Disneyland-Day 2

This was the day, the big day, the day of the surprise for Mark! We were up and at the park when the gates opened at 8 AM to get on the new Nemo ride. It was awesome and we made it on the first sub of the day, so no waiting in line. Then we went on my favorite ride of all time, Peter Pan. We spent some time in Fantasyland, making sure to ride Alice in Wonderland since it was going to be closed the rest of our trip.


We went on the Davy Crocket canoes for the first time ever. SO much fun!! The guides are goofy like on the jungle cruise and they have large and small oars so everyone gets the right size!

New since our last vist was the face painting booths. Pricey, but very well done. here FE shows off his snake!

And The Princess with her Mardi Gras mask.

We stopped by Woody's Halloween roundup and said hello to an old friend!

And then the moment came. We headed over to Blue Bayou. Mark went to get some fast passes for something and the kids and I went to the restuarant. It had been a crazy day with lots of phone calls while walking. Mark just thought the teenager was having a particularly needy day with so many calls, but he was really being the coordinator and getting everyone into the park and in the right place at the right time. Mark was stunned to see the teenager and his mom and dad and aunt. It was awesome!!! Really amazing. I don't have as many pictures as I would like since I was so in the moment, but really, it was so cool.

With Mark's Aunt.

After dinner, we all 10 went on the Pirates ride. It's a long ride, and I'd been on it already on this trip, so we'd seen the changes. This gave me time to soak in the beauty of this particular go around. The absolute fullness of heart I felt being there with all of these people I love so much. My MIL is not in the best of health and often does not make it to events even here in town, but she was determined to make it for this party. And she had so much fun. I really never thought my kids would ever get to be with her at Disneyland, but they were. My cup of blessings was so overflowing. After that ride, Mark and his parents and aunt and the smaller kids (we only had 6 fast passes) went on the Haunted Mansion ride while the two bigger kids ran over to Splash Mountain and got soaked. Then we headed over to scout our spot for the fireworks. We ended up right in the middle, with two benches and our blanket on the ground. Perfect viewing. I've seen this show several times before, but again, seeing it with this group, and particularly my MIL since I knew she would LOVE it (and she DID!!) was awesome and amazing!

After the fireworks, My MIL and FIL headed back to the hotel. Mark's aunt stayed in the park with us and went on lots of fun rides. Space Mountain, Star Tours and Buzz Lightyear and Autopia. The Princess was very possessive of her and sat by her on every ride and held her hand the whole time while walking. Mark's aunt hadn't been to DL for 25 years and she was thrilled and so game for everything. We finally left the park at about 11:45 PM having been there since before 8 AM. It was an awesome and amazing day. I think, besides my wedding and the births of my children, this may have been the best day of my life.