Disneyland Day 2 (Part 1)

I was already awake this morning when the alarm went off.  I knew today was the day we were finally going to Disneyland!  Carissa and I jumped in quick showers, we ate our breakfast of Costco muffins and milk in our room then left at 8am to head to the parks for the 9am park opening. 

On our walk over I got a text from good friend Melinda saying "What are you up to?"  I texted back that we were walking, on our way to the park.  She replied with a "Me too" and not 2 minutes later we  saw this...

After over a year of talking and planning, we were actually making this happen - her family and my family in Disneyland together!  We knew that with 13 people - her family of 6, both her parents and our family of 5 - there was no way we were going to be able to do everything together, but at the same time we really wanted to enjoy some moments with one another.  Well, here we go!

We got through security, lined up together and entered the parks pretty quickly once the gates opened.  I grabbed some photos on the way...

...and we chatted through our plans for the day - Peter Pan, Dumbo, Matterhorn and fast passes for Space Mountain.  We took a spot on the tomorrowland side of the hub to wait for rope drop.  We were right up at the rope and both my kids and Melinda's kids were chatting away, excited for their day at Disneyland.  My boys and Melinda's boys were all reading the Hidden Mickey book, preparing for the rides we were heading to.

While we were waiting for rope drop I chatted with all the kids, getting them hyped up, telling them that we should get to Peter Pan fast and see if we could be first on the ride.  Well, little did I know how much they would take that to heart.  As soon as the rope was dropped all 7 kids took off running towards the castle and into Fantasyland. 

 

I yelled for them not to run but by then they were too far away to notice.  They were, of course, the first ones through the castle and the first ones on Peter Pan. 

 

I stepped up my speed so I would be somewhat close to them and not lost in the crowd.  I looked back and silently hoped the other adults were walking fast too.  I saw Brian who waved me forward, telling me to go with the kids.  Well, we didn't want to go without everyone else!  Thankfully the kids were walking the winding queue line slowly and we were all able to catch up and ride.  Score one for the day.

After Peter Pan we walked over to Dumbo and had a very, very short wait for a ride.  Melinda and I rode together, the kids each rode with one of Melinda's kids and Brian took our passes and booked it to Space Mountain to get us fastpasses. 

 

Since we got on Dumbo so quickly we decided to head to Matterhorn, however we noticed that Mr. Toad's queue was almost empty.  The kids went on that while I waited for Brian to join us.  After their ride I had 6 of the 7 kids pile on poor Mr. Toad's car for a photo (kid #7 was back on Mr. Toads with one of her grandparents). 

Next stop was the Matterhorn.  I was not entirely thrilled with the prospect of riding this, as I'd last ridden it on my girls trip in 2010 and it was jerky with seats that had me slipping and sliding all over in them.  Since then the ride has been outfitted with new ride cars, which are much better than the old ones.  I actually enjoyed it this time. 

We rode the right side of the Matterhorn queue but couldn't remember which side was supposed to be faster.  The best way to find out?  Ride them both!  It was walk-on on both sides of the ride, so it made perfect sense to do it now.  It was unanimous that the left side of the Matterhorn has the much, much, much better version of the ride.

Our fastpass time for Space was rapidly approaching so we thought we'd start to make our way over there.  On our way we passed Autopia.  We knew Autopia was slow-loading so decided to make a stop there.  Who knew it would turn into such a fiasco!