Submarines, Cars, Rockets, and our first hot meal.

Leaving the crazy snowman behind, Amelia and I headed for the new Finding Nemo Submarine ride. The last time I was at Disneyland there was more than a two hour wait for the subs. Micki and I chose to skip it then, but Amelia was very excited about seeing Nemo live and under the water.

Before getting in line I thought a snack was in order. I got myself a new bottle of Dasani tap water and Amelia asked for cotton candy. This was the first time Amelia had ever had cotton candy and this candy was huge and pink. Watching Amelia try to eat it was priceless. I spent a great deal of time in line trying to take the best possible picture of Amelia's cotton candy on my camera phone. Once I finally had a picture that was "good enough" (the direct light and shadows made things very difficult) I spent another good 15-30 minutes trying (and failing) to email the photograph to Mike over my phone. At some point, Amelia and I both gave up. I put my phone back in my purse and she handed me three-quarters of a giant, pink blob of spun sugar. I ate a little of the cotton candy and started to feel queasy (I can't eat sweets on an empty stomach), I tried to give the treat back to Amelia, but she wouldn't take it. At least she has the good sense to know when she's had enough and to say, "No," even if the food item is a treat.

By the time we finished eating and photographing our giant cotton candy we were already about two-thirds of the way to the boarding area for the Submarines. I remembered the earlier Disneyland Submarines and thought that nothing this ride had to show me could possibly be worth 90 mins. of standing in line. Somehow, though, Amelia and I ended up at the very front of the boarding area for the next boat. And it was here that I asked for, and finally received, a "First Visit" button for Amelia.

Our boat docked and the gates opened. I knew that we were to wait behind the yellow line until it was time to board, but Amelia kept trying to push through the debarking crowd and to get into the submarine. (As you can tell, I spent a lot of time saying, "Wait, not yet!" during this trip.) After we descended down into the submarine Amelia got excited about the blue folding chairs. She wanted to put one down and sit right away. Again, it took some coaxing to get her to walk the full length of the submarine and sit at the stern.

The Finding Nemo Submarine ride was much, MUCH cooler than the original Submarine ride had been. Amelia loved it, and I found it kind of funny that we got swallowed by a whale for the second time in a brief afternoon. The only thing I didn't like about my ride was that somehow I found myself in the booby-trap seat. As we dove deeper into the ocean (wink, wink) water started to drip down onto my leg. I slid my legs off to the side and made a comment to Amelia about getting wet. Her reply was, "You're not getting wet." I beg to differ, Amelia.

From the submarine ride it was a quick walk to Autopia. This was where Amelia would get to steer a car for the first time. It may seem that I don't have much to say about Autopia but I have to tell you that this ride was the funnest ride I was on at Disneyland. Amelia really had no idea how to steer at all, so once our car got onto the narrow guide track each time we hit a curve we really hit a curve - over and over again. Amelia and I bounced and banged around in the car so much I sometimes wondered if she was going to be thrown from the car. Sometimes I would grab the wheel to steady us, but most of the time Amelia and I found ourselves cracking up as we repeatedly banged into right and left turns.

Getting out of our car we headed into Tomorrowland for a bite to eat. Tomorrowland Terrace didn't have a huge variety of food, but it was convenient and I wanted to be around when the next Jedi Training Academy took place. I read off a number of food items to Amelia and she told me that she wanted a cheeseburger. I reminded her that they had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and other kid-friendly food, but she insisted that she wanted a cheeseburger.

If you know Amelia, you know where this is headed. Once we finally found a table and sat down Amelia ate all of her fries and asked me to pull the cheese off her burger for her. She took one bite of the American cheese, decided it was not for her, and was done with the burger. A whole burger gone to waste. (I was full after eating my marginally palatable veggie burger, or I would have tried to help her out.) After eating we watched the beginning of the Jedi Training Academy (Amelia was not interested) and headed out again.

The next thing Amelia wanted to do was to ride on the rocket ships in Tomorrowland. Now, I might be wrong, but I remember the rockets being located where the Tomorrowland Terrace stands. I walked completely around a funky display on the Terrace roof that I swear used to be the Tomorrowland rocket ships and could not, for the life of me, find a way to get onto the elevator that I saw on the top of Tomorrowland Terrace next to the "rockets."

