Day 4: Our last day at Disneyland

Our last day was our busiest by far. We started off our last day on the Astro Orbitor in Tomorrowland. Then we ventured over to ride on the Pirates of the Caribbean again. Everybody sing with me "yo ho, yo ho a pirates life for me..."
By the time we were done riding Pirates, California Adventure was open so we went straight to Soarin Over California to punch in for our Fast Pass. Then we got in line to ride the Grizzly River Run. Dan and I were able to ride with Zander and Natalie while Dan's mom stayed with Hayden. Then as soon as we finished, she rode it with Natalie who wanted to ride again. We all got wet, but it was such a warm day we didn't mind one bit...well, Zander minded, but he was a good sport about it. We had about 20 minutes to kill before our next show, so we watched the Miner 49er bluegrass band for a bit. All the kids were clapping away...even Hayden. On one of the songs, Zander got to join in and help by playing the washboard. In the photo, he is the one standing next to the man in the red shirt. After Zander was done, we walked over to the Playhouse Disney theater to watch Bear and the Big Blue House. Natalie and Zander used to love watching Bear and the Big Blue House when they were younger, so they ate it up. In fact, that is how my MIL got her nickname, Grandma Flutter, but that is another story for another day.

Along with Bear, we also heard stories from Jo Jo's Circus, Stanley, and Winnie the Pooh. Towards the end of the program bubbles danced down from the ceiling. Then the kids all got to sing the goodbye song along with Bear and Luna. It was nice to be inside, sitting down for a change.

By the time the Playhouse Disney show ended, our fast pass time for Soarin' Over California was ready so we got in the fast pass line and zoomed past the folks without fast passes (who had to wait 45 minutes to ride. Serves them right I guess.) Soarin' Over California is a must ride attraction. You are sitting on a chair lift of sorts and when it starts, you are lifted up into the "sky" above an Omnimax type movie screen. As you are riding it seems as if you really are flying over California. A note to those who are planning to go to DL/CA, take deep breaths when you ride this because you can actually smell pine trees and orange groves etc., but it's very subtle. Here are Natalie and Dan giving me the thumbs up before take off. We all loved this ride and Natalie got to go again right away. Later in the day Zander would ride it 3 more times! Our next stop was to get some lunch before Grandma Flutter had to catch her plane back home. We ate at Taste Pilot's Grill. I thought the food there was all good...and handy right next to the soarin' ride.
Here is Zander with his scary face as he stands next to the door with the monsters from Monster's Inc. Dan and Sharon are the only ones who rode on Tower of Terror as seen in the photo in the distance, behind Dan. They said it wasn't "that" bad. Hmmm. I don't know if I buy that...free falling from the top...not my idea of a great time.

Anyway, after we spent about an hour riding in a Bug's Land we walked over to Paradise Pier an waited for the arrival of Zander's favorite characters, Lightning McQueen and Mator from the movie Cars. I was so glad that we got to see them up close and Zander was in awe the whole time.
Next on our agenda was the Aladdin play, but it didn't start for another hour, so we walked back over to Disneyland and all of us picked our our mouse ears and had our names sewn on the back. We all got the black ears, except Natalie who picked out lavender ears with Tinkerbell on the front. I never had ears before, so this was something even I was excited about. Knowing that Dan wouldn't want to get ears for himself, I brought along his ears from his childhood and "suggested" that he wear them for the photo. It made for the "classic" Disneyland photo in front of the DL train station. In the background you can see the flowers planted in the shape of Mickey Mouse.
We got back to California Adventure just in time for the Aladdin play...just barely. We ended up sitting way up at the top, but any view was a good view, so it didn't really matter much. The play was great. It was even up to date as the Genie interjected funny lines about Britney Spears and Sanjaya. In the voice of Simon Cowell, the Genie said to Aladdin after he sang a song...you call that singing? You're no better than Sanjaya. All this to say it was entertaining for the adults too. There were even a couple scenes where the magic carpet flew all over inside the theater, and Aladdin came in on a life-sized elephant. Thumbs up...must see play.
Once we cleared out of the theater, we high-tailed it to the Block party. From the photos I saw it looked like a lot of fun and a chance for the kids to see some more of their favorite Disney/Pixar characters. As it turns out, it was basically like a small parade with about 4-5 floats. Each one had a character on it and where ever the "parade" stopped, you got to dance with whichever character was closest to you. I was really hoping to be near Woody, but he was on the head float. We got to dance with Flick and Atta, the Ants from a Bug's life...yeah, ants aren't really cute to me these days if you catch my drift!!! At any rate, Zander was excited to see Woody, so I guess it was worth it, but I don't think I would arrange my schedule around it next time. Zander and Natalie got an autograph from Mrs. Incredible (aka Elastagirl) too, so that was fun.
Wow!!! I need a nap just after writing everything so far...it was a day packed full of fun. By now it was around 5:00 and we were all in need of a break. Natalie, Hayden and I went back to the hotel and Dan and Zander rode Soarin' Over California some more. After awhile, they came back to the hotel with dinner from McDonald's. Around 8pm, I took Zander and Natalie back to California Adventure to see the Electric Parade. I had never seen it before, but had recognized many of the floats from photographs I'd seen. I'm sure for those of you who saw it as a kid, it's the exact same parade you remember. Very old school. Remember Pete's Dragon? He was even in the parade. After the parade I decided to let the kids ride on some more rides. It was, after all, our last chance. We went back to a Bug's Land so Zander, who was asleep in the stroller earlier in the day, could ride on the rides. It was great. We walked on to most of the rides right away, without any lines! I wanted to go back to Disneyland, but my tickets fell out of my pocket somehow. I used my sad puppy dog eyes and the person at the turn style said they would let us in since it was so late. Natalie really wanted to shop at the "It's a small world" gift shop, so we went there first then we rode on the carousel, the tea cups and called it a night. After all it was 11:30 pm!!! I checked one last time at the lost and found for Natalie's Ariel things, but no luck. She cried all the way back to the hotel, but I know she was tired so that didn't make it any easier for her. I got the kids in bed and started packing all our clothes and belongings. I think I got in bed around 1:30 or so...which wouldn't be all that bad if I didn't have to wake up at 3 am for a 4:30 shuttle to the airport. Yikes...that was brutal. So that is our trip in a nutshell, a very large nutshell. I hope you enjoyed our photos.