Becoming a distant Memory.....

It has been exactly two weeks since I went to Disneyland and I am ready to go back .
Now.
I want some sun, for one. And I want no responsibilities, for two.
Reality sucks sometimes.
I need to buy a lottery ticket so I can start planning several mini vacations a year.
Because living with this cold temperature in June and this rainy crap is REALLY bringing me down.

I realize that Disneyland is an icon, a tradition, a stable memory. But I gotta tell ya, I preferred California Adventure better.
Maybe because it was new to me and more exciting. I felt like Disneyland was passe.
Oh, don't you make that face at me! The one thing I thoroughly enjoyed tho, was having breakfast with Minnie and the gang. Not to mention the food was wonderful. I felt like royalty in that sectioned off patio of the restaurant. People would walk by and take pictures thru the hedges."hey, we paid for this, back off with your cameras thru the shrubbery!"
Then I would politely turn my back to them and block their shots.
What?!?
I paid for that priveledge!
It was a great time had by all.
No having to justify why we did when we did it ,to any of our men.
In fact, just today, I spoke with a man who was telling us that if a guy can just go to Disneyland without any of the preconceived notions that usual males have and just totally let go of being a man there, he can have a great time! I had to agree.
No second guessing decisions of which rides to go on first, no justifying that caramel apple, no snickering at why we choose to trade pins with staff and collect them ,( someone actually asked me what the point was of that, last week! Oh shame! Let that inner child out!!!) no rhyme, no reason. THAT is the way to enjoy the resort.
Which we did Splendidly!
I need more than 3 days of such luxury.
More like 2 weeks.
Even then, 2 weeks out of 52 doesn't sound like such an impossible request, now does it?

California Adventure

Friday, June 4th~It is our first full day at Disneyland and we decide to spend the day at California Adventure. I loved it there. Just for the fact that it was all new to me and something to explore~

Against my better judgement, I was coerced into going on the California Screamin'. At blast off you'll go from 0-55 mph in 4.7 seconds. Twists and turns with a 108 foot drop ( at which point I freely admit to swearing at the top of my lungs) and an upside down loop through Mickey's ears! I still do not understand why people get a thrill out of having their stomach drop to their feet.....because I do not. Nope. Not even one little bit. But I bit the bullet and went on this for the sake of not being called a "wussy". Yes, I succumbed to peer pressure. Now, move on.

From there we decided to go on Mickey's Fun Wheel. Ok.....misrepresentation of that name, that's for sure! There were two types of gondolas. The stationary that do not rock and the swinging gondolas slide back and forth along the spokes of the wheel. If you are prone to motion sickness and or scared of heights.....run away. Which is what I should have done. At the moment our car got to a certain point, the car slid along the rail and I was so dang scared! It rocked and slid and I wanted off! The only saving grace was there were two young girls in the car with us who were just as scared as I was.....misery loves company. And of course, Breanne wanted to rock and slide the car even more so than it already was. Like the screamng and near tears wasn't enough of a thrill for her!

Onward to Toy Story mania! A cool ride where you sit in a car and shoot at targets. I loved that. Must have been the gamer in me coming thru! What, who got high score you say? Oh yeah, that would be ME!!!

We meandered over to Ariel's Grotto to have a great lunch in the bar. Well, initially, we wanted to have lunch with the princesses but the 38 dollar price tag convinced us to go to the bar instead. Good choice! Great food, great drinks. I even got a multi colored light up plastic ice cube in mine. Ah, ambiance.

This day Shellie and I discovered tiaras and felt we were worthy of wearing them. Everywhere we looked we saw little princesses dressed in full regalia (seriously, they were everywhere!) so we decided we wanted to be princesses as well. So be it. They stayed on all day and onto the next as well.
When in Disneyland.........

Disney continued.....

In my dejected state of Disney closing for grads, I relunctantly meandered back down main street. No easy feat this, as thousands of people were doing the same. Pretty sure I saw tears. Oh wait, maybe those were mine.

We proceeded en masse like lemmings and headed to Downtown Disney. Lots and lots of cool stuff, if we could see it through the kajillions of bodies that also wanted to make the moment last.

Michelle and I decided that a caramel apple would be just the trick to boost our dejectedness. You know where this is going......

We have the candy/bakery store in sight. We move towards it. Just as the employee on the other side is also moving towards the door......to CLOSE up. Noooooooooooo!

