Disneyland Day3

Well, as most of you know, the highlight of our last day at Disneyland was the Jedi Training Academy. Now, since Jakob is a lot like both his dad and his mom (poor guy), we had an inkling that no matter how cool something might be, or how much he wanted to do it, it was going to take a lot to convince Jakob to get out of his comfort zone and volunteer to be a Jedi. That's one reason why we waited until the last day - so all the rides were under his belt already and there was nothing to compete for his attention, and fewer crowds too. He'd already watched the whole thing on YouTube at home, because there was no way he would do it if he didn't know beforehand what was going to happen.
So he and I went to the first show of the day, and just as I had hoped there were only a few kids there. Jakob would totally have gotten picked if he wanted to do it, but he was adamant that he was only going to watch it. Even when I explained that there would be more and more kids at each show so his chance would diminish each time, he wouldn't budge on that decision but finally promised to participate at the next show. So we watched it and it was awesome, of course. He loved it.
3 shows later Jakob finally agreed to return to the Jedi Academy! I mean, we just knew he would be kicking himself if we left without him doing it. This time the whole family came and we got there early to make sure he was front and center. Jakob kept saying how nervous he was, and he hadn't been nervous about any of the rides he had done. There were lots more kids this time so I knew not everyone would get a turn. Now it was all up to Jakob to jump up and down and act excited so the Jedi Master would choose him. Luckily he was also wearing his Star Wars shirt (see! He DID want to do it!) and so THANKFULLY he was one of the first to be picked. Phew! He did so awesome. We have a video which at some point we will post too. At the end they were all pronounced official Padawans and given certificates and the look on his face was priceless. I think most of all he was just so pleased that he had overcome his fears and done it.

Anyone who has asked Anna what her favorite ride at Disneyland is knows that the answer is the spinning teacups. In fact she told Princess Aurora that very thing - which was funny because she hadn't even done that ride yet. She also loved Dumbo and the Buzz Lightyear ride.

Speaking of Princess Aurora, my least favorite part of Disneyland was waiting in line for an hour and a half to meet the Princesses. Part of the frustration was my mistake in assuming that ALL the princesses would be around that elusive castle wall corner. In fact there are only 3 at a time, and so it's kind of a pot luck who you get to see. Luckily my girls don't really have any favorites and so it didn't matter in the end who it would be (unlike the many little girls in Snow White dresses who were disappointed to find out Snow White was not going to be there). However I did feel a bit duped when I heard it was going to be Ariel, Mulan & Jasmine. Come on! Talk about your B-list.

Anyway, there is a happy ending (kind of - I still had to wait for 90 minutes!) By some great stroke of luck we were just chatting with Mulan when Princess Aurora showed up to tag team her and so not only did we get to see 4 princesses instead of only 3, and not only is it the A-lister Sleeping Beauty herself, but we got to take a picture of Anna with both together!! How's that for rare! Maybe I can sell it on e-bay!

And speaking or rare, Emma was starting to get accustomed to all this character greeting stuff and almost touched Mulan! And below you can see her actually looking at Tigger & Pooh instead of only clamping her arms around my legs in fear! LOL.

At the end of the day the kids got to pick out some cool toys, thanks to the Disney Gift cards Omi had given them for Christmas. Jakob got a new light saber (of course) and some key chains (of course), Emma got a Mickey & a Minnie and Anna got a Daisy Duck (her new favorite) and this cool light-up bubble blower which entertained us on the bridge to It's a Small World.

All in all, we had a perfect trip and some great family memories.