We got up and called the boys to see if they were on their way, nothing.... Kris called Ed and Dad. No answer, she knocked on their room, no answer. Finally we got a text back from Dad saying they were at the start line.
Kris, V, and I got dressed and headed to Disneyland. Now the 5k started on Main Street, which was so awesome. As we were walking towards the finish line, we saw people still walking into the park... with bibs... at 5:15am. The 5k started at 5am. How are these people still walking to the corrals? We were in a bit of shock. Eventually, we got to part of the course, and were able to see the leaders come through. We headed out to the finish line and got in place.
Now there is no runner tracking for the 5k, and we had no idea when the boys started, but we stood and looked for our runners. And about 45 minutes in, we saw Eddie and Xander crossing the finish.
And about 10 minutes later, Dad crossed! He was so nervous about finishing, but he finished before tons of others that were behind him. We waved and got some pics.
Then they came around with their bling!
We went back to the hotel so the boys could clean up and rest a bit, and then it was off to meet west coast Mickey! I had booked us a couple of character meals, cause I know they're worth it, you get real food and a change to meet the characters while sitting. And let's be serious, I love meeting the characters. Our first one, to celebrate the boys 5k was at Paradise Pier hotel. This was at the back of the property, so we walked back there. **Disney World nerd break: It was so cool to be able to walk everywhere on property and a little strange too. You def can NOT do that at Disney World! ... end Disney World Nerd break.**
We walked right on in and met the man himself, Mickey Mouse. It was like an old school character breakfast, and they sold us the pics later (which we got, cause we needed 1 group pic). We had a yummy breakfast, that even included some Mexican-ified dishes (chilaquiles and some ridiculously good fritatta). And we got to meet Minnie, dressed in a super cute jumpsuit, Daisy, and Stitch (Xander's fave). Now, somehow, usually dry Southern California was rainy this day. It started pouring when we got to the hotel and wasn't really letting up. So after breakfast, we grabbed some ponchos, and headed to Disneyland!
Disneyland is tiny and adorable. It's like a shrunken Magic Kingdom. Like seriously shrunken. When you walk into Main Street, U.S.A. the buildings look like dollhouses. You know people really
couldn't live in there, it's just a model.
And there it is, Sleeping Beauty Castle. (Sorry Aurora, Cindy's got you beat in the castle game). I know it's a castle and all, but it's the most underwhelming sight.
Straight away we headed to Hyper Space Mountain, cause Xander needed to ride it badly. We headed towards Tomorrowland, and OMG, where is the space? It was so cramped getting in there. I can see that this park was built in 1955.
But we got into the line for Space Mountain, and waited it out. One more thing, most Disneyland lines are outside, we wrapped around the building, and then up on the roof. It was so odd. This Florida girl would have liked a little cover while we waited.
But I do have to say, this is where Disneyland has us, the ride was amazing. So much better than our Space Mountain.
After that, we headed to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, I mean Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. It was so cool to be in a ride that I had loved as a kid in Disney World. It was pretty much the same thing, but with Nemo and his friends sprinkled in.
After that, we headed towards Fantasyland. But, along the way, Kris and I saw the Evil Queen. We're no fools, so we stalked her and followed her til she stopped. Another weird Disneyland-ism, these characters walk around unguarded. Kinda super weird, but also very cool. She finally stopped, and we were able to get pics with her. She was very demanding about the poses she needed us to do.
We were right at the opening to ToonTown, so we decided to go in and grab a bite to eat for lunch. ToonTown was so cute. It really did look like a ToonTown.
There were tons of places to play and burn off some steam, which is just what the kids did. And then I locked them up... LOL just kidding!
We didn't think the Roger Rabbit ride was open, but just as we were about to leave ToonTown, it opened up, so we got in the line and were able to ride. This was a pretty cool ride. Kinda dark with the weasels going after Roger, but it was fun.
Then, we finally headed towards Fantasyland. First up, one of the OG rides, It's a Small World. Again an outside queue, but the outside with the white facade is so pretty. The white room in Small World has always been my favorite.
This Small World is also better than ours, gotta say. It has more rooms, and they even incorporate characters into each country. Check it out.
Now, since it was kinda cloudy and on and off sprinkling, the lines weren't than bad on this day. So we were able to get a lot in. My one bucket list, must-do was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. And that was the next stop. The outside of the ride buildings in Fantasyland here are so pretty. It really looks like party of a story tale village.
This is another ride I only vaguely remember since they took it away so long ago. Totally had forgotten about Mr. Toad going to hell, but thankfully the kids didn't seem to bothered. It was more fun riding with Mr. Toad's terrible driving.
The Carrousel and Peter Pan had a pretty short line, so we rode those. They were the same as ours. Peter Pan is the exact same as ours. As we were waiting in line for Peter Pan, outside, I told V to look at the castle, and pointed to it. She asked me where it was, and I told her it was that pink house. She's only 4 and she knows a castle is way more grand! LOL
We also went inside the castle, where they have shadow boxes of the Sleeping Beauty story in various rooms. But this requires, so many up and down the stairs. Ugh. It was cute though, but I prefer the mosaics in Cindy's castle.
At this point we were all waaay past done, so we headed out of the park and back to the hotel for dinner and some rest. Kris and I had a race in the morning anyway, so we needed to chill a bit for the early morning wakeup.
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