Julia and I were both down in Southern California to visit with my parents so we met up with Lisa and my nieces at Disneyland in the afternoon. Since we had season passes, we went over to the California Adventure side for a bit before Lisa’s husband dropped her and the kids off at Downtown Disney. I took Julia on the Monsters Inc ride since she hadn’t been on it before, but we didn’t get to stay there long since Lisa was arriving soon to meet up with us.

My nieces are sweet and gentle, and they had a good time with us too since they got all of our attention this day. We rode on a few rides: the Disneyland Railroad Train, Small World, and Buzz Lightyear (this was more for Lisa than my niece). We took lots of breaks to feed the kids, change diapers, etc. but the crowd was surprisingly light for a Saturday. On a previous visit with my parents on a Saturday in March, the place was packed like a zoo. At least on this trip, we got to see the new Finding Nemo submarines in operation, but the lines were so long, wrapped around to Small World, that I didn’t want to go anywhere near there. They had umbrella stands along the line, but I can’t imagine having to stand 3 hours in the heat for that.

Julia and I are still determined to take my dad on it one of these days since the old submarine ride was one of his favorites when we were growing up, and it’s been out of commission for so long that we are curious to see if the submarines has changed any bit on the inside as well since the new subs have been repainted a bright yellow to match the vivid imageries characteristic of the Nemo movie. In the “old days”, it used to look like a war-time sub with the outside painted steel-gray and the ride itself themed more along the lines of 20,000 leagues under the sea.

Anyways, as the evening wore on, the little ones were getting more and more tired, yet they lasted till about 9:30pm. They were completely out by the time we were strolling toward the exit. I guess with our help, Lisa was at least able to enjoy herself a little while at the park.