Our third and final day at the park greeted us with a bright, shining sun. Being that it was our last day, we had to make sure that we pulled out all the stops. That is, we had big plans to hit nearly everything we hadn’t done yet.
My three kids are so different when it comes to amusement park rides. Gabe is a little hesitant and nervous at first when it comes to the bigger rides and rollercoasters, but he always goes on because he just can’t stand to me the one who chickened out. The social pressure gets him every time… and then he ends up loving it every time too. Gabe is also more sensitive to “spooky” features of a ride, and not so much the thrilling motion of it all. Ari is the thrill seeker of the bunch. Her face will tell you otherwise in a picture or two, but that was just an off moment for her. Ari nods and gestures excitedly whenever she’s asked if she wants to go on a scary ride. And while she’s on, she has a big open-mouth grin the whole time. Bella is my most ride-timid child. She reminds me of me when I was a little girl (heck, even now). She doesn’t mind anything that spins or shakes or is spooky, but if it drops even a little bit, she will tell you her “stomach hurts.” I was always sensitive to the drops and falls too, so I can empathize, but I don’t let that stop us.
Ari and Gabe were tall enough to go on nearly every ride in Disneyland, so they got to experience Space Mountain (Gabe once, Ari twice), Thunder Mountain, Star Tours (twice), Soarin’ (twice), and the Matterhorn. Bella also got to ride the Matterhorn, which she didn’t love, but it was nice to get to do a bigger ride as a family :). I have to admit that the first time Ari rode Space Mountain, she was with me, and I covered her eyes the entire time, because it was Haunted Space Mountain due to it being Halloweentime. The second time, she requested to ride with Daddy and have him leave her eyes alone, so she got her way and loved every minute of it. Gabe didn’t care to ride the first time on Space Mountain, because he was forewarned of it’s spook factor, but decided to ride it once he officially became a Jedi (read on). Ultimately, it turned out that both of the kids thought that Haunted Mansion was scarier than Haunted Space Mountain. Who knew?
The absolute highlight of the trip was something we’d all been looking forward to for months! Gabe has, for some odd reason, been under the impression that he is Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars. The thing is, that’s just pretend. But I figured, why couldn’t he be a young Jedi or Padawan himself? We let Gabe know that, if he was helpful and honest and kind and generous (and ate all his healthy “Jedi” food) that we would take him to the Jedi Training Academy, which just so happened to be in the heart of Disneyland. Gabe complied (most) of the time, so we set aside the last day of the trip to honor our end of the bargain. When we arrived, we realized just how risky it was of us to make that promise, because the Jedi in training are chosen at random from the audience (based solely on the strength of ‘the force’ they carry with them ;)). The first time we went, Gabe was not chosen *gasp*. I had to try so hard to contain my own horror, so we could teach him the important lesson that we aren’t always chosen for the things we desire. As luck (or the force) would have it, he was among the first selected the second time we came. Let me just say, it was totally worth every minute of waiting and anticipation, for him to get to experience this and for us to get to witness.
Gabe was trained in the ways of the Jedi by Mase Windu, Jedi Master.
All of a sudden, Darth Vadar and Darth Maul appeared and attempted the hijack the training academy in an effort to get the young Padawan(s?) to be tempted by power to join forces with the dark side!
Gabe fought fearlessly against his foe using the force of good. He didn’t hesitate to shout “never!!!!” when he was invited to join the dark side, and he had some pretty good moves out there on the battlefield. But what I loved watching most was how proud he was. He was the final boy to fight Darth Vadar, so it could be said that he defeated Darth Vadar, as in, he scared him off. We go with this version of the story.
