Dad's last day in Cali - Disneyland! (Oh! and Hooters!)

Now, if you're here for the Jordanism, it's way down towards the bottom after the picture of Pirates of the Carribean.  You are more than welcome to read our adventure and enjoy the photos, but I can understand if you just popped in for a giggle.  That being said, on I go with my story.


OK, there was NO better way to spend the last day together than at Disneyland.  Dad kept stating that his desire to see Disneyland ended after childhood, but it was obvious that he had a good time - especially watching the girls enjoy themselves.  And that's correct - Dad had never been to Disneyland.  As far as the girls were concerned, not only were they going to Disneyland, BUT they were able to go on a school day!  Talk about awesome for them!


We arrived and had to spend some time dealing with the passes that we got.  Since we only had the one day, Dad only bought himself a day pass for one park, but the rest of us are now able to come back during the year.  


I have mentioned during each of my post's that Dad hates his picture taken.  I asked Dad when we went into the park if he would like his picture taken in front of the Mickey Ears.  He said he didn't really want to, and he was ready to walk off.  I grabbed him and we waited in line for the picture.  Dad laughed and asked me why would I ask him if I was going to make him do it anyway??  I reminded him that everything has to be documented for the girls if nothing else, but I wanted him to at least feel like he had a choice.  Since he was going to be selfish, he no longer had a choice.

Now, I did not include the numerous pictures that it took to get to these good ones.  I felt bad for the photographer who had to take 6 different pictures to get one where Dad wasn't scowling.


We were able to get Ken the gimpy pass for our trip.  There was no way I wanted him spending hours in line, but as it turned out - the park was totally empty.  Now, Dad did not understand what I was talking about because he was seeing a gazillion people.  I tried to tell Dad that the normal wait for ALL lines would have been over an hour, but the longest line was, of course, Peter Pan at 35 minutes.  That's not bad at all!  


Apparently, I was the tour guide, and neither Dad nor Ken cared where we started or what rides we went on.  So, I figured the best place to start was Fantasyland.  I made everyone stop for another picture, and this time it was over in a few minutes (Dad finally figured out that he just had to go along with it.)

Taylor and I took Dad up through Sleeping Beauty's castle.  Dad was totally not interested except that Taylor was excited and was dragging him through the entire place telling him the story.

And when Dad realized I was taking pictures, he gave me hell. Haha

From there, we went on the "little kid" rides.  Dad was mortified that we were going to make him go through this, but the girls were totally stoked to have Grandpa with them, and they wanted to show him everything.  We started on Snow White, and then went to Peter Pan.  

Can you see how excited he is??  And notice I made him wear the button to celebrate that this was his "First Visit"!

Yeah, the girls loved missing school for Disneyland AND with Grandpa!

Ken and me on Snow White

Waiting in the gimpy section for Peter Pan

Ken wanted a close up of him with his gimpy pass

Then, we got to the Sword in the Stone. The girls ran over to try to pull it out, and they knew I would take a picture.  Dad was happy hanging back, but I told him to go pull out the sword as well.  He balked at the idea, but I made a statement that irritated a lady behind me who informed me that her small child was with her.  Yeah, it was a "vulgar" statement, but Dad took the picture!

After I insulted many parents in order to get Dad to smile, we went on Pinocchio and then went to eat.  

Hahahaha!  Check out how "happy" Dad is that I waited to get his picture!

There is so much work being done to Disneyland and to California Adventure.  It's amazing!  We were not able to see a lot of Tomorrowland because of construction, and the entire Critter Country was closed down.  We unfortunately did not see many of the characters for some reason.  I would have loved to have taken a picture with Dad and Mickey, but we missed him all day.  While we were trying to find the entrance for food, we passed by the new Tangled area.  The line to see Rapunzel was over an hour, so we didn't wait.

I have NEVER given in to my craving for the Black Forest Cupcake at $4.99, but this time I did and it was SOOOO good!  I did share with everyone to the girls' delight

We worked our way from Mr. Toad's Wild Ride to It's a Small World over to Alice in Wonderland and then to the Matterhorn. Mandy did not want to go on the Matterhorn, but I managed to get Dad to go.  He told me he did not care for it, but he did it for Taylor and Jordan.

Dumbo had a long line, but I made the girls take a picture from the display.  Mandy is on the right hiding 

The adults did not want to go on the Tea Cups right after eating, but we got some pictures

And you will sing this song for DAYS!

Either Dad didn't want to be recognized on the ride, or he was just too cool for the ride!

And the wonder is not yet lost on Mandy

The girls were dying to go on Space Mountain, but we went by Pixie Hollow first.  Apparently, this was the location for Mandy to have a complete meltdown, so Ken took her out so they could "chat" and she could pull herself together.  Unfortunately, that meant that Mandy was not in the pictures.  More changes were made here since the movies had come out (and I wasn't impressed with this Tinker Bell - we haven't had a really good one since we were here in 2009).

Now, what was really cool was that there were Park Photographers walking around taking random pictures.  One of them caught Jordan looking through the "grass" to see what Fairies were waiting for us.  I loved seeing the pictures, and when Jordan thought I was taking the picture, I had to tell her I wasn't.  There was a video display over It's a Small World that the Park was doing rather than the Parade.  We didn't take the time in the evening to go see the display, but when I was picking up my CD, a lady behind me saw the pictures of Jordan and commented, "Oh, that's your daughter?!  She was so adorable when we saw her on the video!"  Ugh!  So Jordan missed seeing herself on display for the entire Disneyland.   (Ken and I actually thought that might be a good thing since Jordan already has an inflated ego.)  But the pictures really are cute.

