Put a Fork in Us. We're Done.- Wednesday, July 26, 2006

We started to go to Universal this morning. It was about 10:30 The traffic was quite congested and not moving very fast. We figured we wouldn't be to Universal until afternoon. The radio was calling for temperatures over 100. We decided the day would be better spent at the hotel.

We went swimming in the pool and the girls had a great time cooling off. Julie has been doing laundry because she is convinced that clean clothes weigh less than dirty ones. A few of us took a nap. Now we're waiting for Papa Johns to bring us a pizza. (Mmmm... garlic butter.)

I'm sorry that we won't get to Universal, but we've certainly had a fun trip. Except for the heat, we're not ready for it to be over.

Last Day at Disneyland- Tuesday, July 25, 2006

We decided to use the last of our three-day Disney passes on Tuesday.

It started off to be a not so good day. The heat was oppressive. We went to Toon Town to visit Mickey and Minnie and the other houses. It was nice enough, but the lines were long and the heat made everyone cranky. Anna didn't want to ride the children's roller coaster there, and when we tried to get on the Roger Rabbit ride, it broke. Julie thinks she broke it. She was trying to get Emma to sit on the seat next to her and Emma was crying that she wanted to sit on her lap. Meanwhile, the cast members were yelling at her to get out. She finally got out of it, with Emma. Anna and I were in the car behind, and started to go through. We got around the first corner and the ride stopped completely. We had to wait for a while for someone to get us off. We couldn't find a place in the shade to sit and eat lunch except for a bench that was a long way away from the food. Then we went to ride Thunder Mountain Railroad (one of Anna's favorites from Disney World) and it wasn't running at all. (It was reassuring when, later on, Anna said that meeting Mickey and Minnie were the favorite parts of her day.)

After lunch, things seemed to get better. We rode more rides and kept things cooler. We got to ride on a lot of things that we didn't get to before. Pirates of the Carribean is all the rage here because of the new movie being out. It looks like every other person is wearing a skull and crossbones or a Mickey ears with a kerchief. The ride itself has been updated to include reference to the movies. I didn't know how that would work, but it ends up looking pretty good. Capt. Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp's character, appears several times in the ride now, and various characters that were already there are saying his name.

We ended up riding a few of the coaster type rides. I rode the Matterhorn with Anna while Julie and Emma went on her favorite, It's a Small World. Then we switched. Later on, I rode Splash Mountain with Anna, and Julie and Emma went on the Winnie the Pooh ride. Then we switched. It's nice when they have a "child swap" program for parents with kids too young to ride. They give you a ticket, and the second person doesn't have to wait in the long line when it is their turn.

We stayed very late, and didn't leave the park until after 11:00. We still have a pass left to Universal Studios. We'll use it on Wednesday. It will be a much shorter day, though, because we've got laundry and packing to do.