[Claire]

Thursday, December 30

We had promised Cassidy the night before that as soon as she ate breakfast, we'd put batteries in her Darth Vader light saber....but we couldn't find the shopping bag. Then I remembered I'd been carrying it. Ugh! We'd left it in the hallway, along with her brand new ski coat! Someone had stolen both...and what sucks is that Chloe's hat (the pink one in my avatar) was in the bag, along with a gift for Cassidy's teacher, and a Yoda shirt for Cass.

We filled out a security report with the hotel and, shocker, no one turned our stuff in. I was stunned that someone would actually STEAL a child's coat, hat, shirt, and her beloved Darth Vader light saber.....do you know how hard it is to find those??? They're not just sitting on the shelves at Toys R Us! Ugh!

Not a good start to the day, losing $150+ worth of stuff. But Cassidy is our sweet, mild girl, and she just wanted another coat. That was her main concern. She thought it meant she wouldn't be able to go in the snow this winter. I love that kid!

We got to DL at 9:00 am and our first stop was a shop on Main St., where Cassidy picked out a red Minnie Disneyland coat and then we headed to the Matterhorn. The kids all picked out some random rides.....we worked with them on the order, but it was their choice.

My husband went and got FPs for Indy (it was already pretty crowded) while we were in line for Matterhorn. Then we went on the Tea Cups, Small World, Autopia, Indy 2x, Jungle Cruise, and Pirates. We got off Pirates juuuust in time for our late lunch reservation at 1:30.

The Blue Bayou was booked solid for the day, so I wasn't expecting a good table.....but we were seated water-side! I couldn't believe our good luck. Seems our day was turning around. Only a Disney Dork like myself would think that a water-side table at the Blue Bayou would even out getting all that stuff stolen.....

My husband and I both had the jambalaya....I converted him. He used to get the pork loin. The girls all had the kids pasta. They picked at their jello (no one in our family really likes it) and my husband and I shared a chocolate coffin cake. It was reeeeally good. Very rich.

We grabbed Haunted Mansion FPs, then went on Splash which broke down just after we'd gone down the hill, and we got to walk off. I took pics of Brer Rabbit and out back....I'd gotten to walk off it before with my oldest daughter in 2001. We broke down in the exact same spot. Weird! My family thoroughly enjoyed it , while other families complained. Cassidy was shocked SHOCKED that the walls were not actually rocks, but were actually SOFT and fuzzy. I think it ruined Splash for her for a while.

We beat the line of Splash people back to NOS and went on Pirates again. We used our Mansion FPs, grabbed Big Thunder FPs, then went back to the Matterhorn.

We decided to split up. Chloe wanted to spend some time in Fantasyland and the older girls were dying to go back to DCA, so they left with my husband. Chloe and I went on the Tea Cups and Alice and then stood in the longest line I'd ever seen for Small World. The CMs were telling everyone the line was at least an hour and twenty minutes long, and it was wrapped up on the stage thingie where there are usually characters. The family in line in front of us was the same family in line ahead of us at Alice, so we were already pretty friendly. The mom gave Chloe a Mickey head sucker, so she was in heaven. The park was crowded, but everyone was in such a great mood that night! And the long line....ended up being only about 40 minutes from the time we got in line, to the time we got off the ride. Chloe and I ended up in the front of our boat, so we just cuddled up and enjoyed our last ride of the year on Small World.

We still had five FPs for Big Thunder, so she and I found her stroller back in Fantasyland and headed for the ride. We cut though the castle to Zocalo and rode Big Thunder twice, both times in the front. Then we mosied slowly down Main St., amidst an angry crowd. It was after 8 pm and the 7 pm parade hadn't started yet. Made for a nice walk for us though, as Chloe waved at her audience.

We met up with my husband and the older girls at Burrrbank and they all enjoyed ice cream sundaes and hot chocolates, while I had a much-needed latte. A very nice family cleared their two tables and gave one to us for the girls to stand on. We came across some amazingly nice people!! Everyone was in SUCH good spirits!!

We headed back over to DL to Main St. for the fireworks and some shopping.

It was a great day after all. And Cassidy didn't even want to get another Darth Vader light saber. She decided we could just buy her one somewhere else.....ugh. I'll have to get one on ebay.