Day 17 - Disneyland

He said:  Today was long. Longer than the drive.  We got up early, ran over to this hotel by 8, left our luggage and hit the park.  As soon as we got in, Mara saw Mickey and started waving "Hi Mickey! It's me, I'm over here! Hi!". Shannon got a little emotional (though she'll probably deny it). It was great.  Then we knocked off the classic rides. Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, etc.  It was roasting today. They were cautioning people about it.  Hotel is very nice, but the check-in policy is actually "sometime after 3", not 3, which is lousy.  We were beat by noon, hung around a bit longer, then headed for the hotel about 2. Mara was done. Wiped. Exhausted.  We ended up staying in the lobby while the kids watched cartoons in this little kid theater, until about 4:30.  Then we checked in and right back out again, but not for long.  All in all, the kids had an amazing time.  Harldy any pictures. We're pushing two strollers (Ryan and Mara) and all going on the rides, so hard to do that and take pics.  Tomorrow we move to our less fabulous room. Hopefully that goes smoothly, but I have a feeling we'll be delayed on our room again.The kids rides had scarier moments than I remember, but the kids did alright. This room is excellent. I'm tired.

She said:
Yeah yeah - so Mickey got me.  The 3 other characters we'd already seen were no big deal - but maybe it was the excitement in Mara's voice.  I never said I didn't like Disneyland - I just didn't want to be here with three kids under 6 and 37 degree heat and 1 billion other people.  The hotel is gorgeous- Grand Californian - right in the park - even has a separate entrance and a few other perks for the park because we're guests.  There's no other way to do this with little children.  We need to be close enough to the room to make it easy to come back for naps and supplies etc. 
Speaking of naps - I'm trying to do this while Ryan is trying to have a nap and the only light in the room is the one shining up on my face from the laptop.  So, it's actually our 4th day here  - I'll be back later. 
Apparently I'll only be able to do this if I stay up until midnight.  It's now the 5th day and I should be packing up. 
The kids were quite wide-eyed for the first day - including Ryan.  He loved the rides, most of which were sitting in a conveyance and watching different stuff happen around each corner.  The girls wanted to hold our hands through most of them because they didn't know what was going to happen - but now they can't wait to go again (more on this on day 21)