Vacation: Day 6 (before noon)

I'm splitting this day into two parts - it really was that eventful!

We walked to Disneyland and entered California Adventure right at opening. John wanted to FastPass Tower of Terror and Soarin Over California, so we grabbed those and then visited Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars. Their eyes moved to make them look more alive. Getting the picture taken was difficult, as Aiden wanted to spend our turn in line looking into Mater's mouth!

After revisiting some rides from Friday, we got in line to see a showing of Playhouse Disney Live on Stage! I am SOOO happy we did that. The boys were so excited and it was really fun.

We got to see Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...

Handy Manny...

Little Einsteins...(Nathan's favorite!)

And My Friends Tigger and Pooh.

It was a 20 minute long show with a human host, Casey, who interacted with the characters, gave instructions to the audience, and made the "story" of the show flow smoothly. While obviously geared toward little kids, knowing all the songs from the shows made it enjoyable for us parents too and it is one of our favorite highlights from the trip.

After that, John took Aiden on Soarin Over California while I waited outside with Nathan. Afterwards, Aiden runs out to me and says, "It was the biggest TV screen I've ever seen!!!". He loved it and John said every minute or so would let out a big "WOW!" as they "flew" over a new part of California.

Then it was time to let John go on Tower of Terror. Aiden begged. I can't tell you how much he begged to go on that ride and John was all for taking him, but I had to put my foot down on that one. I was very much aware that Aiden loved the thrill of roller coasters, but I thought it would be too much. I mean, they pull you down FASTER than free-fall! Uh-uh, no way. John thought I was just placing my fears of the ride on Aiden (I didn't go and never have any plans to - I'd touched on my fear of heights and falling too much already with that stinking rope bridge), but I stuck to it and refused to let him go. He's four years old - he doesn't need to go on Tower of Terror. After the ride, John agreed that it might have been a little much for Aiden, as they do make it pretty scary on your way to falling to your doom.

While we were waiting for John, Chip and Dale were walking around and taking pictures with people so I tried to take Aiden over to see them. Funny kid decided that two huge chipmunks were too scary and burst into tears! So we sat in the shade and ate our lunch while I called my dad (he had specifically requested a call from inside the park).

After some ice cream, we made our way over to the Disneyland side for a big shock as to exactly how busy Disneyland can be on a Monday during California's spring break...