The Happiest Place on Earth

Back in March we participated in Disney's volunteer program and earned two Disney passes, which had to be used by December 15.  So we called some friends, calculated gas mileage, scrapped together some pennies, asked my sister to watch all the animals, and headed south.

 

We drove and drove and drove some more.  We listened to back episodes of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me to pass the time. And drove some more.

And finally we arrived.  DISNEYLAND!  We actually stayed two nights with our friend Debi, who is an amazing artist and just happens to live in Los Angeles.  She is lives in the Brewery Artist Lofts, a former Pabst Blue Ribbon Brewery turned artist-in-residence community. 

Our gracious hostess doing a little product branding.  Debi has an annual pass and gleefully accompanied us into the park.  And she mentioned to some other mutual friends we were coming into town, so with the wonder of texting, Chris was able to meet up with us in the park.

The park was not crowded, so we were able to hit all of our favorite rides before lunch.  Indiana Jones, Tarzan's Jungle House, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Innoventions, Sleeping Beauty's Walkthrough, Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear's Astroblasters. (I got the high score.)

On our way through the castle back into Fantasyland we found the Evil Queen, and had to stop to show our reverence. She was pleased by our recognition of her greatness. 

Then on to Autopia, with a lovely example of LA traffic, including irate drivers. (Chris is a deaf interpreter and has a very expressive face.)

Lunch, teacups, Finding Nemo, Jungle Cruise, Pirates and Indiana Jones for the second time, running around the former Tom Sawyer's island, now Pirate's Cove. I'm sure I'm forgetting something in there, like Winnie the Pooh.

After the amazing fireworks and 'snow' on Main Street we ran back into Fantasyland for awhile, rode the carousel, Mr. Toads Wild Ride, Storybook Canal, and Snow White's Scary Adventures.  Through Sleeping Beauty's Castle one more time.  While waiting in line for the Haunted Mansion, the rain that had been threatening all day finally opened up and poured.  It was after 11pm and we were done.  A total of 13 hours in the park.  Don't know when we'll get back south again, but it was all worth it.