The temperatures over the last few days had been unusually hot, hitting highs of over 100. We couldn't see ourselves waiting all that long under these conditions. We took the Monorail into the park and got to the lines just as they opened the attraction. We were first in line! Great timing! But just as the Cast Member was welcoming us, he mentioned that Tinkerbell was not ready. No estimate on when she might be ready was offered. She apparently was missing some of her costume (her belt) and couldn't see anyone yet. Hard to explain this wardrobe malfunction to 3-year olds.
The silver lining was that her sister Periwinkle was there waiting to see the girls. This definitely served to satisfy the girls who were immediately escorted in because we were the first to see her that day! For all you fairy fans, Periwinkle means "blue", and she was born of the same laugh the Tinkerbell was. That's why they're sisters. She will appear in the new Tinkerbell movie "Secret of the Wings" later this year.
With an endless stream of visitors, I am always amazed at how well the CM's do at greeting the children and making them feel welcome and the shy ones comfortable. Addy is now not shy at all with Tinkerbell.
We headed back up to the Tangled Meet and Greet and arrived only a few minutes after it had opened. However, the line was already 20 minutes long. We were committed by this time even though it must have been in the mid-nineties by then. The line through the ropes seems a bit haphazard and my wheelchair would not fit through. We asked the Cast Member what to do and she suggested we could wait in the shade nearby for the 20 minutes. The girls even had time to go potty -- two times!
Amy, Jon and Keanu were flying back today and everyone wanted to meet at the Disneyland Hotel for some swim time. The pool is one of the areas receiving a big refurbishment recently with slides that feature retro depictions of the old Disneyland Sign and Monorail. Linda and I stayed inside to rest while Amy, Jon, Keanu and the girls took advantage of the cool pool water on this very hot summer day.
After Amy and the gang left to catch their flight, Linda and I took the girls back into the park with the idea that we might find a place to watch the fireworks one more time. We thought we might ride the Mark Twain at dusk, but it closed at 5:45 so we were too late. Instead we opted for a train ride and dinner at the new bakery, the Jolly Holiday. I had a huge roast beef and cheese sandwich which was very good and linda and the girls shared a cheese sandwich kids meal and some tomato soup. Bonus: We got our food just as the parade passed by on Main Street and could catch a good glimpse of it from our table as it went by.
This was another time when the activities of the week caught up with us. After we finished dinner it was still only 6:30. We didn't think we had the steam to wait another 3 hours for the fireworks. We still needed to start packing to leave the next day so he went back to the hotel and called it an early night.