But that's why Mickey gives us maps.

Once I figured out that I was stuck in a Disneyland time warp I took Amelia to the new rocket ships at the entrance (from Main Street) to Tomorrowland. Standing in line for the rockets was interesting because: 1) we were behind a little girl who was also named "Amelia" (and her sister), and 2) Buzz Lightyear passed by our line while we were waiting. Seeing Buzz was pretty cool for both of us. When Amelia talks about her trip to Disneyland she mentions Buzz Lightyear and says, "He was pretty neat!"

I have to say that for all intents and purposes, the Disneyland rockets are just the same as the Flying Dumbos. The view is different, because of the location within the park, but the ride goes around and around while little ones like Amelia control the ship's altitude - up and down and up and down. After being on the Dumbo ride, Amelia was an old pro at the joystick controls, so we spent a lot of time at the very highest point of the ride. We both enjoyed the rockets a lot, but once the ride was done I thought it was time to head across the park to my favorite, classic, E ticket rides...

(to be continued, Lisa)

Follow the bouncing ball

I thought it might help you, the blog readers, follow our trip through Disneyland if you had a map. Looking at this map you can see our path from the Flying Dumbos (54) to Storybook Land (64) to the Teacups (58) to Alice in Wonderland (52) and on to the Matterhorn Bobsleds (59).

I will try to add maps, when I can, so my narrative will make more sense to readers who have not been to Disneyland a dozen times or more.

Lisa

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)

It begins with the Haunted Mansion

Many of you know that we recently booked a great trip to Disneyland for our family in May. So you may be wondering how and why it was decided that Amelia and I should go to Disneyland last weekend.

It all started at the doctor's office. On Friday our suitcases were packed and our family had every intention of visiting my mom over the holiday weekend. However, because Diana had been acting very grouchy, Mike thought it would be a good idea to have her checked by her pediatrician on our way out of town. During Diana's checkup the doctor listened carefully to her breathing and discovered that the poor girl had bronchitis.

All of us were disappointed, but because we knew that our Diana can't help but cough and sneeze all over those she loves, we decided that we should not visit relatives over the weekend. On the drive back home we tried to think of alternate family plans, but nothing came to mind. We didn't want to put Diana through very much in her weakened and cranky state, and we didn't want to risk giving those we love bronchitis. Still, we left our bags packed in case Diana felt much MUCH better the following day.

Saturday rolled around like any other day. In fact, the day was so much like any other day that mommy became irritable thinking of her afternoon of cleaning and gardening (normally a task I enjoy, but not like a vacation). When daddy went upstairs for a shower, Amelia hopped on mommy's lap in front of the desktop computer. Somehow, Amelia and I started talking about Disneyland again, and I searched the Internet for virtual tours of the magic kingdom.

After exploring Main Street, Disneyland, on line I was excited to find a page devoted to my favorite ride: The Haunted Mansion. I was most impressed with the fact that the web page not only had all of the spoken text from the "ghost host" of the Mansion, but it also had the lyrics to songs sung by the ghosts along your journey.

When daddy came downstairs again he found me reading the on line texts: We have 999 happy haunts, but there's room for a thousand. Any volunteers? I showed Amelia photographs of the room with no doors and no windows and asked, hypothetically, how do you get out? She didn't have an answer for that puzzling question, but I assured her that I had visited the Haunted Mansion dozens of times and always managed to escape without any trouble.

Around that time daddy asked if I would like to go to Disneyland. I love going to Disneyland, so the answer seemed obvious to me. But none of this changed the fact that little Diana had bronchitis. I thought it would be very unfair to expect her to ride in the car for eight hours when she felt so sick. Michael then said that his plan was for Amelia and I to go alone.

At first I felt as if I just couldn't go without Mike. I didn't want him to miss out on Amelia's first trip to Disneyland. But Mike was very understanding and pointed out that Amelia and I had talked about going down to Disneyland many times in the past. In fact, one of Amelia's favorite bedtime games was for mommy to name and describe rides at Disneyland.

