Might as well finish out our Wednesday since I only have a few more pictures left from that day.
When we got off Mickey's Fun Wheel, we all went to ride King Triton's Carousel. It was a walk-on. I love how colorful that ride is, but I don't seem to have any pictures other than the one of DS12 kicked back with his hands behind his head, leaning backward off his whale, "sleeping" during the ride.
California Screamin' was up next. I think everyone rode except mom, Sis38 and my 7-year-old niece who really wanted to ride, but she was too short. Again, did you catch that? EVERYONE else rode...including DS9! I was beyond shocked that he said he wanted to ride with dad. According to my pics it was a 7 minute wait with our FPs. So not a long drawn out wait to give DS9 time to stew about and get overly nervous. He and my husband sat behind me. My SIL was taking her first ride on CS as well and was understandably nervous. She rode with my bro/her husband. This was her very first big rollercoaster. They were supposed to sit in front of me, but when the next coaster pulled up, she noticed that the "seat" she was assigned had no seat in it at all. There was just one real seat, on the right side. The "seating area" on the left was just some sort of little platform thing. Not sure what it was. I told her to just go ahead and sit there and just hold on tight. She wasn't cool with that.
So...what did DS9 think? He said he really liked it, but he kept his head down and his eyes closed the whole time.
My SIL was glad she rode, but said it would probably be a one time per trip only kind of ride for her.
We calmed things down a bit by heading over to "a bug's land" to do all those rides. First up was Heimlich's.
Cute ride, but I think it should be longer. I always come away from that ride thinking, "I'm glad I didn't stand in line for longer than 5 minutes." It is cute, though. I'm not sure I've ever seen the watermelon squirts before this trip. I've heard about them, but never experienced them until now.
We just made our way around. Tuck and Roll's was next.
DS9 actually got out of line to go sit with dad on a popsicle stick bench because he thought it would just be "too lame." I had to laugh at my mom when we got off. "That was the worst ride I've ever been on! It went so slow! You couldn't even move around to bump into anyone!"
I sat Francis' Ladybug Boogie out, accompanied by a churro, while my husband took the boys.
We ended our time there with Flik's Flyers. I enjoy the details on this ride, like the Nutrition Facts on the cottage cheese container. Or is it yogurt?
It was getting dark by now, and Disneyland would be closing soon.
What?!? Did I actually spend an entire day in DCA without setting foot in Disneyland? I didn't think it could be done (by me), but I am guilty. I spent 11 hours straight in DCA.
Sis50 isn't feeling well at this time, so she returns to the hotel for the night along with my mom.
Moving on...we headed to Tower of Terror. This is my background on this ride. When we took the kids to DL for the first time 3 years ago, the plan was for my husband to ride with DS12 -- who was DS9 at the time -- while I stayed back with the other 2 who we knew wouldn't ride. Then I would ride with DS9 while my husband stayed back with the other two. So DS9-at-the-time and my husband rode. My son was nearly in tears when they came out. He was not a fan at all and did not want to ride again. I certainly wasn't interested in riding alone for my first time so I skipped TOT at that time. Fast forward to my alone trip with my husband in April 2010. I told him I'd ride, as it was his new favorite ride. Well...as we walked up to the ride area I overheard a large grown man say, "Never. Again!" So that got me a little worried, as my husband just smiled. I wanted to like it. I really did. But I was scared, so I'm sure that anxiety brought on a headache and then the actual movement of the ride just made it worse. So, I ended up not liking the ride and having a headache for the next 24+ hours.
So fast forward to 2012! DS12 is ready to give TOT a second try. DS6 has been dying to ride for months and months. DS9 hesitantly decides to give it a try.
He'll pass on Jumpin' Jellyfish, but wants to try TOT?
I had hesitantly decided to try again this trip. I wanted to like it. I really did. Remember?
So we get in line. My entire family of 5 with my bro and 3 of his kids.
Sis38 has been dubbed the official hat holder while we ride. She's wearing them all, by the way.
My stomach was in knots, but I was trying to be brave for DS9. I told him he could sit between me and dad. "As long as it's not in the front row," he said. Actually I told him that I was scared and nervous, just like him.
No turning back now!
My husband, DS9 and I were assigned to the 3-seat section in the middle row. Man, that elevator is so much smaller in person. I was so nervous. The ride started. I screamed. More than several times. We went down and up. Didn't keep track of how many times. I was sure we were going to plummet again, but then the ride was over. It went by much more quickly than I remembered. And I liked it! I thought it was so fun! We went out to check out our picture. DS9 had his head on my arm, eyes closed, looking like he was asleep. But he liked it and was ready to try again! We met Sis38 at the exit and grabbed SIL and my 7 year old niece, who both sat out the first ride, and took them with us for TOT Round 2. I told DS9 I would ride with him again, but when it came down to it, he had to choose to ride with me in the front row, or ride next to his aunt (my SIL) in the middle row. He deserted me to ride with his aunt.
I was in the very middle of the front row with my 2 nephews and DS12 on one side of me, and my 8-year-old niece, DS6 and husband on the other side of me. Then DS9 sat in the middle row with my bro, SIL, and 7-year-old niece. I was SOOOOO nervous about being in the front row. It was a lot scarier to me. But we all survived and this time DS9 kept his eyes open, and was smiling to boot.
By the way, this was DS6's first go around with TOT as well and he loved it. Just looked like a seasoned rider in the pics of TOT Rounds 1 and 2.
I officially love TOT now, even though my stomache is in knots while I stand in line.
We met up with Sis38 at the exit and scurried over to ride Soarin'. Fun as usual, and still a favorite of mine.
