Disneyland Vacation Day 2

Monday morning we woke up eager to get to the park.  After our crazy busy Christmas week two years ago, I researched when the least busy time would be to visit.  February topped the lists.  I didn't realize, though, that because it was "off season", we'd have other things to deal with.  Like shortened hours.  The park was only open 10-8.  And some of the biggest attractions were closed for repairs - It's a Small World, Thunder Mountain Railroad, Finding Nemo Submarine, and Splash Mountain.  Those were missed greatly.  And it threw a wrench into our normal Disney routine of hitting the park early, coming home in the afternoon to relax and let little ones nap, then heading back for a late night at the park.  Instead, we had to make the most of every minute there.  Which meant that I had to pack enough food and drinks into the bottom of the stroller to feed 10 people all day long.  Not an easy task.  I got up every morning and made a whole loaf of bread into sandwiches and filled little baggies full of crackers and cookies.

The first morning at the park we all waited anxiously while Scott purchased our tickets (not a small purchase).

The kids wanted to spend their first day in California Adventure.  The kids couldn't wait to ride Screamin.  Sara was brave enough to try it this trip, and she loved it.  Of course it was still Aaron's favorite too.

We saw Donald.  Owen wasn't sure what to think.

 

We went on Josh's favorite ride - Grizzly Rapids.  The girls didn't love getting wet.

Riding the CarsLand Tractor ride with Grandpa.

The kids joined Phineas and Ferb for a dance party in the street.

Right around this time, we lost Nate.  It scared me to death.  We stopped and realized he wasn't with us, and Scott immediately started looking one way and I the other.  A worker saw me and asked if I was trying to find something.  When I told him I'd lost my 5 year old, he knew exactly what to do.  He got on the radio, and within minutes, we were being ushered to the customer relations building where a nice woman was helping Nate circle on the map the rides he'd been on.  After that, I made sure I had all 6 kids everywhere we went.  

We saw Pluto.  Again, Owen wasn't quite sure he was a fan of these life sized creatures.

 

Owen enjoyed a nap in the stroller.

We went on Tower of Terror.  Twice.

And we raced around the tracks of Radiator Springs.

It was a fun day.  We all loved it all.  We returned home with exhausted kids and adults.  As we walked in the door of our rental house, I reached down to take off the lanyard that I'd worn around my neck all day.  I had been keeping all of our tickets together in it, because every time we needed to print out a fast pass, I had to scan all 10 tickets.  As I reached to take it off, sheer panic hit me.  The plastic pouch that had all 10 tickets in it was gone.

Of course I was instantly hysterical, and Scott and I immediately turned around to retrace our steps in hopes of finding it.  I thought that it might have been knocked off on the walk home because I was carrying Aaron piggyback.  We ran all the way back to Disneyland, and didn't find it.  The more I thought about it, the more I decided it must have fallen off while we were standing in line for the Cars ride (the last ride of the day).  We stood in line 45 minutes for it, and Owen had insisted that I hold him the whole time.  When we got back to the park, of course it was closed, so we couldn't go in to look for it.  We talked to a worker, and she told us to try the Lost and Found in the morning (it was closed for the night).

We walked home again, and talked about what we would do if we couldn't find the tickets.  We had the receipt still, so maybe they would issue more tickets for us.  All I could think was that I'd just made a $3000 mistake, and I was so sick to my stomach.