Jordan is screaming with delight that she can see the Fairies

And she thinks I'm taking a picture of her

Jordan realizes who has the camera

And then Taylor and Jordan were able to see Tinkerbell and Iradessa. 

Mandy had pulled herself together by now, and we set out for Tomorrowland.  The girls were still clamoring to go on Space Mountain, but we stopped by the Astro Blasters first.  Mandy was bummed that our picture did not come out, but we managed to get the other two.  

Finally!  We were in line for Space Mountain.  I could hear Dad talking to Ken and being totally in disbelief that Ken would go on this ride.  Ken explained that he waited in line with us, but then he walked through and waited on the other side.  Dad thought that was a great idea, so he weenied out and did not go on the ride.  Mandy was completely excited about the ride, and I asked her why she refused the Matterhorn since this ride was bigger.  Apparently, I should have kept my mouth shut because then she got scared.  Mandy did get through the ride without a major incidence, but she did not want to go back on it.

As we headed over to New Orleans Square, Jordan saw Jasmine and wanted a picture.  While she and I waited, Ken took Dad to get a churro - which he had never had before.

We then waited in a very short line for Indiana Jones.  Dad was so not looking forward to this ride, but he ended up enjoying himself.  Again, I was just really happy that the lines were short!  Ken's gimpy pass took time off our wait for some of them, but even at the end, Indiana Jones was only 45 minutes.  

Then, it was time for Pirates of the Caribbean!  I had to explain to Dad why the girls were so excited.  Apparently, he hadn't seen the movies, and I explained that this was my favorite ride when I was a kid. 

All of New Orleans Square was decorated for Mardi Gras

Ken and I were under orders from Taylor to get a kissing picture

As we got off of Pirates, the girls were immediately heading over to The Haunted Mansion.  They know this place as well as I do.  Again, my entire focus was to make sure that Dad could get on as many rides as possible before the end of the day.  The park closed at 8 pm, and then we had to get him to the airport for his red eye flight.

So, we enjoyed The Haunted Mansion.  When we were exiting the ride, all of the girls were asking which ride we were going to go on next.  They were disappointed to see that Critter Country was closed, and I mean the entire section of the park was closed.  That meant no seeing Tigger, no Splash Mountain, etc.  I explained to the girls that we would go on a couple more rides and then catch all of the ones that we missed earlier, and if there was time, we would go on some of our favorites, but it was up to Grandpa.  

Jordan decided that she was going to get her request in immediately.  She started screaming that she wanted to go back on Pirates of the Caribbean (her screaming was in excitement and not a temper tantrum).  I told her that we were going to ride Thunder Mountain and then we would work our way back over to Pirates.  Apparently, she wasn't going for that answer.  Jordan informed me that if she didn't get to back on Pirates, "right now!" then she was going to "hold her breath until and lose her temperature and (I) swear I'll do it!"  I had to sit down and type that immediately into my Facebook status.  I was laughing so hard.  I asked Jordan how the hell she could lose her "temperature" and she replied, "I'll do it and it won't be pretty!"  I laughed even harder at that, and Jordan got quiet because she realized she said something wrong, but she could never figure out what it was she said.

Ken actually went on Thunder Mountain with me and the girls. Dad weenied out again, but that was OK; we had fun without him.

After we finished on Thunder Mountain, we went back over to Fantasyland and we rode on Dumbo and the Tea Cups with the girls. Dad again refused to ride on the rides, and I am still currently waiting for copies from his camera of me and the kids riding on the Tea Cups, but I was able to get some shots on Dumbo.

And here is Dad standing off to the side rather than getting on a kiddie ride!

Mandy obviously loved her ride on Dumbo

We went to the locker to get our sweatshirts and then I made everyone take an evening picture in front of the Castle. 

Jordan was ecstatic that we went back on the Pirates of the Caribbean.  The girls were getting tired, but I was able to get one more picture out of them.

Ahh, so our day at Disneyland came to a close.  The girls were totally bummed about the day ending, but they were so tired they could barely move.  

We left Anaheim and drove back towards Ontario airport.  Ken and I kept bugging Dad to tell us where he wanted to go to eat so he could be fed prior to getting on the airplane.  Dad's response was that he didn't care.  I finally made the decision for him, so we went to Hooter's.

Now, remember, Dad is not able to handle, well, anything.  He kept saying that he didn't want to go because his daughters would give him grief over it, but he was the one who kept saying he didn't care where we went.  Ken and I like Hooters, so we went to Hooters.  

Jordan and Mandy were not happy that we woke them up to go eat.  They were tired and cranky and there was nothing on the menu that appealed to them as tired as they were.  Jordan made herself comfortable with Grandpa, and she barely acknowledged when Grandpa gave her his present from Disneyland.

Just too tired to care or do anything. Poor Mandy!

Grandpa is trying to put the pin on Jordan's jacket

Taylor loved her gift!

OK, my favorite moment was taking a picture of Ken and Dad with our waitress.  This is a tradition with Ken and me - I always take his picture with our waitress, and as you can see, Dad was soooooo uncomfortable with it!

Now, when I posted these pictures to Facebook, I loved the comment that my friend, Martin made:  "If it wasn't for the fact that I know that this is Ken's dad I would have sworn he was gay just by him standing next to that girl and not smiling!"

Hahahahahaha!  I know that Dad is hoping to be able to come out and join us for our beach weekend, but I'm sure he'll find a way to hide from the camera.  

By the time we got home, the girls were whining that Grandpa was gone, and Ken was melancholy as well.  It was a great week, and we're so glad that Dad was able to spend the time with us.  We know it's difficult with us being on the West Coast, but nope - there's no way to bribe me to move to Buffalo.  Sorry.