MAGIC! (part one)

The Magic Kingdom did not disappoint!
All 16 Petts met in sunny Anaheim on Wednesday the 19th for a glorious, crazy, fun-filled, action-packed trip to Disneyland. We had such a great time...I don't even know where to begin!
We drove to Las Vegas Tuesday night, arrived in the wee hours of the morning and slept for a few hours at my sister's house. We then all loaded up and made our way to CA. Suzanne and Danny picked Mom up from the airport (she had been bumped from an overbooked flight and caught a later one) and we met Dad and Marina and Katya at the hotel. We all got ready and caught the shuttle over to Disneyland.
The first ride line we hit was Space Mountain. It was long and Noah got really tired waiting. After about 40 minutes of waiting, someone came out and said the ride was having technical difficulties and would be closed for a few hours! DRAT! Noah was not impressed. Luckily we were able to get some Fast Passes for the Buzz Lightyear ride and didn't have to wait long at all. The Magic of Disney returned after that. We also caught part of the Jedi Training and that was a highlight for the boys. Darth Maul tried to take on Curtis but Curtis hid behind Sam and Darth Maul retreated.
Sidenote: Have you heard of the Fast Pass? There are 7 rides in Disneyland and 7 in California Adventure that have a Fast Pass line. There is a little booth by the ride where you insert your admission ticket and it gives you a pass to come back to the ride at a certain time. There is a separate Fast Pass line so when you return, you go into that line and by-pass the regular hour-long wait line. You can only get one Fast Pass at a time but it is definitely the way to go (especially on Spring Break!).
The rest of that day we spent in Toon Town and it got really cold so we went back to the hotel to meet Amy, Mathew and Dave.
Thursday morning we were up with the crack of dawn and were at Disneyland around 7am for early entry. We ran to Space Mountain and actually got on it this time and only had to wait about 10 minutes. We did a few other things and when everyone was together we made our way to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We were on the backside of the ride when Mat ran by and yelled, "Go back by Dad and Hurry!!!" So we ran back to see what was going on and were rewarded greatly. There were 2 members of the Dream Maker Squad standing there handing out Dream Fast Passes! These passes have a tab for every Fast Pass ride in both parks and you can use them at any time. BUT, you have to use them on the day you get them. We were all so excited! So, as holders of the Magical Dream Fast Pass, we felt it our duty to go on every ride that was on our pass. We didn't realize how tiring it would be but it was so worth it. We had a blast and all the rides were great fun. The only ride we didn't go on was Autopia because half of the group had gone on it before we got the passes and Noah and Isabelle weren't tall enough to ride it. We stayed for the fireworks that night, which were so great, and Amy treated us all to Churros! She said she had some mad people in line behind her when she ordered 13 churros! We then straggled back to the hotel and slept hard.
I was amazed that Curtis went on all the big, scary rides. He was hilarious, though. His expression never changed and you couldn't tell if he was scared or bored or sick! I think the worst ride for the kids was Tower of Terror. They were all scared witless. Amy said Curtis turned green and more than one of them had tears in their eyes from fright. I was surprised on the last day that Curtis and Isabelle actually wanted to go on it again! But they did and survived.