Disneyland!! Day Two

Despite having run ourselves into exhaustion the day before, we were up and on the road early for Day Two at Disneyland! We knew we needed to get there not only before the gates opened, but we needed to be some of the first in line if we were going to get those passes to see Anna and Elsa! Once we got to Disneyland, Danny dropped the kids and me off at the gate so we could get in line as soon as possible while he parked the car. Unfortunately, I left my phone in the backpack, which was in the car with Danny. So when I got to the gate and realized that they had opened the park early and there were already people going through, and I had no way to call Danny! I'm not even sure that I had our tickets. But if I did, I know I was too worried about not being able to find Danny if we ventured into the Park. So we waited, somewhat impatiently, for Danny to get the car parked and get back to us. I was SO worried that we were going to miss our chance to get those princess passes, and the girls would be SO disappointed. Danny finally made it, and we rushed into the park and straight back to Fantasyland. We made it just in time to snag some of the last tickets! Phew!!

We weren't due back to see the princesses until about 3:40 that afternoon, and the park had just opened, so Danny thought we should hit some of the rides that generally have longer lines. First on the list? Pirates of the Caribbean!! I've gone on this ride before, in fact we took the kids the last time we were there. I wasn't too worried about it. Turns out, it was WAY darker and a little scarier than I had remembered it being! I don't like it when it's pitch black...and neither do the chillins. :) But we made it through in one piece, with quite the memory to take with us!

It was still morning, and the weather was rather pleasant. So we decided to hit up the Jungle Safari ride while we were in Adventureland. Honestly, the kids had lost all trust in us when we told them a ride wouldn't be scary...so we had to convince them to go at all! But Danny and I were confident that this nice, gentle ride would go a long way to reestablishing some parental trust. :)

The kids loved the ride, and all the animatronic animals! Admittedly, I really do enjoy this ride as well. It's a relaxing way to enjoy the Park after so much walking!

People talk about the food in Disneyland. The first time I was there, we didn't really eat anything in the park that I remember...except the whipped pineapple. Again, since it was morning there weren't a lot of lines to speak of. So I got me some whipped pineapple while we were in Adventureland! So what that it was 10:00 am...don't judge! And as soon as we got our whipped pineapple, a show was starting at the Tiki Lounge and there wasn't anyone in there yet! So we ducked in to enjoy our morning dessert while watching the show in the Tiki Lounge. It. Was. Awesome. :)

We wanted to take advantage of the short lines, and so we headed over to Tomorrowland to meet Captain America. We didn't get to meet him the day before, and it was pretty high on Johnny's priority list. But when we got there, we were frustrated to find out the Captain America wasn't showing up until later that afternoon! How annoying! But since we were there, we decided to check out the Iron Man area again. We skipped over it the day before due to the lines, but they weren't bad yet. Turns out, it was totally fun!  The kids each got to stand on the portal, and watch the screen in front of them as they were virtually dressed as Iron Man and then got to control the suit!

But the one to have the most fun was, by far, Danny. :) I love the kid in him! He especially loved making the suit fly and the subsequent target practice. :)

We were quickly checking the "must-dos" off our list, so we kind of wandered around a bit after the Iron Man experience trying to decide what to do next. We found out there was a showing in just a few minutes for the 3-D preview of "Big Hero 6". The kids thought this was a good activity to do next. It was so fun! And it made us all very excited to see the movie!

Next we headed to Pixie Hollow. The kids had bought a giant lollipop (which was on their must-have list), and we decided waiting to see the fairies would give them a chance to enjoy their suckers.

We got to meet Iridessa and Tinkerbell! These characters took some time to talk to each of the children. I always appreciate that. You wait so long to meet them, and you usually stand in line for next to forever. So it's a pretty major letdown when you only see them for less than a minute. We loved our time in Pixie Hollow! I think Johnny was a little smitten with Tinkerbell. :)

After Pixie Hollow we ventured into the only part of the Park we hadn't spent any time in the day before. Mickey's Toon Town! We were greeted on our way in by none other than Goofy himself!

