[Claire]

Monday, December 27

We got to Disneyland at 8:30, and there was no line to get in the gates....maybe 8 people in front of us. We had explained to the girls that the crowds might be bad, and since Cassidy (6) was finally tall enough for Indiana Jones, we'd do that first....since she'd been begging constantly.

We ran over there, grabbed a switch pass for my husband who waited with Chloe (4), and got on Indy. He got five fast passes for Indy, which were good at 9:30. Cassidy loved loved loved the ride queue....she was fascinated. It was so fun to see it through her eyes, as she's an Indiana Jones movie fan. When the three of us got to the jeeps, we were given the front, and Cassidy giggled the entire time. She absolutely LOVED it! Then....it broke down on the very last curve just after the big ball. She thought it was part of the experience. They gave us passes to get on any ride in the park.

We decided to use it on Pirates, as the line for it was huge, since Indy was down. For some reason, the CM gave the pass back to us with a wink, so we had it to use again later. Pirates looked very different to us.....my husband thinks they all got new eyebrows.

We walked on Haunted Mansion....no line at all. Chloe loved it this time....she's been on it every year since she was a baby, but since Jack Skellington is her very favorite guy in the whole world, she was absolutely nuts about it. She still hates the stretch room and the huge Jack face in the ceiling, though.

We went to Splash, since Chloe was finally tall enough for it, and we were so excited to not have to do a switch pass for it! The line was minimal.....about 15 minutes, so the girls and I ran to Pooh, while my husband held our spot. There were NO people on Pooh. None. Just us. It was weird!

Chloe loved her first ride on Splash, but our picture was hilarious! Such fear on that tiny face!!! We felt so awful....but it's her favorite ride! She just laughed and laughed at all the tiny splashes, and she grew up watching Song of the South (thanks to Mammasilva, actually!), and knows the song from our Disneyland CD. She was thrilled. Again, it made our day to see the ride through her eyes!

We did all of that by 10:30, so we stayed and had snacks at Pooh's....apple pie apple for my husband and me, the kids had a marshmallow snowman, smores thingy, and another caramel apple with the mini-M&M's on it.

We went on Big Thunder, then the kids wanted to go on Autopia, so we got fastpasses for it and went on Matterhorn and ate lunch at the Pizza Port (shared a large pepperoni pizza) before Autopia. Chloe won a car! I've never seen anyone win one before, so we were happy for her, although her sisters were a little peeved.

We went back to the hub, to watch some of the Rose Festival stuff in front of the castle. The Texas and Michigan teams were there, as well as the court. We took some pics, then we went on Star Tours twice (Chloe's first time--she actually thought we went into outer space), watched the Christmas Parade on Main Street, went on Indiana Jones several more times (my husband and I took turns)....we had the fast passes from earlier in the day when it broke down, as well as our switch passes. Each time, we were seated in the front. Cassidy got to "drive" three times that day!

It started raining that evening, just for a few minutes it poured, but it cleared up quickly. We were in line for the Tea Cups under the tree, so we stayed dry when it came down. After the rain, Fantasyland cleared out (about 7 pm), so we went on Dumbo and Pinocchio, and used our pass from the Indiana Jones breakdown to go on Peter Pan, as the line for that was about an hour.....as long as I've ever seen it, actually! It was bizarre! Well worth using the pass.

We ate dinner at the Plaza Inn at 8. We ordered a chicken dinner for the younger two to split, and I ate their potatoes and ordered a chicken breast for myself. My husband got a chicken plate, and my 9 year old got a kids meal, but we asked for the fettucine with chicken alfredo sauce for her.

We waited for the fireworks on Main Street, but they were cancelled, siting winds at higher elevations. We were really disappointed. We ate our goodies--hot chocolate/coffee, choc. croissant for me and my nine year old, and pumpkin bread and Mickey cookies for the little ones from the Bakery and tried to enjoy the "snow," but our hearts weren't really in it.

Back to the hotel for some much needed rest. We had a blast our first day!! We almost did it all!