Disneyland 2010! – Part 3, Sept. 27

I missed a couple things from parts 1 and 2, mostly about the fireworks. The renowned Disneyland fireworks were scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Chris and I watched them from the balcony on the Friday night, then again on Sunday but this time we thought Lily might like to see them, too. Of course, it was two hours past the time she went to bed so when Chris went to get her, she didn't even wake up until he got her outside. After less than two minutes groggily watching, she said, "I want to go to bed now."

She can't say we didn't let wake her.

Anyway, the park didn't open until 10 a.m. the next three days and with the temperature still so unbearably hot, that didn't give us much of a jump on the days. But we had our plans. Monday would take us first to New Orleans Square. First there was the Nightmare Before Christmas decked-out Haunted Mansion (which was scary for Finn when we were in total darkness and a little too fast-paced to coordinate ourselves), and then Pirates of the Caribbean (which was fantastic, just enough excitement with the ride and lots to look at). Best of all, we didn't have to wait in line at either.

Then over to Critter Country where Lily and Chris hit Splash Mountain while Nana, Finn and I took a drink break. Then over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Things kind of went downhill from here... Because Big Thunder Mountain railroad was SO exciting, Lily was running full-tilt towards me to tell me just how awesome it was when maybe three feet from me she tripped and skidded, only coming to a complete stop when she smashed her forehead right into the bench Finn and I were sitting on. And she hit it HARD. This hard:

And this is only the beginning of the swelling...

Everyone was so concerned, too. Not that we weren't, but from the lady that took our lunch reservation at Cafe Orleans to the woman who sold us the water misting fan to the waitress who brought us a bag of ice and told us where we could find the nurse if necessary – or if Lily felt dizzy or sick, just tell any of the staff and they would promptly call 911. Everyone was amazingly and genuinely nice. That, along with the unmatched cleanliness and attention to detail of everything, was what made this place so great.

What a good look for pictures, huh? Well, turns out that there would only be a few pictures that day as Nana had been carrying my camera in her purse and her water bottle spilled inside, rendering my camera useless... We did have a great lunch, though – gumbo and Monte Cristo sandwiches. And right before lunch, we saw Tiana from Princess and the Frog doing a snazzy dance number with some jazzy counterparts.

And apparently my mind only really works well when I have pictures to refresh my memory... I believe we rode the Disneyland Railroad all the way around the park before running up to see Jack and Sally, seconds before they departed. The heat was just about to kill me, so this is when I had my first tantrum. We were waiting for the next Enchanted Tiki Room show and I'd had it. Wanted a magic transporter to get us back to the hotel promptly...but wasn't so clear-headed that I could calmly ask for that. We were soon let in and the wonderful air conditioning did its magic...but nothing will ever help me deal with heat. This is what I really looked like the whole trip, except for some mornings when it was still below 85˚F.

Ahh, cruel reality. I felt like I was being roasted. Despite the hat and sunglasses that never left my head, I tend to display my overheatedness like this. No one else looked like this, crazy heat people.

So yeah, back to the hotel for some chill time. We cooled off, got Finn to sleep and tried to convince Lily to sleep so she could stay up later and actually enjoy Disneyland in the evening...but this girl just doesn't rest. What do you know, she passes out on the way back to the park around 5 p.m. So we grab supper at the Stage Door Café and wander aimlessly wondering what we should do with a sleeping 5-year-old.

Fortunately she woke up shortly thereafter, so we found a spot on Main Street to watch the parade. We sure picked a good spot because once the parade started, who of all people was right in front of us??? Ahhh, the best guy in the world – Peter Pan. Oh, and Wendy.

I only saw the beginning of the parade because, despite it being a little cooler with the sun having gone down and such, I was still way too hot and ducked into the shops until it was over. 

With a livelier kid now, we decided to hit Mickey's Toon Town. It was the farthest away and with it being fairly late now, it was practically dead. Maybe forty people in the whole land. We wandered through Minnie's house and by Daisy's Diner. Into Goofy's place and on to Donald Duck's boat. Lily and her dad went on the mini roller coaster twice and then we found ourselves in Mickey's house. (Hard to tell because it was under construction.) It was huge. We just kept going and going, then we got to this theatre room with a movie screen and a massive queueing area. A woman told us it would just be a minute before she could let us in. To what, we weren't sure. But when we walk in, there was Mickey Mouse himself and he wanted to meet us and get his picture taken with us.

How nice, so that's how we ended our second Disney day.