Meanwhile, Darth Maul battled other young Jedi on the ground right in front of us, wielding his double bladed light saber and looking like a true demon. Ari was taken aback by him to say the least, but she didn’t cry once (so proud of her). Just then, out of nowhere, Darth Maul decided that even he has a good side and put his fist out in front of Ari to offer a friendly fist bump. She was off in her own la la land at the time so she didn’t notice until Jake put her hand up to meet his. When her eyes refocused to meet his gaze and realize what was happening, she almost fell back in shock and breathed in an audible GASP. Everyone in the audience around us started laughing, because it was just too CUTE. I half expected that Ari would loose her stuff at that point, with the freakish looking visitor, the social attention on her, and everything else. Was not the case… Ari shocked us all by deciding that she loved Darth Maul from that moment forward. She kept signing “I love you” to him. We did not catch the moment of the fist bump on video, I’m ashamed to say. However, we did get her cheers on video after the fact. I know most of her rooting and cheering for Gabe, as if to say, ‘I know you’ve been waiting your whole life for this moment! I’m so happy for you!’, but there is no denying that there were some loving gazes in the direction of Mr. Maul.
I have never seen Gabe look so proud and accomplished as when he received his diploma from The Academy. My heart was beaming for him even before he exclaimed “That was AWESOME! Mom and Dad, thank you SO much for bringing me to the Jedi Training Macademy”… (tee hee, he calls it a “macademy”) so you can imagine how I felt after that moment. Daddy and Gabe had a special time where they made a customized light saber for Gabe (you know, every Jedi must build their own light saber and each one is unique). Each light saber is unique… except for Gabe’s that is, which he requested to be an exact replica of Obi Wan Kenobi’s! So it was, and the mission was complete.
Both of my girls love the Tinkerbell movies with the fairies of Pixie Hollow. We waited ever so patiently for our turn to get to meet the Tink and another one of her fairy friends. Bella practiced acting fairyish as we stood in line.
Meeting Rosetta was so special. Gabe was still very entranced with his new weapon, but the girls couldn’t have been more excited. I, in turn, was super excited that Ari was not crying or anxious at all. She loved meeting the fairies and instantly recognized them. She was very quick to point out that they were on her shirt (again, so glad she wore that). Ari was full of bashful smiles, and Bella was trying her best to act as graceful and sweet as a fairy.
I really wanted Bella to meet Jessie (notice the outfit), but alas, these things cannot always be controlled in Disneyland. We did get to meet Woody though, which was very cool, because he wasn’t too busy and he spent quite a bit of time with us, even stopping to color a picture with my kids.
We went on the Mark Twain River Boat, which was another first for us in Disneyland. See, one of the amazing things about this place, in my opinion, is that no matter how many times you come here, you can still spend a ton of your time with first-time experiences. And then fill in the spaces with the classic ones that you would’ve come back for anyway. We called the Riverboat the Princess and the Frog boat, because it looks just like it and plays jazz music.
We spent about fifteen minutes visiting our favorite prince and princess (ok, it’s only Bella’s second favorite princess, but still). They were very sweet. Rider was not quite as dashing, charming, handsome, or witty in person as he was in the movie, but hey, everyone has off days.
My husband is clearly the hotter of the two princes, without a doubt ;).
Dumbo ride is still Ari’s favorite. Gotta love that face.
There’s something about that Dumbo ride that brings out the true spirit of Disney in children's’ faces. I feel like every picture ever taken in a flying Dumbo could be a poster photo for Disney.
After a day full of rides and character meet-and-greet and skipping a nap completely, we met up for dinner with two of our favorite families, The Ericksons and the Gessners. We slammed down some amazing gumbo and a Monte Cristo, before cracking open the light-up bracelets and hitting one last ride for the grown-ups. We had so much fun, and considering the fact that it was almost midnight when we headed back and there were seven kids under the age of five in tow, I think that’s saying a lot.
We wanted to make the most of it. We wanted to create memories and make the kids smile… really and truly smile, even on the inside. We wanted to wear ourselves out with fun and laughs and maybe even get some exercise in the process. I think we made a good dent in each of those goals. And I’m one happy mama.
