Disney Day Two

Our second day was spent at Disneyland, and it was a wonderful, fun, magical, tiring day as well.  The last time we went to Disney was 5 years ago.  The girls were the perfect age to get really into all the characters.  This time, with them being a little older, we were excited to ride some of the bigger and darker rides they were too small to enjoy the last time.  Again, we met Mom and Dad at the gate in the morning and packed a lot into our before-lunch hours while the crowds were tiny.

The thing I was most excited to do was experience all the new Star Wars stuff with the girls.  Tomorrow Land has pretty much been turned into Star Wars Land and there were so many fun things to do with our little Star Wars lovers.  The best thing ended up being Hyperspace Mountain-- which was the old ride, just made better with Star Wars music and the feeling that you were in the middle of scenes from the movie.  So, so, so fun!

Then we watched a little show about training to be a Jedi, which Ella was signed up to be in.  Delia did not want to do it because there was a part where the "trainees" had to fight bad guys and she was nervous about that.  The show was cute and Ella is never one to shy away from a stage! :)

Delia sat in the audience with us and helped "use the force" to shove Darth Vader back in his hideout.

Because Ella was being prepped for her part in the show (and I was with her), we did not do the Star Wars Launch Bay, where you could see movie props and meet characters.  Dave, Delia, Mom and Dad stood in a short line to meet Chewbacca.

After our hour in Star Wars Land, it was time to hop on all those classic rides we were most looking forward to!  We shot at battery-stealing Zurg in Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters.  Took a dive into the deep with Nemo and Dory on their submarine.  We made a cruise around the world in "It's a Small World".

We floated through the bayou and Tortuga in Pirates of the Caribbean and visited with some "grim, grinning ghosts" in the Haunted Mansion.  (We actually did these classics several times.)

We took a Jungle Cruise and sang along with the birds in the Enchanted Tiki Room.

We tried to un-stick the Sword in the Stone.

And we gave the Genie a big hug.

(As you can see in the pictures, we also did a little shopping.  Part of the girls' gifts from their grandparents was some gift cards to spend in the stores.  They both chose a couple new stuffed animals to bring home and remember the trip with.)

Again, in the afternoon Dave and I bid farewell to the worn out members of the family and used the rest of the day to check the bigger, scarier rides off our list.  A few new ones for us were the Indiana Jones ride (which was super fun) and Star Tours (which made me ill).

Dave and I stayed all the way until the park closed at 11:00, catching the light parade and evening fireworks show while we waited in line on the outside deck at the top of Space Mountain (cool, right?).  Around 10:00, the park started really emptying out again, so we just hopped on multiple rides without waiting much at all.

Dave and I only got the two day tickets, so our time at Disney was done after this day.  We feel we got to see everything we wanted, and the things we really loved, we even did 2 or 3 times.  Disneyland's new ad slogan features the song "Forever Young", which is perfect since this is a place to relish feeling like a kid.  How much fun did we have, realizing that even when we were without our kids, we could still capture this feeling!  Grandpa and Grandma intended this to be a gift for the girls, but it was really for all 4 of us.  And the memories we each made this week will last a lifetime!