"THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH"

We just got back from Disneyland! We had a blast! With the exception of Tom who informed me when we got home, that he hates Disneyland. Who hates Disneyland? I think I enjoy it more than the kids. Anyway, it was a great trip. We went with the JHS drill team. We stayed in one of the Disney hotels. I was totally excited about staying so close. There is a special entrance through the California Grand Hotel that we got to use. We went back to the hotel every afternoon - the kids swam, we ate lunch for cheap, took naps. It was perfect! When you stay at one of the Disney hotels, you get to experience a "Magic Morning." On Tue, Thurs, Sat, Sun, guests get into Disneyland an hour before anyone else. They open Fantasyland and Tommorowland. We did Fantasyland in 30 minutes walking right onto all the rides. It was sweet! We did have to get there by 7:00am, but it was worth it. The kids were giving me a bad time. They said, "mom, you don't get up at 6:00am for anything!" I knew I would get a nap in the afternoon. We had 4 day park hoppers. They keep adding new rides and adventures so that people need to spend this many days in Disneyland. When I was a kid we did Disneyland in a day. What happened to those days? There were a few new attractions this year. Morgan wanted to go to Pixie Hollow and meet Tinkerbell and friends. We stood in line for about 45 minutes. It was fun! The Toy Story ride was a 45 minute wait also, but worth it. It was great! I hate lines, so we did a lot of fast passes. Early morning was best. Being in Disneyland before the gates opened got us on the big rides right as they opened. We saw lots of characters. I love the characters. At one point Cody told me I was a picture freak and wouldn't pose with some of the characters. He sure is photogenic when I do get him in a picture. A perfect smile. We came across Cinderella in California Adventure and waited only 10 minutes. This saved me from standing in the princess line later. We got pictures with Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Sully, Cinderella, Goofy, Chip and Dale. And we saw many more... My favorite rides are Space Mountain and Tower of Terror. My kids love Space Mountain and Soarin' over California. Cael was tall enough this year to go on almost everything. We made him go at least once on everything. He chose not to go again on a few. His very favorite ride was Sourin'. The weather was perfect (73)! I love fireworks and parades. I watched the fireworks show 3 nights. It was awesome! We happen to walk by as the parade was starting and since you can't really go anywhere, we stopped and watched. The Fantasmic show is amazing. All of the characters are in this night show with fireworks. I told Morgan I was glad she got to meet her favorite princesses last year and she said "mom, I saw them yesterday"(in the show). I was feeling bad that we didn't make time to meet all the princesses and she saw them from a distance and was happy. We did splash mountain at night right before we went back to the hotel. It was the perfect time to get wet and there was no line, so they let us stay on and go again. Morgan tried to duck her head way down behind the seat so she wouldn't get wet and got a big bruise on her forehead. So if look close in some of the pictures, you can see the goose egg on Morgan's head. Morgan got sick the last night and threw up in the restaurant. On our way home, Tom, Cody and I were all sick. Good thing we had a garbage bag in the van. It was the longest ride home ever. I am ready to go again next year! I just need to talk my husband into it. I'm sure one of the groups at JHS will be going next year.