I'm Goin' Ta Disneyland!

Okay, so I already went to Disneyland but thats not the point.

Anyway, Disneyland was awesome! Meagan, my totally awesome friend with a totally awesome Mommy, and I had a great and relaxing time and now you have the chance to enjoy it a little with us. How you ask? Close your eyes (well mentally, not physically because then you wouldn't be able to read nor see the pretty pictures) and pretend you are there with us in beautiful Anaheim, California at the Happiest Place on Earth where dreams come true.

Step 1: Starbucks

How anyone starts a day at 5:30am and doesn't have a little coffee in the morning is beyond me. If thats you, you are my hero.

Step 2: Drive

With Queen and Disney blasting the trip went by quickly.

Step 3: Find your hotel/hostel

Finding our hostel wasn't so quick. When we did finally find we parked and went into the lobby. The minute we stepped in we knew we were in trouble. The smell let little to be desired and the fact that the "clerk" didn't ask for ID was disconcerting but we shrugged it off and put our stuff in the room, making sure to take our valuables with us. Hey, it was cheap.

Step 4: Get to Disneyland, park and take the tram

All of which was fairly simple and didn't take too long.

Step 5: Buy your tickets

God loves us. We were planning on the tickets for two 2 Day Hopper tickets to cost us about $240. Turns out Meagan could upgrade her Annual Pass that was blacked out that day to one that was not for only $30. So our tickets ended up being only $150! We were excited because that meant we could buy more stuff. Haha!

Step 6: Enter the park



The Happiest Place on Earth!

Step 7: Get a Fast Pass for Splash Mountain
Because I am not waiting 60 minutes for a ride if I can avoid it and I certainly can.

Step 8: Ride Indiana Jones

What a great ride. Go Harrison Ford! This is also where we analyzed cooking shows and discovered some Southern CA slang like ta for to. Example: Going ta the beach dude. Instead of, Well friend, I am going to the beach. Gotta (see it there too?) love line conversation.

Step 9: Jungle Cruise

These guys are always funny with their inevitable puns about fake nature. Only at Disneyland.

Step 10: Take the Fast Pass to Splash Mountain only to have the ride have a "Log Jam" and be closed for an "indefinite period of time"

A risk you take with every ride. We Disneyland Veterans have learned these things. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Step 11: The Haunted Mansion

Another awesome classic ride that has been redone a little since the last time I rode. My favorite part is still the dancing ghosts.

Step 12: Star Tours

One of my favorite rides only because it is such a classic. The gift shop afterwards is pretty awesome as well. Mr. Potato Head makes a pretty good Darth Vader.

Step 13: Go to the Mad Hatter and try on all the crazy hats
This is one of my favorite parts of Disneyland. We did it at Tokyo Disney and had a blast so Meagan and I decided to do it again. The results were just as fun.












Look familiar?

Step 14: Big Thunder Mountain

More classic Disney-ness. A Roller Coaster Type Ride in a "mountain" that whips you around a few times and then, ends. Good times.

Step 15: Pirates of the Caribbean

The redone ride is a lot more fun the older version. There are a few more dips and a nice scene where you actually get a little wet. It also helps that Johnny Depp is in it. As hard core Pirate fans Meagan and I felt obligated to ride. It was a tough job but we figured someone had to do it.

Step 16: Lunch!

Next to the Pirates ride there is a litte cafe called Cafe Orleans. It is massively overpriced and not very fancy but the Monte Cristo Sandwich they sell is amazing and rather famous at Disneyland. We bit the bullet and paid the $16 each for a sandwich and enjoyed as much as we could eat.

Step 17: Signature from Winnie the Pooh

Signatures are a very important part of the Disney experience. And Pooh is just totally awesome.

Step 18: Signature from Remy of Ratatouille

He was there and we figured "What the heck". Little booger tried to steal my pen.

Step 19: Jedi Training Academy



I'm not the bigger Star Wars fan but I do like the movies and Meagan is a hard core Star Wars fan so we watched the Jedi Training Academy. It was totally awesome. It was an interactive show. A few Jedi's came out and the main Jedi Master did a little karate style sword form that was very well done. Then they picked some young padawons to come on stage, about 20 or so. Then the kids were given a robe and a "training light saber" and taught a little drill. Then the fun began. Darth Vader and some Star Troopers came out followed by Darth Maul. Each kid then got to use their newly learned drill to fight either Darth Vader or Darth Maul. I was highly impressed at how well the kids did and that they behaved the entire time.
Its pretty amazing how little kids will listen to a guy with a microphone pretending to be a Jedi when they don't even listen to their own parents. Maybe parents should dress up in brown robes and carry around light sabers.

Step 20: Space Mountain

After waiting in line for about 45 minutes behind a very hyper group of Jr. Highers we made onto Space Mountain. I loved it! I hadn't been on any version of the ride for almost five years and I was surprised at how well done the ride was. It is entirely black with a few stars the entire ride, its fast and just loads of fun. I was so excited about it. Ya, excited.

Step 21: Watch the Parade



As we were walking towards the exit of Disneyland to go into California Adventure the parade started so we stopped to watch. The parades are always fun. There's just something cool seeing your childhood life size.

Step 22: The Animation Building in California Adventure

This is a very fun building. Inside they have giant screens all around the room showing scenes from classic Disney movies with the music and everything. There are several rooms inside the building. The first one we went into was the Turtle Talk With Crush from Finding Nemo. Another wonderful technological advance in entertainment. Everyone sits in a theater and has a conversation with an animated Crush on a screen a the front of the room. Crush asks questions and answers questions from the audience. It was pretty amazing. I'm assuming there was someone behind the small windows next to the screen that was operating the Crush and speaking for him. Must have been even coller for the little kids. They definitely enjoyed it.

Step 23: Dinner
At the Award Wiener in CA Adventure. Those Chili Dogs were seriously awesome.

Step 24: Eating Dinner while watching the Electrical Parade
We ended up sitting down to watch the parade while we finished up dinner and bought a little dessert from the candy shop. Chocolate covered pretzels shaped like Mickey Mouse. Heck yes.

Step 25: Ride the tram back to the parking garage to get Meagan's sweater

More fun times on the tram.

Step 26: Ride the tram back to the park

Step 27: Stay on the tram back to the parking garage because Meagan left her ticket in her other shorts...

Step 28: Back to the park for good this time!

Step 29: Wait in line at the Mad Hatter for Meagan to get her name stitched in her new Pirate Mickey Ears hat.
I love how they will stitch your name in your hat for free. A very good deal and great souvenir.

Step 30: The Matterhorn

Another classic ride that never fails to be worth the wait. We only waited about twenty minutes and it was worth it. Fun times with the Abominable Snowman.

Step 31: One more tram ride back to the parking garage

Step 32: Drive to the hostel

Step 33: Sleep.

And that's Day One!