Oh yes. She got there first.

They were closed. And the caramel apples seemed to taunt us from the inside. " Not tonight ladies, we are safe from you tonight!"

We walk away (I might have stomped) and half heartedly feigned interest in the other stores. When we came back to the candy store, we noticed some people had opened the door and walked in! What!?!? I caught Michelle's eye and we both booked for the door! YES! ! !

We made it! I kept expecting the candy police to come over to us, announce our intrussion and politely kick us out. With smiles on their faces, of course.

But no, they sent someone to the door to lock it. Smart moves folks, shoulda thought of that last time! Buwhahahhaaa.

We got our treats. We were happy. And if your thinking "it takes so little". ..you are right.

And thank goodness for that.

Before we left, I researched a few things and discovered that there is "tradition" that happens at Disneyland that I never knew about.

Pin Trading.

The employees wear these lanyards that have Disney pins attached. The deal is ,if you want a pin they have on this lanyard, you must first give them a Disney pin to exchange. Disney pins all have this mouse eared black backing and it must be a Disney pin.

Ok, sounds fun enough. So I went to Ebay ( don't you judge me) and bought 15 pins ( all certifiable of course) for 25 bucks. This lady was selling her collection. Cool! I'm in!

So I doled out the pins to Breanne and Michelle and Shellie to trade. I have to admit, it was fun to do! I found myself eye balling employees to see if they any cool pins I wanted. And they did! And the best part? They can't refuse! Unless it's not a disney pin!

I had no problem approaching an employee with a gleam in my eye and point blank asking them to show me their pins. I discovered that if they wore a green lanyard, then only kids could exchange with them. Dang it. ( If they have a grad night, why can't they have an Adult only night?)

This prompted many fun conversations with cast members. Where one got us second row seats to the Aladdin show (! which was an amazing production!) and one got me some interesting info on pins. Some are limited editions, some are only when a certain trip is booked, some when an occasion is to be celebrated etc etc. What a great marketing plan this idea was! The pins start at 6.95 and go up to 20 dollars or so. They even have lanyard sets to buy with your favorite characters and or movie. I bought one pin that had Bambi AND Thumper on it so I could actually get TWO pins for it, smart huh? That's how I roll.

At one point, I had to tell the cast member " Nothing personal, but you don's have what I want".

Which got quite the smirk.

Yes indeedy, that was a fun thing to participate in. I might have my own lanyard with 12 pins on it. Maybe.

One limited edition one too. Maybe.

Don't you judge me.

To be continued..............

Disneyland!!!

Sooo, I might have started my vacation a little too soon in the airport bar.
I was just happily going along with the rest of the gang and getting a celebatory drink before we boarded. Little did I know that I was getting a double shot of Patron in my happy little strawberry margarita. But my body knew. In about 20 seconds flat after the first sip. Yeah, I provided the entertainment for the next 20 minutes. Not gonna lie.
Think I might have fallen asleep for just a minute before we left the runway. And I do not sleep on planes. Hate to fly. Hate it. Pretty much because I usually end up with one gigantic boob by the time we deplane. Such fun.
Fast forward to the Fairfield Marriot hotel. Not a bad hotel. Nothing extraordinary but it served the purpose. I thought the lime and lemon filled water dispensers they had by the elevator was a lovely touch.
Turns out, it wasn't. Why do I have such a problem with other states/countries water?!?!? Oh yeah, thank you Mexico. ( another story entirely)
The hotel was a half mile from Disneyland. ( I google-mapped it) Not bad. But not fun in the heat we had either. I went from a wet and cold 54 degrees (if I am being generous) to a hot and hotter 80 something. No time to adapt.
We were so excited to get into Disneyland Thursday night. Ok, maybe that was me.
I just wanted to get to the Plaza Inn so I could get some dinner and then people watch. I should have known something was up when I got my amazing fried chicken dinner and found a table outside. Oh, and just in time for the parks fireworks display too! Ooooh!!
Wait? Doesn't that mean the park is closing? Uhm, yeah. It was. I sat down at 8:30 to eat and the park closed at 9 for "Grad Night". Seriously?!? No waaaayy. I just walked a mile to get here!
I wasn't even greedy when the gal offered me an additional piece of chicken! Now I know why she did.
Dang it. ( to be continued)