DAY THREE - Thursday, February 5th
I woke up at 6:30 to get ready. It was an "early entry" day so the parks opened at 9am. I didn't necessarily want to get there super early since the day before, Henry wasn't a fan of waiting at the gates. Henry had a bottle around 8am. At home, we don't do a morning bottle but we knew he wouldn't be drinking enough milk during the day. So he had one every morning.
We ended up leaving the hotel around 8:45am. I was seriously obsessed with our hotel location. So close to the parks.
We basically got here as the parks were opening so we weren't in line very long at all. We went to Buzz Lightyear. Henry seemed to enjoy this ride a decent amount. I think because it's fairly well-lit. We headed toward Fantasyland next.
We rode Snow White. Henry seemed indifferent. Maybe a little scared in the dark spots. Next was snack time for Henry. He and I went and found a table near Jolly Holiday bakery while G went to get some coffee and pastries. It was nice to sit here and enjoy coffee and whatnot just like "the old days." When we lived 10 minutes from the park, we would visit once a week or more. Very often we would get cookies or pastries and coffee and just sit on main street. It's one of the few things I miss about California.
After this, Henry zonked out in his stroller. So G and I decided to try out ride swap (or whatever it's called) for Big Thunder. I went through the regular line first. It was only a 10 minute wait or so. I took some pictures while on the ride.
When I got done, Henry was still asleep in his stroller. So G took the ride swap pass and was able to go through the fast pass line. I took Henry over to the bridge so I could watch for G.
We had this visor extender and it was freaking amazing! Henry really hates to be in the sun (he is my child, after all) so it was really helpful.
Henry was still asleep so we just wandered around.
Henry woke up. We decided to let him walk around a bit. We tried his harness but it wasn't great. He's still not very steady, especially with shoes. So the harness messed up him a bit. It was cute though! But this is the only time we used it.
It was about noon, so we thought lunch would be good. We went to Village Haus. I got cheese pizza and it was pretty awful. Too dough-y. Henry wasn't really into eating at all. So we decided to go back to the hotel to see if maybe he'd want to sleep a bit more.
Today was the day we were supposed to be touring the parks with G's mom and stepdad. We knew they wouldn't show up until later...based on past experiences. Of course, they arrived while we were on our way back to the hotel. So we told them we'd call when we came back over.
Once at the hotel, it was clear that Henry didn't want to sleep. So we just let him play for a bit. Then we decided to head over to California Adventure. We called G's Mom. They were all in the Pacific Wharf area, eating, apparently. So we took Henry on the Little Mermaid ride. So cute!
Then we met up with them at Pacific Wharf. It was G's Mom, stepdad, Grandpa, aunt, and cousin (who couldn't stay long.) G then took over duties so I could get Henry a snack.
I got him a Kid's Power Pack. It had yogurt, a banana, goldfish crackers, apple slices, carrots, and milk or water. A pretty good deal for just over $6. He can't eat the carrots or apples so we ate them. And I ate the Goldfish too. After he was done, we decided to check out Cars Land since G's Mom and stepdad hadn't seen it yet (even though they are AP holders.)
We noticed Henry needed a diaper change as we were nearing the baby care center so we said we'd just be a minute. When we came out, they had all decided to get ice cream. So...G, Henry, and I wandered. This is pretty typical fashion for his family. It's always a bit of an unorganized cluster, which sets my Type A personality on edge.
G's stepdad wanted to go on Radiator Springs Racers but it was closed (and even if it had been open, the line would have been insane.) So we decided to take turns on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. G and his aunt went first. Then I rode with his Mom.
His Grandpa decided he wanted to give it a try so G's aunt went with him. G's stepdad thought it looked boring so he didn't ride. (I guess standing around is less boring?)
After that, we went to Toy Story Midway Mania. I had some "readmission passes" so we went to use one. Though it really wasn't needed since G's grandpa was in a wheel chair. Oh well. We boarded the ride. G, myself, and Henry were in a seat together.
Henry wasn't into this ride. Probably because without 3D glasses, everything is a blur. Plus when the ride vehicle turns, it kind of whips you around and he didn't seem to enjoy that at all.
Next, we went over to
Disneyland to get dinner at Rancho Del Zocalo.
After dinner, we thought Henry needed some time out of his stroller. This was a problem we really had the entire trip. There weren't enough safe places to let an unsteady toddler walk around. We thought we'd give Pixie Hollow a try. It was mostly empty so that helped.
We decided that we'd take turns on Big Thunder. I had another readmission pass. So I said that G's aunt and I would use that to ride together. And then the 4 of them could all go into the handicap exit to ride with G's Grandpa.
After we all rode, G's grandpa was getting cold so they all decided to leave. G and I wandered around a few shops and then went back to the hotel around 7:45pm. Henry fell asleep around 9:30. We went to bed shortly after.
All in all, it was a pretty good day except for a slight amount of family drama. Apparently while I was on Big Thunder, G got annoyed with his mom for opening Henry's visor on the stroller when it was clear Henry was trying to fall asleep. He told her to stop and she got angry. She kept trying to open it earlier in the day when it was sunny too. It was super annoying but I kept my mouth shut. When we got back to the hotel, we noticed she had actually bent the canopy on the stroller and G had to fix it. For the most part though, I thought the day was pretty nice. I tried not to let things get to me too much. I was seriously thankful when the day was over though. It had been something I was super worried about.