Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Disneyland day 4

Our final day at Disneyland, we started off in Cars Land in CA. We got switch off passes for the main ride, and some of us rode Mater's Junkyard Jamboree while we waited.
It turned out to be Finley's favorite ride of the trip, and since there was virtually no line, we just kept riding it over and over while we waited.
 Once the rest of the group joined us, we all rode together.

 Sareny and Finley re-used their hair-stu's from the day before, so they both looked like little princesses.


 Really, everybody liked this ride. It was pretty mild, until it would whip you around a corner.
We headed back to Disneyland in the afternoon to catch their Christmas parade. We ended up getting pretty decent spots between the castle and the Matterhorn, right near the bathrooms.
 Eagerly waiting for the parade...
 It was a pretty cute parade.
 Keeley really liked it, and waved at the characters.
I think this picture really epitomizes the end of the trip--kids still excited and going strong, adults getting worn out!
 We saw Mickey and Minnie in their winter finery.
 Daddy held KeeKee River for the parade.
And she was thrilled.
 I liked this cute gingerbread dog house.
 And Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters--you don't see those characters often.
 Then some princesses came by




 Really, it was quite magical! Finley looked so darling watching the parade.
 Santa Claus came by on the last float.
I'm not going to lie--the park was pretty crowded and we just didn't have the leg stamina that we did on days 1 and 2, so we didn't get on as many rides this day. I have decided that I will try my best to avoid going on a Saturday ever again. The other days were just so much better. We still had a great time, of course, but the crowds made all the lines pretty long. We rode the Monorail, which I hadn't done since my honeymoon, which meant that none of our kids had ridden it, nor had Nancy. And we re-rode a few favorites. Keeley got a ride on Jingles.
 And they had these adorable caramel apples. Super cute!
While we were waiting for an evening show at the Fantasyland Theater to start (which was a pretty cool show, by the way) Sareny and I snuck over to the exit of Small World ride. 
We snapped a couple of pictures, but our real purpose in going over there was to acquire some princess smashed quarters for my smashed coin collection. It was pretty fun to be on the lookout for the smashed penny machines, and the map from City Hall helped a ton. 
Our trip ended much too soon. Somehow, despite spending 4 days in the parks, we still didn't find time to pick out any souvenirs with the money Grandma Nancy helped the kids earn. So we headed over to Downtown Disney. That poor little Keeley--while we were all tired from walking, she was so tired and cranky from being buckled into a stroller or held all day long. Disneyland is just not the place for a little 1 year old to run around and stretch their legs. So she insisted on helping push the stroller.
 And I do mean she insisted on it.
 Daddy pushed the other stroller with IJ in it.
Then we drove back to Goodyear.
 This was the kitty that Finley picked out.
 And a selfie of Finely. And that was the end of our fabulous vacation!