Disneyland Day 1 (Part 2)

We make our way over to Screamin' and see that the posted wait time was 30 minutes, however the fastpass return time was only 35 minutes from that time.  Fastpass it is!  Carissa was so excited to ride this ride and made sure she grabbed the fastpasses for it. 

We stored the fastpasses and then walked the boardwalk.  We hadn't eaten since our measly Krispy Kreme breakfast at 6am, but we didn't want to eat before Screamin' so we toughed it out.  First stop was the Silly Symphony Swings. 

I did mention that round-and-round isn't Brian's thing so he sat it out.  Apparently it's no longer mine either.  I used to love the swings at the state fair each year and this is just like those.  Well, lesson learned.  No more giant swings for me!  I left feeling just a little out of sorts, though I was just fine.  We passed up the Jumpin' Jellyfish and the kids went for a quick ride on the Golden Zephyr.  Yes, I really did learn my lesson as I didn't go with them on this ride.  I just stayed below and took photos, nice and safe on the ground. 

Since we were so close we hit the Little Mermaid ride. It was a posted 5 minute wait but it was basically walk on. It was cute I suppose, but not so fabulous that I'd have to do it again. Good story, good music, but then again, I've already seen the move.  The good news was that at some point in the ride it stopped, which allowed me to get some pretty decent photos inside the ride.  It's hard to get good photos on a dark ride while you're moving and without flash, so I was pleased to have a chance to practice while we were sitting still.  LOL

Anywho, it was FINALLY 12:30 and time to use our fastpasses for Screamin'!  We took the fastpass line, which saved us a little bit of time (not a ton, but some).  When it was our turn a fabulous green car pulled up and we went to get on... only the seat I was due to sit in was covered in puke.  So was the floor of the car.  And the ground outside the unloading area.  Eeeeeewwwww!  Everyone else had already loaded and I had to get a castmember's attention to let them know that there was puke there.  The whole time I kept thinking "I hope they don't take off and my kids get covered in that puke during the ride".  I forget how careful they are all checking and double-checking belts, so I'm sure they would have caught it, but the thought was not a pleasant one.  In the end they took everyone off the car, flipped a track behind them, reversed that car and a nice red one (red is better than green anyhow!) pulled up.  Finally, our chariot arrived!  And Carissa could FINALLY get her first ever ride on Screamin'!  The countdown commenced and we were off like a bullet.  This ride just does not disappoint.  Each and every time I am laughing and screaming and just loving it!  And you get a long of bang for your buck with this ride, as it covers a lot of ground, a lot of different elements and has a decent length to it.  Loved it!  Here's Carissa's first ever ride on Screamin'!

With Screamin' taken care of we could finally sit down and eat.  We were all hungry and getting just a little grumpy because of it.  Chase had been wanting Corndog Kingdom since he ate there as a little boy.  Back then they were footlong corndogs and he was a little 10 year old.  The pictures I took of him eating that were never used because they looked almost lewd.  This time they were more appropriate, in big thanks to the fact that the corn dogs are much smaller.

Carissa, Tristan and I ate at Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta. We all had pepperoni flatbread pizza and waters to drink.  It really wasn't that fabulous and was, of course, expensive.  Carissa only commented that her pizza didn't taste good but she'd still eat it... since it had parmesan on it! LOL  

We'd now thoroughly covered the boardwalk area of DCA and it was time to move on.  We decided to use our Soarin' fastpasses, but you know what happened on the way by Grizzly?  I made the kids stop for photos! 

You know what else happened?  The same thing that happened last time: some genius says "only a 5 minute wait, why don't we ride".  So we did. 

Back to the lockers to store our gear than a pretty quick queue and then right on the ride. This time the raft spun even more and better than that...

...we got totally soaked.  Like, all of us got soaked.  Wayyyyy worse than the first time.  This time I think two waves must have gone down my pants, as Brian commented that I looked like I was wearing a bikini under my clothes, as he could see it all since my 2 layered shirts and the butt of my jeans were both soaked through.

Brian took a huge wave right over his head that got him so wet that he had wet socks all day long.  It was quite unpleasant and as the day progressed he got grouchy because of his wet feet.

We finally made our way over to Soarin', all quite wet and unhappy with our impromptu visit to GRR.  Our fastpasses helped bypass the line quite a bit, so we only had about a 10 minute wait.  Not too shabby at all.  We did end up in the back (bottom, when riding) row, so we had feet in our view.  Not my favorite.  We'll be riding this several more times this trip, so we'll ask for front row at least once so we can get that wonderful, unobscured view.  What a fabulous, fabulous ride.  And one of the only rides I can think of that gets applause at the end every single time.  We all love, love, loved it!

I know we'd recently had lunch but I thought some down time was in order, so we headed over to Clarabelle's for some ice cream.  It was quite a treat this trip to not have to worry so much about money, as we'd saved up quite a bit more than needed.  So for once we let the kids go to town and order whatever they wanted.  Tristan got the seasonal ice cream, Peppermint Stick, with a chocolate dipped waffle cone with candy cane pieces on it. 

 

Chase got strawberry ice cream in a chocolate dipped waffle cone with sprinkles. 

 

Brian got a double-scoop cookies and cream in a waffle cone

 

and Carissa got a make-your-own ice cream bar with vanilla ice cream, dipped in milk chocolate  and coated with sprinkles and mini chocolate chips. 

 

I decided to forego Clarabelle's in favor of the Mickey head ice cream bar that I'd been eyeing all day long.  We all sat down at the fountain outside and just ate our ice cream and listened to the News Boys show going on right next to us.  It was a good, relaxing moment for us all.

Up next... a trip down Hollywood Blvd.