The Happiest Place on Earth

Kevin had some "use it or lose it" vacation days so we planned a quick, cheap Disneyland trip for January.  By the way, January during the week is the way to go.  Thursday there were almost no lines or crowds and even on the weekend days the wait times were never too bad. 

We both had an amazing time and just played like little kids from the time the park opened until it closed.  It is impossible to have a bad time at Disneyland.  We were also reminded how exhausting Disneyland can be.  Being on your feet and walking around for 10-12 hours really takes it out of you, we even had to go back to the hotel on Saturday and take a quick nap because we were both completely done in.

Day one was spent entirely at Disneyland.  I also (pat myself on the back) got up early and ran around the mean streets on Anaheim for my scheduled six-miler before we headed into the park.  The weather was gorgeous, blue skies and high 70s for all three days we were there. 

In front of Main Street Station

This was the scariest sight in all the land: a sea of strollers in front of It's A Small World.  Actually the little kids weren't obnoxious at all, it was the junior high aged kids running around on their own that you wanted to smack.  But even they weren't too bad 'cause it's Disneyland and you are HAPPY.


Speaking of scary, on our second time through It's A Small World our boat got stuck.  Like something from a bad sitcom we were trapped inside It's A Small World for 20 minutes.  And when you are trapped the song and the dolls don't stop.  So between the ride and the stoppage we were exposed to 30 minutes of It's A Small World and lived to tell the tale.  No noticeable post-traumatic stress either.

Smiling the first time through the ride unaware of the terror that laid in wait for us later that day.

We did every single ride in Disneyland at least once, except for the ones that were closed which included my all-time favorite Splash Mountain.  I was quite distraught to find out we missed it by a week but that just means we have to go back again so we can ride it together.

We got this cup spinning hard.

Kevin in Mickey's car in Toon Town

The second day was split between Disneyland and California Adventure.  I braved the Tower of Terror which does indeed live up to its name.  However, it is terrifying in an exhilarating and fun way.  For those who don't know it is an "elevator" that takes you up in this building and then suddenly and randomly drops you straight down a few floors, takes you up a few, drops you a few and then at some point you drop the entire 13 stories.  I found out afterward that the ride designers didn't think the 13 story free-fall was fast enough so there are cables that are actually pulling your car down during the free-fall to make it more intense.  Awesome ride and a nice Twilight Zone tie-in.

The Tower of Terror at night

Best. Ears. Ever.

The third day was spent mostly at California Adventure exploring that park and getting SOAKED on the Grizzly River Run ride (twice) and then back to Disneyland at night. More eating, riding and marveling at all the little details Disney puts into everything before heading back to Seattle early Sunday morning. 

Apart from the amazing amount of fun we got to have together we also had three days of almost no wedding chat.  Three blissful days of no planning other than "what ride do we want to do next" or "hmmm....more popcorn or a chocolate frozen banana".  Three days of....well, almost.....