Disneyland, Day 3

We had early entry privileges again Sunday, but we didn't need to be first in line this day. We mostly wanted to ride our favorite rides again and hit a few new ones.


We spent the first part of morning at Disneyland, riding Alice in Wonderland, the teacups, Space Mountain (just me and Cooper), Buzz Lightyear, Star Tours (just me and Coop), Astro Orbitor and the Haunted Mansion. We were among very few families for the first show at the Enchanted Tiki Tiki Room. The animatronic birds' songs have played off and on in my head since my first Disneyland trip in 1986. Now both Cooper and Katie sing them from time to time.

We said goodbye to Disneyland and headed to California Adventure. We caught the first show of Turtle Talk with Crush then headed to Paradise Pier for the Golden Zephyr, Mulholland Madness, Jumpin' Jellyfish and Sun Wheel, a giant Ferris wheel that affords beautiful views, albeit through a cage that obscures attempts at photographing the scenery.



And then our tour was over. We returned to our beautiful hotel lobby, turned in the rented scooter and waited for our car. Katie fell asleep on the drive to Ontario and slept almost the entire time while we picked up boarding passes, checked luggage, went through security and waited at the gate. She did not sleep when we were taking off. She did cry and sometimes scream for about 10 minutes. I had visions of appearing on cable news channels as the family with the unruly 2-year-old who gets kicked off the plane. Of course, she had reason to be fussy. She hadn't eaten much in three days and was still struggling with a stomach bug. Our flight attendant was the most sympathetic we've encountered in almost seven years of flying with children. She let me unbuckle Katie from her car seat, and I was able to hold her until she settled.

The rest of the flight was uneventful, though late. We landed, picked up luggage, took a bus to our car, drove to Love Field to pick up Aunt Ami and pulled into the garage by 11:30 p.m.

We loved our getaway, and we've been talking and reminiscing about it ever since. In fact, Katie told us tonight that she's going to keep growing big so she can ride Space Mountain.

More photos from the day are here.