The Lee Family: Day 3: Disneyland Again!

Yesterday we slept in until 7:30am, got ready and headed down to breakfast before going to Disneyland for our last day. We arrived at the park by 9am, but it was incredibly crowded! We waited over an hour just to get our bags searched and it was already hot! A woman in the line to our right passed out! She was by herself with a 2-year old in a stroller and a little girl who was maybe 5 years old! The poor little girl just started crying. The woman passed out and the lady behind her caught her and eased her to the ground, thankfully. We started yelling for help, trying to get the attention of Disney employees, but instead a few men and woman left their lines and ran over to help. They were nurses and EMTs and it was so touching how they dropped everything on their day off to help. It really made me so proud to be an American that we help each other when we don't have to do so. The little girl was so scared and one of the nurses got down on the ground with her and asked her calmly who she should call, etc. It was just wonderful to watch in such a scary time. Soon the Disney folks were there with a stretcher and they loaded her up and calmly took the kids away. I thought about that woman for the rest of the day and hope she recovered. So scary and touching at the same time.

We finally made it into the park and we rode the horse-drawn carriage back to the castle. I tried to make a hair appointment for Olivia, but they were full. That was one thing she'd really wanted to do and unfortunately they fill up weeks before, so I told her next time we visited we would plan ahead. I had no idea such a thing was offered, or I would have suggested it to her before our trip. I know she loves that sort of thing. Instead, we decided to ride Dumbo again, which is such a little kid ride but a lot of fun. From there we headed over to Toon Town, which I'd never been to before. It was really for little kids, and Olivia was probably the oldest one there, but it was fun to explore. At one point, we came across Pluto who rushed to a group of kids that included Olivia and gave them a big hug! It was adorable. Toon Town has a few houses that can be explored, which was a lot of fun to do. There is also a little kid roller coaster, which Olivia wasn't so sure about riding. I was able to talk her into trying it and she ended up loving it and riding it several times. It really was fun! After the roller coaster, we stopped for a cotton candy break and to rest. The heat was getting to us and Olivia was tired out from the long weekend a little crabby. I told her again that we had no agenda and could enjoy the day slowly.

After getting re-energized with cotton candy, we walked to the Jungle Cruise and rode on cruise boat, which was a lot of fun. We then decided to ride the canoes, which was actually a lot more work then either of us expected. We were getting hungry and headed back to the Carnation Cafe for lunch. Olivia had the mac n' cheese and I ordered the burger. Both were delicious and the iced tea and sitting down was worth it! We needed a break. Just as we were finishing up lunch, the Disney band came down the street! So we hurried outside to watch. There is always something cool going on - I love it!

After lunch we headed back over to the Star Tours ride and enjoyed a different story line from our first two rides from two days ago. I love that there are different stories. Since we were close, we decided to ride on the monorail, which I don't think I've done before although probably did when I was a kid. It was pretty cool to look down at the park and all the people. We were both beat and it was already after 5pm, so we decided to catch the bus back to our hotel for a nap so we could return and watch the fireworks that night.

We had a quick bite to eat and then Olivia and I rested. She slept for just over an hour and I dozed a little bit, afraid I would oversleep. We woke up and grabbed some waters and headed back to Disneyland around 8pm. The line was short and we were in the park in no time. Obviously most people were still at the park from the day. I'm so glad we rested and took a break - it was very needed. We had an hour before the fireworks started, so we rode the submarines, which I remember from when I was a kid. It's so much fun and such a relic of the 1970s. After riding on the submarines, we headed over to the front of the castle to get ready for the fireworks. We found a good place to sit and just sat on the ground. The fireworks started at 9:30pm and I was so glad we were there to watch them! When I was in high school, we could hear the fireworks from our house in Fullerton. A few times my friends and I would go to a nearly hotel parking lot and watch the fireworks for free, but it's been years since then! The storyline of the fireworks was really weird but the fireworks themselves were great! The fireworks went on for a long time and were very impressive! After, we jumped on the shuttle back to our hotel. We were in bed by 11pm and ready for bed! What a fun day and trip! It went by so quickly and we had so much fun, although I think we were both looking forward to getting home tomorrow too to see Papa and Sofia.

We made it back to Disneyland