The following day was the first FULL day in Disneyland. Though we did have park-hopper passes, we chose not to utilize those because of the sheer amount of *walking* that would entail. Yes, Disneyland and California Adventure are right across a quad from each other, not all that far. However, it still means walking since there currently is no transportation between the parks like a monorail system. We were up early that morning and on the 7:30 am shuttle.

Our daughter and her husband were to join us for the two days, so we had to wait in the Quad for them -- we had their tickets! They had to bring the baby, as the other grandma canceled out when she caught the flu. That was an unexpected drain on our packed days, as there are quite a few attractions which are not open to babies or small children. But we managed.

We started the day with Star Tours, moving on to Space Mountain and Buzz Light Year's Astro Blasters, taking advantage this time of Disney's "Baby Swap" program. This allows people to ride the attraction and leave the baby with another in their party, then switch baby care to allow the second half of the party to ride. Most of the time, five of us rode, and then the parents rode while we watched the baby. Sometimes one of the firve got to ride again, which was usually my niece!

We tried to go see Captain E.O., the Michael Jackson tribute. Unfortunately, we were so comfortable and then the sound on the attraction (which was a 3D music video) went out. So we had to get up and move on. I think in 40+ years of visiting Disneyland, this was the first time I'd ever had to leave an attraction in the middle because of a technical difficulty!

Other things that day included the Haunted Mansion (baby could ride), Pirates of the Caribbean (ditto), Indiana Jones, The Enchanted Tiki Room (baby could go), a train ride (ditto). Two of the men and my niece went up in Tarzan's Treehouse, but my SIL and I both declined due to our knees and all those steps!

We had a lovely dinner at the Blue Bayou on the waters of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The food was expensive but VERY, VERY good. We had waterfront seats, which was a long story in itself, but it worked out.

Tried to watch Fantasmic, but we didn't find a good standing place and couldn't see 3/4ths of it. So we moved on right before it ended. Niece wanted to go on Splash Mountain, so she took her dad and her uncle. Unfortunately, when the log landed at the bottom of the drop, her dad bounced up and then landed HARD on his seat, injuring his tailbone. He is a nurse, and he thinks it's probably severely bruised.

By the time we caught the shuttle and got back to the hotel, it was almost 11 pm. Yawn, as we were going to start the next day EARLY. The original plan had been to share our hotel room with our daughter and husband. But when they found out they'd have to either cancel out or bring our grandson, they got onto Priceline and landed a good rate for a hotel. That hotel was a 10 minute walk to DLR, a Travelodge, and allowed them to park all day on arrival day (checking in later) and all day on the day of departure (checking out before they left to enjoy the park). They had good things to say about it, including that they had enough room for the baby's Pack-n-Play. Our own evening was much quieter, probably!


Donna