You see, when we decided it was time for Amelia to give up diapers once and for all we told her that we would take her to Disneyland once she made the switch to underwear. At this point, Amelia hadn't worn a diaper in almost a week. She had some accidents and there was a lot of moaning and complaining and bribing and coaxing, but Amelia was doing well.

So once mommy and daddy agreed and daddy made the reservations on line, he took Amelia aside and asked her if she wanted to go to Disneyland. It didn't sink in for quite some time that daddy meant she would go to Disneyland RIGHT NOW. We were practically packed and ready to go, so it wasn't long until we hit the road.

The first leg of our trip looked remarkably like the drive to Texas Roadhouse, and Amelia started to get suspicious. I asked Amelia if she was excited and she just shrugged. After a couple of minutes she asked, "Are we really going to Disneyland?" "Yes," I told her, explaining that we had to take the road toward Texas Roadhouse to start, but Disneyland was very far away and soon the road would look unfamiliar to her.

Amelia was great all the way to Disneyland - she ate her snacks and sang her songs. Amelia didn't complain a bit and never asked, "Are we there yet?" I stopped for stealth potty breaks twice on the road and Amelia didn't have a single accident.

Fireworks were going off over the Magic Kingdom when we exited Highway 5. I hated to wake Amelia, but I couldn't let her miss out. She was very excited when she realized we were right next door to Disneyland. She loved the fireworks, or what we saw of them. We checked into our hotel around ten o'clock. Around 10:30 Amelia insisted we turn on the TV. She was going to be up for a bit anyway, so after trying to convince her that there was nothing on she would want to watch at that time of night I started to flip through the channels. Amelia had me stop changing channels when she saw ice hockey on the screen. She was up until eleven watching Sports Center.

She is definitely her daddy's daughter.

(to be continued...Lisa)

Working hard at having fun

Again, it's been a while since I've written to the blog. Amelia and Diana have been sick off and on recently and with all of the trips to the doctor and such, I've been a bit busy. Plus Amelia has finally given up diapers, which means many strongly coaxed trips to the potty throughout the day.

When our weekend plans were interrupted by Diana's bronchitis, Amelia and I somehow found ourselves on the way to Disneyland. Believe me, I will tell you all about how we ended up traveling to Disneyland and everything we did there, but it will take a little time. Soon, those of you I know well will be able to see all of our photographs and read the short version of our trip through the Magic Kingdom.

Until then, just trust that when Amelia isn't on the computer playing Clifford games or Barney videos I'll be trying for the sixth or seventh time to get YouTube to accept and post my Disney movies. More immediately, I'll be captioning and organizing more than a hundred photographs from our trip.

Fun, but a little overwhelming.

Lisa

Sister, Sister

A couple of weeks ago, poor Diana found out she had an ear infection. A few days ago she got an upset tummy, but it didn't last long. Now Diana's doing great.

I should have guessed that it would be Amelia's turn to get sick this week. She's just now recovering from the stomach flu which left her weak and dehydrated.

But from all this I have seen how much these two girls love each other. A few days ago while Diana was throwing one of her usual temper-tantrums she flung herself on the floor banging her head and making her cry. I told Amelia, who had been sitting nearby that Diana hurt her head and she snuggled up to her sister sympathetically. She patted Diana on the back and said, "It's okay. It's okay." Then she brushed the hair from her head and said, "Oh, there it is," and kissed her head. I assured Amelia that Diana now felt much better.

Today, Amelia spent almost her entire day in bed. Diana missed her sister and kept asking for "Meeya." I brought her into Amelia's room where she asleep on top of her bed. Diana lay down next to her sister and patted her gently on the back. Then she asked mommy to adjust the blanket. I covered Diana and she said, "Blanket - Meeya." I carefully picked up Amelia's legs and put them under the covers and Diana was satisfied.

All day long Diana asked for Amelia and whenever she saw her she would pat her back and sometimes kiss her on the cheek. When the time came for Diana to go to bed, she wouldn't leave without a kiss goodnight from Amelia. I held Diana close to her sister and Amelia, who I thought was asleep, weakly leaned over and kissed Diana on the head. Two very sweet girls, indeed.

Lisa