Next we explored Minnie's House, and even got the chance to meet the first lady of Disneyland once we made it through her overly-adorable house. :) Claire even took a picture of Danny and me for us! She did a pretty good job. :)

Minnie's House was just a prelude to the big house itself. Mickey's House! We were in here for what felt like forever...but it was mostly air conditioned and at this point it was getting pretty warm outside. We could deal with waiting in line in there. :) Finally, at the end, we got the chance to meet Mickey! The last time we were in Disneyland, we only saw him in passing. The kids LOVED getting to meet and HUG the infamous icon.

And with a little "GOOFYING" (I crack myself up!) on the Toon Town playgrounds, we concluded our time in that wacky world and made our way to a new adventure.

At this point, we were really just kind of wandering around...waiting for something to catch our attention. Turns out, a huge old fashioned ship will do just that! And there was a rather short line for the next ride, so we hopped on. It was a really relaxing "voyage", and Danny and the kids loved the Captain's Quarters down in the hull. The coolest part was the big bell, which we of course rang just for Lukey. :)

Finally we were approaching our ticket time to go see the Frozen princesses, so we journeyed back to  Fantasyland. We had a few minutes, and of course the kids wanted to ride the carousel. Again. :) But it was all good...Danny and I snagged the bench! We were really getting pooped out at this point. We'd walked for two days straight!

On our way off the carousel, we spotted the mythical Sword in the Stone. Johnny and Danny gave it a try. :)

Finally, after long last, it was time! Time to meet Anna and Elsa!! Well, actually, it was time to stand in the coveted line to meet Anna and Elsa. A line we stayed in for over an hour!! Somehow I thought that busting our backends to get the tickets would somehow move things along a little quicker. But I forgot...it's Disneyland! It's kind of part of the price you pay. But these smiles (once we reached the END of the line) were totally worth it. 

I was pleased to find out that each family got their own private meet and greet with the Arendelle royalty. The kids were so excited, especially Claire and Sophie. I love seeing the adoration in their eyes! And Danny and I could breathe a sigh of relief that we were able to deliver on the ONE thing Claire and Sophie wanted out of the whole trip. :) 

And if meeting Anna and Elsa weren't enough, we had one more person we just HAD to meet. We made our way in haste to Tomorrowland where we found out that Captain America was just about to make an appearance! He was super cool to talk to...though Danny decided that these heroes would be a lot more impressive in person if Danny weren't taller than all of them. :)

Before we took our family picture with the good Captain, he told the kids that if anyone at school messed with them, to tell them their uncle, Captain America, had their backs. Ever since, the kids refer to him as Uncle Captain America. That guy is earning his paycheck. :)

And with that, our time in Disneyland was just about come to an end. The park was closing early that night for Mickey's Halloween Party, which we opted against. Honesty, we were pretty tired at this point! But we had one more thing to do. Something that Danny and I had on our checklist. We found a gift shop close and made the WHOLE family mouse ear hats. We didn't do them the last time we were at the Park, so it was a must for us this time. And Danny and I really wanted on with Luke's name on it. This was the trip of a lifetime...a trip we had really hoped to take with Luke when he was all better. But even though we didn't have Luke with us in the flesh, it was still because of him that we were there. Danny and I had done a pretty good job of distracting ourselves from the pain of not having Lukey with us until we tried to take this last set of pictures. Then it caught up with us a bit. Luckily, we found a nice quiet corner of Fantasyland that was empty save for us. So we could stay and cry a little and no one was there to wonder what our deal was. It was the perfect end to a perfect two days in the Magical Kingdom.

Disneyland is an intense experience...especially with children. But somehow, even with the heat and endless walking and forever-long lines...you never want to leave! The minute you leave the park you can't wait to go back! We talked about maybe doing another day, but decided we had a lot of other adventures ahead of us during our week there. And considering the kids were conked out before we even got out of the parking garage, we figured maybe they needed a break. :)

Thank you, Disneyland! Thank you for providing so many awesome memories and for distracting us from our grief. We needed that so desperately. And a side benefit that Danny and I hadn't considered was the physical exhaustion on our part. Since the weeks before Luke died, we had trouble sleeping. And it got worse after he died. I would wake in a panic, Danny would frantically sleepwalk and try to take care of Luke. But those nights after Disneyland, the grief couldn't hold up to the miles we had walked and how physically tired we were. We could actually kind of sleep, and we needed that almost as much as the distraction.

Already, this trip was epic. And we had only just begun!!