Rides, rides and more rides

Ava and David on the train in Bug's land. She finds her hand far more interesting than the ride.

Alana on King Tritan's Carousel. We went on it at least three times and every time we walked by it she wanted to go on it again. Every time we would pass the mural of King Tritan on the back wall she would say "King Tritan says "ARIEL!"" in her best King Tritan voice. We only went on the one at Disneyland once because apparently its funner to ride fish and whales than run-of-the-mill horses.

David's favorite ride, Toy Story Mania. Its like 3D carnival games that you shoot at and David really loves it. Its practically a ride through video game. We went on it three times! The last time we went on it Alana insisted on going with my cousin Rebecca, but David wasn't too offended because he wanted to concentrate on shooting so he could get a better score. He was surprised at the end of the ride to find out Rebecca had a higher score than him, even with Alana with her. So then he needed a rematch on Buzz lightyear.

Buzz Lightyear astro blasters is Alana's favorite ride ever. We went on it five times! Its nice cause there's no height limit so we can all go on it, even if Ava and I just ride in the cart behind David and Alana and I don't even bother picking up the gun the whole time. The line the first day was like 45 minutes long so we had to fastpass it, but every other day after that it was like 5 minutes long. There are definite advantages to going midweek.

We went on the Buzz lightyear rockets two times this trip. They were closed for refurbishment last year so to Alana they were like a brand new ride. You control how high they go and she wanted to stay all the way at the top the whole time. She is one crazy woman.

Nothing like going on the Dumbo ride to make you feel like a little kid again. After the Buzz lightyear rockets Alana wanted to go again so we switched over to Dumbo cause its basically the same ride in a different car. She really liked this one too and wanted to stay all the way at the top the whole time.

Alana grew 3 inches since our last trip to Disneyland so she was tall enough to go on some rides she's never been on before. We went on the little kid roller coaster in toon town twice in a row, which she really liked. I almost convinced her to put her hands in the air the whole time, but she put them down right before the first drop. Then she was also tall enough to go on the bumper cars in a bug's land, so she went on those three times, and the other rides in a bug's land four times. I went on the bug's land rides three times with her, then she drug Rebecca on them the last time. Flik's flyers isn't too bad, its just giant applesauce boxes that swing in the air, but the ladybug boogie ride is just the teacups shaped like a bug. After I whacked my head on that one the last time I didn't want to go on it again.

Alana was also big enough to go on Autopia this year, as long as she went with an adult. So she and David drove around some fake cars on rails.

Ava wasn't a giant fan of the Nemo sub, because of the loud noise. Before it got really loud she liked it ok though, since the underwater scenery at the beginning of the ride is really cool.

We went on a couple of rides as a family we hadn't been on before. Alana wasn't a huge fan of the haunted mansion, cause of an "up down up down" guy that kept popping out from behind a grave. She asked me to cover her eyes with my hands the rest of the ride.

We went on Pirates of the Caribbean, which was different than I expected. We kept hearing the people in front of us scream and David and I were wondering why. There couldn't possibly be any fake pirates scary enough to make any normal person scream. Then we figured out the reason. There is a drop, pretty close to the beginning of the ride, and its pitch black so you don't see it coming. Right after that there was a second drop, but we were expecting something after the first. We got splashed a little since we were in the front but other than that we were okay. Ava thought the ride was boring, so she fell asleep. Shows what a good sleeper she is, she can fall asleep on a ride at Disneyland.

David and I even went on stupid Tower of Terror, but the ladies waited and went to a Bug's land with Aunt Beth and Rebecca. I'm sure Alana will want to go on that one with David instead of me, since the height limit is only 40 inches and she will be that tall by the next time we go.

Since we went during the week in February the lines were non-existent. The longest line was 20 minutes for Autopia, and even that didn't really take that long. I even noticed that the posted wait times for Space and Splash mountain were both 20 minutes, and on the weekend or in the summer those lines are always really long.

Next time we go my little adrenaline junkie Alana is gonna want to go on even more rides, and she will have inevitably gotten taller by then so the possibilities will be bigger. Every time the California Screamin roller coaster would go by us she would say she wanted to go on it. I think Ava will be a little more hesitant to go on bigger rides like that, since every time it went by she would hear the noise it made and whip her head around, trying to figure out what made that loud noise.