Disneyland: Day Two, Part One

We are home at the hotel for a bit trying to get Finley to take a nap so we can stay out late tonight for Fantasmic and Fireworks.  This morning we headed straight for California Adventure, hoping to get a chance to ride the other two new rides in Cars Land, Luigi's Tires and Radiator Springs Racers. We got to the park about 15 minutes after opening and there was already a 90 minute wait for the Racers, so sent Clifton and Finley to ride the Tires while I tried to obtain some Fastpasses.  They were already for 3 pm in the afternoon and the line was one of the longest I have ever seen.  I Fastpassed Soarin' instead and I went back to meet up with Finley while she met Mater.

We walked back by the Fastpass line and there was no line, but I had to wait until 9:15 am (10 minutes away) to secure three new passes.  Luckily, a cast member took pity on me and printed me three Fastpasses for the Racers...for 10 pm tonight, the last batch of passes available.  This meant we had three Fastpasses that we could use on Tower of Terror, hooray!

Finley loved Soarin', it was like a helicopter ride in Hawaii =)  We headed over to ride the Monsters Inc ride and it had no line, so we rode it three times.  Finley was in heaven.  Then it was onto Bugs World to ride Flik's Flyers and Ladybug Spin.  We then made our way over to the Pleasure Pier to ride the Ferris Wheel, Swings, Zephyr and Jellyfish Jump.  We also had a quick lunch.  Then it was onto Little Mermaid, once again there was barely a line.  I was expecting things to be way worse today than yesterday, but other than Cars Land, California Adventure was easy.  We went over to the Cozy Cone Motel to get a cone cup before Disney Jr Live.  Finley had a blast and then we happened upon Sully.  That interaction was hysterical.  Finley asked him where Mike and Randall were, he led her over to the ride, it was too cute!  We finished the day at Tower of Terror.  Finley is asking to ride Space Mountain again (yay!) but I am pretty sure she is done with the Tower of Terror, which is fine by me.

Disneyland: Day One

This is Finley's second trip to Disneyland, but it is the first trip to any Disney property where she is finally taller than 40 inches.  This means she can ride nearly every ride in the park!  Her first evre big girl roller coaster was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  She did great!  She was really giggling up a storm.  We also took her on Space Mountain, which has been Halloween themed to Ghost Galaxy, so on top of being in space, a crazy ghost monster was chasing you.  Finley wasn't as thrilled with Space Mountain, she really didn't like the ghost.  She wants to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again, but I think Space Mountain is off the table until that ghost is gone.

This morning we started by getting our Disney annual passes for both Florida and California, which should make for a very fun year.  After we got that all processed and our photos taken, Finley wanted to ride Mr Toad's Wild Ride first.  After that it was on to Dumbo, the Teacups and Small World.  We headed over to Toon Town to meet Goofy, visit Minnie and Mickey's houses, ride the Gadget Go-Coaster and Roger Rabbit's Toon Town Spin.  We fast passed Space Mountain for later and then rode Buzz Lightyear (Daddy won!)  We headed over to Frontierland for lunch and then on to Critter Country to ride Winnie the Pooh and meet him, followed by Tarzan's Tree House.  After that, we visited the special Halloween Jamboree where Finley met Chip or Dale and Donald Duck.  Donald was especially interactive with Finley, he took her over to the pumpkin carving area, which was really neat.  We rode the carousel, then Pinnochio and then it was time for the Soundsational Parade.  After the parade, we took a ride on the monorail and headed over the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  Finley loved it!  Then we headed to Tomorrowland for Autotopia and Space Mountain.  The park was closing early tonight for the Halloween Party, so we headed over to California Adventure to check out Cars Land and grab some dinner.  The park was getting crazy crowded and Finley fell asleep, so we headed back to our hotel for the night.

Finley got a Donald Duck to nearly complete her collection of Disney animals.  On each trip we have taken, she has gotten Mickey, Minnie, Daisy and Goofy.  In Hong Kong we will get Pluto and she will have a complete set!  Finley also selected some pink Disneyland ears, she wore them all day.  The crowds will be even crazier tomorrow, so I am sure we won't be able to see as much as we did today, but we are having an amazing time.























To give you an idea of the crowds, it is almost as bad as the day in December last year when Justin Beiber performed:

Dewberry Farm

On Monday afternoon, Grammy, Grandad, Finley and I headed up for our first ever visit to Dewberry Farm. It didn't take as long as we thought to get there and Finley was so excited to try everything once we got there. Her favorite things were feeding the goats, riding the roller slide and selecting a pumpkin. She liked to try and pick up all the pumpkins, I was surprised whenever she was actually successful, those pumpkins were heavy!

Happy Birthday Chloe!

Chloe's birthday party was a new one for Finley.  Chloe hosted a fantastic mermaid tea party at the Pink Pokka Dot.  All the little girls dressed up like mermaids, made necklaces and got their hair done.  After all that fun, there was a mermaid fashion show with Ariel.  Finley had such a lovely time, even though she was a little wary of dressing up at first.  Happy birthday Chloe!