fruit - yum!), and snacks, and plenty of character sightings, although neither kid seemed particularly interested in going to meet any of them. When the text came around 4p.m. that Megan was feeling sort of/almost/a little bit better, we had her meet us in Toon Town, where we had attempted to get on Gadget's Go Coaster. (This was initially unsuccessful because one of the kids would have had to ride alone and neither agreed to.) Once Megan found us, we were able to go twice before deciding to head over to Disney California. We ended the day by Soarin' Over California, stopping at the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop, and riding Mater's Junkyard Jamboree one last time. Needless to say, we all slept pretty good.