It took us half a day to drive to California...we drove past the Petrified Forest, some tourist-eating dinosaurs, a meteor crater, saw snow in the mountains, and almost ran out of gas in the Mojave Desert. We made it to Anaheim on Thursday night, slept like rocks and went to Disneyland Friday morning.
The park was a lot different than Disney World in Florida - Sleeping Beauty's Castle is much smaller than Cinderella's but just as pretty. Main Street looks like it did when the park first opened...the penny arcade and the Main Street Cinema (showing Steamboat Willie) are still there! (Disney World replaced theirs with clothing stores :( Our first ride was Snow White's Scary Adventure...Archie took it in stride, Josie was terrified!
We rode King Arthur's Carousel next which was more Josie's speed. Next stop was the Princess Fantasty Faire, we got there just in time for one of Josie's favorite princesses Cinderella was doing story time!
Next stop was the Blue Bayou Restaurant, Chris had always wanted to eat there as a kid! It was very dark inside because its right next to the Pirates of the Carribean ride, we could see the boats going by too. Chris had meatless jambalaya because he gave up meat for lent :( I had a Monte Cristo sandwich mmmm! Josie had a deep fried PB&J and Archie had Pediasure :) We went on the Haunted Mansion after lunch, Archie and Mom were mesmerized, Josie was terrified and Dad laughed. Josie went on a Winnie the Pooh ride next, saw Tigger and Pooh in person and their hugs made her feel much better!
Caught the Parade of Dreams next, Josie was happy to see Ariel, not so happy to see Ursula!
We hung out in Toontown for the rest of the day where Josie met the Mouse!
and Josie rode her first rollercoaster with her Dad! He told her to hold her arms up and scream to show everybody she wasn't scared. She rode it again and again and again....
We went to Disney's California Adventure on Saturday, first stop was the Monsters Inc ride...
"Mike and Sully to the Rescue" Josie did not want to get off...we went to Disney's Aladdin's, A Musical Spectacular - a stage production of the movie, where the genie stole the show and was funnier than Robin William's in the original.
We went to A Bugs Land next and Josie rode bumper cars, ladybugs and chinese food takeout boxes while Archie people-watched.
We headed back to Disneyland that night with the rest of California (it was VERY crowded) and hung out in Toontown til we dropped!
On Sunday we headed for the mountains to visit Chris' sister Maddie and Auntie G.G. - after a very windey and windy ride we found Aunt Maddie, ate some great pizza at Round Table where Chris's second cousins Matt and Tori Vine work (Matt even gave us a family discount - thanks Matt!)
and stopped by Auntie G.G.'s new house for a quick pop-in before we took Maddie to work.
It was a short but sweet visit! We headed back down the mountain and stopped by Chris's old neighborhood in Ontario, CA.
We saw his old school and one of the houses he grew up in...after that we went to Downtown Disney and hung out there for our last night. Brush fires/forest fires were burning nearby, we could smell the smoke and we drove thru a lot of it Monday morning, it was a good thing we had Archie's trusty O2 tanks with us!
All in all it was a good little trip and totally worth the long drive.
