Day 1~Disneyland

Not quite a panorama from our balcony, I haven't figured that option out yet.
After a couple of hours of sleep, we awoke to a beautiful, if hazy day. We prepped for the day and went down to enjoy a continental breakfast in the Lotus Room, complete with dim sum, pastries, yogurt, lunch meat, cheeses, and congee.

After breakfast, we went out to the maze, and the boys mastered it in no time!
Next we explored the grounds in the daylight and discovered that the pool had a waterslide! The playground had a climbing wall. We also went to the Prince Eric playroom for a while.

At last it was time to hop on the shuttle bus for Disneyland!

Our first stop was the train ride, followed by Winnie the Pooh, and a spin on the carousel. The line for Pooh was the longest, and it was only about 15 minutes, and it kept moving. While we were having a snack and resting, we noticed a group of security people standing by a gate. Suddenly they started to fan out and clear a path right in front of us. Who should drive by, but Lightning McQueen! We also saw many of Lightning's friends throughout the park.
Air-conditioned (yay!) It's a Small World only had a 5 minute wait. It took almost as long to walk through the maze as we spent waiting to ride. The boys were in complete awe and couldn't decide where to look. Zachary was so amazed, his jaw was hanging open. Even before we were out of the boat, Alex was clamoring to go again. This time around, Alex made up a song to the tune and everyone was still amazed. He wanted to go again, but we had more to see.We all ate Mickey waffles and then went to the safari ride. There were 3 different lines, depending on which language you wanted your tour in, Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. The wait was closer to 1/2 hour, the longest of the day, and during the wait, the announcements reminded everyone not to stand too close together since it was so hot. Yep, it was that hot. Alex thought the safari ride was funny, but he and Zachary didn't really like it when the boat was trapped by a tsunami and fire water. Fortunately, our boat captain was experienced and we made it to the dock. In the tiki garden, the tikis randomly played music and squirted water. Alex and Zachary really enjoyed trying to get the tikis to spray them.We thought it would be a good idea to return to the hotel and rest for a while. We tried to get our hands stamped to return later, but it was so hot and humid, the stamps weren't working. They assured us we would still be able to return. Instead of the long walk to the bus area, and then waiting for the bus, we decided to walk the promenade back to the hotel. It was such a pretty walk, with lots of flowering trees, fountains and topiaries. It was also deserted. Our plans to rest were thwarted by an extra hyper Zachary so we decided to just head to the pool. Alex and Zachary swam for 2 hours! They jumped off the edge and swam to us, then back to the edge, dunked themselves, and went down the waterslide. We had to drag them out of the pool!
Again, our plans were to be ignored. The intention was to ride back to Disneyland for a quick dinner and then watch the fireworks. Zachary started to look super drowsy on the bus. When we got off the bus, he refused to walk, so Phil picked him up and within seconds, he was out cold. As we were walking down Main Street, I noticed Alex was stumbling so I picked him up. He was out within minutes. We had dinner anyway. But decided to skip the fireworks.
Of course during our dinner, the most impressive thunderstorm had begun. At first it was just some rain and thunder and lightning. Soon though, it was pouring and we were instantly soaked. Some of the lightning was really close and the thunder was really loud. As everyone was huddled under any available awning, the park announcer came on and says "Join us in 15 minutes when Tinkerbell lights up the castle." As if torrential rain is normal (maybe it is). We caught the bus just as it was getting ready to leave. The storm continued most of the night, and we were able to watch it from the dry comfort of our balcony and room.