DAY 2 OF 2, OUR TORNADO OF A TRIP IS ALMOST OVER
We only had a few hours left as pick up was around 2 for a 4:30 pm flight out of John Wayne, (which I would highly recommend and be willing to pay a little extra to fly in and out of in the future.)
I think we managed to squeeze the juice out of those few hours.
We headed for Buzz. I thought Aurora would like the challenge and she did!
Elsa wasn't into it as much. I think the dark rides spook her a little because she doesn't know what's next in them.
Aurora loved the Buzz animatronic! Gramma, take my picture!
She wasn't shy at all about going for those targets once she got the hang of it.
And was estatic that she beat me handily! (I didn't have the heart to explain to her that I stink at this game and pretty much a blindfolded chipmunk could beat me!)
I let her gloat!
After that we headed back across the park because we had a 12 noon Cafe Orleans lunch reservation that I was able to get earlier in the day.
But, also earlier, we had seen where the princesses meet and Aleisha had asked about Aurora and was told she "might be there around 11:30 ish. So we went back through that area and sure enough Aurora was greeting guests outside and we hurried up and jumped in line.
And we didn't even realize at first, but as soon as one more family came in behind us they cut off the line!!!
There were several families in front of us and I had my doubts about our ability to do this meet and greet and make our dining reservation too. We decided it would be worth the wait for the girls to see Aurora, and when we were late for our reservation to hope they would still seat us. If not, so be it.
It was also about this time that
@ajrwdwgirl and I were playing meet up tag and our plans kept just missing one another and I was very sad about that. She was apparently having fun over at California Adventure. We were going to have one more chance in an hour or so, (but I'll keep you from guessing) we weren't able to make that work out either.
Hopefully next time!
As is usually the case with the Disney princesses, she was outstanding!! So patient with all of the guests and was so kind to our girls.
After that we headed over to see if they would still seat us because we were probably a good 15-20 minutes late by then. The CM at check in said no problem but it might be a few minutes, we said we appreciate you taking us and took a seat to wait.
It couldn't have been 5 minutes and they called us back and we were seated at a marvelous outdoor table right by the railing where we got to people watch and see both the Sailing Ship Colombia and the Mark Twain Riverboat sailing past. It was so cool!
I feel badly that I forgot our waiters name, he was awesome except for the fact that he brought the girls these wonderful gummy alligators (before the meal!)
There was a little battle there but we won and they ate them for dessert.
Our lunch was excellent and we didn't have to rush as we had plenty of time to get back to the hotel to meet our driver.
We headed out of the park and as we had a heading into Disneyland photo, we were able to get an exiting one, with a little less cooperation from the tired girls.
They are both making faces that they will be sorry about in a few years!
We headed out of the park and made our way back to the hotel to grab our suitcases and as there was only one bathroom in the lobby Aleisha had to change the girls into travelling clothes there and we were a little late meeting our driver but he was very understanding.
As we were pulling out a monorail came by. We didn't have a chance to ride it during our stay because the lines for it were always very long and there was only so much we could cram into our short visit.
We made it to the airport and through screening very easily with some chill and snack time.
The girls aren't allowed to use their devices at home, only for travel and so they work very well to occupy them.
We boarded without incident, got the girls settled in and had a nice short flight back to Sac.
The timing of the flight was great, they weren't tired but were complaining about being hungry. So we did Chipotle takeout and they dropped me off and I had a nice quiet takeout meal!
To wrap up-
This was a fun little jaunt with the girls that didn't require a whole lot of planning and I envision myself taking them there in the future again.
But, I still haven't fallen in love with Disneyland yet despite me loving all of the history, first park etc.
I like the proximity to Disneyland now, an easy 1 hour flight and will probably go down for short runs here and there, but I will say it just doesn't have that pull for me that WDW does.
I don't know if it's just more what I am used to, the nostalgia of many many trips with my family, the size of the World or a combination. I also have never spent an actual "vacation" at Disneyland and don't know if that is part of my favoring Disney World over Disneyland.
One absolute bucket list item is visiting the Japan parks and my daughter and son in law have a friend who is part Japanese, speaks Japanese and is willing to help us set up a trip (and go with us!)
I'm hoping within a year or two for that one! She has already gone herself and loves the parks, so a fellow Disney lover and an experienced travel companion!
Well, thanks for traveling along on this one, our tornado trip and hope you enjoyed!
I have a feeling that once I finally make it to Disneyland I may feel the same way since I've grown up on WDW and love it so much. Pretty sure I wouldn't be able to afford to stay on property there, and that would be hard for me (I think). Thank you for taking the time to do the report and it's so nice to see your faces again 