Sunday morning

Now, where was I?

I woke up before my alarm clock sounded on Sunday morning. I got out of bed and headed for the shower after the usual lousy first night's sleep in my hotel bed. I came out of the shower and woke Amelia. I was so excited about going to Disneyland I was hopping and bopping on my feet. Looking at the clock I thought there was a good chance we'd make it to the front gate very near opening time.

But Amelia was moving as slowly as molasses in winter, which is her usual pace. After seeing the swimming pools outside our hotel window she made up her mind that all she wanted to do was swim. I reminded her that we were going to Disneyland and she said, "After we see the backyard." I was surprised at her lackadaisical attitude, but since she had never been to Disneyland it was hard for her to believe it couldn't wait for a half hour or so.

Finally, I got Amelia dressed. We ate some trail mix and headed downstairs to catch a bus to the main gate of the Magic Kingdom. The trip to Disneyland was made up of three "rides": the elevator, the escalator, and the bus. You see, every time we entered or exited the hotel, we had to ride both the elevator and the escalator. This meant that while our room was on the sixth floor we would take the elevator to the fourth floor, get off the elevator, walk through a corridor of conference rooms, and ride the escalator down to the lobby. Amelia was afraid of tripping on the escalator, so I had to carry her each time, up and down the two long escalators. (Yes, this did get tiring.)

When we reached Disneyland the ticket lines were moderately short. Our ticket salesperson was very helpful and gave us two-day park hopper tickets, good for 30 days, for the price of one-day, one park admission. So, our tickets were half price. If the drive weren't so long, I would take Amelia back to Disneyland (with our free passes) in a heartbeat.

As we went through the gates I grabbed a map. Amelia asked for a map of her own. I showed Amelia the Disneyland train at the station and asked her where she wanted to go first. Of course, Amelia wanted to ride on the Flying Dumbos. (While I was still trying to convince Amelia to give up diapers and give the potty a try I told her about rides at Disneyland and actually found a YouTube movie of a child riding the Flying Dumbos. She had decided, even before arriving at Disneyland, that the Flying Dumbos were her favorite ride.)

Amelia was great at Disneyland, but it was a long time before she understood the concept of standing in line. At our first ride she continually tried to push herself ahead of the crowd. When the ride stopped and the Dumbo elephants were empty she saw no reason in the world why we shouldn't be able to simply push ahead and hop on board.

Finally, we found ourselves in the final, short line ready to board our Flying Dumbo. The riders came off and we moved around to find an empty seat. Somehow, by the time we moved around the ride, every single Dumbo was occupied. Another father became rude and upset that his daughter was unable to climb aboard the ride. I figured that several guests who had said they would ride together decided to go it alone. Eventually, everyone was seated but Amelia and I. We stood aside, politely, and waited one more turn. Amelia was very, very good about having to wait and I told her she would be first next time and could choose any elephant she wished (she chose the one in green, her favorite color). I made a comment to one of the ride attendants that this would be Amelia's first ride on her first trip to Disneyland. They suggested we get her a free "First Visit" button (they were all out at the Flying Dumbos). It took quite a bit of asking and several rides before we found one, but Amelia now has a Disneyland "First Visit" memento.

Amelia loved the Flying Dumbos. She loved the fact that she could move the elephant up and down by herself; however, she was a bit cautious about how high she flew when we started out. Instead of climbing up, up, up, she would go up a bit, then down, then up a bit more, and then back down to the bottom. I finally brought us to the very top of the ride just before it finished.

When the ride was over Amelia was really good about letting others have a turn and left without a fuss. She was eager to move on to the next ride, whatever that was going to be. Amelia kept repeating, "We're going on ALL the rides." I didn't think she would be tall enough or old enough for every ride, but I was happy to go on as many rides with her as we could squeeze in.

From Dumbo we rode the boats through Storybook Land. Amelia marveled when we rode through the whale's mouth. She enjoyed the ride a lot. After that, we headed over to the Teacups. Reading the posted warnings I saw the suggestion that people who get motion sickness not ride on the Teacups. I thought to myself, "I have no idea if Amelia gets motion sickness or not." Images appeared in my mind of the poor girl going green as we whirled around, but I figured we would try the ride and hope for the best.

Amelia smiled the entire time we were spinning in our yellow teacup. This made me feel more confident about the other rides we had ahead. If this ride didn't bother Amelia, she should be fine on almost anything. We went from the teacups to the Alice in Wonderland ride next door and rode a giant caterpillar. Then we headed to the bathroom for an unannounced bathroom break. Knowing Amelia, I knew that if I asked her if she had to go, she would say, "No," so I never asked and never hinted that we would be ending up in a bathroom. Amelia trusted me because I had been to Disneyland several times, and she didn't have a single accident all day (hooray!).

The obvious choice for our next ride, location-wise, was the Matterhorn Bobsleds. The Bobsleds move quickly and again I was worried they might be too scary for Amelia. Putting first things first, I realized that I had to see if Amelia could make the minimum height requirement before wasting any time in line. Amelia was about an inch above the minimum, and was ready to ride. To prepare her, I explained that the ride was fast, and that the Abominable Snowman ("Do you remember him from Monsters, Inc?") lived on the Matterhorn ("But this snowman doesn't carry snow cones.").

I held on to Amelia throughout the ride. I tried to gauge her reaction to make sure she was having fun, but this is difficult to do when someone is sitting directly in front of you. After the ride was over I asked, "Was that fun?" and she said, "Yes, but that crazy snowman was scary!" Now, whenever she talks about the bobsleds (which she mispronounces in a number of really amusing ways) she always mentions the scary "crazy snowman," which I find hilarious.

(to be continued...Lisa)