We had a few minutes until the 8pm closing. Do we dare try to make our way over to Cars Land and get in line for RSR right before the clock strikes 8pm? Would we make it in time? It seemed like we wouldn't, but off we all went. We made it! We got in line right at 8pm. They still let around 20 people in after us.
I just remembered something. My husband didn't go with us. I can't remember if we parted ways after TOT Round 2, or if he joined us for Soarin' and then left after that. Not left the park, but left to get the Frankenweenie-inspired food at Award Weiners. I can't remember what kind of hot dog it was, but I do remember black lemonade was part of the meal. Then he went hat shopping. He had gotten approval from a co-worker to pick up 3 silly hats and get reimbursed for some work-related thing. I tried to get a hold of him to have him meet us at RSR -- he'd never ridden -- but I didn't have any luck.
So there were 11 of us from our party in line at 8pm. We had ridden for the first time earlier that morning. All of us except my 2 youngest boys. We were now excited to experience the ride at night. At 8:05 the ride broke down.
They came over the speaker and said they weren't sure how long it would take, but we were welcome to stay in line. They said it would be at least 30 minutes. We decided to wait it out. For now. Some guests began to trickle out. As time went on, more and more guests began to leave. We continued to stay, thinking it couldn't be much longer. We would hear a noise from the ride, then there would be an announcement like they were about to start again, and people would cheer. Then there was silence. The two 12-year-olds kept busy by sitting on the ground, flicking a penny in some sort of football game. The 9 and 10 year olds played a race car game on my phone for a while. DS6 and my 8-year-old niece made up a very involved secret handshake, which they practiced over and over. My 7-year-old niece found a dollar folded up and placed in one of the bottles in the wall.
I kept in touch with my husband, giving him updates. DS9 was starting to get grumpy and tired and asked if we could leave. I got a hold of my husband to see if he could come get him from the line and take him back to the hotel when he went back. There weren't many people behind us so it wouldn't have been a big to-do. Last call to the kids...who wants to go back with dad and who wants to wait indefinitely. We talked about putting a time limit on our waiting, but I don't think we did. I know I came close to giving up a couple of times, but the thought that this honestly might be the only time to take my boys this trip kept me hanging in there. (The next day was planned to be Disneyland only. It was my bro and family's last day.) In the end, we all decided to stay and my husband returned to the hotel alone with several new hats.
When all was said and done...the ride was up and running again at 9:25pm. We got in line at 8:00, ride went down at 8:05, came back up at 9:25, and we boarded at 9:40. But the fun didn't end there... We were all buckled in and started to go, then we were stopped at that checkpoint at the beginning before the ride really takes off. Our seatbelts were being checked. The computer showed my brother's seatbelt wasn't fastened. They had him unfasten, refasten, unfasten and refasten. It still was showing us unfastened. We just had to chuckle as they had us get out of the car and go back to the loading area. We were given the next available car, but of course this little incident held things up a bit. For some reason the crowd behind us had grown quite a bit. There had only been 20-ish while we were in line, but right when we were about to get in the first time more people came up to the line. Apparently the after-hours event involved DCA as well.
So we're in our 2nd car now, get up to that same checkpoint, have the same CM doing the seatbelt check... and AGAIN, he tells my brother to unfasten and refasten since the computer was showing it as unfastened. We thought he was joking with us but he wasn't! I remember the look on my brother's face so well. It made me laugh because it was similar to a look he'd get when he was younger and had just gotten in trouble. Here he was, 36 years old, with that same old look on his face!
So he unfastens and then refastens and we're good to go!
Just as I suspected, DS6 who rode in the middle of the front row, loved it. It was a lot of fun riding at night, just as I had been told.
My sister's group was wondering what happened to the rest of us so we filled her in on the seatbelt saga.
It was now 10pm! DCA had been officially closed for 2 hours now. There were a few people meandering around for the private event, but not many. I was wondering if we'd get shooed away from using the restrooms in Cars Land afterward, since we weren't part of the event, but nobody said anything.
One last parting shot as we made our way out of the park.
So yeah...I really stayed in Cars Land for 13 hours, not 11 hours.
The kids were sleeping on their feet by this time. My bro's family went back to the hotel and my sis and I took my 3 boys to Denny's for a late night dinner. We had eaten there on Monday night and I didn't really care for my Banana Caramel French Toast, but DS12 really wanted to go back so we did. I ordered a breakfast burrito thing that my husband had ordered 2 nights earlier. I knew it was good since I'd taken a few bites. It wasn't good this time. I boxed it up and took it back to my husband. DS12 found a long hair in his food.
They brought him out a new meal, but I think I might be done with this Denny's. DS6 and DS9 both fell asleep at the table. I still needed to get back to HoJo. My husband had just returned to HoJo after making a run to Target for more water. He texted and asked if I wanted him to come pick us up. I was all over that offer, so that's how we got home that night.
The next day would be our last day with my brother's family.
The plan was to stay in Disneyland. We all know things don't always go according to plan, though. Stay tuned...
There were just too many people to comfortably take pictures without people being in my way, or me being in the way of others. I made my way back to the ones waiting while the others were still in line for the rockets. 
Even though the reasons I didn't 
I DID like seeing people in their costumes. It would have been nice to just sit on a bench around 5pm and watch people stream in and check out costumes, but can you imagine how that would have gone over with the kids? 
Good to hear from you. No rush to get caught up around here. I'm the one that needs to catch up in your TR. You know I was avoiding Cars Land pictures. Now that my trip has come and gone, and I feel like I barely glanced at anything in Cars Land, I am ready to go back and look at your pictures and Sherry's pictures to see everything that I walked by and missed! There are so many details that I didn't get a chance to discover on my own. Thanks for stopping by. 
Knowing my parents, I figured they must have thought they needed to scratch off an area to reveal a PIN or something. 
eek
