Rides, Rides, Rides!

What's Disneyland without an overload of rides? Gavin loved almost all the rides he went on. His favorites were Nemo and the Jungle Cruise. I wish I had taken video of him on the Jungle Cruise, but it was just me and the kids and I think if I had taken my hand off him, he would have jumped out of the boat! We were up in the front and he was standing up and bouncing all over the place. He would point out and squeal in delight with every new animal. It was so fun to see him getting so excited. The carousel was NOT a favorite. The 1st time we went on it, he was great, until I stepped away to take a picture of him and Mia (see bottom left pic above!). I had to sit on the horse with him to calm him down. The next time we went on, he was all excited and going over to all the animals and then FREAKED OUT when I tried to put him on! So we sat on the bench. Lame. Mia was our little miss fearless. She wanted to do everything, and she just about did. For a toddler at DL, 40 inches is the magical height. Once you hit 40 inches, you can go on sooooo many more rides; fun rides, not just fantasy land (which, don't get me wrong...I LOVE the magic of fantasy land. But no fast passes = LONG lines for almost everything!). Anyway, Mia is borderline 40 inches. So half the time she'd get on a ride, half the time she didn't. It depended on if she was wearing her sandals or tennis shoes (after day 1, it was only tennis shoes for her). But also, who was working, what time of day it was (I swear by the end of the night, they did NOT care!), and what marker it was. Soooo frustrating for Jared and I, but also for her. An almost 4 year old doesn't understand why they won't let her go on a ride she's already been on 3 times!

The last day we were there and Jared tried to take her on her favorite ride (see below) just before dinner. They made it ALL the way TO THE RIDE and then said she couldn't go on! Tears galore. Yes, she was tired, and hot, and probably on the hungry side, but these were NOT whinny and throwing a fit tears. She was genuinely heartbroken, which in turn made us feel sooo sad for our little Mia! Luckily we were able to get on it one last time later that evening, and we ended the night and our vacation on a high :)

Mia's absolute FAVORITE - Space Mountain. I couldn't believe it! After the 1st time, she kept asking to go on the "night-time starry ride" and would get soooo excited. She went on it close to 10 times while we were there. She also went on the Tower of Terror TWO times which totally surprised me. She went with Jared, and the next day when I was going on it with him and some other family, she said she wanted to go...ok crazy child! She really liked Soaring Over California, which is also one that I love. She did NOT like the Matterhorn (I think b/c of the abominable (sp?) snowman, thought Big Thunder Mt. was alright, and after watching us go on California Screamin' (the BIG roller coaster in CA Adventure) she came running up to us and said, "that was FAST! I wan't to go on that!" Just a little too small for that one :) She also of course loved Nemo and other rides in Fantasy Land, but is was sooo much fun to see her having such a great time and for Jared and I to be able to go on all sorts of rides with her!