The Ultimate Pay Off

The day finally came. All the hard work had paid off and our Disneyland adventure had begun. Rayce, Ryan, Val and I put on our traveling shoes and off we went. We were hoping to just take the direct flight from Boise to LAX and seats looked good, until 9pm the night before (I wonder if Michael Jackson's funeral had anything to do with this) . Change of plans. Looks like we'd have to get up early and connect through Portland. Which, by the way, happens to be my favorite connection city. Because I have some hook ups there in Boise, I had them issue us seats together and apart. Val and I together in row 1. Rayce and Ryan together in row 16. Hmmm. That's some fancy planning. We were able to have fancy mom chit chat and let the flight attendant deal with the 14 year old boys. The drink of the month was a Jones Soda: Blue lemonade. Loved it and the boys did ask for their "own" can. They felt like grown ups in the back and we felt like school girls in the front.

Here the boys are at the Boise airport. Just getting started for the day. This next one is a shot of Val and me at the Portland airport waiting for our connection... See, we're still smiling. The day would tell. After landing in Lax, we rushed to the shuttle that would take us to our car rental. We felt like we needed to hurry. For one, Disneyland was waiting, and two, we had to clear the LAX area before Michael Jackson's funeral let out. That could be disastrous. We made good time. Picked up the PT Cruiser (if that doesn't yell TOURIST then I don't know what does), dropped off the luggage at the hotel and marched across the street to the Happiest Place On Earth. We got there at 1pm and worked the fast pass system all day. We picked up fast passes for Indiana Jones around 3 and our return time was 11:50pm. Oh boy! We played and played. Lines were not bad at all. Most lines were 15 min or less and add that to the fast passes, we were able to cover the whole park in half a day. I did make everyone wait in line for over 45 min for the Nemo attraction. I don't think I would do that again. Especially if I wasn't going with anyone under the age of 7.
At 11pm we made it over to Space Mountain. I guess this was the last straw for poor Ryan. He was tired, shaken, hot and now sick. He was done. But NO... we don't come to Disneyland and get 30 minutes from Indiana Jones and not ride on the attraction.. OH no we don't. Rayce was stuck with me and now that Ryan and Val were out.. we had 4 tickets to ride! Woot Woot. Rayce was a good sport and went with me. My poor kids.. It's like Halloween time.. I get on the tennis shoes and we are walking that neighborhood until people don't answer their doors anymore. Usually the kids are begging me to take them home. AS was Rayce after one ride with Dr. Henry Walton AKA: Harrison Ford: AKA Indiana Jones. Two lucky folks at the back of the line got 2 fast passes. I was exhausted too and wondered if I was gonna be able to walk to the hotel. Rayce took my arm and we mustered up the strength to get across the street. What would day number two bring? Luckily we had convinced the boys that it was going to be spent at California Disney and that park didn't open until 10. AHHH, We would be sleeping in.