Day 4

Lego Man Snoring

Greeting from California (souvenir shop)

Cave of Wonders

Courtney's Wish

Disney's original Main Street Electrical Parade


Day 4
Since we pretty much did all the rides already, today was my day to called the shots. One of the things I really wanted to do on this trip was take in at least one great show. And with our preferred seating tickets...I couldn't wait! The word around the park was "ya gotta see Aladdin!"

After a little bit of pouting from my ride loving family members (that's all of them), we sat next to the entrance of It's a small world, for an hour waiting for the Fantasy of Dreams Parade to start. That is where we met Courtney. She is the little girl in the wheelchair pictured above. She was diagnosed with SMA (spinal muscular atrophy) when she was 1yr old. She is now 9. I noticed her caretakers and family members wearing buttons promoting the ever popular "Make a Wish" Foundation. Courtney's grandmother informed me that this is Courtney's wish. To go to Disneyland. I was touched. There are some people in this world that you just KNOW are special. I believe Courtney is. My girls asked a lot of questions about Courtney, and Megan couldn't believe that this little girl was the same age as her. They understood why she couldn't close her mouth. They understood why she didn't speak to them. They were not afraid, but felt somewhat guilty for being so healthy. Good lessons folks.

After the parade of Dreams, we headed back over to CA. Adventure. I don't remember the exact order, but I know I had a delicious turkey sub on wheat bread. Probably the ONLY place to get food without a line. Healthy food in Disneyland? Heck yeah! But no line...sad. Will take you 20 minutes to get a burger and fries though.

We had some fast passes for "Soarin California". This was a simulation theater. There are three rows of seats that are NOT attached to each other. They are only attached to a moving arm above your head. You get in and buckle up. Once secure, the arms move forward, then up and stopped so that all the seats were now vertical, facing the movie screen. We were in the third row, so the row in front of us were now above us. We could see their feet dangling. The simulation took us to all parts of California. Much of it looked like home...or the cabin. I recognized most of it. The only parts I wasn't very familiar with, was the desert. I picked out Yosemite right away and the coast, Tahoe and Redwoods.

Another thing we did on day 4 was the Grizzly Bear River Run ( I think that's what it was called). Basically, you sit in a round raft with 7 other people and get wet from the rapids. It was fun! Especially since I was sitting in the middle (didn't get that wet) and it was a nice warm sunny day. I found a great t-shirt for my dad at the store there.
It says,
UPPA CREEK CANOE RENTALS
with paddles $29.95
without paddles $2.95
I laughed my head off and knew this was the gift for my dad!! He LOVED it! Do I know him or what?

We did make it to see Aladdin. In a word....AWESOME. Dang, it was the coolest show I've seen in a LONG time. The genie was terrific!! Extremely funny. I liked when he said "SNAP GIRL, oh no you didn't!" He said that when Jasmine rejected Aladin in the beginning.
The had a big elephant that walked between the seats, a real flying carpet and just look at that Cave of Wonders! It was truly a feast for the eyes. We used our perferred seating and got front row seats. Booh yeah! While waiting in line for the show, I made another friend. This time it was an older lady vacationing with her grandaughter. They had gotten the trip paid for by a christian radio station. Why? Because there was someone missing. Back in April, the little girl's mother (the daughter of the lady I was talking to) passed away. "She had gotten sick and the medicine didn't work" were her exact words. I didn't ask her to elaborate, I just placed my hand on her shoulder and said that I was so sorry for her loss.
Their trip to Disneyland was already planned. I could see how hard this was for her to say. She couldn't disappoint her grandaughter, who BTW, was the same age as Megan. For the second time that day, I said a little prayer.

Finally we wrapped up the evening by watching a Disney classic...The Disney Main Street Electrical Parade. I saw this parade when I was just a kid. Years ago they took it away. It's been all over the world. The last place it lit up was Japan. We were lucky to see it since they only brought it back to Anaheim for 2 weeks for Christmas.

One more thing...the lego man. We were walking through Downtown Disney and I heard someone snoring. I looked around and noticed this man made of legos sitting on the bench just outside the legoland store. I SWEAR I didn't see him there all week. He had a box attached underneath the seat that rang out his snore.

And so was the end of Day 4.