Parade time

One of the funnest things to do at Disneyland is watch the parades. Waiting for them to start is another story. You seriously have to get there like an hour ahead to get a good seat, earlier if its the weekend. Luckily for us we watched the Pixar parade at California Adventure on a Monday. We didn't watch the Celebrate parade at Disneyland this year, but I feel like I've seen it a million times since David recorded it last year and we've watched it back A LOT of times.

When we watched the Pixar parade this year we went over to California Adventure about an hour before it started. This parade doesn't get as crowded as the other parade so people really hadn't started filling up the sidewalks and good spots yet. We got a good spot at the beginning of the parade route on a bench.

Ava was asleep so we didn't have to worry about entertaining her till it started, just Alana. Up until about ten minutes before the parade started they had all kinds of characters right behind where we were sitting, so that occupied most of her attention. Then I came back and waited with Ava while David and Alana went and got some cookies and drinks.

Once the parade started Alana got really excited. The best part of this parade is that its all Pixar characters and stuff, which happen to be Alana's favorite Disney movies, especially Toy Story. During the summer it shoots water at you too, can't say I missed that part, I've gotten squirted in the side of the head enough times.

This was the third time we've seen this parade, so we're old pros. We know how long it lasts and what to look for. My favorite part is the gymnasts doing cool flips on the Toy Story float. Alana likes the whole thing, especially when she can point out each character and inform us of their name, which is most of the time.

Ava was unimpressed. She woke up halfway through and at first the loud music scared her a little bit, but she got used to it and then it bored her.

On Wednesday we happened to be in Disneyland about an hour and a half before the parade was going to get to main street. We hadn't planned on watching that parade, but since there were still lots of spots to sit and we were there anyway, we figured we may as well watch it.

It gets really crowded around parade time, no matter what day of the week, and waiting for it to start can seem to take forever. So Ava and I found a spot on the curb and parked the stroller. Then David and Alana went to ride the Buzz Lightyear ride for the fourth time. Forty minutes went by, lots of people commented on Ava's cuteness in her Minnie hat and we were still sitting patiently on the curb. Then David and Alana reappeared. He wanted to leave. Alana peed on him. The only accident Alana had on the whole vacation and it was on him. He was holding her in line to go on Buzz Lightyear and she peed. Then he put her down and she peed more. Luckily no one around him noticed. He still went on the ride with pee on him, but he didn't want to watch the parade. Picky picky.

I had been sitting on that curb for 45 minutes, there was no way I was leaving without a fight. Alana didn't want to leave either, she wanted to watch the parade. So David left and took Ava and her stroller with him, leaving me and Alana to watch the parade that still had like 30 minutes before it started.

I kind of wanted to leave cause I felt sorry for David, he did get peed on. But I like Alana better and she wanted to watch the parade. But I wanted Ava to watch the parade too. I was torn.

So after about ten minutes of me and Alana sitting and waiting for the parade, which takes forever because its a "street party", it was still pretty far off. I'm not a huge fan of this parade, as much as I love Disneyland, I think this parade is kind of corny. Its a little over the top for me, and that's saying a lot. It parks in the street in 3 different parts of the park so it takes a long time to get from one place to another.

Alana is older this year and more patient, but I was getting a little bit impatient since David and Ava had left and I'd been sitting there almost an hour. Then the "pre-parade" came through. It was about five minutes long and was an honorary volunteer parade thing, since they have a big promotion where you can do volunteer work to get a free park admission. The Muppets were in this parade however, not just volunteers and we do love the Muppets.

Alana was dancing and clapping and waving to the people in the parade that weren't muppets, just people who volunteered and got to be in the parade as a result. She waved to Miss Piggy and Kermit (my personal favorite) and even the big monster like muppet guy who's really tall and whose name I can never seem to remember (it's not Animal). After the "pre-parade" I told Alana "Yey, clap for the parade, its over, say bye to the muppets!". I'm probably going to hell for lying to my innocent 3 year old, but it was still half an hour till the actual parade and David and Ava were long gone, probably back at the room by now. Plus, we saw the exact same parade less than a year ago and we've watched it on dvd at least 25 times since then. She got to see the Muppets and she was happy with that.

So we didn't watch the "entire" Celebrate parade, but we watched the Pixar parade. My ladies like the parades and that's what counts anyway.