The Day Katelyn Graduated to Big Kid Rides

On Tuesday, we started with early entry into Fantasyland. It was great because we were able to ride all the fairytale rides with almost no wait at all. Brooke enjoyed all the rides but was particularly fond of being a "daddy hat" which is a ride that Katelyn thought she invented when she was Brooke's age. After enjoying Fantasyland for awhile, we discovered that Tomorrowland was also open early, so we had a chance to hit some of our favorites over there. Katelyn loved Star Tours, not just because of the ride, but because all of her friends that are boys (notice how I did not say boyfriends) would love it. She was so excited to tell them all about it. Brooke and Katelyn both liked the Buzz Lightyear ride and got decent scores on the defending the galaxy part. After a great breakfast on Main street, Katelyn said she was definitely ready for more "Big Kid Rides" so we headed over to Frontierland to give the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad a try. She absolutely loved it. After that she was hooked and was able to enjoy the Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones and the Railroad again about 25 times. She loved them all which was a pleasant surprise since she is definitely not the daredevil of our family. The trick to getting her on these rides was to explain the theatrics of it all to her. The abominable snowman lurking on the Matterhorn normally would have scared her right to death. But once I explained to her that he is nothing more than a giant stuffed animal with red light bulbs for eyes and a silly recording of someone growling like a monster, she was fine. The snakes and spiders on Indiana Jones that normally would have resulted in years of therapy and months of nightmares for her, didn't bother her at all once I told her that they are plastic and have batteries. Since her new found bravery opened up many more ride possibilities, the adults got to rotate going with her. It was so cute to watch her help us all no be scared on the rides. She would explain everything to you about the ride and even convinced Pop that he didn't need a helmet on the Matterhorn. She loved thinking that she was the leader of all things brave and loved demonstrating another trait associated with being the big, brave sister.
Splash Mountain was the only one that didn't get a repeat performance. The ride didn't scare her at all and the giant drop wasn't a problem for her. Water was the problem. She got wet and that was not ok with her. Even though she was wearing Kyle's waterproof jacket that kept her body and clothes completely dry, her hair got wet and that was all it took (once again, that would be my gene). Here is some video footage of her on the Railroad and the incident at Splash Mountain.

After all that excitement she didn't want to go on anymore of the baby rides... of course she does not consider the Tea Cups a baby ride. She loves her sister though and would still go on "Brookie rides" just to be nice, but she is now our resident daredevil.

While we were in Critter Country, we decided that Brooke would enjoy seeing Pooh and Eeyore again. Both girls loved it and we decided that anyone who wants Brooke to snuggle with them just needs to get a furry suit.




On our way to the Enchanted Tikki Room and Jungle Cruise we ran into Ballou. Brooke liked him so much that she reached so he would pick her up and put her on his lap. It was so fun to watch her enjoy all of those characters with Katelyn. Here is a video of the character visits:


For lunch we enjoyed a fantastic meal at the highly anticipated Blue Bayou in New Orleans Square. The girls loved the moonlit ambiance and Katelyn told us that it was "even better than the Olive Garden." Maybe they will put that in their next review.


One of my favorite things at Disneyland when I was a kid was climbing up and down the stairs of the Treehouse. Katelyn loved it too and we decided not to even let Brookie know about it because with her love of stairs we wouldn't have been able to get her out of there.


When Brooke woke up from her stroller nap that afternoon we got a bucket popcorn that proved to be the highlight of her day. We have pictures of me in Disneyland at about the same age, sitting on a rod iron bench shoving fist-fulls of popcorn into my mouth. The only difference is that I had even bigger cheeks. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

After more rides and chocolate covered frozen bananas we ended the day with the Parade of Dreams. It was another big hit and both girls loved seeing their favorite characters again. When Pluto came by we were afraid Brooke was going to rush him, but she contained her excitement and just waved and blew him a kiss. It was another great Disneyland day. To be continued...