I'm 5!

One of the sacrifices I made when I moved to the beautiful island of Oahu was giving up my Disneyland pass.  I admit, I was spoiled living in Southern California.  Instead of spending money on material things or therapy to make me happy, I would go to Disneyland.  A few years ago, I went every Tuesday with some of my coworkers who became good friends.  Tower of Terror at California Adventure was my ultimate therapy -- that and Space Mountain... and Indy... and Thunder Mountain..  Any bad day at work was immediately cured just by boarding a ride.

When I first moved back to Huntington Beach,  the first thing I did, well... I should say after my first paycheck, was buy a Disneyland annual pass.  I couldn't help it!  Disneyland has always made me happy!  I was working twelve hour days trying to pay off the debt I created whilst living in Hawaii (not to mention spending my holiday in Australia and New Zealand -- yes, I spoil myself in more ways than one), that I felt I needed to reward myself.  So, I got the Premium pass with no blockout dates!  I deserved it, come on!

So now, I go when I want!  And this past weekend I got to go to Disneyland with my bestie!  I swear we were 5 years old.  For example, we woke up at the butt-crack of dawn and got there right when it opened.  That's right!  When we got there, we decided to work the Fast Past tickets.  I love to overcome The Man and his ways!  Now, because I'm a professional Disneyland goer, I have learned to work the system (with some help from Marisa too).  I learned that you actually don't have to use your Fast Pass ticket in the allotted time on the ticket.  As long as it's after the time printed as the earliest period you can go, it's all good.  You can go anytime thereafter.  So, we went on pretty much every ride we wanted, except the new Toy Story ride which has no Fast Pass and a line that is at least 45 minutes...

Giant dill pickle craving.. resolved!

Now, we didn't seek out any of the characters around the park, but when we ran into them, we decided we needed to take pictures with them.  It was hilarious!  I totally felt like I was 5 years old!  We got pictures with Cruella, Chip and Dale (twice with different outfits), Mickey, Donald, Minnie, Sully, Lightning McQueen and Mater, Tinkerbelle and some other pixie, Brer Fox and Brer Bear, and more!  How pathetic are we?  Ha ha!

Sully is getting fresh with us.. check out where his hands are! And chip 'n' dale as indians?

We went between both parks again and again, using our Fast Passes for all the rides.  (Something that was mandatory as we did this was get a handstamp at every exit.  I can't help it.  Disneyland handstamps are THEE best smell in the world!  I asked several people where they get the ink for the stamps, but no one could tell me.  One actually showed me the bottle though so now I am going to have to do some research on where one can buy it..)  I even made Marisa wait 30 minutes to watch the Pixar Parade in California Adventure and go on Tower of Terror twice.  She has a fear of heights, by the way.  But that's ok because she made me go on Splash Mountain when I was already cold.

My favorite horse... The devil's horse!  Marisa

got to ride Jingles!

The bummer of the day is when we waited for the fireworks show, in which I believe is THEE best fireworks show EVER!  The first time I ever saw this show was with my friend Danielle and by the time it was over, we both had tears in our eyes.  Pathetic, I know.  Laugh it up people.  So, I took Marisa to one of the best spots to watch the fireworks... And they cancelled it due to wind.  It was very sad.

By the end of the day, we were both exhausted.  Our feet hurt, we could barely keep our eyes open...  We booked a room at a hotel across the street and passed out.  The next morning, we woke up and did it all over again.  This time, we had to wait in line to get into the park because we got there early.  Ha ha!  This time, we could only handle the park until 7:30pm.  We are getting too old to do this two days in a row.  And in that last half hour or so, we sat on the train eating a turkey leg and rode it around the park 2 1/2 times.

But let me tell you what a good friend I am...  Marisa REALLY wanted to go on Splash Mountain as our last ride, which we had a Fast Pass for, so why not?  But this time, I decided to go in the front since I was behind her last time and I got most of the water.  Bad choice.  I don't know where the tsunamis came from, but by the time I got off that ride there was not a dry spot on me :(  And of course, Marisa laughed the whole time and forced a picture on me.  Very sad.  I don't think I can work the wet cat look...

Sad day...  And now i am sick..

Anyway, Disneyland, I've missed you!  I've missed your handstamps, turkey legs, dill pickles, clam chowder in a bread bowl, characters, rides... I'm happy to be back!