Disneyland Day 4 (Part 3)

Once in New Orleans Square we grabbed fastpasses for HMH, as it was down, then headed to Splash for an early morning ride.  Walking the queue took longer than actually getting seated for the ride.  We got a log all to ourselves and strategically placed us all one seat back, so the front seat was empty.  We thought maybe this would keep someone from having to get so soaked by riding up front.  Lousy strategy, I tell you.  Doesn't work at all.  Tristan did man up and ride in front.  He even turned down the use of a poncho.  In the end he got fairly well soaked, but never once complained about it. 

 

 

On the way back down HMH was still down so we headed to Pirates but the line didn't seem to be moving and was all the way out in the walkway.  We decided to come back later, though each time we checked it was down (are you seeing a pattern here?).  Instead we walked on Big Thunder Mountain with very little wait then hoofed it over to Space Mountain to use our fastpasses.  I know I've said it before, but fastpass is the way to go for Space.  The standby line was 35 minutes at this time but we were on in less than 10 with our fastpasses.  Plus we got to avoid that terribly long walk through the outside queue.

Have you noticed the coordinating-but-not-matching clothing we've been wearing?  The kids requested no matchy-matchy or homemade Disney shirts, so we've done coordinating instead.  Today was grey and black day so this morning I told everyone to wear those clothes.  So imagine my surprise when Tristan takes off his hoodie for the first time in the morning and I see that he has put on a navy blue shirt instead.  Navy blue and black together are a pet peeve of mine.  Hate it!  Think it looks horrible and always give the kids a hard time when they wear them together.  So now here we are, ready to have out photographs taken with 4 people in black and one in navy blue.  *sigh*  What to do other than grumble over it for a few seconds and then move on.  Oh well.  Off we go...

We walked back towards Main Street and finally took the time to have some family photopass photos taken in front of Partners and the castle.  I had heard about a Photopass photographer who really takes time to get lots of different photos.  Dave must have been that guy because he did a great job.  I have yet to see the photos but he took several of the family and both posed us and had us make different motions to the camera.  He included the magic Tinkerbell photo.  Then he got photos of just Brian and I together (which we never get... we never think about it) and photos of just the kids together.  He probably snapped 15-20 different photos.  I can't wait to go home and see them! (Edited to add: Now that I've seen them I'm less impressed.  I really had hoped to see more of the park icons in the photos, especially the castle as there was no Photopass photographer there.  *sigh*  Oh well, we still think Dave was pretty fabulous!).

Over the course of our trip we had collected several of the 20% off merchandise coupons (which have to be used at particular stores and only before 1pm).  We'd done some browsing so we had an idea of several things we wanted to purchase.  I can't pass up a deal, so now was the time to do it all.  Our first stop was California Adventure, as we'd all located things there yesterday that we wanted to purchase.  Brian ended up with a pen and a hoodie, Chase got an Oswald shirt and a Jack Skellington hat and Tristan got a Jack Skellington shirt.  Super-picky Carissa had picked out a hoodie yesterday but when we got there we realized that it was way too big, even in size small (it was adult sized).  She was totally bummed, though she did pick up a Vinylmation Minnie ornament that smells like pie.  Brian lined up to pay and I decided to take Carissa around the corner to Gone Hollywood, which sells a lot of Mad T Party stuff since it's the closest store to the venue.  We looked around for kids stuff but didn't see anything.  We asked a cast member, who didn't know of kids Mad T Party gear, so she asked another cast member.  That CM showed us the two things they have for kids - a t-shirt and the exact hoodie she had picked out in adult size!  Wahoo!  Thank goodness for small miracles.  Getting this girl to like anything is difficult enough but then not being able to purchase what she wanted was heartbreaking.  But all ended well and she walked away with an adorable Cheshire Cat hoodie, which you can sort of see right here.  (By the way... nice face Carissa!)

 

On our way back to meet the guys Carissa and I stopped by a lonely photopass photographer near the tree and got some pics of just us girls together.

Our next stop was the World of Disney store in downtown Disney.  There we picked up a Mickey Mouse and Police Officer statue that Brian had seen, a hoodie and retro Disney purse for me and 9 pins, one for each kid for each park as well as one to represent the entire Disneyland resort - all of which will end up on their pin canvas wall hangings back at home.

We stopped at Marceline's Confectionary next where we each got a treat (except Brian... he'd get one later).  Chase and Tristan went for the Goofy Candy Company fill-your-own sour candy tubes.  Carissa got a crispy Mickey head with chocolate drizzle and mini M&M's.  I got another marshmallow skewer covered in caramel then dunked in milk chocolate and cashews.  Yum!

At this point we were walking around with two full bags of merchandise and had been on our feet for hours.  We were all tired and getting hungry and we just needed to keep our feet moving until we could sit down for lunch.  And since we were in DTD I knew just where to go - EoS!  The line was long but the food was good, though they messed up for Brian and Chase's sandwiches (minus the sauce and veggies).  We had to send them back twice before they were correct.

We sat and ate a leisurely lunch before jumping on the monorail about 1:30pm and heading back into Disneyland.  We got to sit in the back or the monorail, so we had a great curving seat and got to see out huge windows most of the way around.  It was pretty neat.  From our vantage point we could see the lines coming into Disneyland and they were pretty long.  The monorail was a great choice!