After the flight we picked up our first ever mini van. It is a dodge caravan. Apparently when talking with the rental service at the counter, Mark did have the option of a ford Explorer, but told the lady that his family has been looking forward to seeing him drive a mini van. Ha! Now He regrets not taking the explorer! The luggage fits perfectly and the kids seemed pretty happy with all the room. Ashton was excited that the doors shut with only a push of a button, but poor Mark couldn't even fit in the drivers seat very well. Apparently the Dodge Caravan is one of the smallest mini vans and doesn't seem to fit taller people. (I drove it one time on the trip, and it was quite comfy for me). 
Marks poor legs were squished!
After checking into the hotel, we drove to downtown Disney and Hannah and I were outvoted for our dinner options and we wound up at the ESPN restaurant. The boys were in heaven! Ashton loved the TV's in the bathroom. We didn't miss the touchdown! He was exited to come back to the table and share that! So funny!
Friday morning we were up bright and early to get to Disneyland. We were all excited and knew our first stop would be space mountain. Ashton had never rode on it before and he was tall enough this year! Unfortunately after the wait at the gate and then another short wait at the inner entrance of tomorrow land, the ride was shut down temporarily and they were hoping it would be up and running shortly. We were disappointed, but walked over to the Matterhorn. We figured that was another ride he had not been on that he would like. We arrived at the entrance and were told once again that the ride was shut down until the afternoon. Oh boy! This was turning out to be an unlucky morning. (Especially because one of their favorite rides,Thunder mountain, was shut down this trip for renovations). We decided to do a few of the smaller rides, since we didn't really have much of a choice, and then rode splash mountain. That is one of Ashton's favorites, but we were going to wait until it was warmer to ride. You wouldn't believe what happened! Just take a guess..... Well... I am sure your guess was pretty close. It wasn't shut down when we got there, it BROKE down while we were on the log boat near the top! Seriously?!!?? Oh my! I just would like to share that those seats are not made for long term sitting and my bottom feels pretty sore from sitting on it for such a long time. It seemed like eternity and I was starting to worry Ashton would say he had to go potty with all the water noises around us. After a while we got going again and finished with a fun ending down the waterfall! The breakdown didn't seem to discourage anyone and they wanted to keep riding.
The rides were pretty short in the morning and then we tried utilizing the fast pass system in the afternoon. The fast pass system is another negative for us this trip because in the past they would let you use them anytime after the hour listed. They have recently cracked down on that and said you can only use them during the time on the ticket. So there was a lot of walking back and forth to get to the ride. It still saves time on waiting in line, but takes a toll on the feet after a while. After 8 hours at the park the older kids were ready to go, but Ashton was up for more. That was most likely because of the luxurious stroller he was able to hop into any time he wanted.
Boy was it hot!
Ben did make a comment that he never wants to live in California because it was too hot! We had thought that was were he wanted to go to college because of the good tennis programs here. He said there were lots of colleges not in California that had tennis! He is so funny! Such a true born and raised Washingtonian.
We headed home and rested for the remainder of the evening to get ready for the water park today! We have no expectations today since this is a new a place to visit. Hopefully that means it will be a wonderful time!
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